Context of Practice: May 2016


Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION	Level	04
OUIL401 Context of Practice	Credits	20
End of Module Self Evaluation

NAME	SOPHIA WATTS

1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
Researching for my project, both the written and visual elements, has been an essential part of this module and one I feel like I have done fairly well. I feel like I almost wanted more time away from other projects to concentrate on really exploring the different paths I could take the project. My writing skills are a bit rusty, even more so as I had a break between education courses. When I got into writing the essay I felt like I got better as it went along, hopefully next year it will be less of a daunting task. Learning to set my own briefs, both finding a theme for the essay and working through my visual journal was something I found quite challenging at first. Once I got the ball rolling I found the process really enjoyable and the discovery of it all was very exciting for me. Also taking my drawings into print was a lot of fun.
2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your practical outcomes?
Books were predominantly the biggest method of research I had. As I enjoy reading in my own time, I like any excuse to go down to the library. I also found this was easier than reading things off of a screen, although this was probably the method I adopted more for the initial essay research. During my research for my practical work, I watched documentaries on my chosen topic. As my theme was based on something that happens mostly in Africa, I thought this time of filming would be as close to the actual events of hunting as I could – from less of a biased viewpoint than a cinematic film would. I am getting used to drawing through ideas anyway within my practice but as this module didn't have a set outcome or quantity, I found it particularly useful to work through random thoughts I had about what I was investigating.
3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
Exploration was something I had a lot of fun with as I genuinely enjoy finding things out that I didn't know before, I think to an extent this came across within my work for the module. I feel like there was definitely a journey from where I started to where I ended up, especially with my practical work. Finding a topic that incorporated class and protest imagery helped me with connecting it all together. Following this, the visual element kept to the themes of my essay but was also took a very different turn, I think this was a positive as I was able to keep myself engaged in what I was doing by producing work on something I felt passionate about.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future?
I definitely felt a bit rushed towards the end of the module. I think in the future it would be better for me to organise my time between all the modules. Along the same lines, I could have expanded my research a bit more if I had spent more time on the visual research near the beginning of the year. I felt very confused about what COP was and what was expected of me at the start, also blogging was a problem as I wasn't sure if we had to do it for this module as much or whether to only include set tasks. In the future I will feel more prepared for what I have to do and how to approach it.
5. Identify five things that you feel will benefit you during next years Context of Practice module?
Make sure I am thinking about it from the very beginning and set time aside every week just to work on COP – Organisation. Find a topic I feel passionate about, I feel like I enjoyed the latter parts of the project because it was something I believed in. If I had more time to develop this idea I think I could produce some great work. Primary research, interviewing people and finding out what people’s opinions are first hand may benefit my further investigation, rather than relying on secondary sources. Choosing appropriate research to focus on, I feel like I wasted a lot of time being unsure of where to start. Especially with the actual essay, I changed which question I wanted to focus on after the first couple of tasks. Remember that COP is not as bad as I think it is when I am actually engaged in it – Don't push it aside!
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (Please indicate using an ‘x’) 5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor
	1	2	3	4	5
Attendance					X
Punctuality					X
Motivation			X
Commitment			X
Quantity of work produced				X
Quality of work produced				X
Contribution to the group				X
The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.

A copy of your end of module self evaluation should be posted to your studio practice blog. This should be the last post before the submission of work and will provide the starting point for the assessment process. Post a copy of your evaluation to your COP blog as evidence of your own on going evaluation.

Notes

What I am happy with

I like the overall aesthetic of my work for this project and grouping different elements together to create a campaign booklet seemed like a natural step in the progression of my practical work.

Things I could have done differently

If I had more time I would have experimented more with this idea. I really liked the idea of making badges and stickers for a campaign. If I was able to go even further then even developing campaign wear; hats, t shirts, etc - but maybe that would be going a bit too far. I just think that I could treat this like a real campaign as hunting/poaching it is a very real problem and something I feel passionately about. I would have also liked to have asked more people about their opinion on the matter and maybe emailed certain groups on-line - maybe this is something to think about as I progress next year.