VA4008 - Curiosity, Collaboration & Experimentation

On this module you will learn experientially through practical making, and engaging in a range of creative activities. These will include group working, group critiques, exhibition visits, individual tutorials and half-day studio workshops. You will learn practical making skills by being introduced to the technical resource areas.

Studio workshops will use briefs to introduce you to experimental processes of making, unmaking and remaking art as you work both individually and in collaboration with peers. Some sessions will draw from game-play scenarios to consider chance and role play as strategies to cede control in creative decision making. You will work with your peer group to test ideas collectively, explore new materials, develop collaborative processes, and share critical reflection. Following these directed tasks, you will have tutor guided independent studio time to develop your responses further and explore new curiosities.

You will learn through individual tutorials; one-to-one teaching sessions in the studio that give ongoing feedback on your work as it develops and strategies for taking it further. Conversations with lecturers in these sessions will widen your subject knowledge and help you become aware of social, historical and cultural contexts. Group studio tutorials follow the same format, however you will also learn through live evaluation of work and processes with your peers.

Group critiques (crits) are small group forums that focus discussion on complete or near-complete work presented in ways that test exhibition display methods. Led by academic staff, crits allow you to safely and freely exchange views and ideas with your peers. Through crits you will receive detailed feedback from academic staff and peers on your works in-progress.

You will be supported by academic staff (who are practising artists) throughout the module through regular contact in the studio and online, through group feedback sessions, and by being directed to learning resources.

These approaches will help you to gain a wider understanding of the subject and start to position your practice within it. They will support you in developing social, organisational, intellectual and professional skills. They will enhance your learning in areas of communication, decision-making, problem solving, negotiation and critical reflection.

You are supported with studio provision, online platforms and IT support, and access to specialist technical facilities and resource areas. Technical facilities include wood, casting workshops, a print studio, mac lab, digital print facilities, and the darkrooms and digital photographic studios. You have access to specialist materials in all workshop areas, and our resource areas include our equipment stores, galleries, and project spaces.

You are supported by a module lead and wider academic team who will introduce the module at the start of the semester and offer advice and guidance throughout. At the start of the module you will be supported in safe working practices through training and instruction in health and safety and in ethics. This ensures that you are fully supported to safely use the studio, workshops and resource areas. You can apply for late working to increase your access to the studio. Academic support is provided by tutorials, group critiques, and introductions technical workshop areas where you are supported by specialist technicians.

Your learning is mapped out for you in a module guide that includes your timetable, guidance notes and key dates for the semester to help you organise and plan your time. Teaching materials, notices and guidance and the module guide are made available to you through BLACKBOARD, our online electronic learning portal, which is accessible online both on and off campus. You will have a university email that we contact you through. Up to date module information is displayed on noticeboards in your studio. Student REPs represent you in weekly meetings with the Programme Leader.

We support your learning by providing on-going feedback through the range of teaching and learning approaches offered. We ask you to write and electronically submit a Self-Evaluation Reports at the mid-point of semester 1 to support you to evaluate your own progress and achievements. This is then discussed with your tutor who will help you understand your strengths and areas for development in the module.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

By the end of the module you will be able to:

LEVEL 4

Knowledge & Understanding:

1. Produce complete works and works in progress that demonstrate awareness of contemporary art contexts and an understanding of the role practical experimentation, peer interaction and risk-taking take in developing your creative practice.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

2. Demonstrate a development of your personal organisation, oral and written communication, and technical proficiency.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

3. Demonstrate understanding of safe and ethical studio working.

At the mid-point of semester 1 you will complete a Self-Evaluation Review form outlining your progress against module Learning Outcomes. Your studio tutor will also complete a copy. You will meet for a feed-forward tutorial in the following week to identify gaps in understanding against the Learning Outcomes and agree on ways in which you can move forward and develop your work. You will receive on-going verbal feedback (formative review) from academics through individual tutorials and group tutorials and seminars. This enables you to respond immediately and clarify with academics any points you are unsure of. F

Summative Assessment
MLOs 1-3

Semester 1

The Summative Assessment is Pass or Referral and takes place at the end of semester 1.

You will present a considered selection of work produced in the semester that demonstrates curiosity, collaboration and experimentation in your emerging studio and out of studio practice. Your display will demonstrate critical awareness of approaches relevant to contemporary art practice. Alongside this you will present all work produced from the semester including tests and series, you will present documentation of process in folders, sketchbooks and notebooks

You will receive verbal feedback from your Studio Tutor in your studio, alongside your work, within seven days of the submission deadline. Written feedback will be delivered via Blackboard within 20 working days. Feedback is individual and provided in the context of the assessment criteria given to you at the start of the academic year in the module guide.

N/A

AH4009

The module will introduce you to ways of making contemporary art through experimenting, collaborating and exploring your curiosities. You will learn to develop and produce a range of collaborative and individual artworks supported by academic staff through directed and self-directed approaches within studio, technical workshop, project space areas and online platforms. You will learn to take risks and to work in an open-ended way, supported through a range of teaching approaches. You will learn to discern between a range of views within the subject offered to you by the academic team. You will create a studio community by negotiating a shared space of making, and by sharing interests, ideas and critical observations in an open and supportive way. You will develop critical and reflective approaches to producing and displaying your work. You will be supported by academic staff (who are practicing artists) throughout the module through regular contact in the studio and online, through group feedback sessions, and by being directed to learning resources.