Happy 1/2 Term to all of the Arts students!

Half term is here & I'm totally amazed at the amount of progress that all of the students in the Arts faculty have made, especially the new AS students.  They have only had 6 weeks in the centre & yet they are all producing work of new & confident level - well done!! Their sketchbooks are starting to bulge with lots of samples - one student this week said ...'I just love it when my sketchbook gets chunky' - she was beaming as she looked down at her exquisite & very chunky book.  (This is as a result of your hard work & ability to listen to your teachers). 

 

Update on the AS Textile students.

This week saw the AS Textile students complete their over-sized corsages (AO4) - every single student produced their own version of these giant beasts - colour palettes were high key & household objects were attached & interwoven to enhance the final effects.  Their sketchbooks are bursting with smaller versions of their corsages, research, experimentation & fabric samples etc, & their vast array of beautiful fashion illustrations (AO1, AO2, AO3) - it's all about quality, quality, quality now!!!

 

 

 

 

They have now started to focus their investigations/research on the wonderful work of Jill Flower (see below) & have already begun shredded net & magazine samples (AO1, AO2, AO3) -  (we've had great fun shredding with my old fashioned strip shredder all week in the Textiles studio - even Dandy comics from 1966 have found their way into the sharp jaws of the shredder).

 

 

 

 





I love these samples found in this sketchbook & particularly the way random pieces of text emerge from the samples.  The addition of the buttons as spacers makes an effective & decorative idea.  This level of investigation is excellent for an AS student, the confident approach is pretty apparent - I'm so pleased with these students, they should be as proud of their work to date.

 

A2 Textiles update.

The A2 Textile students have also really been experimenting & developing a whole range of ideas, all inspired by architectural details.  Their sketchbooks are also looking great, with many highly creative ideas that demonstrate their high level of skill & creative interpretation on the given theme.  They all commented yesterday on how much they are enjoying the theme & the sample lesson we have been working on (this week they created some incredible stitch based samples using vanishing muslin & net - inspired by Dolce & Gabbana S/S 2013 - (AO1, AO2, AO3) - sadly you will have to wait to see these samples - keep checking the blog for updates).

 

However, last week I ran a 'mark making in textiles' session with these students, using nothing but hand stitch  (I had laryngitis, so they only had me squeaking at them - much to their amusement), the results are highly creative & offer a vast array of ideas for further development (see below).

 

 

 



 

The presentation skills demonstrated are stunning & the student's ability to link to fashion designers & architectural details is apparent.  There are hours & hours of work in these sketchbook pages shown on this blog - these students have made a very positive & professional impact on their studies & I hope they've enjoyed it along the way.  I can't wait to continue to teach/support these students further after 1/2 term.

 

There will also be an AS & A2 Art & Design update after 1/2 term too.

 

(c) 2013 - As always all layouts & images on this blog are purely for the 'Moon on a stick' blog. I enjoy sharing information & ideas, however, I ask you not to use any of these images/layouts etc without permission or without noting its origins on your post. All rights reserved

 

Cornwall beckons!

 

Pool Pixie's first surf lesson (stood up in 10 mins thanks to the expert tuition

given by Jackson (St.Ives Surf School).

 

 

#ilovecornwall

 



Ruffling, pleating, gathering & looping!

WOW incredible over sized corsages from the

AS Textile students.

The AS Textile students have been 'ruffling, pleating, gathering & looping' for the last couple of weeks creating their beautiful large corsages inspired by their observations of Alison Willoughby's work.  The students have worked & reworked their creations, working from the outside edge & heading for the centre - often realising they needed to retrace their steps & add extra layers.  These corsages belie the technical competency required to complete one of these with success (AO1, AO2, AO3, AO4). 

 

We all have had some great fun adding extra fabrics, ribbons, objects to these sumptuous & incredibly heavy textile mini outcomes (if you look at the right-hand image below you'll notice the toy soldier that was snaffled from under the students brothers bed - no toy is safe with a creative Textile student in it).

 

 

 

The student below has added trinkets, florals amongst a wild mixture of fabric ruffles & pleats - all to great effect.  She has also added a variety of techniques including sushi rolls, looping, pleating, again expanding her manipulation skills - (AO2).

 

 

 

 

 

Of course all of their work has been carefully documented in their sketchbooks (AO3).  These students have spent hours & hours on their pages, ensuring that they meticulously observe, experiment, develop, refine their skills & techniques.  These students have engaged effectively with a range of materials & techniques and all reflections are recorded, they have made a good start to the foundations of their learning.

 

 

 

 

 

(c) 2013 - As always all layouts & images on this blog are purely for the 'Moon on a stick' blog. I enjoy sharing information & ideas, however, I ask you not to use any of these images/layouts etc without permission or without noting its origins on your post. All rights reserved

 

The 10 Commandments for all Art & Design students.

 

Last week my lovely A2 Art & Design students were confronted with last years AQA examiner reports.  After group work & close scrutiny they recorded the main comments/features & wrote their own top 10 tips, which they have called their '10 commandments' (it's crucial for the students to write/establish their own commandments, using their language, that they have found in the examiners report).  They were fascinated to see how their observations linked perfectly to their assessment criteria. 

The 10 Commandments for all Art & Design students

(written for all students by Art students).

