Reflection of Final work & Exhibtion

For the large scaled portraits exhibited in the theme of art in our cultures, as we were given 32 A4 squared papers which when placed together created a large scale portrait of one of the most influential people on times magazine and as for my group, we were given the portrait of Vikram Patel to recreate ranging from different materials in order to recreate an effective portrait. While creating this specific portrait we definitely faced into different types of difficulties as sometimes not bringing in the squares that they were taken home to be completed on the day of the deadline really affected the group since if one person brings you down the whole team goes down  very different compared to working individually as you're the only one that gets affected and you basically bring yourself down. Therefore, there are more pressure when it came to working as a group since you would get the feeling and making sure you don't let your team down. Despite this matter, and considering the fact the we put a long amount of time to creating this portrait there were definitely times that a member would forget to bring in the a4 paper or at times when a member of the group is absent that would also affect the group and the project as it would be harder to get portraits done on time and additionally they would be left out on decision making regarding the portrait. Therefore, the presence of every member in the group is highly important. Furthermore, lack in being committed to the work is also considered highly important as each member of the group must definitely put in all their efforts in completing and recreating this portrait in order to meet deadlines on time and would absolutely help for further improvement and refinements needed in order for the portrait to be neatly exhibited. There were also difficulties in following all the tones and textures and clearly presenting them in the portrait. Moreover, there were times where the portrait didn't go exactly as planned sometimes turned to be a good thing but sometimes it turned out to awful for example when it came to the collar of the shirt, we messed it up by using a black cloth on it assuming it would work perfectly to present the collar however, it turned to look horrible which we then removed it and changed our idea into using pieces of black lines following it's original line which turned to look out my better and more effective. We continuously referred to the original portrait as used the primary source of printing the portrait for more accuracy which helped a lot when it came for improvements and making sure everything fell into place. Throughout this process, I have learnt that refinement is extremely important certainly not easy and fun but one of the most important section when in comes to art making and in this case for the portrait there are times when you think the portrait is completely done and that there is nothing to improve but once you take a closer look at it, you realise that even a simple small part needs refinement in order to create a finished final product. Overall, regarding this matter, I've learnt that you are only done with your portrait or even any art work once there's nothing more to improve and nothing left for refinment from a far distance as well as a near distance and thats when you know your artwork is completed and ready to be displayed as a final product. Withal, i've also learnt that meeting dealings are highly important because that's something which is expected from you and in this case if we didn't meet our deadlines with wouldn't have come to a completely finished outcome if which it was presented it would show lack of commitment also leading to bad grades and reports. In consideration of working in a group, we observed and learnt different skills and techniques from each other and I personally learnt more about how other people think and how it's either similar or completely different to my way of thinking these includes of arrangement, grouping, time management, coordination, preparation, etc...  My areas of improvement in which I should consider are time management and preparation as I should make sure all my work is in on time and I must come fully prepared to lessons.  Once we completed and were done with refining certain parts of the portrait, our next focus was on curating and organising the exhibition. Since it really plays a big role in the process of the exhibition as well as the outcome which will then be more organised for the audience to enjoy and admire each and every artwork exhibited. This also helps the audience to follow an organised path when it comes to viewing the artwork as planning the displacement of each artwork is part of curating an exhibition. I believe the aspect of an exhibition that needs to be considered is when it came to the age group of the audience and as for this exhibition there weren't certainly a specific or an approximate age group as it was free for everyone and anyone to come by therefore, as a curator we definitely expected a lot of kids therefore, making sure the artwork doesn't get destroyed or damaged by the audience we had to consider and make sure the people working for their shifts had an eye on the kids. Additionally, if the exhibition is littered it wouldn't be pleasant to be viewed and invigilated by audiences and other artists and due to the atmosphere of the exhibition being placed in the canteen and due to that specific day being on international day meaning food will be all around the place, litter will highly be expected and as the job for the people taking over the shift they should also consider telling younger kids to make sure that they don't litter in order to keep the place clear and organised and fully away from any litter being in the way. This is why it's important to have all the members of the group present on that day meaning, everyone must show up and even if one person is absent, it would surely affect their group members as they would have more work to do and more aspects to be aware of because it's hard work being a curator. I personally, think i did well and put a lot of effort and time towards this whole project especially when it came to the sketch portrait as I put a lot of time almost every day in order to complete each part of it and i'm very proud all the work and effort i've put into this unit. I do believe my sketchbook and blog reflects my art process as i can always come back to refer to my improvements and the areas that I need improving on and it's always good to record your hard work as by the end of the year you can come back to see how you started and generally just see your whole process in art. During this whole unit, i've learnt  time management, teamwork, organisation and basically how important it is to not let your team down as well as the skills that went along with it. I definitely did improve on artistic skills especially for the sketch portrait i've learnt the ways in which you could make your portrait look 3D by simple shading and effects, throughout this, I've also learnt how tone and texture are important as it affects the way in this case a portrait has been lay-out and finally, I've also had an improvement with meeting deadlines and time management as it's very important when it comes to exhibiting especially getting work done much quicker instead of extending the deadlines and just dragging the work along. In order to make the unit more fun, It would've been better if we would just share our ideas for other groups apart from our own group and compare them to our own ideas and see if we could maybe consider their ideas and other groups could also come to tell us their improvements and how they think we should improve our portraits this way we would have a whole load of ideas and as our own group we could consider those ideas among ourselves and choose the best ones out of it according to ourselves this way the portraits would look much more better as we would have everyones suggestions. 

