Tag: Professional Development

I used the software artsteps to create my own virtual online exhibition as a means of getting my work into the world in the current situation with covid. I felt that the software was often quite laggy and took a while to load but I really like the overall final exhibition and am looking forward to seeing if I get any comments/suggestions of improvement.

https://www.artsteps.com/curate/5fcfccea78c6140a6bf3451b/5

I wanted to portray a wide selection of my work including large scale pieces and sketchbook work. I made the walls of my exhibition blue to make my work stand out as well as adding frames to the pieces for more of a professional look.

I decided to keep the exhibition in the open to go along with the architectural theme of my project as the flow worked well. I feel that the blue of the wall and the blue of the sea outside of the exhibition add a lot of contrast. I may consider adding work to the outside walls of the exhibition to add more to the experience, even if it is online.

I made sure to space the pieces out nicely so that each one could stand out individually yet still allowing them to be collectively interesting. I especially like the fact that certain pieces have subtle colour schemes and others pop more to add areas of interest and contrast.

I felt it was effective adding sketchbook pages to my exhibition but I felt it was necessary for them all to be quite large scale so they could easily be looked at. I feel that the sizing works really well though and would be interested in making my sketchbook pages larger in prints for an actual exhibition as it would work a lot better than using them at their original A4 size.

I like that I have included collages and paintings in the exhibition as I didn’t limit myself and allowed it to be really exciting. I am very pleased with this exhibition.

I feel that including pieces of different sizes was really important to add variety to the exhibition. It also allowed ,e to show off interesting areas of detail of pieces.

This is the last wall of the exhibition so far. I would like to add one piece on either side of this one to fill up the space more as I like that in the other pieces. The blue walls work really well in my opinion.

I have always been unsure of what I want to do after University but I have considered becoming a teacher afterwards, most likely at GCSE level or higher but I’m not entirely sure. I decided to do some research into what becoming a teacher involves and research into some educational courses which could benefit me in the future.

https://www.planitplus.net/JobProfiles/View/431/121#:~:text=To%20become%20a%20secondary%20teacher,Diploma%20in%20Education%20(PGDE).

Responsibilities of an Art Teacher:

• Encourage children to develop their skills and express themselves
• Teach lessons, write projects, demonstrations, discussions, workshops
• Involve the uses of different mediums
• Prepare assignments, exams, continuous assessment plans, marking work, creating reports
• Keep good order and deal with misbehaviour/handle discipline
• Administrative work such as conducting registers of pupils
• Prepare for and attend parent-teacher meetings, staff meetings
• Supervising out of hour events or outings
• Meeting with other departments to plan interdisciplinary projects

Conditions:

• Working in a classroom, workshop or studio
• Average working hours are 35 per week, working within the classroom from 9-3.30 and then making up the rest of the hours with planning and marking
• Preparation and planning may be necessary to do in the evenings or weekends
• 13 weeks holiday each year but a lot of this would involve planning for next term
• Work evenings to attend parents evenings, staff meetings and extracurricular activity
• Teaching is mentally and physically demanding.

You need to have:

• An interest in how children learn and child development
• Patience and adaptability
• Confidence and enthusiasm
• An assertive approach when necessary
• Good organisation
• Positive outlook and a sense of humour

You need to be able to:

• Encourage students and hold their attention
• Be independent and work as a team
• Stay calm under pressure
• Get on well with others

To become an Art Teacher you need a degree in Art and Design based subject, GCSE grade C/4 in English, Maths and a science based subject, and a Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE).

I decided to apply to a teaching advice service that gives me advice about becoming a teacher and teacher training as I felt this could provide me with more information regarding teaching and possibly reinforce in my mind that it is what I want.

Update on the phone call – During the call I was given some advice as to what courses to look into for when I finish my degree and encouraged to email if I had any questions or needed any help. They even gave some interesting tips as to what to write on my application form and in my personal statement to demonstrate my passion in helping others as well as my passion for the subject. As I’m not too close to applying yet, I wasn’t assigned a Teacher Training Advisor but I was encouraged to call again nearer the time so I could have more tailored advice.

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/lp/crm-prepare

https://getintoteaching.education.gov.uk/explore-my-options/postgraduate-teacher-training-courses/teacher-training-courses

Teacher training courses will offer:

• Qualified Teacher Status that is needed to teach as a qualified teacher
• Classroom experience in at least two schools, 24 weeks of school experience
• Training to meet the Teachers Standards, including classroom management and make your subject accessible to students
• Expert academic and practical guidance from mentors/tutors

To fund teacher training I could receive a tax free bursary of £26,000, tuition/maintenance loans and could also earn a salary whilst training.

For Art and Design teaching, the bursary isn’t available but I will still be able to get the tuition and maintenance loans to cover the costs.

To find the right teacher training course:

• Use the Department for Education’s search tool for England: Find Postgraduate Teacher Training, to find available courses – you’ll be able to search by location, training provider and subject  
• Start researching individual course providers in more detail via their websites or by attending a teacher training event
• Get greater insight into completion and employability rates for each course provider, and find out more about individual schools using Ofsted’s inspection reports

Tips on choosing the teacher training course:

• Do your research – once you have an idea of the courses available, you can start researching individual providers in more detail via their websites or by attending a teacher training event. 
• You can also find out more about individual schools using Ofsted’s inspection reports, compare and contrast official university undergraduate teacher training course data at Unistats.com, and get greater insight into completion and employability rates from different training providers in the initial teacher training performance profiles report.
• Use your school experience – gaining school experience will help you develop a better understanding of the different options that are available, and the teachers you meet may be able to tell you about other training providers in your area.
• Remember, if you need to commute or relocate to be able to undertake your training, it’s important to consider the logistical and financial implications. For example:

• the cost of public transport and length of commute; do you know where your chosen providers’ placement schools are?
• what are your accommodation options if you need to relocate, and are they within your budget?

