Overall, I’ve found an aspect in each and every workshop that I enjoy. There hasn’t been a day that I’ve completely hated. I’ve loved expanding my knowledge in areas of art and design that I’ve explored before. I think coming out of part 1 of this course, I will be a much more well rounded art student.

Two workshops that really revealed a lot about my working style to me were the Do Undo Redo and the Revelation of Erasure workshops. The two were quite similar in the sense that both were very independent, we were given loose guidelines and let loose very quickly to interpret those guidelines however we see fit. However, the disciplines in these two workshops were quite different, Revelation of Erasure being fine art at its purest, and Do Undo Redo being a more experimental take on styling and fashion communication. The Revelation of Erasure workshop was about two weeks before Do Undo Redo, and I was still very fresh on the course. I was not used to having so little instruction, so I struggled with having so much independence. I continually second guessed myself and my work, and kept comparing the paintings I was producing to others in the room. I began developing a sort of self saboteur complex that day and began having doubts about my suitability on the course. However, Do Undo Redo was a complete joy for me. I found I had a natural talent for communicating fashion and working with garments/textiles on a communication platform. By this point, I was used to working with so little instruction so I was able to interpret the brief and apply myself and skills to little instruction we got. I was able to maintain the rules of the brief while still infusing my creativity to my final products. It was a complete departure from what I was feeling during Revelation of Erasure, and clearly my strengths are more suited to design and communication as opposed to fine art. 

The practitioners that have been most influential to my thinking and making are David LaChapelle and John Galliano. My personal style and aesthetics are a sort of melting pot of different elements from many different artists, but a tiny bit more so from these two. David LaChapelle has encouraged me to have more fun with my work, dream bigger, not be afraid to be obnoxious. He has influenced me in the sense that I don’t take myself too seriously, especially when creating. I find that a lot of students take their work very seriously to the point where their work is so complex and obscure, its nothing. David LaChapelle has encouraged me to be true to my personality, over the top, humorous, glamorous, playful etc. I find that when I step away from overthinking my work and go back to these adjectives, my work significantly improves and receives much more positive feedback. John Galliano has taught me to look everywhere for inspiration. I used to have an issue of fixating solely on subjects that interest me for inspiration, creating very repetitive work. John has influenced me to look in areas I never really knew about to be inspired, even if they don’t necessarily align with my personal aesthetics at first glance. Whether it be sci-fi movies or nomads in Mongolia, John has encouraged me to free my mind to diverse references and eclectic research, and to create a melange of all these references to create work that is much more forward thinking. Through this, my work has grown in breadth and complexity and my knowledge of art, history, culture, etc. has increased immensely. 

I loved the extension project. I was so happy to finally dive into a pathway that I am interested in, I was so happy to create my own idea and execute the way I wanted too. The self managed nature of the experience as well as the extended time allowed me to think bigger. I didn't feel like I was cramming too many ideas into too small a workshop, I felt like I could breath and really expand upon my creativity and make something that I am very proud of. The extension week conformed my choice. I knew I wanted fashion communication since Do Undo Redo and this project increased my conviction in this pathway as my choice. I wasn’t stressed at all during this project, nor was I scratching my head for an idea. I enjoyed the process from start to finish which was very refreshing. I loved my outcome, it was exactly what I had envisioned in my head when I first began thinking about this assignment. It was everything I wanted to present about myself and my style of fashion communication, playful, over the top, humorous, glamorous, and literal. However, there were a few minute elements I wish I could’ve improved. I did not have access to a proper camera, I forgot I could’ve rented one from the loan store, so I used my iPhone. The photos came out pretty well, especially for an iPhone, but if I could improve my final product I would’ve taken the photos on a professional camera, and edited them using professional software, not just my iPhone editing functions. I think I’m quite strong at the styling aspect of fashion communication but I want to learn more and improve on the moving image aspect. I’m hoping that I can specialize in this pathway so I can build up my skills in this facet of fashion communication. This pathway is suited to me because I’m constantly communicating fashion. Every day I come to class, I bring a completely new ensemble, a new character, a new reference that interests me. I play upon different personas and characters that embody bits of my personality and topics that interest me. Whether it be a flapper dancer , 90s Chanel, or Daphne Guiness, I feel that I communicate a diverse range of fashion on the daily, and in this pathway, I can apply that skill to a more professional setting, step behind the camera and really demonstrate my skills to direct and communicate on a larger scale thats not just myself. My knowledge of fashion and art as well as my personal style is strong enough to create very strong portfolio in this pathway, and I cannot see myself anywhere else on this course.