What are your starting points? – be specific
- What am I thinking about? The fundamentals of the Everyday - to date practice has addressed a concern for the decay of social decorum and the prevalence of neglect for the Everyday. - systematic disintegration leading to encasing the chaos in a confined space. Lefebvre, Rhythmanalysis creates a science of analysing daily rhythms, inherent in my work. control, space, confinement, touch, personal space, routine, space of routine, repetition, chaos, fragmentation...
What are you curious about?
- What am I reading, what is drawing me in? What artists am I curious about? What materials am I curious about? What techniques do I want to explore? Time and consumption of time in routine. Negotiation of routine, time, place. The chaos of routine, how routines are shaped, deconstructed and reconstructed. Textiles and routine, domesticity, the sense of touch and everyday life, pattern, repetition and fracturing/fragmenting. Books, layers, lines, disruption, neutrality, binary, repetition, paper, paint, wet, dry, encrusted, texture, touch, comfort, weight/wait, time passing. fabric, stitch, fragility, density, opacity, fibre, cloth, natural/degradable, dissolvable...
What strategies will you adopt?
- How Am I going to do this? Be structured and methodical, keeps clear notes - use the work to document the work. ROUTINE. Keep to the timeline, reference it regularly, make a time planner to map out slots during the weeks to accommodate each task for the course and other commitments. Photograph, document, upload, repeat...
What are your personal risks?
- What scares me? Is it practical risks, theoretical risks or personal/private risks? This scares me... being distracted. Not producing enough, not understanding or misinterpreting the task or feedback. Underachieving, I know what I am capable of but seem to hold myself back, becoming self-critical and apprehensive until I give up as it feels like the safest option. Comparison scares me, wanting to achieve and understand things in the manner of my peers.
- What challenges do you anticipate? Time, organisation, overwhelm, distraction, feelings of impostorism, insecurity, comparison, fear.

Outline:
- Week 1 Feb 18th Complete Mapping the territory, print large scale mindmap to work in to, use to outline concepts, generate ideas and moving forward. Produce outline plan first draft, produce some experiments regarding initial thoughts from current practice. - Done!
- Week 2 Feb 25th Begin research reading and gathering, use Textile reader (Hemmings, 2012) and Everyday Reader (Highmore, 2002); texts related to touch, histories, colonialism, colour, routine, textile usage. Explore artists already working on my exploration (also links to contextual study). Continue production experiments, break the process down and source materials. - Done!
- Week 3 Mar 4th Reflect on current production, note relationship to readings, additional areas to explore or possible changes in direction etc. - reflection happened but not as productive as I wanted to be. Focused on Contextual Study.
- Week 4 Mar 11th Continue with production, once each moment of production is 'completed' as such, reflect immediately to stay on top and also revisit and compare with previous productions - Mon 12 Mar: Tutorial AR - Production stopped. Life happened. Frustrating. the tutorial was helpful but quick and felt rushed which didn't help when everything is feeling so rushed at the moment.
- Week 5 Mar 18th Be aware of burn out or possible stopping points, challenge with an activity from the list provided to move work into another dimension/area/scale/technique. Mon 19 Mar: Tutorial DK ART WEEK DUBAI - the challenge of balancing activity and work. Home balance has been difficult and pressing needs for employment have taken time away from activity. Tutorial with DK, really helpful, clarified points for productions.
- Week 6 Mar 25th Production, again being aware of reflection and managing the other course commitments, refer to course-mates for progress and feedback, communicate strengths and weaknesses and possible areas for consultation Mon 26 Mar: Exploratory Project - Challenges and Learnings - Seminar THE PLAN FOR THIS WEEK:
- How to create chaos? what are chaos and define terms?
- feedback from DK was to follow my instinct and move into 3D. To show evolution and progress must remember to do all the stages.
- stage 1 - continue tracings - black out edges leaving the connected space - use black lines on paper and grey to select space. 'space awareness'
- stage 2 - cut out the grey space in another series, overlay and photograph. - collage effect.
- stage 3 - using card cut the lines out completely - make into mini 3D pieces that can be photographed.
- stage 3A - 3D in a 2D plane - velvet flocking, DeVore fabric, raised textiles, the density of stitch, padding, puff paints,
- stage 4 - layer card to make 'square' or block pieces/forms - glue together
- stage 5 - consider scale and enlarge - possibly using boxes instead (foil wrap box is a good size.
- stage 6 - consider materials - subversiveness - thinking textiles, soft sculpture - foam and felt - stitched - embroideries - stuffed.
- YES, THIS IS PRESCRIPTIVE BUT IF I WANT A COHERENT PROJECT I NEED STRUCTURE. I APPROACH ART LIKE SCIENCE AND MY STEPS NEED TO BE PLANNED SO THAT I DON'T MISS THINGS OUT AS I AM OFTEN CRITICISED FOR 'MISSING LINKS'. WITHIN THIS STRUCTURE I AM FLEXIBLE AND WILL REVISIT AS AND WHEN NECESSARY. HAPPY ACCIDENTS ARE A WONDERFUL PART OF BEING AN ARTIST.
- Week 7 Apr 1st HALF WAY POINT good time to review the current body of work, what is successful and what isn't. Can anything be 'rescued' or needs to be cast off? is it fulfilling the initial concept and ideas? Does it need to? Has it produced new ways of thinking? Changed direction? What unexpected things have emerged? Have I challenged myself? Does this still feel safe? How can I take even more risks? Prepare for making day. Create a list of questions to pose to the group for structured and meaningful feedback. Sat 7th Apr: Making Day
- Week 8 Apr 8th Production, again being aware of reflection and managing the other course commitments, move forward using findings and feedback from making day.
- Week 9 Apr 15th Production, utilise activities list if stuck or needing an extra challenge. Prepare for Group crit next week.
- Week 10 Apr 22nd Production, self-reflection and future planning. Prepare for a tutorial with AR next week Mon 23 Apr: Group Crits 1/2 cohort
- Week 11 Apr 29th Production, again being aware of reflection and managing the other course commitments, move work forward using critique from tutorial Mon 30 Apr: Tutorial AR
- Week 12 May 6th Reflection and assessment of progress, prepare for group evaluation, clarify thoughts and findings, plan for future development of practice Finish: 11 May: upload images by 24.00 for group evaluation and seminar on 14 May
- Week 13 May 13th Deadlines for contextual study and PPP, thinking about submitting work for assessment, evaluate progress and outcomes. Mon 14 May: Exploratory Project Seminar/evaluation - Mon 4 Jun: DEADLINE FOR PRACTICAL WORK SUBMISSION - End of unit review AR/CW
Meet in a small group at least twice throughout the project. MZ, RF, KVW - GCC collective (although that is an actual collective that exists so may need a new name!)

