theworkofartplacement

[theworkofartplacement]

FINAL REFLECTION - 20/05/20

Having decided to fully update my blog as I work on my reflective report for the module, I am reminded once again of just how much I have actually done and achieved as past of the placement. I am so so grateful to Ruth and Hannah for all the help, support and trust that they have given me. Working at DSFC has genuinely been fascinating, inspiring and incredibly helpful. Not only allowing me to develop essential skills for the workplace, it has given me so much more confidence in my abilities and encouraged me to think seriously about a career this kind of industry / world. It was also reassuring to hear Ruth mention the possibility of returning to work at DSFC if I come back up north to do a masters - something I am currently thinking about! 

[theworkofartplacement]

Visits Eighteen - Twenty [ONLINE]

Over the course of a week I completed both of the priority tasks set by Ruth and Hannah as well as finishing off various bits and bobs in order to collate all of my work and leave it in one place. 

After having collated all my research of examples of call out documents and getting in touch with Lizzie to get a quote, I was able to complete the callout document: 

Durham Sixth Form Centre is looking for an early career artist to join the Art Department for 3 - 6 months as Artist in Residence. Applications from a wide variety of practices are encouraged with previous residencies specialising in ceramics, illustration (and?).

Our AiR programme encourages emerging artists to develop their practice and aid their professional progression within an educational context. This means we are committed to providing access to a supportive, well-resourced space, outlining a bespoke project, supporting a public exhibition and facilitating opportunities to engage with our wider network and professional development training events.

Situated in the Visual Arts Centre, successful applicants will be given access to facilities such as the kiln, darkroom, drawing tablets, printing presses and Adobe CC suite; as well as the opportunity to engage closely with students from all year groups through mentoring, workshops and artist’s talks. By imparting specialist knowledge and raising aspirations, the Artist in Residence is able to give students a unique and inspiring insight into viable careers in the arts and as well as the opportunity to work closely with a creative professional.

Boasting a fully accessible campus located in the centre of Durham City, Durham Sixth Form Centre recruits students from over fifty secondary schools across the North East. Rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted (in March 2017?) DSFC is a truly embracing and dynamic organisation committed to promoting the principles of equal opportunities and providing an environment in which students and employees alike can develop their potential. The Arts, English and Business (AEB) Faculty offers an extensive range of A Levels and L3 equivalent courses across visual, performing, media and written arts. In addition we run and participate in high profile public events such as The Big Draw, Debating Matters and Lumiere as well as maintaining strong relationships with cultural organisations such as the BALTIC. This outstanding commitment to the arts is further supported by our Artsmark Platinum status that we achieved in 2018.

Successful applicants will benefit from:

Studio and storage space.

Agreed use of facilities and materials.

Access to the wider networks and partners of Durham Sixth Form Centre, including free attendance to network and CPD events.

Support and promotion of personal social platforms, current work, events and exhibitions across DSFC’s social platforms.

Support, planning and promotional costs (£200) linked to a public exhibition (or chosen residency outcome) of work produced during the residency.

Advice and sustained support surrounding professional progression - including interview prep, CV advice and references.

The opportunity to engage with students from all year groups.

The opportunity to engage with the local community through public workshop/s.

A research and practice development grant of £500 to be paid in two installments at the beginning and end of the residency.

Contribution of £300 towards travel expenses.

Successful applicants will be expected to: [Not sure if this bit needed? / could be reduced as it is a bit repetitive]

Hold regular tutorials with Level 4 Foundation students and the most appropriate A Level cohort that maximises AiR specialism.

Give technical support and advice to students within AiR area of speciality.

Support project work as appropriate.

Give artist talks and demonstrations.

Host a series of public workshops in order to increase community engagement.

Undertake a public solo exhibition of work produced

Be regular and punctual whilst adhering to the agreed timetable.

Maintain effective communications with the arts Development Officer and an honest dialogue, reviewing progress at agreed key points within the residency period.

Eligibility:

Artists must be DBS checked and have proof of their right to live and work in the UK.

[Do we want to specify anything else in this section?]

Application procedure:

DSFC is committed to providing inclusive opportunities for all, so applications from diverse / lower-income / SEN / LGBTQ+ backgrounds are welcomed and encouraged.

