Extended practice has provided me with a level of framework to confidently explore and select projects and ideas which have informed my practice this year. The aspects of personal and professionalism have been something that I have worried about striking a balance with in my practice, however in this module I’ve had the freedom to choose projects on my own terms and even define them for myself.
This has been a valuable yet challenging experience involving a range of skills such as being able to manage projects independently, keep to self-imposed deadlines, while also taking on briefs set by an external body where the criteria is already established by you.
I developed approaches to working that I feel have pushed me through this module, which was shown mainly through my collection of collage experiments. This self-initiated brief began as a way to test out a process, and it evolved into an extensive body of work that I have applied to a range of contexts including proposals for an exhibition, an artist book, as well as contributing towards my portfolio.
I think the success of this project has came from freely generating visual material, and only thinking about ‘finished’ outcomes once the idea is strong enough. This way, I didn’t feel stifled by having to fit to different formats (e.g. print, editorial, posters) and instead, the work happened first and I could select relevant applications second.
Although I am confident about this work now, it took a while to reach this stage. Originally I had intended to take on many more external briefs and competitions than I ended up doing. I feel that this was because I thought that a competition brief was a ‘proper’ project with a more formalised end point. However it has been beneficial for me to recognise that this was never important to me in the first place, and I can say that I’ve ended up with a collection of works that I have enjoyed making and which are authentic to me.
A challenge of this module has been putting my work out there. Whether this is in the form of submitting to an open call for work, completing a competition brief, or attending events and having the confidence to sell and exhibit work. Not only is it sometimes difficult to send the work off in the first place, but these experiences can have both a positive and negative impact. It’s made me think about how I measure success and what I’m willing (or not willing) to do in order to gain a wider audience and participate creatively. I have realised that I need to continue seeking out opportunities and make sure that the channels I select for my work to be see in are relevant and align with what I feel is worthwhile for myself.
It’s hard to quantify what half a year’s work should look like (competition wins? stacks of paper and drawings? sales?) but I’ve managed to explore mediums that have informed my future ambitions (self-publishing, exhibitions), develop working methods and approaches, gain confidence in approaching people with my ideas, and successfully generate a lot of physical work that I am mostly happy with.
