At the beginning of Unit X I was a little overwhelmed by the incredibly open brief and how we were expected to work almost completely independently. I was also slightly mystified by the group blog that we were to keep. However, as the weeks passed I started enjoying the blogging experience a lot more, instead of just keeping notes in a personal journal, it was nice to share ideas and inspirations within the group.
One of the things I enjoyed most about Unit X was the fact we were in Hotspur House rather than the TIP studio. I feel like it opened up my way of working. Hotspur is such an inspiring building in itself, with the history and the fact that working artists use the studios as well as just us students. What else was very lovely about the unit was that as well as just other textiles students working in the space, we were surrounded with some of the other disciplines within the School of Art, allowing us to absorb other people’s work that was going on around us.
Through the course of the last 8 weeks, I have found that the way I used to work has changed. Instead of being very literal and image based in my work, I’ve actually done very little drawing or photography, which is what I have mainly concentrated on in previous projects. This time I have worked with words and thoughts more intensely. I have also spoken to many people throughout this project, collecting opinions and thoughts on my subjects and work. This is an activity that I’ve never really done before. My work this time has been much less processed based; I think the fact that set workshops and classes haven’t been timetabled has had something to do with this. In previous projects I feel that I was trying to make the subject of my work fit in with either knitting or 3D construction for example, rather than letting the work develop in a more organic way like it has in Unit X. Because of this, I have enjoyed the project a lot, I like working more freely and openly.
I think the most successful aspect of the unit has been my idea development. Being part of the Imagining It sub group has been exciting and I’ve stayed much more focused as I was part of a group of people that work very similarly to me. I think that previously I’ve been a little distracted when working alongside people who are more fashion or product based, so it’s been really enlightening to work with the other Imagining It students.
Although I have improved throughout my previous projects, I feel I didn’t start off Unit X as strongly as I could have done, I was still a little slow in the beginning with my research and development work.
I hope that my final show next week will reflect the effort I have put in through Unit X and really portray how interesting, exciting and fun the project has been!