Upon submitting an application, prospective artists will be invited to interview via phone or in person at DSFC if possible. If able to come in person, applicants will be given a detailed tour of the school including the Visual Arts Centre and the range of facilities on offer as well as the opportunity to meet key members of staff and demonstrate suitability for the position.

In the interview applicants will be expected to: outline why they wish to apply for the role; discuss what they hope to get out of the residency; demonstrate the qualities outlined above; and present a plan for a project to be undertaken during the residency.

The selection of the artists will be based on:

The basis of their commitment, need and ability to make best use of the opportunity.

An interest in and desire to promote Arts Education.

A commitment to engaging with members of the DSFC community at all levels.

[The quality of their work??]

Our current Artist in Residence, Lizzie Lovejoy, said the following about the programme:

“The AiR programme at DSFC has significantly aided me in the development of my creative practice, allowing me to make use of the vital studio space and equipment. I have been proud to work with artistic and dedicated students, gaining further experience in developing workshops and the collaborative studio life. I loved my time as a student in this space and I have loved working here just as much! The staff and students have all been so brilliant.”

[Insert a couple of pics from her residency]

I then compiled all of my research on the AiR programme and made the legalities / good practice document which Ruth has said was very helpful. What was good to see was that alot of what constitnutes good practice etc. we were doing already! Is more a case of formalising the the residency and making sure safety nets and support are in place etc. 

Final doc: 

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Seventeen - 18/03/20

Given the current situation everything became quite uncertain and I needed to prioritise my mental health and get back home to London so could not physically finish the last 4 days of my placement. However, I did manage to pop in to say goodbye to ruth and hannah and thank them for everything they had done for me…

They made a document outlining my priority tasks which I would be working on when I got home in order to finish the placement. 

These included:

- Finishing the AiR call out draft 

- Researching the legalities surrounding AiR programmes / what makes good practice etc. 

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Sixteen - 10/03/20

-helped set up the y12 exhibition. working out spacing etc. discussion of compromise - need more space to put someone else’s work but don’t want to change vision of piece progression etc.

-meeting with Lizzie ! - good feedback generally for the programme, great to catch up with her, really excited by her exhibition - sounds like an amazing mix of approaches and practices. she also really made me feel as though I could be an artist myself - took my idea seriously etc.

Some of my notes from the meeting: 

Reflections on the AiR programme: 

She said that she would be chatting to people she knows about the residency in order to boost the opportunity a bit more in her own networks.

I asked her about how best to advertise the opportunity and she mentioned going directly to university students / people about to graduate. She said that students often don’t know that these kinds of opportunities are on offer / don’t know what residencies are etc. 

Importance of her experience of having just gone through the uni system etc. invaluable knowledge and ability to give up to date and relevant advice. 

Had a friend who did a residency at Hartlepool university and really didn’t get a lot out of it because she didn’t engage with the students at all. However, this was because the uni didn’t invite her to engage and didn’t encourage her to run workshops / have a relationship with students etc. Lizzie felt clear about this from the start of the residency and has therefore been able to get much more out of her time here! 

Also mentioned that she finds a lot of opportunities on the Art Council job site. 

Positive comments for programme in general: 

→ She has made genuine connections with students that have been mutually beneficial

→ She has been able to be involved with professional networking events that has helped her have more clarity about the next steps she wants to take 

→ She has been able to develop her practice and try out lots of new things 

→ She has been able to gain confidence and grow in a supportive environment (through crits and regular check ins with staff etc.) 

→ Has really learnt more about what different groups need and is beneficial to them which has helped inform her practice. 

I also had a good catch up with sophie about uni stuff

spoke to another student about durham and the college system etc.

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Fifteen - 9/03/20

-artist in residence call out research

-analysed other examples

-made doc with what we need to include - started writing draft call out

-Wrote an article about pushing paper to be published by the school news team. Selected pics etc. Really happy with how the final product looks / reads. 

This was published on the school’s website and their social media channels: 

-Arts award help with social media. Posted updates on Instagram about exhibition and exhibition call outs.

