Gold Arts Award - My art form/artistic challenge (unit 1 part A)

Hello My Name is Nicola Dolphin,

I have decided to keep a blog as part my portfolio of evidence for my Gold Arts Award. I started Alchemy group in November 2012, on reflection I have now chosen blogging as part of my dairy record keeping.  I have information to write up from previous months I will reflect on this as part my blogs. 

The Alchemy meeting throughout November and December 2012, these were mainly an introduction to the Award and also getting to know others in the Alchemy group.  Team building and teamwork were key points in each session making us think about leadership skills and communication between each other. These sessions were designed to help with unit 1 and 2 in the award.    

 In planning my timeline for the course I have realised that I will be focused on unit one for main half this term. This is due to me wanting to use my leadership’s skills on the Culture shop Blackpool which starts in summer.  

Unit 1– Personal Arts Development

Part A - Extend Your Own Arts Practice

Main art form Fine Art

Arts/creative skills I already have:

1.       Painting

2.       Photography

3.       Printing

4.       Installation

5.       Jewellery making (Craft)

6.       Hair/ art show

New Arts/creative skills I will explore:

·         Development of photography skills

·         Developing my painting skills.

·         Mix media- experimenting different materials

·         Group art – collective piece or exhibition

Painting:

Strengths -I would say painting is one of my strengths with the arts. I used different media like acrylic, oils, and watercolours.  I feel that abstract and landscapes are my strongest areas.

Weaknesses -Figure drawing isn’t my strength as I struggle getting dimensions to correct proportions.  Space where I can produce longer scale work is always difficult with our studio space.

Photography

Strengths-I feel my arty look on things gives me a keen photographer skill. I take loads of photographs of different things and of places I visit. I don’t worry about the outcome of the photograph and this gives me freedom to experience and see how things turn out. I found taking photographs are a key part to my works development as they keep a record at different stages and I can use them for future reference for example for paintings.  

Weaknesses-Everything about photography I have learnt from my own practise and experience. I would like to get some professional guidance to improve my photography skills. I would like to use different effects on photographs but I am unsure how to achieve this. I would like my photography to be a standalone piece of art work.

Printing

Strengths -My prints skills learnt from my degree.  I sold a few prints, one for £175 in an exhibition I did at the Dukes Theatre Gallery in Lancaster. This increased my confidence with my printing skills.

Weaknesses-I haven’t tried all the different types of print out there; I would have loved to learn how to do screen prints.

Installation

Strengths- In the last year of my degree I wanted to stretch my learning by trying something new, in my case this was in the form of an installation. For part of my installation I used my science knowledge to create an art piece. I felt this went well as I was using knowledge from two subject areas which I loved.  I felt it brought out different creative skills which didn’t know I had.

Weaknesses-The cost of doing this type of work held me back in this project.  Also I had to learn  the skills and techniques very quickly.

Jewellery making (Craft)

Strengths-Recently started jewellery making, which has been fun and exciting to make different pieces. This also brought out a different side of my creative skills.

Weaknesses-Not always knowing what to do on pieces sometimes is a struggle and takes a lot of time. The cost of materials also held me back at some points.

Hair/ art show

Strengths-Creative skills give me a sense of freedom in creating inspiring pieces with my hairdressing course.  This course also brought out my different creative skills in hairdressing. I used my photography skill to take arty images of my models; this became an art piece within itself.

Weaknesses- Putting on a hair show was very frightening and stressful and highlighted that I sometimes lack confidence in my own ability.  The show also takes a lot of time to put together and so showed room for improvement in my time management and prioritising skills.

Extending my art forms:

   I have chosen to develop myself taught photography skills with the overall aim of using my photographs as the completed art form rather than as the means of logging progress of another art form. My artistic challenge is create a professional photograph.  

company working with us

Alchemy is group of artist to achieve Arts Award