I sometimes wonder if I’m little bit schizophrenic. My moods, reactions can zoom up and down with alarming speed. Over the years I have learnt to take a deep breath and wait before acting too soon and setting life-changing actions in motion, having been fortunate enough to have had wise sensible people on hand to steady and restrain. This was the case with the MA.
What a difference a week can make. After this weeks seminar I came home floating on a cloud of euphoria. Even managed to deliver a half-decent verbal presentation to the group. Now revelling in the intellectual discussions and new insights into Art – conceptual mapping, critical evaluation, the unknowing,phenomenology.
A visit to Tate Modern has also contributed to my inspiration this week. The Pop exhibition wasn’t really my cup of tea but a chance wander into the next gallery where a new exhibition called, Traces, more than made up for this. There I discovered several artists new to me who I intend to research further. Christopher Wool, George Condo, Rebecca Horn and several more. www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/trace Well worth a second visit. Shall go again next week and hope the euphoria continues!
We’ve been urged to keep a Reflective Journal. After only two weeks my emotions have soared violently up and down.
Last week I felt totally overwhelmed by the intellectual challenge and unable to compete with my fellow-students who appeared to have such a wealth and diversity of experience.
A tutorial with Jane convinced me otherwise. Her faith in my ability was reassuring and on reflection I began to see that I was, perhaps, the equal of some of my colleagues. With age comes experience and a stock of knowledge gleaned over time. Sometimes, much to my surprise,I know about things others don’t, simply because I lived through events which are just history to younger fellow-students. Rather funny and a great boost to my ego at times!
So having regained my confidence, I promptly lost it again the following week. This time I felt I just didn’t want to carry on even though I now felt it was possible.
The seminar was about Conceptual Mapping. As a starting point we watched a short video clip of Alison Knowles ‘Making a Salad’. The piece so annoyed me that I let the content completely overshadow the methodology being demonstrated. Big Mistake! Later when I had calmed down enough to reflect critically on the afternoon, I rapidly understood the value of the seminar. After experimenting with the technique using Van Gogh as a starting-point to which I could more easily relate, I began to see the value of the concept.
So – back on track – until the next wobble !
