Assignment 5 Tutor feedback

Tutor report

Overall Comments

Christina this is a well-executed assignment following a strong structure of drawing, research and sample making.  You have used these three elements to successfully explore your ideas and ambitions for this final part of the course.  It was interesting to read your feelings on receiving feedback, these emotions are all too common and I know them well.  Feedback is a balancing act of showing you what you have done well and guiding you to further improve your work.  I think what we make comes from a very personal place that finds criticism hard therefore creative people like you (and me) who put their work out in the world have to be brave.  

Feedback on assignment 

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of Creativity 

For this final assignment you developed ideas from the previous work that stood out for you in this course.  This is an important way of working and I encourage you to continue to reflect on earlier outcomes and ideas to move your creativity forward.   It was an interesting review of your work so far showing you to be honest with a deep understanding of what you are interested in and what stimulates your creative ideas.  This thoughtfulness and freedom to think broadmindedly has led to some interesting outcomes.  I believe it is good that you have found the course material restrictive.  This suggests you have a strong idea of how your own design process works which if you follow will come up with the best outcomes for you.  The course material become more of a guide as you move through the levels and even at this level it is not necessary to follow it exactly.

Through research and drawing you created some interesting samples to work through your design idea on revealing light through a hole or slit.  This idea of the ‘slit’ is strong both visually and as a concept.  You used drawing and sample making to explore its value and to understand how to take it into a final piece.  The samples you have sent are constructed with skill yet remain experimental.  You have communicated through them what this ‘slit’ might be.  The samples have been made in a range of fabrics in vibrant colours.  I particularly like the sample where you have used fabric and stitch to create the space of the ‘slit’.  The colours are feminine and sumptuous with the potential to frame a view or scene in the gap they have made.  It would have been interesting to see what you could have come up with if you had made a whole series of these samples, constructed from fabrics and other materials like plastics and metals.  It would also be interesting to explore how the size and shape of the ‘slit’ affects the impact of the sample.  Would a narrow gap give a different feel to a wide one?  Does the gap need to be vertical, if so why?

I find your final piece rather eerie and provokes an emotional response in me.  This is partly because you have displayed it on a mannequin’s hand but I think it is also something to do with the textures and colours you have chosen.  The ribs on the surface of the fabric remind me of the raised veins on the backs of hands.  Your cutting through is as you intended very like the surgical cuts seen in your research.  These reveal the bright delicate structures below.  The piece has been well constructed and looks like it would function well as a glove if that is your intention.  

Sketchbooks 

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity 

For this assignment you have continued to use drawing to generate ideas and work out design problems.  This includes using collage and mixed media to explore texture and colour.  You have used your drawing effectively often by repeatedly drawing the same idea until you come up with something that seemed right to you.  This is an excellent way of working out ideas and planning any sampling you intent to do.   

Learning Logs or Blogs/Critical essays 

Context 

Your assignment contains an interesting and broad range of research.  You used contemporary fashion imagery and your own photography of surfaces and textures to stimulate ideas for this assignment.  Some of the research, particularly the images you collected on Pinterest are very vibrant and exciting.  To make the research more useful I suggest you write about what it is that appeals to about the work and how you can use this in your own work.

Throughout this assignment you continue to reflect effectively and show yourself to be self-critical.  You write articulately about the thoughts and feelings that relate to your creativity.  Your learning log contains technical information, exploring decisions you needed to make and reflecting on previous feedback.  I am particularly impressed that you are able to embrace the idea that concepts and artistic ideas are of value when producing a piece of work.  This is evident in your notes on what using a glove might mean in this assignment. 

Pointers for assessment

• Refer to the assessment guidelines on the oca website, Research ▷ By Course Area ▷ Textiles ▷ scroll down to page 2 ▷ Assessment Guidelines: Textiles
• Aim to organize your work so that it tells the story of how you went about achieving the outcomes.  You did this by conducting research, doing drawing and making samples.  You may wish to display this on a board.  For example, for this assignment an A2 board with some of the most relevant imagery from your research along with a number of your drawings and samples would explain to the assessor how you went about developing the glove piece.

Well done Christina and congratulations on completing Exploring Ideas. 

Tutor name	Rebecca Fairley
Date	10th December 2014
Next assignment due	Course complete

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