Tues 07.05.13

I did some more work on my catalogue this morning, finishing off the section about my inspiration and adding information about my artist influences. I went up to Wellington to ask Claire if she had time to have a look at my work, but she was really busy with tutorials so she suggested that I book an appointment with Esther. Esther gave me lots of advice about my catalogue, she said that there were a lot of things I needed to improve, but also that lots of the people who had come to see her had similar problems with their work which made me feel better about it. As I was writing my first draft I kept a list of questions that I wanted to ask and brought these with me to the tutorial and I made some notes in my ideas book about what she told me as well as the notes which she wrote on my work. Overall the main point of feedback was that I needed to write more about my actual work and the processes I had followed (eg. drawing, paint, print) and also to be more concise in my writing because I was edging towards the word limit. She advised that I cut down what I had so far and add more information about my studio work as people visiting the exhibition will not be able to see the majority of it and so it needs to be explained. 

She also questioned my use of the word ‘Ethnic’ in reference to the style of my project, as she thought it was a rather reductive way in which to refer to the other cultures which have inspired my work. I explained that I meant the word in the sense of the fashion term, but I did understand what she meant. When we looked it up in the dictionary it said that Ethnic refers to ethnicity and ethnic origin. I explained that I had used ‘Ethnic Embellishment’ as my project title and Esther said that she thought I could get away with not changing it and perhaps I could add a few sentences about where my designs could sit in the wider world – eg. in the fashion industry under ‘Ethnic Fashion’.

It was really helpful to get feedback on my writing and to now have something to work on and improve rather than a scary blank page. I have taken what Esther said on board and am definitely going to try and get more information about my actual work across within my catalogue. I also sent an email to Sarah asking if my project title which will appear on the label next to my exhibition work can still be changed.