A frustrating day

Today was the day when the MABP course received their feedback on the Developing Project Proposal.  I started with a long journey - fatality at Chelmsford meant we were tipped off the train twice and it took 2 hours to get to London.

My tutorial with Linden went well.  She said my essay was good - multiple definitions of value judged by primary sources (dictionaries/theorists) then defined on my own terms.  I had a good density of references, although I could have compressed them by saying x, y, z all have this idea, rather than spelling them out one at a time.

Utilise Gilligan's Theory of Care -v- Justice.  Demonstrate how the Theory of Care operates.  How it is overlooked in the wider community.  How does it underpin my choices in embroidery?  Demonstrate how the underlying value of caring represents women's voice.

Maintain sophistication.

Be clear about Method - Data Collection - Inspiration and suggestion.

Person - care focus
Interview - family members
Transcribe - Identify themes/pattern/trend.

Playful evolution of data into imagery.

It's ok to treat data gathering/analysis like a fishing expedition - use an intuitive approach to find the salient points.

Use this weekend's workshop with Tilleke Schwartz to develop composition and making technique.
Identify "my frame" - my selection of topics and her values.

Play on Joan's underlying economy of representation.

The report was too descriptive.  I need to maximise the point of the theory essay by linking with my current activity.  Demonstrate how my theoretical reading fertilises and supports my work.  Demonstrate how theory underpins my work by incorporating it.

Next term's report is all about my rationale for doing what I have done, the way I have done it.  Use my blog as a resource log.  Document my Questions, my Method and Rationale throughout.  Appendix to show Aim; Questions; Methods.  Refer to original proposal.  Learning by doing.  Exploratory research.  Mixture of getting tighter with playfulness.  Quote and cite people on similar lines.   I can use my Theory Essay to contribute to the final report.


Then I went to my Feedback session for the Developing Project Proposal.  I was expecting to spend most of the time listening, for the assessors to say what went well/badly to support the mark and inform my practice for next term.  Instead I was interviewed - they asked lots of questions about why I had chosen samplers to work on, what informed my values, what would a 14 year old make of the samplers etc.  It was more like a Viva than feedback.  I was asked what conclusions I had drawn from last term, and what I had planned for next term.  I was not able to answer this, as it is a question that I would need time to consider.

There were some probing questions about what values I was investigating, but I did not get the drift from the phraseology.  Then Nick summed up that I was considering social and political values, and specifically the systematic under-valuing of certain values.  I was asked what the relationship was between the societal undervaluing and my making activity.  They probed as to why making a sampler was a female activity (whereas top fashion designers and tailors are men)  - and it transpired they wanted the answer that making samplers was not commercial.

Then we discussed the association of women with Caring.  It is as if, even in the academic environment, women are deemed to 'naturally' be caring!  I accept there may be a tendency for women to care more than men, but I dispute it being associated with all women. I, for one, am not one of life's carers.  This is a point I need to make.  Some women operate with a strong caring value; others do not.  I don't like this blanket labelling.

Adding text (to what?  the sampler?  an artist statement?) gives cues.  Artwork needs explanation in an artist statement.

Look at Sophie Calle.  Look at Derek Jarman's Garden.

Connections with style of work.  (Not sure what this means).  Put Curating in context - what your sources are.

I feel none the wiser for my feedback. And I appeared to be the only one from our class who was grilled for 25 minutes, whereas everyone else had 10 minutes max, just listening.

Like I said, not my greatest day!  Feeling seriously hacked off and frustrated.

Two days on - I continue to feel hacked off, but have it more in perspective.  To be quite honest, I would quite happily walk away from the course.  It is an administrative shambles.  We are being allocated theory tutors who don't know our subject.  My supervisor who guides my work is not involved in the assessment of it, so the assessors are marking my work blind.  And the quality of the feedback on our work is the final insult.  I am a former workplace assessor, who has given and received much feedback.  My assessment of their feedback would be to rate their work as 40%, i.e. a fail.  They did not state what went well (with examples), they did not state what went badly (with examples), they did not advise on what to carry forward, or what to discard.  The university policy is to 'feed forward'.  I don't even know what this means ... it has not been defined!