Audiences Project Report

I have to admit that when I first heard we had to do a blog, I totally hated the idea. The idea of recording my thoughts in a diary form appealed to me, but it was the thought of sitting at a computer, on my own that really got to me. When I’m excited about something, I want to tell other people about it, and I hated the idea of meeting someone at college, and rather than having an interesting conversation with them, asking them to go and look at my blog.

 Once I got going however, I quite enjoyed it. It is somehow much easier to rant when you are typing, and it is much easier to copy and paste images virtually, rather than manually. Also,  I found I was more inclined to write a blog when I was already at the computer and found something interesting.

 I didn’t really manage to stay on subject while I was writing. I was interested in the beginning in the idea of differentiating between work you could touch, and work which was kept at arms length. However, I think a combination of my critical studies presentation being on this subject and there being a lack of suitable source material, I never really got going with the idea.

 I have learned quite a lot from this short module. One thing is that I should really stop being so stubborn and defensive all the time, and give things a chance to grown on me before I start slating them. I have also learned that it is ok to write in an informal way sometimes. I think this is another of my pre-conceptions which is not necessarily correct; I always imagine that people who do art courses are looked down on as being less academic than those who do traditional English/maths/science degrees, and I have always tried to fight this off; refusing to consider ever asking for essay writing help and writing in full structured sentences all the time. I have realised however that my remonstrances of ‘but I got 2 A’s in English at school, I’m not stupid’ are actually ridiculous, and I have enjoyed writing in this informal style as it is nice sometimes to be able to say ‘I like this because I just do!’ without having to justify yourself or reference anything.

 I have felt that the audiences module has been relevant to the course as a whole, but not necessarily relevant to myself. It has defiantly made me think about the importance of the audience, and the importance of setting also, but as I want to do Art Therapy, and have no intention of being a part of the exhibiting art world, I always find these short modules difficult. I decided at the beginning of term however that I was going to focus on myself as an artist and have tried to react to the module as such.

 I think I will keep the blog up after the module is over, because I have found it a good way to record thoughts and get feedback on them. I feel it has been a useful tool for this particular subject, though I think I will always prefer to have physical things, physical notes, experiences and conversations.