Brainstorming; the importance of...

I thought I'd do a quick post on brainstorming. I did design in college, in which brainstorming and mind-maps were a pivotal part of the creative process. It's something that now comes as second nature to me - I am a major fan of brainstorming. I am also an addictive list-writer, so this may be part of the reason that I find brainstorms to be so helpful. When I was in school though, there was a tendency among all of us to go with our very first idea. Prep sheets were seen as nuisances to be completed after a project, for the sake of ticking the boxes and fulfilling exam criteria, nothing else. They weren't really regarded as something that would inform our work, or that would ultimately better our work. This kind of attitude is something I still see all the time in the classroom. I think we're all inclined to have a burst of inspiration at the beginning of a project, and perhaps we get too scared to move away from this idea, for fear we'll lose or forget the concept. This is not true though!!!

Ninety percent of the time, if you let yourself explore a concept, you will usually decide on a course of action that was not your initial idea. Now, sometimes we really do have a lightbulb moment, and we might decide to go back to our very first concept. Most of the time though, that initial idea is just the beginning. When you look at a person's artwork it is so easy to spot the ones who have actually considered their piece, and those who have jsut gone ahead with the first thing that popped into their head. It's only common sense that the more you think about a theme, the more ideas you will develop - the more facets of a theme you will explore. For the Irish Junior Cert art curriculum, students choose a theme and create three finished pieces based around their chosen theme. (Those of you in the middle of this process will be well aware of how it all works.) This project stretches for pretty much the entire year, and is designed to encourage students to explore the theme in a personal and in depth manner. Now, unfortunately a lot of students do fall into the category of making the finished piece first, and then doing the prep later. I admit, when I was in school I may have fallen into the same category. However, this doesn't save you time! I don't know how many times I have asked students what medium they will use to do their 2d piece, and they don't have a clue. Mind you, this is after they've mocked up their finished piece! When you do your brainstorm and your prep, you play around with different mediums and ideas, so that by the time you've mocked up your finished piece, you know exactly how you will do it, and what colours to use, etc. It's simple and logical, but so many students neglect it!

So think of it in a cooly logical way - what do you need for your piece? Base your prep work around what you need - this is where writing a list will come in handy. It will direct your prep work and brainstorming, so that you're not wasting time exploring things you won't use. For example, if you're doing a poster - what will you need to do?

You will need to look at:
- typography (your type should somehow reflect your theme. There could be several styles that suit, but you must test a few and then choose the most appropriate. Remember, it needs to be legible! A poster is useless if it doesn't COMMUNICATE A MESSAGE.)
- imagery (the pictures or drawings you might use - try out a few different ideas. Don't copy from an existing picture - you can take inspiration but you should always try to make your design unique!)
- layout (how you will arrange the different elements on your page, whether your page will be portrait or landscape)
- colour (what colours work best together, and suit your theme? There could be a wide range of possibilities - you need to try a few to know you've chosen the best selection.)
- medium (paint, marker, pencil, pastel, mixed media? Try out a few and work with what you feel most comfortable with.)

That's your basic list - you do a bit of prep and exploration on each heading and you'll have your prep done in no time! And remember - your prep work has to fit on an A2 sheet, so don't go creating huge pieces of prep-artwork. If you're drawing an animal like a fox, and you're exploring different media, you don't need to recreate a whole fox over and over - just take a small section, say a part of the face. Do that on a small scale using your different materials. Then you will have shown that you've tried and tested a range of different ways of doing the fox, but you won't have wasted a huge amount of time on them. They will also be able to fit onto your prep sheet - you won't need to sacrifice any of your work to save on space.

Doing all of this means you're using your time in a very productive and efficient manner. Tick off each item on your list as you do it, and you will get a great sense of having achieved something, as well as keeping track of your progress and what you still have to complete. This method of working is the same when you're doing your 3d and then your option. Depending on what you're doing, the requirements will change slightly. For example, if I was doing a clay bust, I wouldn't need to consider typography. However, I would need to consider all the different angles of my piece - the front, sides, back and top (something I wouldn't have had to do with my poster). So take a look at your discipline and make a list of the elements you'll need to consider. Let yourself consider a range of ideas, and inevitably you will choose the best one!

Another sure-fire way of coming up with lots of ideas for a project is research - something that is so simple with the internet! Look up an artist you like, and see if you're inspired by their work. Find a new artist that you like, or look up ones who deal with a similar theme to the one you're exploring. Ask your art teacher to point you in the right direction - they'll always have an idea of someone who might appeal to you.

And that's it - organise your brainstorming and you'll fly through the project! None of your time or work will go to waste, and you'll avoid making any mistakes when it comes to your finished pieces!

Dublin Contemporary!

Luckily, I got a chance to get to Earslfort Terrace and see more of the Dublin Contemporary exhibition before it ended. There was mountains of work in Earlsfort Terrace, and it was a really great experience. One of my favourite pieces (being a teacher) was this mad classroom made out of plywood:

This piece was great - made me wonder what kind of lessons would be taught in a classroom like that! Unfortunately I can't remember the artist's name, and even though I bought the guidbook, this particular piece isn't featured so I'm not sure who the artist is. Apologies!

The whole experience was very positive though, although there was an awful lot of work. I did it all in the one morning, which was a bit much really. Generally I find that you can only absorb so much art at any one time, and so the best way to visit an exhibit of this size is in stages - say, taking one floor or corridor at a time. Then you don't get burnt out. I know, it sounds strange to describe the relatively passive action of viewing an exhibit as tiring, but it is mentally exhausting. There are a lot of complex ideas and thoughts being projected in any exhibition, and to take them all on over the one visit can be quite hard. I admit that by the end of the visit, my friend and I pretty much raced around the remainder of the exhibits to get them all done. We didn't have the luxury of coming back and revisiting the space another day, because the exhibit was in its final day. Of course, when you have to pay into an exhibit, it's not always possible to make multiple visits. In that case, it's a good idea to research what you'd like to see the most, and create a list for yourself of must-see pieces.

Speaking of art and exhibits, I also visited the Wexford Opera Festival in order to see the art on show. All over Wexford town there are little galleries featuring mainly paintings but also some sculptures from around the world. Some of the paintings on display were absolutely fantastic. Again, I have to apologies because I stupidly didn't make a record of the artists' names, but I did manage to take some sneaky photos on my phone of my favourite pieces. The most striking of these were paintings of urban spaces. The subject matter made these images so compelling - what seems like mundane and less-than-savoury views of contemporary living spaces or factory premises make for some really unique paintings. There were a couple of artists featured who dealt with this kind of urban landscape. The colours used are fabulously muted and bleached, and the pictures have such a strong sense of atmosphere as a result: the lifeless abandoned warhouses and the decrepit residences felt so authentic as a result. The pictures I have featured are the ones (obviously) of warehouses and factories. They in particular capture the strange sense of abadonment and silence of a factory after-hours.

So, I've been busy lately trying to visit as much local art as I can. This has put a bit of a hold on my own work, which I will get back to this week!