When starting the Moving Tides project I believed it to be the most suited to my possible career aspirations as the action plan curated during professional environment unit, teaching was something I was considering. I wanted to try teaching to see if it was something I would like to look into further, after all, SDP was a chance to take risks and take on a project to direct my own learning. Never once did I expect the parade to be cancelled last minute due to persistant weather warnings. This is probably the worst possible outcome that could happen to an artist – preparing for something it to then be cancelled. Words can’t describe how unexpected and disappointing the news was, as I can imagine the students, teachers and organisers felt too. What was most disheartening was that it was such a lengthy process leading up to the parade so initial thoughts were the ineffective use of everyone’s hard work and time, being a horrible feeling for me as I am usually such an optimist. Once the news had sunk in I started to realise that many positives came out of the experience and it was not a time waster. When starting the project we got stuck in straight away with the workshops involving external practitioners. I feel that throughout it has been very self-directed as it was less about communicating with tutors and more with the professional world such as teachers, students and the steering group. I have learned a great amount about unusal 3D materials, lesson planning and teaching as well as professional aspects that can only be gained and experienced on a live project such as this which is most invaluable. I now have quite an in-depth understanding of the ways in which this environment in works and how it is realised from initial meetings and briefs. The following stages would come next - research and development, importance of prototypes, working by trial and error, budget information and the final ideas/construction of the costumes through to what was meant to be the live parade itself. However, as it got cancelled this taught me that often events involved in the outdoors can experience unforeseen or unexpected difficulty due to inclement weather. This is such a shame and has made me re-evaluate possible career paths as I wouldn't want the potential disruption or to be disapointed by having events cancelled due to our British weather.
Although I have encountered many other mishaps throughout the project I feel it has only benefitted me as a practitioner because without these I may not of learned as much. My patience and time management are my two weak points what I wanted to concentrate on improving with moving tides, as these are vital traits that every designer should be good at! Constructing the the workplan, learning agreement and lesson plans only worked in my favour in terms of time management and organisation and gave me a clear sense of what I wanted and went on to achieve. Although I was stressed at times I think my ability to problem solve even when stressed has been a benefit to me. The experience of teaching was an interesting one as I didn't know what to expect and at times encountered slight frustration but ending up thoroughly enjoying it as my designs and sessions were received so positively. My patience with both materials and teaching has really improved and what better way to test it than to be in a class of 31 10year olds!
In terms of my professional aspirations, teaching primary was an option, however I have decided against this because I feel I would like to be in a working environment where I work along more experienced creatives. I also missed the in depth conceptual work involved and feel my designing ideas were limited and less complicated because of considerions to audience and who I was working with. However, it has made me more certain on still being in a hands on environment. It was an amazing opportunity to be involved in and was a pleasure to work with people who really appreciated my hard work and receiving such praise and compliments was a massive booster, helping me have confidence in my own work which I do not always feel. Both children and adults involved seemed really satisfied and inspired at the outcome by the last session, and I was equally pleased that I had achieved my aim of helping to produce 31 bright costumes which could be worn with comfort and recognizable because of the bright bold colors from near and far, perfect for carnival. With it being a live project there are bound to be some unexpected issues and I think I have used my initiative when necessary, and although I made some mistakes, I have acknowledged and learnt from them, preparing me for the next self directed project broadening my knowledge of another form of performance. The parade is hopefully going to be postponed to a September date which would be fantastic as it makes the project a lot more exciting for both them and me to see the costumes in action!!
Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Group Photo!!
The highlight of any project for me is seeing the final outcome! and this was definitely mine!! ^^ This is a few of the students posing in their costumes so far when they parading around the playground. Collectively I am super pleased with how they all look as a sea of monsters together, each session has met the aims I wanted for each of them however I am a bit worried about the flimsyness of the tentacles on the collars (falling down in the wind?) and also the elastics on the masks, as the children cut the elastic too tight and some have pinged off causing the plasterzote to rip. I have arranged with the tutor to go in for a day and possible put sticks behind the tentacles and sort out the elastic as well, and hopefully after this it will all look even better together!