Deadlines:

Mon 26 Feb: Writing Workshop
Mon 12 Mar: Tutorial AR
Mon 19 Mar: Tutorial DK
Mon 16 Apr: Peer Review
Mon 30 Apr: Tutorial AR
Mon 14 May: DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION

The Contextual essay is a critical and contextual review of your work, positioning it within contemporary practice and detailing the relationship between theory and your own practice. You need to demonstrate an understanding of the development of your work, and analyse the impact of the research activity that you have been engaged in.What are your starting points? – be specificWhat has my work been about? The fundamentals of the Everyday - to date practices has addressed a concern for the decay of social decorum and the prevalence of neglect for the Everyday. - systematic disintegration leading to encasing the chaos in a confined space. How is communication and daily practices affected in environments where these vary due to cultural expectations? Is this discord accepted and how?Looking at: Henri Lefebvre in the Critique of Everyday Life, the bourgeoisie and their elevation from the everyday. Does this elevation exists today: does status or wealth create a simplified routine?; what are the commonalities and differences according to sociocultural factors?; or are the basic components of living so intrinsic that routines are fundamentally equivalent? Lefebvre, Rhythmanalysis creates a science of analysing daily rhythms, inherent in my work. How do the rhythms of daily experience filter in to art? how has this shown up historically? how this affects artists and the current market?What are you curious about?What am I reading, what is drawing me in? What artist am I curious about? Currently reading on Colonialism, deconstructing Colonialism, post-Colonialism, Orientialism, 'whitewashing', the narrative of history, identity politics; these subjects specific to the gulf or UK 'commonwealth' - that term in itsself. Coexistence and intergroup cooperation. Transience, permanent impermanence, 'migrant, expat, national'. Time and consumption of time in routine. Routine, culture and place. Negotiation of routine, time. The chaos of routine, how routines are shaped, deconstructed and reconstructed. Textiles and routine, domesticity, the sense of touch and everyday life, pattern, repetition and fracturing/fragmenting.Artist in the region, looking at pattern, similar concepts, or materials? Whats more imaportant to my practice? Can I find artists that come under all of those headings? Do I use contemporary artists, peers? or art historical references? Do they need to be highly successful or can they be emerging?What strategies will you adopt?How Am I going to do this? Be structured and methodical, keeps clear notes - probably best to use this platform so it's in one place. Feel self conscious about that but can use passwords. Keep to the timeline, reference it regularly, make a time planner to map out slots during the weeks to accommodate each task for the course and other commitments. Thank goodness reading groups end this week! What challenges do you anticipate?Time, organisation, overwhelm, distraction, feelings of imposterism, insecurity, comparison, fear. An outline:

Week 1 Feb 18th Complete Mapping the territory, print large scale mindmap to work in to, use to outline concepts, generate ideas and moving forward. Produce outline plan first draft, initial thoughts from current practice.
Week 2 Feb 25th Begin research reading and gathering, use Textile reader (Hemmings, 2012) and Everyday Reader (Highmore, 2002); texts related to touch, histories, colonialism, colour, routine, textile usage. Explore artists already working around my exploration. Mon 26 Feb: Writing Workshop
Week 3 Mar 4th Reflect on current production, note relationship to readings, narrow down to key artists/works/methods.
Week 4 Mar 11th Continue with reading, reflect immediately to stay on top and compare with each other and practice - make links, why is it relevant? - Mon 12 Mar: Tutorial AR
Week 5 Mar 18th Be aware of burn out or possible stopping points, seek support if feeling overwhelmed. Mon 19 Mar: Tutorial DK ART WEEK DUBAI
Week 6 Mar 25th begin to construct layout and possible structure of text
Week 7 Apr 1st HALF WAY POINT good time to review the current body of research and writing, what is successful and what isn't. Can anything be 'rescued' or needs to be cast off? is it fulfilling the initial concept and ideas? Does it need to? Has it produced new ways of thinking? Changed direction? What unexpected things have emerged? Does this still feel true? Am I doing something that needs to be discussed? Am I relevant?
Week 8 Apr 8th Working on draft for peer review, have a large majority of document ready. Possible proof read from outside source. Peer support.
Week 9 Apr 15th Work on document utilising feedback from peers. Mon 16 Apr: Peer Review
Week 10 Apr 22nd Keeping writing, revising, checking. Prepare for tutorial with AR next week
Week 11 Apr 29th Work towards completion using critique from tutorial. Mon 30 Apr: Tutorial AR
Week 12 May 6th check document and referencing meet criteria. spell check and final proof reads.
Week 13 May 13th Deadlines for contextual study and PPP.
Mon 4 Jun: End of unit review AR/CW

26/03/2018 - Exploratory project - revised outline with notes.

IN PROGRESS - Contextual Essay - Starting Points & Outline