Since signing up to the Get into Teaching website, I get regular emails inviting me to attend Virtual Teacher Training events which I feel is really helpful as it will allow me to have more understanding of what is expected of me if I do become a teacher and hearing other people’s experiences will be beneficial.

Within the process of applying for a Teacher Training course, I will have to write a personal statement and arrange references which I will ask the helpline for advice about if I do decide to take the teaching route. I feel that this research has been really helpful as it has opened my eyes to the different routes I can take, and as I have always been uncertain about the future, this helps to settle my nerves. I am hoping to get a job doing art as it has always been something that I have loved.

In an email I got informed that the exhibition which I applied to starts from the 2nd of December and features my work on the website. I made the prices of the work fairly low as they are small pieces and didn’t take much time. Since I haven’t sold my work to people who aren’t family or friends before, I was unfamiliar with the process. I am not too fussed about if they get sold or not, I am just happy that my work is included in this exhibition as it feels good to have my work out there in some form.

Seeing my work on the website is a really thrilling experience and I look forward to searching for more opportunities in the future. I am glad that I have more experience I can put on my CV as it was quite bare before.

During week 3, we discussed different areas we could look into for our projects including Exhibitions, Curation and MA Study. It was good to be able to think about these things individually and collectively.

There are many websites online which list artist opportunities in Leicester including artrabbit and artnet. These websites include exhibition opportunities as well as workshops which could be very interesting.

https://www.artrabbit.com/artist-opportunities

I enjoyed seeing the different places available to arrange an exhibition in Leicester and seeing the past students work was very inspiring. I would like to do things that will build up my CV yet also things that I enjoy. I will get in touch with people on my course to see if they would like to set up an Exhibition as a group attempt as I feel it could be very fun and may even get some of our work sold. I could also submit my work into competitions online to see if my work could be selected to go into an exhibition that is already set up, there are lots of opportunities online that could be beneficial for me to get involved with.

UK Art Competitions 2021

I found an exhibition called the 36th Annual Open, which you could submit three pieces of work that are being exhibited online from the 25th November 2020 to the 31st January 2021. The entry to this exhibition was free and gives me a chance to sell the pieces that I have submitted. I feel that this will give me more experience and build my confidence with getting my work out there.

Opportunities

As I am currently busy with University work, I feel it could be beneficial for me to apply to some competitions over the summer as some of them have very specific briefs such as the competition above in which you have to create an artwork based on one of the ten given songs and so I feel these sorts of things would be better to do once I have more time on my hands.

https://www.curatorspace.com/opportunities

On this website, I really liked some of the opportunities and so I decided to sign up to the newsletter to see if I would get sent any information about new opportunities for later in the year or next year when I have more work, more time and more money.

I am going to look for other exhibition opportunities to help me build up my CV and experience. As some exhibitions have entry fees, I feel that I would be in a better position to apply to more when I have the finances to do so but for now I will look for free competitions and exhibitions.

I also decided to look into videos and websites with tips for how to get accepted into an exhibition or how to get myself known in the art world.

This video opened my eyes to how many different places there are for exhibitions, including auction houses, contemporary art museums, art galleries, cultural centres, art fairs/festivals, art markets, artist residencies, art cafes, alternative private locations and outdoor public areas, some I hadn’t even considered before. A lot of places have a fee to apply to exhibitions which is definitely something I will have to consider when it comes to applying.

This video gave me some ideas as to how to promote my work and build up an established audience for myself. I feel these tips could help develop my confidence and having feedback from people on my will definitely help me in the future.

In CPS this week, we went through the different areas of research we could look into for this module. I liked the ideas of working with groups of people for a workshop, being children or teenagers but with the current situation I would have to look into that further to see if that would be possible. I also think setting up a show could be interesting to discuss with other people on the course.

We were told to write a professional CV for career opportunities. As I don’t have much experience with exhibitions, publications, collections or commissions my CV is quite empty and simple right now but I am hoping to build this up in future.

My CV:

Gemma Sly

• Email – gemmasly1218@gmail.com
• Mobile number – 07505934835

• Currently studying BA Fine Art at De Montfort University and involved in developing my painting practice.
• Live in Leicester

Education:

• BA Fine Art DMU, 2019-2022, still in progress
• Foundation DMU, 2018-2019, Distinction
• Extended Level 3 Diploma in Art and Design, Leicester College, Triple Distinction*
• GCSE’S, Fullhurst Community College: Art and Design – A*, Core Science – B, Additional Science – B, Maths – B, Geography – A, English Language – A*, English Literature – A*, French – B, Level 2 diploma in P.E – Distinction.

Exhibitions:

• Southpark Gallery open exhibition
• Foundation show
• College end of year shows, Leicester College

Publications: N/A

Commissions: N/A

Collections (sales): N/A

I decided to look on different art opportunity websites, being opportunities purely in Leicester, the East Midlands, the UK and even internationally. I found a lot of art competitions and exhibitions starting entry from next year which I made a note of as it could be good to start to get my work out into the world. With the Covid situation, physical exhibitions may not be possible until next year so looking into online exhibitions could be beneficial.