The PPD presentation went quite well (though I did accidentally block the screen for all of it..) and zoe / joey gave me good feedback. When I said I feel I might have wasted an opportunity zoe said I actually made an opportunity which made me feel a lot better because I realised it's true. Also I found out that zoe uses a script for her research-based presentations as well.
script for my presentation:
what I expected
~ Reading the introduction to the workshop project, it sounded like a really amazing opportunity, especially as it was focused on the Prints and Drawings part of the museum. In the beginning, I was more intrigued by how the museum preserves their collection of original works, especially such a vast one, in the museum, and I was also very curious as to how to research from these works, then to proceed to develop a workshop that is useful and valuable to myself and the public. That whole process from the primary research to the delivery of what I gained from that research, I wanted to learn more about.
I also knew that I would be challenged as I am not very experienced in teaching, I’ve only taught one class before, and it was english, and I hated it, how you have to organize information into digestible bits and make it not boring. But I have never tried to teach something art-related so I thought I would learn if I really disliked teaching or not. What I didn’t expect was just how much I learnt from every session… and we only had three sessions.. because Sarah, the woman who led this project, everything, every sentence she said was super useful and informative and I was rushing to make notes to record everything she was saying.
~ This is the PLAN that Sarah, sent us initially.
~ from this summary of the session contents you can see that she really leads us into the project in a very organized way, building up to the initial aim of the project.
~ before starting the sessions we also filled out this pre-project questionnaire which is for Sarah to see what type of practice we had individually so she could get prints and drawings out in the first session that are relevant to us.
1st session:
~Sarah picked out 12 drawings from the collection and grouped them into three groups. She then went through each work one by one to talk about its context & the process - which made me like every single piece, even the ones I wasn’t drawn to at first glance. sarah was very interested in the artistic process of the drawing itself (THE MAKING) bc everything had a reason why they were the way they were.It is the same as a semi coloumn or a full stop in a sentence in writers and, musical notes in a song (so many songs in the world and few sound the same even though there are limited notes, infinite possibilities.) made me realise how imporatnt that process is. also to do with time periods and beliefs. such as orphism/futurism for paul nash who is an artist i love but didnt know thsi about.
— and after this session I really see clearly how knowing the context for each artist adds more meaning to the work - it made me more interested in art history.
for example this louise bourgeois drawing, is subtly complex because she actually made a composition and then erased parts of it, but left traces of that underneath, there are quick short lines but the form itself is quite heavy.
So, I also learnt a lot on how to read the drawing itself just by looking at the strokes etc.
Also inspired me to draw more, because Sarah was emphasizing how drawing is not just about being accurate - which is sadly what the general public thinks - often they come to the british museum workshop expecting to learn how to draw from just one session.
Also learnt how the collection is stored all around n this study room, which is really amazing, they are all in big binders stacked upon each other. everything is colour coded, e.g. italy is blue and maroon is british, they have them in that room but also in the basement below. surprised this is public space that i didn’t know about
2nd session:
The second session at the british museum was focused on the RESEARCH and how to learn from the museum’s collection. The homework the previous week was to choose a work from the collection for sarah to take out for us to see this week and also to come up with a ‘theme’ to do a workshop on. I was actually more inspired by some of the other works the other people chose. Again I learnt a lot about how to read a drawing from this session, as well as how to think of the public when you are planning a workshop.
I have many notes from every session but some things that Sarah said I found useful in this one were:
-CONCEPT/MEANING AND FORM. not easiest to do in public. how to tease out meaning by balancing content and process.
-use my interest as a guide
-teaching audience how to read a piece of art. a lot of people haven’t been trained to do. make them realize how complex visual expression is.
-not about giving the meaning of life.
-want to give them facts to walk away with.
-introduction + way in for people (eg casual drawing exercise)
-only one thing they’ll remember when they leave, what is the key thing - that’s your theme.the artworks need to prove your ‘thesis’, hypothesis.
-teaching - trial and error and not take things personally. develop thicker skin. May not be for you. but the purpose is to see if you suit this
3rd session.
last 1-1:
By this point I was feeling very unsure about it all because from just doing the mini-workshop in the previous session I recognized my weaknesses and strong dislike in the process of preparing for teaching and delivering that teaching itself. I enjoy the research and learning, for myself, but the grouping together of ideas and making single links in a digestible way that builds up slowly and is easy to follow while thinking about unexpected issues that could rise from the audience or public, was incredibly difficult and painful for me. I understand that it gets easier over time, but I feel that you really need a passion to keep going. Also, it is impossible to fit everything you learnt in a limited amount of time in teaching, and I find that quite depressing. I just feel that my mind is really chaotic and organizing those thoughts while actively trying to engage the audience such as switching to a drawing exercise, asking questions, just sounds like the last thing I want to do, at least right now. I understand that a lot of artists do teach in their career and it is an important skill, but I don’t think I could handle it at this point in time, maybe I was approaching it the wrong way, memorizing a script etc, but the anxiety of it all was really getting to me. And I do feel I wasted an opportunity, do feel a bit guilty, but I did tell sarah this in my 1-1 session she she gave me lots of useful advice.
OVERALL:
made me realize I don’t think I want to teach, made me realize my weaknesses in categorizing ideas / into a bite-sized digestible form for the public (unexpected) to understand + to enjoy, I could do it, but need a lot of passion. understand that it might be a necessity in the future but..
taught me much more about how to read drawings, looking closely at how it is made, the artistic process,
made me like art history a lot more
realized how broad the british museum collection is, and how even artist/students like us can book the study room for research and look at original works in the flesh
practicalities of delivering a workshop to the public
Overall it was a very very useful experience and I am glad I did it, I took a lot from it in terms of artistic knowledge and skills such as accessing the museums collections/reading a drawing/delivering a workshop, now I know I need to practice organizing ideas because it is the most useful skill especially in things like teaching, essays, and presentations.
ALICIA: worked on cutting acetates to develop a series of photograms, in preparation for her residency and show at the Leonora Carrington Museum in Mexico, which will become compositions referencing the history of surrealism
worked on cutting out digitally-printed paper elements, in order to collage onto silkscreen prints, done by her in collaboration with Michael Hall who is the director of invisible print studio, which will also appear in the london show
worked on drawing the initial stages of Rococo-influenced “frames” for a series of small portraits, referencing the blue-and-white aesthetic and history of Delftware tiles, inspired by the ceramics collection of the V&A museum
This experience was Alicia was extremely useful as well because I got to see what it was like working as an artist. She did not leave us to work alone but instead we worked together and engaged in conversations that were valuable, such as how she started to build her career as an artist, how she prices her works, the different methods she’s been exploring that inspired me as well, living in london as an artist / having a family while being a working artist, different print studios/workshops/exhibitions we can access in london, talking a lot about her many residencies and collaborations, applying for funds etc etc. I was also asking about her actual work like color and composition as I was struggling with my own work as well. So it was largely enjoyable and useful overall.
(on the last day I also went to her current show that features the frames and shapes we were working on, and it was really good to see her work in the flesh in the context of a gallery. She also held a panel discussion there which I watched through.
MOLLY’S GROUP SHOW:
Molly asked me to participate in her own PPD which was curating a group show, and this was useful for me as well because I saw clearly how much work curating a show is, practical problems that rose from the day and the preparations before that. I learnt that it is more complex than I thought, especially grouping together a bunch of artists whose work you haven’t seen before, she had to get everyones measurements and plan out where to put everything just looking at the blueprint. I know she was in a lot of stress from this experience and I do feel more prepared for future opportunities where I have to do something similar.
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