24/25 Theories, Policies and Practices
Introduction
At the start of the session I introduced myself, my position at Central Saint Martins and my practice. The purpose of this session is for my peers to look back at a body of work compiled over 15 years.
Aims of the session
As an object-based learning session, it looked at human engagement with objects. It focused on establishing the given context of a body of textiles in a neutral, unrelated environment i.e. a classroom. This session was a reflection on a past body of work to generate new ideas through analysis and documentation.
As part of the session, I explained that my chosen objects were from a collection of textiles from my own practice. I wanted my peers to recognise them as objects and not think about their function.
To start with, everyone was given an envelope containing a sketchbook, drawing materials and a series of questions which they would respond to as part of the exercise. Everyone was given textile pieces from my archive; they were asked to either drape on the body (if they felt comfortable) or use the space (furniture and surroundings).
I wanted the session to be lively and interactive which was why I asked them to move to different areas of the room. Each had 5-6 minutes to analyse what they were looking at in pairs. As I walked around the room, I interacted with my peers triggering responses to aid with the questions and observations of the fabrics.
Further into the session, I asked them to reflect and use the drawing materials and viewfinders provided to translate their answers into hand-rendered responses.
At the end of the session I presented a series of images of the textiles in their context. The purpose of this was for peers to see them in their given environment. This revealed their end function as well as their provenance (the year, the collection, the composition) for additional context.
Personal reflection
Something that I learned was the power of offering more productive silence so the peers could get to grips with and analyse what I was asking them.
Peers could have had more time to discuss the answers as well as having more reflections on their findings. By the end there might have been a slight disconnect between the analysis of the objects and the activities given.
Going forward, I feel the visual understanding and materiality of the textiles would have been enough for the class to explore, or would have worked as a design exercise to create something from what they were looking at instead of attempting both. I question if there was enough time for all the class to achieve my objective of understanding and what you can achieve from looking at materials in different contexts.
In my own teaching, I realise I can allow more time and space to spark conversations and reflections on objects.