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Constant Problemossss
I encountered a range of what may be seen as problems, but what I see as ‘learning curves’, because with a project with such a nature as Moving tides there is no specific right way to construct a costume, it is all about trial and error and experimentation with 3D materials. My first problem was designing the costume too simply. With the idea in my head that I would be teaching children how to make it, I tried to make it uncomplicated which is something I find difficult, as all my usual designs are very experimental and complicated, however, not having taught children before I didn’t know how easy or hard to make it. After the steering group said this, I knew straight away that I could do much better and went back to the drawing board and came up with a design which I thought a lot more successful and aesteciacally pleasing, and much more suited to the idea I wanted to portray – the disgusting sea monster. After this, came more problems with the mask I wanted to create.
The design I had was inspired by various artists and characters from programmes/films and i wanted to make a mask. I thought the best way to do it was to make a clay version first, then a plaster mould and then a plaster cast because of the fact I would have to vac form 31 of these it would be better to be a more stable material. However, stupidly didn’t put enough Vaseline onto the clay and the plaster mould would not come off, with help from the technician we cracked it off, but was too complicated to glue back together, therefore started all over and made a new clay version. I altered this version slightly though as I was quite paranoid the mask looked slightly falic again! This time put plenty of Vaseline onto the clay, the plaster came off a lot easier, and then the plaster cast worked out very well !!
I practised using the vac form machine using HIPS plastic in black and it worked well, the shiny texture looked really great. So went ahead and ordered HIPS plastic in green in the right thickness. So it arrives… It was a great colour green and I got really excited that I could finally vac form these masks. Excitement over. The plastic is far too thin and brittle for the machine and expecially for my detailed mask. Every time I attempted to put it off the mould it would crack at the slightest tug. This is not appropriate for a mask let alone one that 10 year old boys will be handling!! I began to get really worried about what I was going to do and couldn’t actually see this problem being overcome as the materials had already been ordered! I considered using see through plastic for free from the workshop, (which wouldn’t have the desired effect) or white plasterzote which was free from the scrap store and painting it, again, wouldn’t look as effective as a green mask, and also really flimsy. I was counting on the green plasterzote that ordered from Hindleys to make the tentacles with and was hoping I had ordered enough!
To solve the problem: Vac formed 31 masks using the dark green plasterzote from Hindleys (because it was thin it took some getting used to using in the vac form machine as it heats up so quickly and burns easily!). This meant all of the tentacles could not be used in green plasterzote as there was not enough so made a decision to do 3 of these in free white plasterzote and 2 in coloured, as I thought the masks were more important to be coloured. Luckily all the costumes look really good and varied with the colours and the paints which I am really pleased about, and it just shows that when your on a budget, and doing the budgeting sheet beforehand its really hard to foresee how much of the materials you actually need. So for future reference I will consider really in depth and detail the measurements and qaunitites of materials I will need as well as make sure i dont order materials until I receive all samples!!!
I practised using the vac form machine using HIPS plastic in black and it worked well, the shiny texture looked really great. So went ahead and ordered HIPS plastic in green in the right thickness. So it arrives… It was a great colour green and I got really excited that I could finally vac form these masks. Excitement over. The plastic is far too thin and brittle for the machine and expecially for my detailed mask. Every time I attempted to put it off the mould it would crack at the slightest tug. This is not appropriate for a mask let alone one that 10 year old boys will be handling!! I began to get really worried about what I was going to do and couldn’t actually see this problem being overcome as the materials had already been ordered! I considered using see through plastic for free from the workshop, (which wouldn’t have the desired effect) or white plasterzote which was free from the scrap store and painting it, again, wouldn’t look as effective as a green mask, and also really flimsy. I was counting on the green plasterzote that ordered from Hindleys to make the tentacles with and was hoping I had ordered enough!
To solve the problem: Vac formed 31 masks using the dark green plasterzote from Hindleys (because it was thin it took some getting used to using in the vac form machine as it heats up so quickly and burns easily!). This meant all of the tentacles could not be used in green plasterzote as there was not enough so made a decision to do 3 of these in free white plasterzote and 2 in coloured, as I thought the masks were more important to be coloured. Luckily all the costumes look really good and varied with the colours and the paints which I am really pleased about, and it just shows that when your on a budget, and doing the budgeting sheet beforehand its really hard to foresee how much of the materials you actually need. So for future reference I will consider really in depth and detail the measurements and qaunitites of materials I will need as well as make sure i dont order materials until I receive all samples!!!
