My approach to learning and developing a creative practice

My approach to learning is roughly based on the experimental approach to learning, pioneered by David Kolb. He suggests that learning is process driven by constant observation, experimentation, conceptualisation and experience. (Skills you need, 2015) The process of engaging in an activity and practising is a concept first brought to us by Pavlov’s dogs, the famous 1927 experiment on the idea of classical conditioning. The experimental approach is much more learner centred, unlike the conformity of standardised education and the compliance which is forced upon the younger generation by schools. (Robinson, K 2013.)

The concept of placing emphasis on the learners ability to develop his/hers own learning and dictate how effective it will be, relates strongly to the idea of the 5 C’s of learning: curiosity, cooperation, creativity, criticality and commitment. By personalising this process and having a mature strategy on how to approach learning, it becomes a lot easier to execute and maintain.  Criticality, for me, is a major aspect of learning. It provides a springboard for improvement as once weaknesses have been identified, they can be improved upon; and knowing one’s strengths will make using them to my advantage a lot simpler. However I do believe that the 5 C’s shouldn't be placed in any order, as with the loss of one of them would render the learning process ineffective altogether. 

The Rough Cut brief provides the opportunity to experiment and try and develop new skills, and demonstrates how the 5 C’s can be applied to improve how we create new work. Emphasis is placed behind the need for experimentation, and to draw inspiration from new places to enhance our creativity. I draw inspiration by the omnipresence of many social media platforms constantly influencing and documenting not only photographs, but collages, drawings etc, most of the time without even realising that I do. By being more aware of where I draw inspiration from I hope to begin to sculpt the work I produce to be more reflective of myself than anyone else. 



Bibliography Lindström, L. (2006) Creativity: What is it? Can you Assess it? International Journal of Art & Design Education, 25: 53–66.Robinson, K. (2013) Ted Talks- ‘How to escape education's death valley’ (youtube) available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc (Accessed January 7 2017) SkillsYouNeed (2015) learning approaches (online) available at http://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/learning-approaches.html (Accessed January 8 2017)

Task Two

‘Subject and Experimental Approaches’.

I have chosen my subject matter to be people, as this is relevant to my current work and my biggest aim for this brief is for my work to still look like my work, for it to be recognisable. Even though the task is to experiment and be bold, creative, and different, I still want to maintain a certain aesthetic which is personal to me, and be relevant.

The five approaches I plan to experiment with are; stitching into prints, both with a sewing machine and by hand, using a digital drawing tablet to graphically draw on top of my images in a almost pop art fashion, in the style of graphic designer Hattie Stewart (1), collaging, slicing and sticking my images together creating new images and compositions, taking inspiration from the work and artists featured in ‘Collage: contemporary artists.’ Painting onto images with ink/paint and then experimenting with more destructive methods such as bleach and acetone nail varnish remover to destroy the top layer of the print. For all my approaches, I plan to experiment with both the digital, and where possible, the physical side of creating the same desired effect. This will give me more scope for creating and push myself to try new things and new software; using the digital drawing tablet will be a completely new experience for me, and one that will take some getting used to, and using Adobe Illustrator alongside it also. (Krysa, D. and Zinonos, A. (2014))I chose these approaches with the idea of taking my fashion images and making them more exciting and a little different to the work i usually make, I want my approaches to push myself more than just experimenting with making the image itself, but doing something outside of the camera and to demonstrate my creative flare, as hands on creating and mixed media I find really enjoyable and want to find ways to fit this into my existing work.


BibliographyKrysa, D. and Zinonos, A. (.) (2014) Collage : contemporary artists hunt and gather, cut and paste, mash up and transform. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, LLC.


Visual references  (1)