-Caught up with students. Got given a bag they made for their exhibition

-Looked at FAD blogs, made comments

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Fourteen - 3/03/20

Spoke to Hannah and Ruth about my internship application to BOLD Tendencies. Updating my CV and writing the application really made me realise how much I’ve gotten out of the placement and how useful it has been in making me think more about what I want to do after university!

DSFC was hosting the Secondary Art Teacher’s Network which was attended by a large range of arts teachers across secondary schools in the North East. 

Was a really interesting day where I was able to gain insight into some of the issues / difficulties faced by arts teachers. For example, some teachers mentioned the difficulty of schools trying to impose a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to learning and expecting arts teachers to follow the exact same style of teaching to all the other subjects i.e. placing emphasis on knowledge retention and being able to meet specific targets every lesson etc. which is just not really applicable to the arts, you can’t just break it down step by step etc. 

It also made me realise the importance of being in a school that values and respects the arts. For example, the headteacher of DSFC used to be the head of Art at the school and so is clearly committed to maintaining a strong emphasis on arts education. Whereas, some schools have little to no support from their headteacher and are often working alone meaning that opposing the decisions of the head are more difficult. 

There was also a lecture on ‘Cultural Capital’ which is term used by Ofsted in their school inspection framework. Often tricky to understand and used for different purposes. 

Notes that I took during the lecture: 

We then had casting workshop led by Hannah which was really fun!! I enjoyed being part of the group and being able to actually make something with my hands etc. 

The task we completed: 

My attempts!! ^^^

[theworkofartplacement]

Pushing Paper Exhibition Opening - 28/02/20

Went to the Pushing Paper exhibition preview. Was so nice to see how excited the students were to see their work in such a professional and impressive setting. Great to see my blurb in the case next to their work. The students hadn’t realised just how big the exhibition and the opportunity so was great for them to realise what an achievement it was. they spoke about how it would influence their personal statements / CVs etc which is very true.

I met some really interesting people - Prints and Drawings guy from BM. good networking. they congratulated me on my involvement with the exhibition which was a really great feeling and I felt proud of both myself and the students. two of the names were the wrong way round but emily said she would sort it out etc. Had a good chat with emily about masters / working in this sector in the North East etc. Really made me think more about my future and what I want to do.

A picture of me and two of the students from the official photographs of the night:

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Thirteen - 25/02/20

-Wrote the blurb, sent it off to emily:

A British Museum touring exhibition

Pushing paper: contemporary drawing from 1970 to now

Generously supported by the Bridget Riley Art Foundation

Showcase of artworks created by students at Durham Sixth Form Centre.

In order to further the collaborative nature of the exhibition which has been co-curated by four institutions around the UK, local Durham sixth form students were given the opportunity to exhibit some of their work alongside the fantastic range of contemporary drawing on display.

Working around the themes of the exhibition - power and protest, place and space, systems and process, time and memory and identity - the students were encouraged to consider the different ways in which they could push the limits of what drawing can mean or be. Exploring their personal responses to these themes, this unique opportunity has enabled the students to critically reflect on their work and their surroundings through the lens of drawing and its limitless opportunities. From more traditional approaches such as ink and pencil on paper, to digital drawing, textile work and sculpture, the examples on display foreground the talent and creativity of the students whilst underlining the importance of increased diversity and visibility within the arts.

-Chased up people to send digital versions of images we wanted to print on better paper

-Went to the FAD exhibition and chatted to the students about their process and how it had been setting it up and putting an exhibition together. Really enjoyed the range of work on display - very high quality and was exciting to see the final pieces of work I had been seeing them plan and practice for etc. caught up with some students about their interviews and offers etc. was nice being at the school in a more casual way to actually enjoy the art and chat to them properly about it. saw the original of one of my favourites going into the pushing paper exhibition.

