This unit has taught me quite a lot, and has allowed me to identify where I want to go post graduation. This unit has also shown me how far I have developed from Year 0 to now, and my degree show piece successfully shows how far I have come as an artist. However, it's good to look over the parts that weren't as successful, which have also taught me a lot and has allowed me to develop as an emerging artist, as well as an emerging curator.
in terms of my work this unit, I'm really happy with how my final piece turned out. This was a spontaneous idea that came about after working on my retail fleeces and prints. I feel that the use of a poster similar to that of a shop poster along with the fleeces shows a strong link between my concept of workplace bullying and the effects of workplace stress/bullying. i have learned so much about this subject, and about my own experiences in the workplace. However, I think that this isn't my best piece. i think that it could have been taken further if I had more than one A0 poster print, and to have those along with my fleeces would have strongly shown this link between retail and workplace bullying. I also think if I had more time within this unit, I would have liked to explore the idea of the work uniform further, by looking at the uniforms of other professions, and combining these with the effects of workplace bullying and stress as researched throughout this unit. This is something that I hope to explore post graduation as a continuing creative.
My prints have been the most successful piece of this unit I think, with my clothing pieces coming a close second. I think the combination of the colours, fonts and imagery that all relate to a particular company that I have personal experience in really works successfully in demonstrating my concept. There is also something about the prints being repeated with repeating text that shows how these words constantly go through our heads and how we never forget them even when we think we do. I hope to continue to develop my printmaking skills and printmaking work post graduation as I think over the 4 years of this course, printmaking has always been the core of my practice and the one medium that I can see myself potentially taking further in my creative career. I think that to develop these even further, I could talk to other people with similar experiences in their workplace and create prints based on this and develop a series of prints. This is something that I could potentially take further.
My fleeces are really successful, and I think the professional embroidering of the text really adds to the concept of the workplace. Overall I'm glad I had these done as my hand embroidered piece was good, but I don't think it captured the themes and concepts that I wanted it to. I do want to continue to explore the use of work uniforms and to potentially embroider different effects of workplace bullying or stress onto each one. This could look really interesting as an exhibition and I feel could have been a strong development of my use of the work uniform in my practice. But overall I'm happy with my current final outcomes, and I think they successfully depict what my intentions are.
In terms of projects this unit, it has been really helpful being part of the curation team and being able to help in the curation of the Staff/Student show as well as the Degree Show. Being part of the curation team has allowed me to develop skills that I have learnt from my current job as retail Supervisor, and to be able to utilise and develop this skills within my creative degree has been so beneficial to me as I have seen how these skills I have always had can be used effectively in my creative ambitions for the future. It has also been really helpful being on the social media marketing team for the exhibitions, as this is a field in which I want to potentially explore and go into after graduation. The experience throughout my degree has allowed me to develop my skills in this field, as well as my photography skills. I feel like I can effectively curate the digital space as well as the physical space which I think is important to consider when working within the curation industry.
Furthermore, working with other students and being able to lead their marketing campaign was also good experience for me in being a social media manager, and I definitely think I want to explore this career in more depth post graduation. Another project that I have been apart of this unit was being a campaign member for Emily Gardiner's SU President campaign. That has given me a lot of experience in organising and marketing experience, which I think has also helped me develop my transferable skills further. I would have liked to take part in more curatorial projects this unit, but i hope to find these opportunities post graduation. I do think that curation will always be something that I look into, and I do think I will look into doing a MA in curation in the future.
I do think that there are things I need to improve on, like for example developing my graphic skills, and developing my skills with Photoshop and other Adobe software as that is a key element in a lot of the social media jobs that I have seen being advertised currently, so perhaps I can teach myself these different programs after graduation and develop my portfolio. I also think I need to develop my photography skills, and potentially look at this a career, but this is probably secondary to what I want to do which is Social Media Marketing.
In terms of Degree Show, I think my work is successful, but I do think that the overall curation could have been improved. There are elements that I would definitely change, and I think that this show has taught me alot about curation, and what works and doesn't work and I hope to take this forward in any future curatorial projects that I take part in. This unit has opened up lots of potential opportunities for me, such as considering an MA in Curation, as I do think of myself as more of a curator than an artist. Throughout this process I have found that although I can put work up to a standard, I find myself not enjoying that part of it, or having more difficulties in that part of being an artist, and I think with Curve and just being on the curation side, and not the install side as allowed me to realise that that is what I enjoy most and where my strengths lie. I think for me, install should be left to a team of specialists who are qualified to install work and know how to keeps level and what mounting process works better for a type of work. This is something that I do have a lot of experience in, but is not my strength and I have accepted that. I may keep practicing this though after graduation, and trying to develop my install techniques to become an even better curator, and perhaps I should research different hanging methods so I'm aware of what is suitable for a type of work, if given a situation involving hanging a piece or answering a question based on install. Overall this is definitely an area that is not my strongest and just needs more development and professional experience.
Overall, this degree has taught me a lot, about curation, development of work, the professional side of the art industry, and the different creative careers that are not solely based on the fine arts that I can work towards. It has helped me develop as an emerging artist and curator, and has helped me develop my own skills of curation, marketing, team work, leadership, communication, research, analysis, reflection and so on. I feel like I have become better artist having experienced opportunities given throughout this degree and I am confident of where my direction is after graduation. I still want to carry creating, and maybe might partake in exhibitions, but I think my career direction lies in digital marketing, and potentially curation.
