Blacksmethodology!

First year Artist Blacksmiths have been using the last few months grappling with their understanding of a practice based methodology: the creative methods they should employ to create objects. Breaking this down in the class room we focused on research methods, using drawing, photography and written notes to visually record as well as how to use the studio space. This was also in conjunction with using sketchbooks to explore ideas and finally how to reflect on one’s actions, the successes and failures encountered during the creative process, through the making of regular diary entries in a reflective journal.

This ‘theory’ was then put in to action using a visit to Big Pit Colliery Museum to demonstrate some of the methods discussed. Over the subsequent weeks students collected primary and secondary research through drawing, photographing and collecting and then in the studio they made connections between the images and samples that they had collected. They explored a wide range of ideas from the reclamation of ships wrecked on the Cornish coast, Fibonacci Sequences in plant life and the cultural melting pot that is the migrant “jungle” in Calais and the political issues that have lead to its existence. The culmination, a series of starting points for design ideas that could be taken forward into the next module.

John