workshops in MMU

During Unit X we have been attending workshops with Kirsteen Aubrey that help us to understand different ways we can design and run our own workshops. These have included group activities and solo tasks, which really demonstrate how different people are better or worse at different things. They also help us with thinking about timings within workshops; some people need longer than others for certain tasks. As a lot of the placements take place in care homes and centres for people with learning difficulties we have been taught to consider that some people may have disabilities that mean it’s more difficult for them to do things than ourselves.

Examples of the activities we did in the workshops; working both individually and as part of a team

second week at Start

This week I feel I’ve been a bit more involved on my placement at Start in Salford. I’m starting to get to know the members a bit more, which is helping me to learn how I can help them better. The morning class of visual arts was similar to last week, just talking to the members, helping where I can with their work and offering encouragement. The afternoon class of Photography was fun. We took the small class down to Salford Quays, where we visited the Lowry Art centre. The architecture is brilliant there, with many curved lines and interesting colours which is perfect for taking some fantastic photos. As well as taking my own photos, I also posed in a few of the members’ shots, and again encouraged and suggested to people how they could take some good photos. I think my own confidence is growing as I work with people at the centre, I’m really enjoying the feeling of being an active and helpful part of the community too.

beginning at Start

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This week was the beginning of my placement with Start in Salford. Ben, the head of the charity organisation, took mine and the other students working on placement here’s skills and art disciplines into consideration and placed us in different classes in the centre. As I have worked a lot this year with digital print making I am very competent with using Illustrator and Photoshop, so I have been put in a photography workshop and can help with any needs they have with computers and digital manipulation etc. I also love drawing and painting, so am happy to have been put with the Core Project, a workshop that works with people with long and enduring mental health issues, in the Visual arts group.

In the induction session Ben showed us round the entire centre, which is in a converted church and is a very welcoming and friendly place. I met the staff I’ll be working with for the next six weeks, they seem lovely.

My first day was interesting. In the visual arts class I acted almost as another member! It was a very quiet class of about six members, so there was little to do apart from help people set up their work spaces, and really just give them encouragement, which helps build up confidence and self esteem. Most people in the class are doing their entry level qualification in visual arts, so at the moment are getting work done for their portfolios. It is a twenty week project that began in January, so everyone is well into their work, already working on their preferred methods of working, and looking at artists that can relate to their own work.

In the afternoon was the photography class. It was a much smaller class, so I worked one to one with a bloke on Photoshop, helping him to manipulate his photography from a previous class. This helped me to hone my teaching skills, I enjoyed helping him to produce work he was proud of!