The exhibition booklet: 

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Twelve - 24/02/20

-found out we got the CBNE funding!! Very exciting

-Ruth made new document for me with next steps for developing the AIR program

-started work on researching examples of call outs, started seeing what stuff always comes up

-hard to find info from local schools so decided to email them

-lay out all the pieces for the exhibition, printed off the names + descriptions

-Emily came we picked the ones we thought best suited the themes and were visually striking. Emily spoke about how you need to try and remove your personal tastes and be more objective because it can’t just be what you as the curator like. I started to think more about what would work well together and what would make a greater impact on the viewer

-got the original of the stitched one - really love it

-printed others out on better paper

-really good range and managed to pick one from every person who submitted

-emily asked me to write blurb for the exhibition case explaining a bit about the involvement of the students in the exhibition so I started to do this

A couple of pictures of all of the submissions:

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Eleven - 10/02/20

Queued and edited all the social media campaign posts. Had to change some hashtags, added #LOVEARTSAWARD : 💙 at the top to keep it consistent with the posts on twitter and the school’s Instagram. Tried out different layouts for the posts - initially looked too text heavy. Split every other post over two squares

A couple of examples of the social media posts: 

Went into classrooms, talked about brief, got more submissions + people interested. Excited to see the rest of them

Caught up with Hannah about what was going on. Got a thank you card + present from Ruth !

Added to the Lizzie impact survey

Made a doc with the submissions to see what we still needed from people and to have everything in the same place

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Ten - 03/02/20

After having missed my usual Monday session last week as I was ill, I was looking forward to coming back and getting stuck into work again. I started the day after the staff briefing by going into a Y12 graphics class and presenting the exhibition brief as I’m conscious we haven’t had many submissions and the deadline is 2 weeks away. I felt like it went well and I hope to be able to go and chat to more classes next week as a final push for submissions. 

I then spent most of the day using InDesign making the graphics for the Arts Award social media campaign.These contained captions and images of the students to do with each daily theme (see previous blog post). It took me a while to get used to the program again and at first I wasn’t happy with having to cut down the captions in order for them to fit on the page (and stay in the font size of the template I was using), but after experimenting with different font sizes I was able to get more text in without taking away from the overall effect of the template. It also took me a while to work out how to clip certain sections of the photos but after a few trial and error attempts I was happy with how they all turned out! They will get sent off to the head of graphics / social media presence and edited in order to make sure they are consistent with the school’s branding and then I will be in charge of posting them onto instagram with the relevant captions and hashtags during the week of the campaign (10-16th Feb). 

Picture of one of the images I made:

I also went and sat in on Y13 Fine Art in which they had just been given their final exam paper for the end of the year. The students are given the paper in Feb and then expected to prepare and research their chosen question/topic (filling around 2 whole sketchbooks with preparatory work + research) and then create a final response / piece during the 15 hour examination in May. The lesson consisted of Hannah presenting the questions and some initial ideas her and Ruth had had in response to the themes and artists outlined in the paper. We then collectively brainstormed some initial ideas and responded to two of the questions: Family and Surfaces. All of the questions looked really interesting and I look forward to seeing how the students take a broad theme and take it in a personal and specific direction. 

The Year 13 final exhibition was up in the VAC all day and I was really impressed by the high quality and experimentative nature of all of the work. Being in this kind of environment really makes me want to be more creative..!!

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Nine - 20/01/20

Started the day with Hannah outlining the plan for a social media campaign promoting Arts Award that is run every year.

Brief given to us by Arts Award: 

It’s national Arts Award Week from 10 – 16 February 2020! 

Now in its third year, the celebratory week helps showcase the amazing talents of children and young people across the region as well as tells the stories of our trainers, advisers and moderators. To help celebrate all things Arts Award, Culture Bridge North East has devised the following themes: 

Monday: Arts Award and Artsmark 

Tuesday: Music Education Hubs 

Wednesday: Your Story - how has Arts Award changed practice or your life 

Thursday: Alternative Benefits of Arts Award 

Friday: Arts Award in cultural organisations 

Saturday / Sunday: Quality Practice 

We'd like to ask you to get involved via your social media channels and share your stories and photos to coincide with the week’s themes.  Remember to use #LoveArtsAward and tag @culturebridgene. 

Hannah shared the doc they made last year outlining the posts, pictures and hashtags to be used and I started to update this with the 2020 themes and details. 

