Monday - 13-12-10 - All work in

This week presentations took place with both 1st and 2nd years handing in all of their final outcomes from their projects. Next week all projects will be marked and the students will have potential to improve on their grade. (photos of final pieces will be posted up soon)

Saturday 11-12-10 - Random got beautiful

On Thursday 11-11-10 I posted up that i had been out with 2nd years on a local photography trip just
having fun with photos and natural snapping techniques. this was to go toward producing a colour board.

This idea had arrived form visiting www.randomgotbeautiful.com which features hundreds of photos that have been picked from the public uploading images and then split into colour orientations. I decided to upload what i considered to me my personal favourite from that day and photography and sent it to them hoping that it would make the board. "guess what, it did"

(Top left, Dan Fardell Southend-on-Sea)

Friday 10-12-10 - Woodview Campus - Aida Design challenege

As part of teaching Unit 12: Computers in art, Jo stringer has decided to use this project as a form of competition which I will be leading, The brief has been written and is currently being IV'd By Lee Hey.

The royal Opera house opened up new workshop and prepping facilities over in Purfleet and has had connections with South Essex since 1997. Using this as guidance and help Unit 12: will be to design a poser for an up and coming 2011 version of Giuseppe Verdi's Opera Aida.

The ROH would like students from institutes all over the South East to digitally design a poster that can be used to market and promote the opera with the opportunity for the winner to have their design professional printed and used as part of the operas showcase material. This is a huge opportunity for not only individual students to excel withing their 1st year but for South Essex College to be recognised for outstanding work.

The competition runs until February 18th and I will be teaching both GAD 1st year groups on this project. Watch out for results!

Monday - 06-12-10 - Catch up week

Class Returns:

Due to the snow all presentations have been put on hold this week and will take place WB13-12-10.
It was a pleasure to see students actually excited about coming back, as i think a lot of them couldn't produce the work load they wanted to using their home facilities.

Mentor Meeting:

I had another mentor meeting with Jo stringer today who is also the new GAD course leader over at the Woodview campuse (Grays). Jo has invited me onto the Woodview GAD team 1 day a week and I will be running a whole project and ed excel unit by myself, specializing in computers in art.

Jack Petchey Award:

On another note, two weeks ago I nominated one of my 2nd year GAD students for the jack Petchey award based on his outstanding performance since my arrival, I received confirmation that he has won, which is an absolute delight for both myself, the student and the course. he will be receiving £200 as reward money in which he can purchase new material and equipment o help in on his course.

WC 29-11-10 - College Closes due to bad weather

This week has been a real miss in terms of work load, with deadlines coming up over the next two weeks the weather took a turn for the worst and all classes were suspended from Tuesday onwards.

Friday - 19-11-10 - Summary of the week

Year 1 & 2 ND GAD are working through their design development stages now for their chosen projects, all proposal are in and have been marked and now it is down to the students to make the most of their time whilst in collage. 1- 2 more weeks of development and proto-typing before they will start producing their final pieces.

On Thursday 18-11-10, I taught for the 1st time on the BA Interiors program. The 1st years are just starting a new project in titled "sculptors house", They have been allocated a designer and a location along with the restricted parameters of 3mx3mx3m. They will conceptually produce a house that takes into consideration the sculptors working facilities against their home life and how these spaces can overlap and create shared usage.

POD design movement time line exhibition goes up next week - watch this space

Friday - 12-11-10 - Project Proposals

All GAD student groups across the 2 years had to present their proposals to the rest of the class covering Eco-logic for Y01's and structures for Y02's. Many students had never presented before and were extremely nervous with presentation techniques however there were some fantastic proposals and great ideas from many of the students. In reflection 2 students from Y01 GPC gave such an outstanding presentation in terms of clarity and performance that it made my afternoon. I can't wait now for the next 4 intense weeks to be over and see all these final pieces.

"well Done Guys"

Thursday - 11-11-10 Photography

Today Me and AL Chris took Y02 GPB out on a tour of south end, the weather was to be clear "Extreme" wet and windy was just the start. As the group has a wide interest in photography we took the opportunity to allow them the freedom to spend all day snapping away, we set a small basic agenda to link in with the structures project but the day was up to them. this session is to be followed on next week where we will be producing colour wheels and mood boards using our images captured.

Tuesday - 9-11-10 PixelGarten

Once again me and group 1C had another busy building session leading on from the Eco-posters they designed last session. Having chosen what I believed to be the most effective design I split the group into 3 teams and gave them the influence and reference of Pixelgarten to take this poster onto a 3d scale. Pixelgarten are a well established Graphic/ Branding company taking their 2D innovations onto a 3D scale in order to show fun and depth to their finished pieces. They also always include themselves in their work which I introduced to the students as part of the criteria of the brief. (posting photos up soon)

Monday - 8-11-10 - Koyaanisqatsi

This afternoon we held a session in the Pod to show the students Koyaanisqatsi, the 1st of 3 movies directed and produced by Reggio. This is a non-dialog film in which it creates a conversation about urban life and technology vs the environment and how we have come to depend on both just as much. Each chapter is titled by a track from the soundtrack and reveals the beauty and beast of the world. Many students didn't understand at first why the film didn't have a script and wondered what they would take away from the experience. Hopefully the film has addressed some of the issues they are looking to raise trough their structures project. The link below is a great indication of what to expect (be open minded)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFBijDU8PpE