EXTENDED DIPLOMA ART AND DESIGN: EVOLVE

The second year commenced with COVID 19 measures suggesting that we had been through the worst and that the educational landscape was returning to normal. And so, began, for many second years, the creative boot-camp of refocusing upon finding their creative pathway, exploring progression options and getting their work portfolio and exhibition ready. This was no mean feat, considering no-one could be sure what potential impact remote-learning and unprecedented assessment procedures may have had upon their social and skills development.

It would appear that the previous 18 months has made them into more curious and questioning individuals. Their return to studio has allowed them to embrace the physical space and access the materials, techniques and processes that ‘lockdown’ had denied them. Released from their confines, they had rediscovered ‘beginner’s mind’ and as the year progressed their work became more personal to them and showed us qualities we, and perhaps they, hadn’t seen before.

With so much of their educational time having been achieved through the medium of near-instantaneous digital communication and social media platforms, there has perhaps been a resurgence in the analogue. What is clear is that art students communicate most effectively through their creative practice. It is a sincere, insightful and effective language that society needs to experience again.

Martin Doyle, lecturer, visual arts