As the deadline for the CBNE application is in a week, Hannah and I spent most of the day properly doing the application. We started by officially registering on the website but we were initially turned away as they thought we were not in the right area. After having called them to query this (as Ruth had spoken directly with people from CBNE who had said we were eligible) the problem was resolved and we were able to start the official application process. Unfortunately, the official questions were annoyingly slightly different to the ones we had been given in the advice pack so Hannah and I had to spend a lot of time editing what I had already done but also addressing the new questions that had now come up.  This was quite frustrating as some of the questions now had less words in which you could answer whereas some questions I hadn’t answered had a lot of words. Despite this we managed to get most of it done. Hannah and Ruth then finalised the application and filled in details I didn’t know (such as the specific funding amounts etc.) and they managed to send it off in time on the 27th! 

Although they had edited/amended some of my answers, I feel as though I was able to do the groundwork + research in order to enable them to think more in depth about how to evaluate and monitor the program and the specific things they would need to think more about. Even though this fund is very competitive, the work we did on the application will hopefully speed up future applications as well as helping us to further develop and improve the program.

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Eight - 14/01/20

Given that I had a free morning and Lizzie Lovejoy (the Artist in Residence), only comes in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I thought it would be a good idea to come in and have a chat with her. I wrote down some initial questions that I wanted to ask her in order to begin having the informal progress chats that Ruth and I had spoken about establishing (as part of the program). I wanted to find out: her initial thoughts and feelings towards the program, how she was finding her interactions with the students, what she was working on and whether she had any issues or concerns thus far. I also wanted to get to know her a bit more in order to make her feel more comfortable about asking for things / voicing any issues etc. 

After having prepared these questions I went and had a chat with her which I really enjoyed! It was really interesting to see what she was working on and have a chat with her about her process and her ideas for her exhibition. It made me want to try and come in when she is at DSFC more often so that she feels as though she can regularly chat to me about what she’s been doing etc. I wrote up the points that came up during the chat in order to have a record of the feedback and in order to identify the next steps we should be taking as a department to support her as much as possible. 

What she hopes to get out of the experience: 

Lizzie is keen to get used to the teaching aspect of things and is looking forward to gaining more experience interacting with students and working in a school environment. Teaching is also relevant to different things Lizzie is involved with outside of school and so this opportunity is helping develop transferable skills. 

She is excited by the opportunity to have a chance to exhibit and have a safe space to develop her practice.

Things that are going well / things Lizzie is enjoying:

Lizzie has dealt with some difficult personal issues recently but has found the atmosphere at DSFC very accommodating and understanding, making her feel as though this is a safe and encouraging space for her to grow and develop her practice. She also feels comfortable here as she is an ex-student and knows the school and staff.

Is enjoying the range of facilities and resources on offer, especially access to the Adobe Suite / computers / printers etc. 

Has really enjoyed working with and getting to know students. Has especially got to know students from Arts Award and helped them with their artist interviews as well as helping one student write their opinion piece on the representation of the LGBTQ+ community in art which she enjoyed doing. Despite not being a teacher she does know art content and therefore feels confident helping with visual culture. 

Has really enjoyed doing the workshops and attending a trip with the students and is looking forward to doing more workshops and talks. 

She feels as though she has been able to gain confidence in talking to students and helping them with their work through these interactions. She has also enjoyed working on their portfolios with them as it allows her to see what they’re actually interested in and means she can give them more specific and personal advice. 

Things that could be improved / addressed: 

Lizzie mentioned that she finds it difficult to ask the staff for help or advice as she doesn’t want to be a burden on their time so we have decided that I will be a kind of middle-man who will regularly chat to her, check up on her and speak to the staff on her behalf about arranging meetings or crits etc.

She is very keen to get more feedback on the work she is doing at the moment as she doesn’t feel as though she is able to be critical about her work etc. Given that she finds it difficult to ask what someone thinks of her work she is interested in having feedback on her work in a more formal / organised setting. She mentioned maybe being able to sit in on a crit or have a crit style meeting in order to get some feedback on her current work. 

She would like to get more out of the facilities on offer to her so could do with a proper re-introduction to facilities such as the darkroom and kiln etc, would also like to have a bit more of a sense of where everything is and when she can use them etc. 

She is interested in giving a talk on dealing with difficult topics in art as it is an area she is passionate and knowledgeable about and feels as though it would be relevant and helpful for the students.

