End of Stage 1 Essay
I chose to do an art foundation in order to develop my understanding of the creative industry, and as a way of building up my skills and portfolio before starting a degree course.
Stage 1 was quite different to what I expected, however, going into the foundation, I wasn't really sure what to expect. One element that was different to what I imagined was the freedom of the course, and the fact that we were able to adapt every single project to our own personal interests. This meant that I was really passionate about all of the projects, and I was able to research artists that were inspiring to me, and produce results that will be appropriate to put in my portfolio. Another thing that was different to what I initially thought was the very fast pace of each project and exercise, which is obviously very different to A-level, where I had at least 3 months for each project. At the beginning of stage one, the speed was quite overwhelming, but I feel that over the last 8 weeks, I have been able to embrace it and it has helped me to grow as a designer and artist. Even after only 2 months, I now feel that I am better equipped for real life, where there is that very fast pace and competition for design jobs.
Going into stage one, I saw myself as working best in a design based style, with elements of art as well. However, after completely the art, design and media projects, I now think that I am closer to the middle of the three groups as I found that I really loved the media project. I still find that I like working towards a brief, with a design based creative process, but I like the freedom and creative play that comes with art, and from media, I really found the if that I was able to mediate what the viewer was seeing and input my own thoughts into the work to be something that interests me. I think that all of these line up with what I want to do in the future, which is costume and theatre design, in which you have to work to a brief and a character description, from the script or book (like design), but you also have the opportunity to present the character to the audience however you choose (like media), and in the end you have to have the creativity from art, as you and the directors/writers/designers are creating a piece of art in the form of a theatre production.
Overall, I have really enjoyed my experience of stage one, and I am very glad that I decided to do a foundation at AUB because I feel that even in only 8 weeks, I have already learned more and developed as a creative practitioner more than I thought possible in such a short space of time. I have really loved the fact that we were given the opportunity to explore so many different materials, techniques and ideas, and I now feel like I am ready to specialise in my chosen pathway, which is costume.