 

1.  Observation - (be selective & aim to be creative in your interpretations).

2.  Development - (this includes independent development & personal ideas).

3.  Connections & clear record of ideas & choices - (remember your 'intelligent links').

4.  Diverse range of materials, techniques & ideas - (both traditional & contemporary).

5.  Enjoyment & engagement - (this needs to be evident in your work).

6.  Annotation/analysis & critical understanding - (this is your dialogue with the examiner).

7.  Sustained & confident approach - (this is crucial to accessing high marks).

8.  Review & refine throughout/reflect upon work & progress - (be reflective & honest).

9.  References & influences that inspire you - (acknowledge these carefully).

10.  Quality, quality, quality - from the start to the finish.

 

This type of activity takes very little time, but the knowledge that the students absorb is priceless!  Their next task is to identify evidence of the 10 commandments in their own sketchbooks & to discuss these in their lesson next week.  This is a great way of ensuring the students understand what examiners are looking for & for interpreting their own assessment objectives.

 

 

 

 

A final question for the studemts that read this post, please ask yourself the following:

 

Remember what I asked you all on day 1 (see post 6th September 2013) - 'Are you up for the challenge & are you up for the journey' ? If you want the grades, you have to work for them, demonstrating PRIDE in what you have produced.

 

(c) 2013 - As always all layouts & images on this blog are purely for the 'Moon on a stick' blog. I enjoy sharing information & ideas, however, I ask you not to use any of these images/layouts etc without permission or without noting its origins on your post. All rights reserved



Work hard early!

Success = if you want something in life,
you have to work for it!

This last week has seen many students not only work hard early (#Thefixupteam), but also achieve great personal successes in their work.  I  must start with one student who featured in a previous post entitled 'inspirational development of research observation'.  Claire had looked carefully at the work of Nikos Gyfaktis & had started to develop a pretty impressive stitch based portrait as a result of her observations.  This week saw Claire finally complete this study, along side other amazing painterly outcomes too (she has demonstrated great juggling & organisational skills, along with determination - all excellent studying skills).  The images below demonstrate an incredibly high level of technical & creative competency.  She has used a very clever & sophisticated blend of coloured threads to create an overall impression of an expressive & dynamic portrait, not to mention the painting skills demonstrated in the sketchbook studies below (if anyone wants to see 'rigour' - take a look inside a dedicated art students sketchbook).

Additionally through such focused & mature working methodology Claire has hit all four of her assessment criteria (but specifically the first three 'AO's' - see below - in a very confident manner).

AO1 Develop their ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

AO2 Experiment with and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining their ideas as their work develops.

AO3 Record in visual and/or other forms ideas, observations and insights relevant to their intentions, demonstrating an ability to reflect on their work and progress.

Portrait painting has been very alive in the studios this last week, with many students producing some amazing studies & taking some incredible photographs to support their research & future developments.  More from these students as their paintings progress over the coming weeks (here's a taster for what they have been creating).

The AS Art students also started to paint this week, after having spent several weeks exploring a range of contemporary drawing based practice.  Initially they looked like 'rabbits in head lights' (the students, not their paintings) & yet within two lessons the progress they had made was staggering - so well done all!  (Images below - which I think are incredible for such early days).  They really had listened & started to take mixing colour to a whole new level - depicting human skin with paint in an incredibly difficult & yet amazing skill to develop (Lucian Freud spent a life time honing these skills to almost perfection, Paul Wright is probably in his studio now painting that very subject matter over & over again in search of perfection - the list of portrait painters is endless, anyone who knows me will hear me real them off by the hundreds - but the one thing they are all trying desperately to do is to 'depict the human skin through paint'.

It's not all been about portraiture though, many of the A2 Art & Design students are exploring a wide range of personal investigations, several are working around the theme of 'Architecture' & have started to explore the pattern repeat opportunities found within this exciting subject matter.  They have explored a range of materials including paper cuts (inspired by the work of Artists like Rob Ryan etc), colour drop using line drawings scanned into Photo shop etc..  (You will notice the sewing machine is never far away & creeps into many of their studies, used as a drawing tool to enhance & define their images).  Their sketchbooks have started to get really exciting & reflect the personal journey they are all on.  I will be featuring these students in greater depth another time - so keep viewing the Blog.

A2 Textiles update:

This week saw the A2 Textiles students really explore some exciting ideas and push the boundaries of their 3D samples.  We had been looking at the wonderful book 'Pattern Magic' & the very clever creations by Tomoko Nakamichi.  Thursday mornings is always a 'hive of activity' in the Textiles studio & this last Thursday was certainly a classic example of this.  The students had transferred some of their architectural designs onto fabric & began manipulating these into their own 3D cube forms - the results were breathtaking (& although the outcomes have a simplicity to them, emphasised by the clean lines of the subject matter, this task was by no way simple or easy - this involved pattern cutting, transfer techniques, construction to name just a few skills acquired in just a mornings lesson). 

These samples are so exciting & I'm waiting with anticipation to see how they are to be developed further.  Watch this space, for future design ideas.  Once again they have hit specifically three of their four assessment objectives (AO1, AO2, AO3- criteria above).

There are many fabulous Textile/Fashion designers that have explored similar themes/processes with amazingly exciting outcomes - e.g.  Harrison Johnson (see images of his work below).

Harrison Johnson (c).

Remember the title of this post is 'Work hard early' - 10% of students work hard early.  Working hard early creates less stress, & produces higher quality work. 

Remember what 'Action Jackson' said (I have quoted his mantra in a previous post - so look it up).  He asked you to consider the following three points: 1.  Who are you? (You are amazing!), 2.  Why? (You have to answer this one)  3. How? (Work hard early).

I shall leave you with these thoughts...

...'Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don't recognise them'.

...'Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful'.

(c) 2013 - As always all layouts & images on this blog are purely for the 'Moon on a stick' blog. I enjoy sharing information & ideas, however, I ask you not to use any of these images/layouts etc without permission or without noting its origins on your post. All rights reserved