Curatorial Rationale & Service & Action

I individually started by creating a sketch portrait using the grid technique inspired by an artist named Chuck Close. Afterwards, as a ground of five, we created a large scale portrait using the same grid technique inspired by the same artist using one of the times top 100 most influential people named Vikram Patel. We used Vikram Patel's background of the things he had done and accomplished in order to reach the point as to where he is now; to show and link this back to the theme of our exhibition and the importance of their work within a global society. As he was a psychiatrist and helps bring better mental health care to low resource communities. He goes around the world trying to bring communities closer together and help cultures remain proudly united. Vikram Patel inspired our group to create this portrait in this way as we show link between his background to his physical features. Afterwards, we basically had to think and plan about how the exhibition should be set up around in the canteen as parents and other students will enter. In order to commit time to planning and exhibiting, I stayed back on monday during lunch as another double lesson working on this and curating the art exhibition as I was not able to stay after school due to difficulties in transportation, I also stayed back on the day of the exhibition an extra shift in order to help take back the art works and clear up as I wasn't fully present for taking the artworks down to the canteen. Therefore, as a solution, I stayed back to clear up. During our shifts we made sure students/parents/guests were not to touch any artworks as we also made sure they do not litter the canteen furthermore, we helped in answering the question they had regarding the artworks and to further explain our own artworks to the parents/students/guests using our own skills to share valuable information about. As for the actual display of the collaborative portrait we titled our work as 'Vikram Patel' making the portrait stand out as it gets introduced by the name presenting to the audience that he's an important person making the audience want to discover and know more as they are also highly interested in art as it keeps them engaged. We created a list including of our names as all artworks in exhibitions are credited by their names. As a group we made sure we had our background information regarding the artist put along with it as Husnaa &  I were responsible for this specific task. I personally enjoyed the way the exhibition had been set up as i invigilated the exhibition. I think this because as parents/students/guests walked through the canteen they were greeted as they observed a collection of large scale portrait with the artists who created and helped in created being present ready for guidance and assistance and definitely present for any questions that ran into they mind. As a class we decided to have all the individual grid portraits on one board as it will look very much effective as it's all placed out like a collage of portraits and as the audience would notice it from far as they're walking towards it also keeping the audience engaged making them want to look further into each one of the portraits. Therefore, I believe the organisation of the exhibition was set out brilliantly especially with each group having shifts to cover until the end of the exhibition. During the exhibition, i also invigilated everything presented for exhibition as my point of view as an MYP art student as well as the audience in order to get a better view of what's going on around the exhibiting with all the artworks and how it created an interesting and effective atmosphere for just anyone to observe and admire all the hard work and effort that has been put through making all this starting from the small pencil drawing portrait to the collaborative large scale portraits and finally to the whole exhibition and curating followed by all the responsibilities that came along with it.