As a brief conclusion to the year as a whole in respect of my own personal development I do feel that I have progressed in all the creative and academic areas. From the practical skills learnt in the workshops to the theory in critical dialogues I do have a broader knowledge and understanding of contemporary art.
My practical skill set has widened to include wood and metal work, plaster, screen printing and film although I have not used these areas much they will feature more next term. I definitely would have benefitted more from lessons and some instruction on painting and associated technics and maybe drawing workshops as this is where my interests lay, however, I do appreciate the endless hours spent by tutors trying to get everything turned into a performance or film piece, this was helpful and instructive in making me realise I don’t like performance or film pieces, but such suggestions are quite humorous for which I am thankful.
The film workshops were a particular challenge due to the technical requirements and my lack of understanding about IT and although completed it was not an enjoyable experience. One area I enjoyed more than expected was the essay assignment in critical dialogues, again how successful this was is yet to be seen but my understanding of the subject and research skills improved immensely.
Michael Palmer 