I spoke about the importance of us supporting her professional progression and asked if she would be interested in having more support in that area. She said she was definitely keen to have some help with job applications etc. She is especially interested in community engagement so would be grateful of support helping her to be part of a collective… 

What she is currently working on / working towards: 

Working towards her final exhibition 

She is really interested in local history and culture and so has been going around Durham taking pictures of buildings (cathedral, castle etc.), as well as researching the relationship between art and the North East, what it is like growing up in the area etc. 

She has been interviewing a wide variety of different people around the area, such as elderly men who built the railways who have been able to describe the ways in which the area has changed and developed. She is hoping to make portraits of the people she interviews for the exhibition which will be shown alongside her illustrations of buildings and a soundscape design. 

She is very keen to make sure her exhibition is as accessible as possible as she is worried it would only be appealing to a specific group of people. For example, she is keen to incorporate a soundscape into her exhibition with her Grandfather in mind as he is blind and she still wants him to be able to enjoy the experience. 

After my chat with Lizzie I continued work on the Pushing Paper Exhibition brief and finalised the poster:

This was the final design of the poster after it had been edited by Alix and Emily from the Oriental Museum. I had initially had the logos of each institution at the bottom of the poster but Alix said that we would have to get permission to use them so it was easier not to include them. After having completed the poster I went and had a chat with Ruth about everything I had been getting on with (funding application + exhibition brief) and she advised that as well as posting the brief on Google Classroom, I should also get in touch with all the teachers in the department to ask them for specific students that have work that would fit the themes and be good submissions. 

I had a meeting with Emily on Wednesday (15/01/20) to go over the brief and talk about logistics. We finalised the submission and selection dates and chatted about the exhibition more generally which got me excited to see it again! As well as being on the selection panel, Emily said I would be invited to the official opening of the exhibition on Friday 28th of Feb which will be a really special and interesting opportunity that I’m looking forward to! 

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Seven - 13/01/20

I continued work on the brief for the Pushing paper exhibition looking at the themes of the exhibition: Power + Protest, Time + Memory, Identity, Place + Space and Systems + Process. I also started to think about how I would need to phrase the brief for the students in order to get them thinking properly about the themes and how they could ‘push the limits of what drawing can mean or be. I also got in touch with Emily and arranged a meeting with her on Wednesday to look over the completed brief.

As the deadline for the CBNE fund application is only 2 weeks away, Ruth and Hannah wanted me to start work on the application and begin answering the more specific questions related to this particular fund. I completed 3 sections: 

Describing the activity we want the funding for: 

DSFC would use the grant in order to improve and develop our existing Artist in Residence program as well as properly supporting the artist with us on placement. The program, lasting  3-6 months, gives a local artist studio space, access to facilities and materials, access to networking events, support and promotion of the artist and their work across our social platforms, support, planning and promotional costs linked to exhibition, and advice and support surrounding AiR next steps. In return the AiR is expected to create a bespoke program of support for the arts department which includes tutorials with a wide variety of students across the 3 years, advice to students within their area of specialty and regular artist talks and workshops. We are currently redirecting money from the department’s budget in order to provide transport and materials for the AiR as well as paying to put up and advertise the artist’s final exhibition at the end of their placement. As we are unlikely to continue receiving this money, your grant would enable us to continue this financial support thus making the opportunity more attractive to potential applicants, as well as increasing the amount of materials and resources on offer to the artist. Given the limitations of our current funding, we are also unable to support the artist financially. We would therefore want to give them a significant portion of the grant in order to support them in developing their practice and allowing them more economic freedom. 

Why the program is needed and how we know it will work: 

Many of our students come from remote, rural communities and have therefore not been able to access the world of the arts and the unique opportunities it provides. The AiR program would bring these opportunities directly to those students whilst boosting access to the arts in the wider community of Durham. Given the successful feedback from previous artists and the positive impact they have had on the students, the AiR program is the best course of action for our objectives. One student worked closely with a previous artist as part of their Gold Arts Award qualification resulting in a successful final piece as well as the artist being able to gain the confidence needed to apply for jobs after their placement. By facilitating these kinds of positive working relationships, the program helps to develop a multitude of important skills, both practically but also more holistically with SEN or disadvantaged students being given greater support and access to the arts whilst allowing both parties to develop essential life skills. In order to ensure the program continues to be successful for all those involved, regular one-to-one feedback sessions between the artist and the department take place. This will enable us to monitor the progress of the program whilst making sure that the artist is being fully supported. These sessions will culminate in a final review session in which a selection of students, the artist and the department will meet in order to evaluate the residency and address any potential issues raised