Saturday, 2 June 2012
Final Beechcroft Workshop - Pulling everything together
This forth and final lesson was the pulling together of all components to make one full costume for each student. It was a relaxed session (that was a first!) where the children added trimmings to the Tshirts neckline and then one by one worked with me to use a Hot Glue gun to put their tentacles onto the collars they had made. With the collars being the most unsuccessful part in my opinion I was slightly worried about how they were going to look with the tentacles attached, but they actually look really good and the tentacles seem to cover the parts that were not done very well. I also attached the elastic loops on either side of the collar so that the cotton tape could be threaded through in order for them to be stable on the neck and shoulders. This seemed to be the best way of putting the collar on the children and the comfiest that I tried where it loops under the armpits and ties around the back, this allows them to have freedom with their arms and upper body, and after trying all different ways and getting tutor advice this was the best and most successful way to be worn.
The final lesson was brilliant and being able to see the enthusiasm and excitement from the children was great. At the end of the session they all wanted to parade around the playground in their outfits. The next stage for them is for a choreographer to come into the school and teach them a dance related to the 'sea monster' idea. This would be the routine that they will perform in the parade. The Moving Tides project that I set them seems to of been very beneficial in terms of creativity. It allowed them to learn more techniques and processes that they have never tried before and actually enticed a lot more students interest in the project than you would of thought it initially would. I think they were all satisfied with what they had achieved because with it being a live project they know how important the costumes are and tried their best so knowing all this hard work goes towards something makes a project a lot more exciting for both them and me!
Friday, 25 May 2012
Beechcroft Workshop 3 - Tshirt reveal, Decoration of Tentacles/masks and Paper mache collar...
Today was demanding! I thought this would be a pretty simple session but little did I know how difficult it would be to teach and oversee 31 children doing paper mache! As I have said before, the ability in this class is completely different where some children find it difficult to come to grips with learning new skills and others just get on with it really well with very little help...
After break I handed out bits and bobs from the scrap store that they could choose to decorate their tentacles with. Because of the problems that occurred when I realised I didn't have enough white Plasterzote and the tentacles that I had made broke in half, I made some extra tentacles but in coloured plasterzote which they also had to decorate. As well as the revealing to the Tshirts it was also a chance to show the outcome of the latex experiments. I think the reaction of the children was shock, as they couldn't grasp the concept of how it was all going to work out as the latex was obviously white and watery the last time they saw it. I explained what latex is usually used for (in terms of prosthetic and special effects) which taught them a completely new approach and skill to work and create the gloopy texture for the mask and use this technique that I wanted to recreate throughout the whole of the class of masks. The latex pieces and the scrap store decorations needed to be glued on the masks and tentacles....Which meant that glue guns would need to be used which meant health and safety measures had to be in place such as goggles and only a certain number of children completing it, as well as keeping a careful watch on all the students as many things could possibly go wrong when hot appliances are involved...
The first part of the session was the reveal of the Tie dyed Tshirts which were done two weeks before. Buckets of water were put in the playground and they were to wash the Tshirts clean until no green dye came out. Everyone was very well behaved during this process and were all really pleased with their creations, apart from one student whose Tshirt was mainly white with green circles, she was unhappy with this Tshirt however I thought it looked great and made her stand out from all the other children whose were mainly green. I love how varied all the students look and really pleased that they had their own creative input into their costumes...
After break I handed out bits and bobs from the scrap store that they could choose to decorate their tentacles with. Because of the problems that occurred when I realised I didn't have enough white Plasterzote and the tentacles that I had made broke in half, I made some extra tentacles but in coloured plasterzote which they also had to decorate. As well as the revealing to the Tshirts it was also a chance to show the outcome of the latex experiments. I think the reaction of the children was shock, as they couldn't grasp the concept of how it was all going to work out as the latex was obviously white and watery the last time they saw it. I explained what latex is usually used for (in terms of prosthetic and special effects) which taught them a completely new approach and skill to work and create the gloopy texture for the mask and use this technique that I wanted to recreate throughout the whole of the class of masks. The latex pieces and the scrap store decorations needed to be glued on the masks and tentacles....Which meant that glue guns would need to be used which meant health and safety measures had to be in place such as goggles and only a certain number of children completing it, as well as keeping a careful watch on all the students as many things could possibly go wrong when hot appliances are involved... 
