Time to decide...

Well, in the past eight weeks i have been studying 4 major areas in and amongst art and design at Chelsea. It has been a whole new experience for me, not only meeting lots of new people but mainly having a go at subjects i would usually avoid at all costs. The four rotations consisted of Visual Communication, 3D Spatial, Fashion and Textiles and Fine Art. Each rotation was two weeks long and gave us a chance to experience new ways of working and thinking.

I began my first rotation in my most anticipated subject area; Visual communication. The work was completely different to the previous two years i had spent doing art and design at A-Level, it was fast paced, quick ideas and very creative. It was a slight shock to me and i froze, overwhelmed by the people around me churning out work, it took me nearly a whole week to find my feet and fit in with the work. I did really enjoy the rotation and feel like i would have done so much more if it was not part of the first week of chaos of college. So after this i was not completely sure i wanted to choose my initial thoughts before starting at the college.

My second rotation was within 3D Spatial which consisted of a lot of drawing and model making, which i quite enjoyed, using found objects to create interesting models and shapes. I had always liked working in 3D and this increased my interest in the subject area. Although thinking ahead i'm not sure if i could spend the rest of my life going down the 3D pathway and ending up as a furniture designer. But i did learn a lot of new techniques, especially continuous fast paced drawing which was quite fun and opening my eyes to the objects around me about how they work and are made.

Week five and it was time for my least anticipated subject area of Fashion and Textiles. I turned up to expect knitting, sewing and working with fabrics but i was completely wrong. The first week consisted of a lot of new drawing techniques of installations we had made. I seemed to churn out quite a lot of work to be honest. I especially enjoyed the small sketchbooks we made, as small as 5 by 7cm. At the end of the first week i wasn't sure if we were actually going to do any fashion and textiles, fortunately we did start to get involved into fabric and shape which was fairly interesting. I ended up making a shoulder pad out of foam which was quite successful in my eyes but i'm not sure it was in the tutors eyes. I can safely say i will definitely not be choosing Fashion and Textiles as my specified area because i have never been interested in fabric which is a massive part of Fashion/Textiles.

With my shoulder pads behind me i moved into Fine Art for my last rotation, which was probably the most talked about area. I had all these crazy, weird and abstract expectations of the area and they pretty much all lived up to what i had expected. The first day we sat there drawing from random installations set up, i was hoping this was not going to continue for the rest of the week. And i was happy as it did change and i found a new sense of freedom, all my life i have been set briefs and deadlines and within this rotation i felt like i could do whatever i wanted to. After being inspired by Max (tutor) showing us how to create and construct animations i decided to have a go myself. Mainly because i wasn't having much success of being 'free' with my paintings. The animation was new and very interesting, although i found out by the end of it a lot of patience was required. I spent nearly a week constructing a storyboard of post it notes and the final piece was only 9.7 secs long which was a tad disappointing but oh well, the final piece was very successful for me personally. It did make me think about possibly going into the media side of Fine Art/ Graphics area but i was not completely sure it was for me. The area was maybe my favourite but i have no career in Fine art at all so it was out of the question.

After looking back on all the rotations, i am glad i had the chance to experience them all and show me what i really want to do. I have always wanted to work with graphics and even though Visual Communication was not my most successful area during the rotations, the whole eight weeks has opened up my eyes to new ideas and ways of thinking and seeing. I definitely want to choose Visual Communication as my specific subject area. I can see myself going down this pathway and sticking to it, i can't see myself specialising in any other area. This foundation was great fun and opened my eyes to the realistic world of Art and Design.

Ralph

that project...

Finally got round to taken some photos for the project we were given in vis com which was suppose to be done through out the 8 weeks. Probably should of started earlier but oh well. The photos were of a skateboarder doing a trick, but i captured several moments of the process. Printed the pictures out with a little bit of editing. Then i started experimenting on Photoshop. Heres one with gaussian blur...

Shoulder Pads...

So i'm coming to an end of my third rotation which is fashion and textiles. I really enjoyed the first week to be honest, it wasn't what i had expected, there was a lot of drawing to begin with, experimenting with different methods and ways of drawing. On large scale and small scales which was fun. We were soon focusing on shapes and photographs which we had taken, modelling from them with different materials/fabrics. And finally this week it was more fashion/ textile based. I ended up making a couple prototype shoulder pads which turned out okay in my view, although probably in the eyes of tutors they could clearly see i was never meant for this rotation.
Next week fine art...going to be a completely new experience for me

Not so fashion and textiles

The end of last week came to a close for 3D spatial which i really enjoyed in the end, the crit gave me a chance to see what other people were doing and gave me a better reason to choose it as my speciality at the end of the rotation. Still not sure though...

Yesterday was the start of a new rotation within fashion and textiles, the whole day was spent drawing and setting up an installation. We were shown new ways of drawing which were quite helpful although i am still really confused where the whole 'FASHION and TEXTILES' part comes into it. Its looking a lot like 3D spatial if anything. Hopefully it will become clearer later in the week.