How we will track progress and show whether we have succeeded in achieving our objectives:

In order to track progress and show whether we have succeeded in achieving our objectives, a variety of different evaluation and feedback approaches will be employed. A progress report for both objectives will be created and regularly updated. This will be a central document containing images, evaluation of events/workshops held by the artist, write ups from regular feedback sessions with the artist, comments from students and teachers as well as sections from student portfolios (such as Gold Arts Award) and blogs which document their interaction with the artist and their reflections on the process. A final review session with a group of students directly involved with the artist, as well as members of the department and the artist themselves will enable us to gather all the parties involved in the residency to have an open and constructive conversation about what went well and what could be improved. The AiR will also be asked to fill in a more in depth evaluation form and may refer back to issues raised throughout the program (as recorded by the Development Officer) and how these were addressed. An evaluation form will also be given to students directly involved with the AiR in order to ensure that written feedback is received from all parties involved. All of these resources will then form the Impact Survey written by the art department that will clearly outline how the objectives have been met and how the program can continue to be developed for future artists. 

I also started to identify which aims and objectives we should choose for the project and started thinking about how we would make sure these aims were SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timed). My initial thoughts were that the following 2 things should be our main objectives: 

To increase student engagement with practicing artists and encourage SEN + disadvantaged students specifically to take advantage of the opportunities the program will offer.

The grant will provide the materials and resources needed for the artist to provide talks and workshops for these students. More generally, the grant will help improve and support the program, thus enabling the students to gain the following benefits: Unique personal insight into careers in the arts, development of specific practical skills (in areas that they may not have developed previously), allows for experimentation, confidence building and heightened interest and engagement in the arts which will in turn help foster positive working relationships that the students would not have had access to otherwise. 

The success of this objective will be measurable through the monitoring of student work and their interactions with the artist which will be evidenced via photographs, portfolio entries and reflections (in the form of blog entries for example). A mixture of informal and formal feedback from the artist as well as from teachers who teach these students, and the students themselves, will also be necessary in order to continually monitor and evaluate the success of objective.

To support the professional progression of emerging artists

The grant will provide the artist with greater economic freedom, access to essential resources and facilities, as well as enabling the department to help the artist fund, curate and promote their final exhibition. By having 2 residencies per year and making the exhibitions accessible to the public, the grant will help to promote the importance of and access to, the arts in the wider community. As above, the grant will help to generally support and improve the program thus enabling the artist to work in a safe and encouraging space, will help promote their work on DSFC’s media platforms, will provide access to networking events as well as professional support and advice in the form of career research, references and CV support. The success of this objective will be measured through regular feedback sessions with the artist, regular departmental meetings 

I plan to finish the application with Hannah next Monday for Ruth to then look over and edit as necessary before the deadline on the 27th. 

I then went and joined Hannah in Arts Award in order for the students to present their Section C opinion pieces. As the students felt more comfortable presenting to a smaller group, I took half of the class to another room and listened to their pieces. All three of them were really interesting, well researched + argued and well presented. The students took photographs of each other presenting in order to include these as evidence for their portfolios. We then gave written feedback on the pieces and evaluated what was successful / could have been improved. Despite trying to be critical, I couldn’t actually fault any of the pieces much so I'm not sure how helpful my feedback was… It was difficult to fully engage with each piece in a short amount of time however I don’t think they were expecting a particularly in depth analysis. I enjoyed being able to see how their pieces turned out after having spoken to them about their topics last term. 

Given all the work I have been doing on the Artist in Residence program, I felt like it would be a good idea to meet Lizzie (the AiR) and chat to her about what I’d been doing and have an informal chat about the program and her thoughts on it thus far. I arranged with Hannah and Lizzie to come in tomorrow (14/01/20) which I’m looking forward to!