The students got on with this fantastically and you could see how pleased they were once this has was all done and really keen to get on with the collars. With the demonstration of the paper mache on the collars I made sure I was really clear on the instructions, however because it was tissue paper I was using rather than newspaper it was harder to wrap around the wire frames because if it became to wet the tissue paper would rip so there was a certain technique to it, and one that clearly the children found hard to grasp. We started the paper mache after lunch and it took up until the end of the day to finish, when actually some didnt even finish. The class in my opinion was actual mayhem with many students needing assistance and some taking so long to even start it. I have learnt during just this half of the session how challenging teaching can be, when a task is difficult and more than just a small group need help it can cause havoc. Luckily enough I had the main year 5 teacher and art tutor to help me assist the children and without them I wouldn't of been able to complete the lesson. I am glad I went forward with this lesson as it has taught me again never to assume what children can do and make sure its not too challenging that they don't enjoy themselves...
Friday, 11 May 2012
Mass production to the mass!!!
Masks and Tentacles
As well as having to make the plasterzote masks I also have had to make approx 150 tentacles out of both white and green plasterzote. I obviously didn't think this through when designing because this is a lot of pre production that I have had to take on myself. If I were to do this project again I would design something which could mostly be done in the lessons because in the working world I would be getting around £200 a day to be a visiting artist and I wouldnt want this to include the pre production as well as the lessons. However, I am not getting paid this much money and IT IS for my project so I don't mind as much because I want them to look the best they can, and what I am doing before the sessions are things to do with structure of the costume which children would not be able to do...
I have spent the past week making the wire collars ready for session 3, and I am so relieved they are done. Having to complete 31 wire collars using the spot welder in an empty workshop when the sun is shining outside is not the best way to spend nearly 4 days sweltering in the heat. But it had to be done! At first I found it quite hard to come to grips with so took a lot of patience.
The spot welder was the best option to make these collars because it welds the rods together making it all very strong and sturdy rather than flimsy and flexible. It became easier the more I produced and after a day I realised that drawing a diagram with measurements and then cutting the rods to the exact lengths worked better and made the welding go a lot quicker. Almost like a production line with myself !! :)
The above photo Is the shape I decided on using because of the comfort when placed around the neck and shoulders because of the curve. I am glad I tried out different ways and shapes of doing the collar though because it was all trial and error to see what did and didn't work. This is an example of having to come up with creative solutions to fit a problem and especially when constructing them not knowing what method I was going to use in the end. I got the main collar idea from the kinetika workshop but didn't follow their insructions of how to make it or use the the same materials, as I wanted them not made from just brown paper and flimsy wire, but really loved the shape, so experimented with this idea and came up with my own version :)
As well as having to make the plasterzote masks I also have had to make approx 150 tentacles out of both white and green plasterzote. I obviously didn't think this through when designing because this is a lot of pre production that I have had to take on myself. If I were to do this project again I would design something which could mostly be done in the lessons because in the working world I would be getting around £200 a day to be a visiting artist and I wouldnt want this to include the pre production as well as the lessons. However, I am not getting paid this much money and IT IS for my project so I don't mind as much because I want them to look the best they can, and what I am doing before the sessions are things to do with structure of the costume which children would not be able to do...
^ Thats not even the half of all of the tentacles!!!!!
Wire collars
I have spent the past week making the wire collars ready for session 3, and I am so relieved they are done. Having to complete 31 wire collars using the spot welder in an empty workshop when the sun is shining outside is not the best way to spend nearly 4 days sweltering in the heat. But it had to be done! At first I found it quite hard to come to grips with so took a lot of patience.
