Unit 2e - Leadership project review - Gold Arts Award specialising in glass art and poetry

This is my write-up of my leadership project and how I feel I have developed my leadership skills. Also included are photographs of my students' work and their assessment of my workshops

Unit 2e - Leadership project review - Gold Arts Award specialising in glass art and poetry

State your original brief, and advise if it changed as you proceeded:

My original brief was to improve the quality of what I write and express my emotions within my poetry pieces better. I wanted to use glass to interpret what I had written and to describe how I felt creating it, so that I could express emotions about that, which would lead to more emotional writing in my poetry. I don't feel like this changed at all during the time I was doing this project.

Summarise everything that happened and refer to every aspect of the planning stages throughout and provide evidence if appropriate:

•Working with others, examples of how you worked with the teachers/professionals/your adviser/other students/anyone else

My Arts Award Adviser and I, together planned, what I would be doing for my workshops and where I would perform it. I performed my workshop for my fellow students, and then proceeded to assist my peers, throughout the week, in other activities, as I was a volunteer helper.

• project planning/timetabling (and role allocation if you ran it jointly):

Both my Arts Award Advisor and I planned what the project workshop would be about and then allocated which time slots it would fill. We deliberately chose for the workshop to be on a Monday, so that the glass pieces created by the students would have time to sit and for the pre-firing glue to set, before I transported them to my kiln to fire them the next evening. By having a Monday workshop I had time to do this, to fire them and return them by the exhibition on Friday at the end of Art summer school. I did not run a joint project.

•creating examples of work to be seen by the attendees

I created a piece, that was a blue heart, that demonstrated the techniques that would be used by the attendees in the workshop. Other pieces that I used to show my students, were pieces my sisters had made previously, and ones which I had practiced with previously, demonstrating the techniques that I would be using in the workshop. I also showed them a selection of poetry and illustrated glass pieces I had made before.

•project resourcing (materials/equipment)

As a glass artist I have a great many materials to enable me to create glass art. These are the glass materials themselves and the equipment used to help me cut the glass, stick it together and keep me safe etc. For this workshop I particularly had to buy more materials, (glass, glue and glass cutters etc.) but I also had to buy more safety equipment like goggles, face masks, floor and table coverings, plasters and disposable aprons etc. too. My parents helped me with this financially. I bought most of it from eBay and from www.warm-glass.co.uk

•the success of your advertising (i.e. Who came and was it the expected attendees/audience)

Originally I was expecting 6 students, which was the most I wanted for safety reasons. Then I heard that one student would not be attending summer school after all and another would be using the time of my workshop to do some portfolio work instead, so I expected 4 students on the day. In the end, the student who was going to do his portfolio did it quickly and this meant he could take part in my workshop after all. In the end I had 5 students in attendance.

•Venue appropriateness

I feel that the venue was very appropriate for my needs and that of the workshop attendees .

•Health and safety

I have already detailed my health and safety measures throughout this portfolio, so I won't again. However, I do think they were perfectly adequate and well thought out and on the day we didn't have any real issues.

•project delivery (teaching and exhibiting)

On the day, I presented and taught my students poetry and glass. In the first part of the day I helped them to write a poem they wanted to illustrate in glass. In the afternoon, I ran through the health and safety rules, gave them a handout reminding them of these and then demonstrated safe ways to cut and handle glass and melt stringers. I was then there to assist them to illustrate their poems in glass and help them overcome any difficulties they had with doing this.

•exhibition/performance planning

I helped display the work the students created in both of my workshops at the Woodbridge Studio art exhibition on the final day of summer school.

•collecting feedback

I got everyone to write their comments on a feedback sheet. I was pleased because all of those I got were very positive, both from my workshop attendees and their parents. I think everyone enjoyed doing the glass particularly, which is great, because it's not something most people get to try everyday!

•Finish with comments on how you developed during your leadership project, ie how you developed:

o your art form knowledge and understanding

I feel like a better poet now and more able to express my emotions in my poetry. I also feel that I have found out a lot about glass and the ethics of making it and using certain materials, i.e. the CO2 emissions that make it cost more in the UK, America and Europe and how because they are less stringent about these in certain Asian countries, glass materials can cost less, but are environmentally destructive. I also feel that I am developing as a glass artist and my most recent final glass piece demonstrates that I am using more difficult techniques and honing my skills with glass pens.

o your creativity in arts practice and planning

I have developed my skills in both expressing myself in poetry and refining my glass skills as mentioned above. Also, I have become more used to planning projects with others in mind, rather than just for myself. I am much more confident with helping others to work with glass and poetry than I was before this project and that is something I would like to do again in future.

o your reviewing skills

I feel that my reviewing skills have vastly improved over the duration of this Arts Award. I feel like I explain past events better than I could before and can learn from them.

o and your communication skills

I now feel more confident communicating with other people and less nervous about standing in front of a class demonstrating what I can do. Before this I was quite uncomfortable and unconfident about showing my skills. I believe that I generally communicated quite clearly in this project and I was willing to address any issues with my clarity and communication that my workshop students had. However, there were very few.

o your leadership potential overall

I feel that although I have a good understanding of varying situations and skill set, I don't feel that I could lead a large class of people in writing or glass making, yet. This is because I don't feel I could keep enough control of a large class, enough to keep them safe while many are using potentially dangerous materials. However, it is something I would consider doing in the future if my confidence continues to improve. I do feel more confident as a teacher though, that I have something to share and people seem to appreciate it! Following on from volunteering with AAI I feel that my leadership skills have improved and I now feel more confident in supervising and teaching small groups of students whilst helping them learn and improve their artistic talents and ensuring that they are working in a safe manner and being able to troubleshoot and deal with any issues should they arise.

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5 Comments

  • Angelina Thakrar

    On 30 September 2017, 06:20 Angelina Thakrar commented:

    That's so cool India, I love the glass and poetry that was made in your workshop!

  • Carol Leach

    On 30 September 2017, 09:10 Carol Leach commented:

    this is a very exciting and informative article, thank you for sharing this with us, the artwork is amazing and the poetry very clever, well done for teaching this

  • Ely Leach

    On 30 September 2017, 09:28 Ely Leach commented:

    I really enjoyed your workshop, I have never done anything like this before and it was great to learn. I particularly like that you have put all your review here as it very informative.

  • Abi Rose Leach

    On 30 September 2017, 09:34 Abi Rose Leach commented:

    I was lucky to see you offering this workshop and I thought that you were very professional. It is also professional to be able to see your weaknesses ie. your worry about numbers attending, and to consider how you can develop your workshops in the future.

  • Luke Taylor

    On 3 October 2017, 10:58 Luke Taylor Contributor commented:

    Fantastic work! I hope your Gold takes you far in life

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