What? So What? What Now ?

Throughout last year, there has been one habit that I struggled with, preventing me from reaching my full potential. That habit was time management. I did not devote enough time to my art practice last year resulting in struggling to meet deadlines and having to simplify my work just so that I can finish them on time. This lack of time management was due to a series of poor choices resulting in struggling to motivate myself and therefore finding it near impossible to stick to targets I set for myself.

Last year, we had rotations where we would be given 2 weeks to explore and create pieces that corresponded to words we chose, using a given method of working. In one rotation particularly, I have chose to try out paper engineering which in hindsight, required at lot longer than two weeks to get used to. However, I thought that maybe I could incorporate some aspects of paper engineering into my final outcome. At first, I was very excited to learn a new technique that dealt with a medium that I used everyday in a different way. However, excitement quickly gave way to fear as I realised how extensive and time-consuming working with paper was. Apart from fiddling with the usual paper dimensions and the odd cutting and folding, I never really experience or tried manipulating paper in a way which makes it move therefore I was not used to having to deal with paper in such a precise manner. With paper engineering, every little detail has to be precise or else the mechanism would not work. I had to start learning and experimenting with various weights of paper, thick and thin, taking note of how they react differently under pressure and whether or not they still hold the same properties when stuck together down to what adhesive works best and will not restrict the bending of paper. All of this I had to do in such short time caused me a lot of panic as I knew that I was getting nowhere fast. It also did not help that I compared my work pace against other students as none of the students were working with paper engineering and so by comparing my work pace with theirs’ , I ended up stressing myself even further.

In the beginning of last year, I was also introduced to print making and got very interested in screen printing. I really enjoyed learning about screen printing as it allowed me to create exact copies of my work quickly making it easier for me to experiment and explore more into colours and compositions. However, screen printing is a method that requires preparation and can last up to a few days therefore if I wanted to create a screen print within the given 2 weeks, I would have to be very organised and quick with coming up and finalising an idea in order to get the idea onto and into screen print. Unfortunately, I never got around into incorporating screen printing in any of my rotations as I struggled managing time. For example, I would find it very difficult to come up with ideas therefore instead of seeking for help or inspiration, I would reassure myself that everything was fine and before I knew it, one week was left to come up with an idea and execute it resulting in me using an old technique that even though I know works very well, does not challenge me therefore I am not as excited about.

Even though a vast amount of last year was spent stressing and regretting choices I made regarding my art practise, I am very pleased that I came out of it with much more knowledge than when I first started. I now know a lot more about the qualities offered within paper and what difference paper makes and how important paper is in order to create a professional looking final outcome. Furthermore, I can now work comfortably with paper without running into too many mishaps.

In conclusion, I now know how much time learning a new technique requires and will not leave things until the last minute. For example, Paper engineering is a very rewarding although tedious way of working and due to the level of precision required, mishaps are bound to happen so from now on, whenever I deal with paper engineering or any other techniques that requires such precision, I will allow myself spare time for experimenting and mistakes as well as giving myself a more realistic goal that can be achieved in the given allocated time. I will set goals that lasts a fortnight to ensure that I am working at a fast enough pace and that I have enough time left over at the end to look through everything I’ve done. I have now learnt that it is near impossible to learn and make sense of something so complicated in such short time and if I were to do this particular rotation again, I would not choose paper engineering and only incorporate bits and pieces within my final outcome so that my final outcome can look good without all the stress. Different art

technique requires varying amounts of time to get used to therefore I will only choose to incorporate complex techniques if I have a lot of time to execute it. Furthermore, I will now use my spare time to learn and join workshops that will teach me new ways of working to keep me busy and maybe find a new style of working that I feel will lend itself perfectly to my way of working. I will also stop comparing myself to other students as I have now realised that nobody works in the same way and even if some prefer working in the morning, some may much rather work at night. This will allow me to work at my own pace and figure out the environment which I can work up to my optimum speed.

#REFLECTIVE