The spot welder was the best option to make these collars because it welds the rods together making it all very strong and sturdy rather than flimsy and flexible. It became easier the more I produced and after a day I realised that drawing a diagram with measurements and then cutting the rods to the exact lengths worked better and made the welding go a lot quicker. Almost like a production line with myself !! :)
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Beechcroft Workshop 2 - Painting masks, Tentacles and Latex Experimentation
Because of the speed that the students completed the last session in, I learnt from this and made sure there was plenty to do this session as I have a full day with them... Again I had so many materials to carry into the school, however, there was no way around this so just something I have to get used to! I had 120 Thin plasterzote tentacles, 31 Green plasterzote masks, a Huge bottle of latex and the bits and bobs to experiment with.
The reception I have received from the children so far is great! They were even more enthused about this session knowing that there would be a lot of creative work to get messy with and that many of the parts of the costume would be finished by the end of this session. There have been numerous questions before they had even sat down on the carpet.. "Kirsty what part are we doing today?" "Are we making the tentacles?" "When will it all be finished??" showing their keeness to the project that they are itching to get started.
I had been warned prior to this lesson that whatever coloured paints you give to children, they will always want different ones, (one child said "why do we have to be green? cant I be red?") or mix all the colours they have and make one lovely grey/brown sludge of a colour!! However, some masks did turn out really really well and some of the children were neat, careful and really took care of the presentation, this just shows the difference in artistic ability in the class, but however able they are, everyone seemed to enjoy painting the masks, so I guess that is what matters. I am no way near a perfectionist, but working with children who have a short attention and concentration span has made me quite a fusspot about my work, and find myself trying to help them more than necessary. The teacher of the class also told me that you just need to let them get on with it as they have their own idea of what is perfect to them. To the left are some examples of the variety of masks that they have created....
The next stage in the costume making process was to paint the tentacles. This was not a difficult task (or so i thought) however, got extremely messy and didn't help when a number of children decided to rip off their aprons. I'm sure their mums weren't best pleased with green children arrived home! But having 120 painted tentacles lying on the table was very satisfying indeed!!
The experimentation was the last part of the session and I thought I made a good choice in taking this session in two parts with half the class at a time
Now that I have completed two workshops sessions I think my confidence in teaching has really improved. I feel like I really get on with children now and think that they are learning to respect me and my teaching. I have learnt that when I am demonstrating the next step, I need to be extremely clear about EXACTLY what I want to be done, as this will grab those who lack concentration's attention and benefit me from explaining myself numerous times.
The reception I have received from the children so far is great! They were even more enthused about this session knowing that there would be a lot of creative work to get messy with and that many of the parts of the costume would be finished by the end of this session. There have been numerous questions before they had even sat down on the carpet.. "Kirsty what part are we doing today?" "Are we making the tentacles?" "When will it all be finished??" showing their keeness to the project that they are itching to get started. I had been warned prior to this lesson that whatever coloured paints you give to children, they will always want different ones, (one child said "why do we have to be green? cant I be red?") or mix all the colours they have and make one lovely grey/brown sludge of a colour!! However, some masks did turn out really really well and some of the children were neat, careful and really took care of the presentation, this just shows the difference in artistic ability in the class, but however able they are, everyone seemed to enjoy painting the masks, so I guess that is what matters. I am no way near a perfectionist, but working with children who have a short attention and concentration span has made me quite a fusspot about my work, and find myself trying to help them more than necessary. The teacher of the class also told me that you just need to let them get on with it as they have their own idea of what is perfect to them. To the left are some examples of the variety of masks that they have created....The next stage in the costume making process was to paint the tentacles. This was not a difficult task (or so i thought) however, got extremely messy and didn't help when a number of children decided to rip off their aprons. I'm sure their mums weren't best pleased with green children arrived home! But having 120 painted tentacles lying on the table was very satisfying indeed!!
The experimentation was the last part of the session and I thought I made a good choice in taking this session in two parts with half the class at a time
Now that I have completed two workshops sessions I think my confidence in teaching has really improved. I feel like I really get on with children now and think that they are learning to respect me and my teaching. I have learnt that when I am demonstrating the next step, I need to be extremely clear about EXACTLY what I want to be done, as this will grab those who lack concentration's attention and benefit me from explaining myself numerous times.
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