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit to the British Museum 06/01/20

A selection of pieces I really liked from the exhibition. It was also really good to see a piece by Judy Chicago after having seen her exhibition at the Baltic in November as I had spent time researching her work in more depth.

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit to the British Musuem 06/01/20

I went to visit the Pushing Paper exhibition at the British Museum to get more of a feel for the kinds of pieces on display before I wrote the brief for the sixth form students. I really enjoyed the exhibition and found the descriptions of the different themes really interesting as they made me think more in depth about the medium of drawing and how it can be interpreted in many different ways. The theme descriptions were also helpful for thinking about the brief and what kind of things I could be getting the students to think about and consider. I didn’t have time to look at the exhibition in much detail so I’m looking forward to seeing it properly in the oriental musuem.

[theworkofartplacement]

Visit Six - 9/12/19

I spent the morning editing my main funding research document and highlighting the general questions that needed to be answered and the main things that Ruth and Hannah need to think about such as their overall aims and objectives for the program. I also underlined the specific caveats of the different funds that would need to be addressed in order to apply for these funds - such as a greater emphasis on community engagement for the Arts Council funding, the ways in which the proposed program would be better than the current program for the Paul Hamlyn Foundation fund and the ways in which the grant would be used for a charitable purpose for the Culture Bridge North East fund. I had initially thought that we wouldn’t be eligible for the CBNE fund but Ruth had sent me an email suggesting I look into it and after looking into more I discovered that we would be. This fund would be a good smaller fund to be starting off with and would mean we’d remain eligible for a larger grant at a later date (perhaps when getting the new building off the ground).

Hannah and I then went to Ruth’s office for the meeting. I presented what I had researched whilst showing Ruth the document I’d compiled and said what I thought they would need to expand on. When I mentioned the importance of evaluating the program I drew attention to the need for regular feedback from the AiR themselves (as well as checking in with the staff and students to monitor which elements were working or not etc.). We therefore decided to implement regular meetings with Lizzie (the current AiR) into the structure of the residency - i.e. this would be an official part of the residency that by signing a contract with the school, the AiR would be required to do. We also decided that I would be a good person to have these chats with her as I would be unbiased and completely separate to her residency / employment. I would take notes of these meetings, check in on her and how she’s doing / finding everything, what she is enjoying, what is going well, and ask whether there are any areas she needs more support in / anything that could be improved. A record of these meetings would be helpful for both the development of the program but also for Lizzie herself when she is writing her final evaluation document. These meetings would also make sure that the artist is being supported as much as possible and would create a safer work environment.

We also identified the Culture Bridge fund as our priority as the deadline for applications closes on the 27th of January 2020. Ruth has booked a meeting with them for the first week back in Jan so I will have more of an idea of what is needed for the application after that. Having said that, the website does have an extensive list of questions we would need to think about when making the application which was very helpful and enabled me to start making a document for the application.

We also spoke about a touring exhibition from the British Museum that is coming to the Oriental Museum in Feb. Emily from the Oriental Museum had got in touch with Ruth to offer the arts students at DSFC the opportunity to display work relating to the themes of the exhibition alongside the exhibition itself. Ruth thought it would be a great thing for me to get involved with and I was excited by the prospect of working with the Oriental Museum as I know Emily and the curators there from volunteering at the Summer in the City festival as well as the Objects of Desire module I took last year. I also felt like it would be a great opportunity to link my work with DSFC and the university itself. Emily has suggested that I write a brief outlining the requirements for the submission and the details etc. She has also given me the exhibition book to look over and get more of a sense of what the exhibition is about etc. She also mentioned that I could be part of the team that selects which pieces get selected for the exhibition which would be a really amazing opportunity that I’m very excited for!! We had thought that given the exhibition is about pushing the boundaries of drawing, graphics students would be able to offer an interesting digital response to the themes. Given the workload of the year 13s, we thought that we should be mainly aiming the opportunity at the Y12s and Foundation students. Hannah, Ruth and I decided that we would publish the brief after Christmas as it is a good point in the curriculum for the students.  I spoke with Emily separately to chat about logistics and organise a meeting for the New Year to go over the brief and my thoughts.

Banner for the exhibition from the British Museum website - https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/pushing-paper-contemporary-drawing-1970-now-0