Monday 18 July 2011

Assignment 3: Reflections after submitting

I have completed Assignment 3 and sent notes, images & prints to my tutor.  I have struggled with this assignment and I am not especially happy with the images submitted, but it was time to accept that and move on.  These are my reflections on why I have had a problem.

I suppose I should accept and note that it has been a busy time with other distractions - holiday, election to OCASA President etc - but I don't actually think that is anything more than a contributory factor.  On this assignment, I have not managed to reconcile producing something that inspires and pleases, something satisfying with a purpose, with fulfilling the brief.  The problem may largely be my own lack of inspiration - either generally, or with these buildings, or with the assignment itself - but I do think there is at least some relationship between my struggle and an issue that has been much discussed on the OCA Student Forum and/or Flickr - meeting the brief versus following a personally interesting and inspiring direction.

Assignment 3 of People & Place is a detailed and quite specific brief, which to my mind leaves rather less room for personal interpretation than some others.  I have probably met the brief with my submission and so have perhaps made a reasonable shot at the assignment in that respect.  The dissatisfaction is more about my own personal reaction to the images produced.  We are encouraged by OCA tutors on the OCA Forum to use the brief as a jumping off point to pursue our personal creative development.  I did that to a certain extent on Assignment 2.  But I seem to have found this brief much more restrictive - not so easy to break out of the shackles and leap!

Now, back to my earlier point, I am not denying that personal motivation and inspiration need to be there and were lacking to some degree on this assignment - so, not making excuses or even having a moan!!  But, my feedback to OCA (and I have made a similar point on other assignment/project notes e.g. some of those on the Landscape course) is that, if students are to be more creative and less 'conservative', then ideally this needs to come across more clearly in course notes and all briefs need to be written with that in mind.

For me, the learning point is, I think, that my personal development will be much better served by following what inspires than by following the letter of the brief.  I already knew that, and followed that path with the previous assignment, but I've fallen back into the trap here. (Albeit, there shouldn't really be a trap, should there?)

My notes to my tutor were very detailed, and I don't intend to repeat them here but I will post the images submitted, albeit without comment (other than the general one above).  Here they are:

Byram Arcade, Huddersfield





Queensgate Market, Huddersfield





Visitor Centre, Yorkshire Sculpture Park






Underground Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park





The Garden Shed





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