Part Two: Project Four – Stage Three

Selecting from your drawings:

 Having been imbued with the principle of all work to be executed within a sketchbook I have had a debate with myself as to working on loose sheets of paper and a variation of textiles. Should these be directly on to a page of a sketchbook or should they be mounted on a page of a sketchbook?

Common sense says ‘whatever’ and I agree. Then comes the question of what are they looking for when making an assessment of each assignment/degree work? Previous ‘distant learning’ institutions have pushed the ‘inside a sketchbook’ requirement and this module actually emphasises the fact that drawings and other work in sketchbooks should be sent with the work sent for assessment. Sad to say there is no clear-cut answer and the problem for this stage is how does one put their work on fixed pages in a sketchbook up on the wall or on a table top? Only one page opening can be viewed at any one time.

The following comment comes from ‘We Are The OCA’ – 19/11/2011

Pat Hodson on November 18, 2011 at 7:05 pm

I think you have to distinguish between assessment and tutorials here. We tutors are there to advise. how can we advise if we only see one or two pieces of work. For at least the first assignment I want to see all the work. I also think we need to distinguish between experimental work, rough designs and more resolved and complex pieces. In a tutorial I want to see the roughs, the struggle and the thought processes. These of course should be in the working notebooks. A student in their reflective log could begin to ’select’the pieces they feel would be appropriate for assessment. (If they want to be assessed of course.)

Pat is making it abundantly clear what she is expecting as an assessor. My guess is that every assessor will have another or different emphasis as to what they may want to see.

Should ‘Moderation’ become a further stage in the ‘Assessment‘ process?

Is a working note book the same as the sketchbook, learning log, or blog url or is it another requirement over and above those set down in the Guidelines for submission for formal assessment which students are sent in their folder as an appendix sheet? Using the correct terminology should be essential other wise students immediately become confused and start to stress.

OCA News [news@oca-uk.com] 19/11/2011 has an excellent video on ‘How to tempt Pat into a bodice’

Having got that off my chest on now to “develop an eye for what makes a drawing have potential – process these drawings systematically to generate further visual ideas”.

 The source pictures were chosen from my photo album of waves, seas, clouds and skies.

A grid was then placed over them to select an interesting combination of marks and shapes from more than one picture.

By cutting up the grid into smaller pieces they could then be reassembled into some degree of well-balanced abstract design.