Project evaluation:

The castle project is our second project of the year, we are working with Nottingham castle to put on an exhibition using VR headsets and we needed to create a piece in response to either a work in the castle or an aspect of the castle itself. I really enjoyed working with the castle last year so I went into it with a positive expectation, and I believe that the use of virtual reality  is new and interesting and it will add a fresh, innovative aspect to the exhibition.

To start off this project I chose to respond to a painting called 'Still life with frog and goldfinch' by Matthias Withoos, and as a starting point in my response I went out and foraged natural materials such as stickers and leaves. I wanted to lean into the still life aspect of the painting as I was greatly drawn to and inspired by the depiction and various plants within the painting. I thought that this would be a good place to start as it's a very clear and direct link to the painting. I collected leaves from a local nature reserve and also from the castle grounds so that my work would have another connection to the castle as a whole. Although I gathered a to of material I found that I didn't really have that many ideas on how to use them in a developing piece of work and so I created a series of mono prints and cyanotypes with them. I think that the outcomes were very successful, however, I found that I didn't want to take it any further. 

At this point in my project I felt that I had wasted quite a lot of time trying to develop an idea that wasn't't really going anywhere and it is definitely something that I will be more cautious about next time. Because of this I believe that I have learned to recognise when something is and isn't working out and I think that this will help me to be more efficient in the future. 

I then began to work with clay and ceramics, and this is where I came up with the idea for my final piece. I wanted to create something with more movement as opposed to the static 2D prints that I had previously created. I was greatly inspired by the representation of life and death within the original painting that I am responding to and wanted to create and iconic final piece that really captured the essence of this. To do this I created a ceramic noose from which I would hang and dangle smaller ceramic pieces to resemble a baby mobile, showcasing new life and death within one installation.  I think that a big learning point for me came while I was working in the ceramics room , I found myself having to re learn a lot of old skills while also learning new ones, I was inducted into certain tools and machines that I had never used before and this has really helped me expand my skillset and I believe that this will aid me in my future projects. One major thing that I didn't think about before choosing to do ceramics was the wait time to use the kiln and get my pieces fires, this is where I think I made a mistake with my time management as I took longer than expected to make my pieces which then meant that I was waiting longer for them to be fired and I would be waiting even longer to glaze them. 

I believe that all of the trail and error and test pieces such as my underglaze experiments have been really fun and have helped me to quickly figure out what works and what doesn't. This process has allowed me to quickly and easily test out a variety of new, different tools and materials in an efficient way that contributed positively towards my final piece. I think that working with ceramics has been one of my favourite aspects of this project so far and I am definitely considering using clay and ceramics in my final project as well.

There have been a few other technical issues out of my control that have caused this project to take longer than planned. I had to outsource ceramic transfer prints from a company and there have been issues with their website and delivery which has meant that I still haven't received the prints and I am not able to glaze some of my tiles because the prints need to go on first. Next time I will be sure to get anything that needs to be outsourced ordered as early as possible to prevent this from happening again. Another aspect of the project that I think I could have improved on is the amount of artists research that I have done, I found that I was so absorbed with trying to get my pieces fired on time that I neglected to do as much research as I normally would and I believe that this has hindered my inspiration during this project.

I think that some of the skills I have improved upon during this project are working with ceramic tools and photoshop, I have been able to do things on photoshop that I have never been able to do before. I have improved and widened my skillset and I feel much more competent and confident when using the software. 

Unfortunately, due to the delays in receiving some of the items that I need for my final piece I have not yet been able to fully assemble it, however, once the prints arrive I believe that it will be an incredibly quick process to get everything put together. I have a solid plan for what I want and I fully believe that the final outcome will be successful.

Overall, I have enjoyed this project so far and I feel like I have learned a lot. I have pushed myself out of my comfort zone and eagerly used a variety of new materials and learned new skills. I have recognised my short comings and mistakes and have learned from them and I believe that this has helped me to improve as an artists.