Today was the first session of an 8 week course in Experimental Embroidery that I'm teaching in Coleford, with 10 learners, all new to me. After introducing ourselves we watched a slide show which I'd made last night. It's made up of photos from The Knitting and Stitching Show, from the Internet, of my own work, of my City & Guilds colleagues' work and of my learners' work. It initiated a lot of questions and discussion and was the first time I'd begun a course this way. It's a great way of showing a wide range of contemporary art work.
At the end of the session I asked how useful the slide show had been. They all said that it was inspiring, some said it was not as inspiring as the samples that I'd brought in. They liked to be able to pick up and feel textile work. They all agreed it was great to be introduced to so many artists and to see completed pieces. For me it's a great way of showing some of the photos I have from a variety of sources, especially those from national shows.
The learners all signed the GCC "Model Release Agreement", available from AdEd, which is the consent form for photos etc to be used by GCC. No-one's face is really recognisable in the photo that I took of the learners watching the slide show, but I thought best to play safe!
Teaching in community centres, which most of us do a lot of, is far from ideal for watching slide shows, but learners tend to be very understanding and helpful. I'm really pleased to be able to use this equipment in a way which I believe can greatly enhance the service we deliver. And it's so true what Gill said in her latest Blog, confidence improves so much each time you use the kit.
9 comments:
Sounds as though your first session was an inspiring one, Lizzie - and though I agree with your students that there's nothing better than handling textiles first hand, I'm sure all of that colour and visual texture has got them off to a flying start.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us
Thanks Gill, the learners did seem very inspired. We agreed that the great thing about watching the slide show was that we were all looking at the same work together and discussing it, as opposed to looking at and handing round seperate pieces of work and books. Putting on a slide show's a great way of ensuring there's plenty of group discussion.
Also, Lizzie, don't you find that handling textile-y things tends to set off questions of how something was done rather than a discussion about the overall effectiveness of the finished result? I know I'm guilty of peering too close to things in trying to work it all out myself!!
I like your ideas for setting the scene for your course very much indeed.
Yes! When handling actual samples, learners wanted to know the names of the stitches, asked whether we would learn particular techniques and most looked very closely at the work. One of the great things about the slide show is that everyone in the room is looking at a completed piece from a distance, can see it as a piece of art work.
On this course I'm planning to teach several embroidery stitches, encouraging learners to use a variety of unusual materials to stitch with. They've asked to beging with cretan stitch. (They've all done some embroidery before).I have a fabulous sample of cretan stitch using lace, ribbons, wool, leather - I'm wondering whether to have my sample displayed through the docucam and projector while teaching the stitch. Any thoughts on that?
I'm not going to tackle recording my demonstration on to the laptop yet. Help offered on this Blog is fabulous, I know if I made time to teach myself how to use the laptop, projector and docucam, I'd get plenty of help here!
Lizzie, I love the idea of learning a stitch in a room with such inspiring "wallpaper"! Maybe a simple projected image would be enough, without becoming too distracting?
Yes, wallpaper, excellent description of it! I'm planning to take in a large white cotton sheet - there's little clear wall space in the room where I teach, on the walls there are framed pictures which are very firmly attached. This is one of the geat joys of working in commnunity halls! I'll make time when setting up to see how large I can make the projected image by setting the projector on the other side of the room, a wall covered in cretan stitch wallpaper, great!
really informative blog Lizzy - be interested for you to expand on your comment that learners are very understanding and helpful - thanks also for information about the GCC (model release agreement)- I didn't know about this and will ask for details to be forwarded to me. (Why is it called GCC?) sara
Sara
Will try to remember to bring a printed copy with me this afternoon and believe it is on the Ad-Ed CD. GCC - Gloucestershire County Council.
In response to Sara's question about how understanding the learners were.
The room at the community centre only has 2 sockets which are very near the door. I needed to be set up before learners arrived, as they arrived I greeted them and immediately pointed to the leads they had to step over.
As AdEd tutors know there is always a lot of paper work the 1st session and I was introducing yet another sheet for them to read and sign, the GCC model release agreement.
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