Evaluation

This has been a year of ups and downs for me in regards to working.  The highs coming in my work experience with the Extended degree students, seeing one of my images so large on the wall at Wolferstans and my exhibition in The West End Gallery.  The lows came from my work experience with the Extended Diploma students, with the realisation of how difficult it is to engage teenagers!   Also the frustration of trying to co-ordinate many different personalities in the Been there, Seen it, Got the T-shirt exhibition.

With regards to my teaching experience, it served to confirm to me that it is definitely the route for me after my BA year.  Although I am unsure as to which route I want to take.  I definitely know i do not wish to work with very young children so the Primary and Early Years PGCE is off the table.  So that leaves the PGCE certificate in education for 11-18 year olds or Adult education.  I have spoken to Dave Kent and Jenna Bettey who have been PGCE students during my time at PCA, and I plan to go to the next Open Day at Plymouth University so that I can talk to the lecturers there to help me decide.  I have the prospectus and have perused the website but I am still not sure, so I hope this will help me decide which course will be best for me.  Working with the Extended Diploma students presented me with a challenge but I did enjoy trying to engage with them, and I am definitely one for a challenge!  SO maybe this is the way forward,  every day would be a challenge!

Working in a collective has been good and bad this year.  The Day Gallery exhibition was a group of people that were in it because they wanted to be and as such it was easy and a pleasant experience overall.  Apart from the problems with it actually getting off the ground, it was my first experience of getting my art on the wall of a gallery space and it was a massive ego boost! 

Our project 204, the Been There, Seen it, Got the T-shirt was infuriating and brilliant at the same time.  I found the apathy of some members of the group really negative and despite trying really hard not to take over, I found that alot of the time I had to, or else we would not have had a successful outcome at all.  This has taught me a valuable lesson, to make sure that I am working with people who are just as enthusiastic as I am about the project that I am working on.  This was difficult with project 204 as we were put into groups by the staff, but i did get to work with at least one person who I would love to work with again!  I networked well i think, making contacts with the City Centre manager, The Mall manager, the art correspondant at The Herald, and several traders within the city who were interested in getting involved in future projects.

Having submitted work for a commission for Wolferstans solicitors last year, it finally came to fruition nearly a year later!  It was frustrating dealing with the delays but it was confused by the fact Dave Kinney left and he was the point of contact with the solicitors.  It did however get there eventually and I recived  £50 for my image, with credit given on any usage of it in further publications.  I was so proud to see my picture on the wall on such a grand scale, and I was told that it had been the centre of much discussion since its installation, with people spending alot of time looking at it and picking out things that are not immediately apparent.

Working with Camper Obscura has been great too and without it I would not have had my exhibition at The West End Gallery and had such a great summer touring festivals and events across the west country.  I have also made contact with other artists that I would not have met and worked with without Camper Obscura and FOTONOW.

SO in conclusion I have thoroughly enjoyed my work experience, it has enable to decide a definite course of action for after my BA year, and an intention for the rest of my working life.  I have enjoyed having my worked exhibited, and imparting my small amount of knowledge to others.  I have learnt that teenagers are hard to live with and to teach!!  And I have learnt if you exhibit with others make sure they are as passionate as you or else you will end up doing all the work!  I hope in the future that I will have more exhibitions and be able to persue my personal practise and to be able to teach part-time, so I will still have time to spend with my family and time to spend on producing good art.  This is of course in a perfect world and things rarely turn out that way but it is my dream and I intend to chase it.