I was part of group 1, the first group to present our work at the beginning of second year. I presented on Wednesday 24.10.18. I began by turning off the lights and talking through a brief slideshow I had prepared which went over the few main interests in my practice, with examples of work I had made, and artists that inspired me. The slides are included below:
When I asked for questions, at first, no-one said anything, there was a bit of an awkward silence, I thought perhaps I had covered so much ground that perhaps I had answered all of the questions they might have in the presentation, or perhaps I had bombarded them with so much imagery that they felt slightly intimidated. But then Flo asked me a question, a good one: "Why are the figures in your paintings always naked?". I answered that they aren't ALWAYS naked, there have been a few clothed figures, but mainly they were because on foundation I had been made to draw from life models everyday for months, and we were told this is the best way to learn to draw. I said I was also influenced by historical painting and drawing, which always depicted nudes, and that generally it's because the human body is a lot more interesting to draw than clothing in my opinion, and nudity can show many different things, be it sexuality, innocence, power, strength or vulnerability, it also reminds us of our animalistic tendencies, and returns us to nature. I was then given a few bits of advice by tutors and told that I had presented well and that my work sounded interesting and to keep on in this vein. I felt my crit went well, the tutors seemed impressed, and I didn't feel like I had left anything out, I said everything I wanted to say, I covered lots of things and it didn't go on for too long, the only thing I was disappointed with was how few questions I got, it almost felt like my fellow students were interested or connected enough to want to ask anything, a feeling I get a lot about my year.
Although there was quite a bit of text on a few of the slides I didn't bother reading it all out to the room as I thought that would be boring, and if they wanted to they could read it themselves, so instead I talked directly to them as I left each slide up for a bit. I explained why each photo had been included and casually explained what my practice was about, and why I'm interested in certain things, and how I try to explore them, and what I want to go on to next. I kept the slideshow brief as leaving a room in semi darkness with one person warbling on can make people fall asleep. In my crit last year I didn't make a slideshow for that reason, and instead just removed all the chairs from the seminar room and made everyone stand in front of my paintings. As this year I wasn't talking about just one project, and instead wanted to give my fellow students an idea of my practice as a whole, I felt a slideshow was needed. The slideshow lasted about 10 mins, then I turned the lights on and directed everyone's attention to the wall along the side of the seminar room where I had hung about 6 pieces of work and said a little thing about them. I explain why they were displayed together, what materials I had used, what I was trying to achieve in making them, and then I opened up the room to questions. Photos of the pieces I displayed on the wall in the crit are below:
When I asked for questions, at first, no-one said anything, there was a bit of an awkward silence, I thought perhaps I had covered so much ground that perhaps I had answered all of the questions they might have in the presentation, or perhaps I had bombarded them with so much imagery that they felt slightly intimidated. But then Flo asked me a question, a good one: "Why are the figures in your paintings always naked?". I answered that they aren't ALWAYS naked, there have been a few clothed figures, but mainly they were because on foundation I had been made to draw from life models everyday for months, and we were told this is the best way to learn to draw. I said I was also influenced by historical painting and drawing, which always depicted nudes, and that generally it's because the human body is a lot more interesting to draw than clothing in my opinion, and nudity can show many different things, be it sexuality, innocence, power, strength or vulnerability, it also reminds us of our animalistic tendencies, and returns us to nature. I was then given a few bits of advice by tutors and told that I had presented well and that my work sounded interesting and to keep on in this vein. I felt my crit went well, the tutors seemed impressed, and I didn't feel like I had left anything out, I said everything I wanted to say, I covered lots of things and it didn't go on for too long, the only thing I was disappointed with was how few questions I got, it almost felt like my fellow students were interested or connected enough to want to ask anything, a feeling I get a lot about my year.
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