flo’s pg cert blog

Making personal reflective time and space is challenging within the unpredictable environment of my working situation. Although this is given some time and space within the framework of an annual Personal Review and Appraisal and Mid-Year Review at UAL, the more granular elements of my work and that of my immediate technical colleagues are left largely unconsidered.

The creation of dyadic reflective spaces (McKie, 2024) would help to provide valuable clarity, and offer me an opportunity for ‘helicopter vision’ (Thompson and Thompson, 2008). Some dyadic reflection happens organically between myself and my technical colleagues, however, we do not always overlap in our working hours, and this lack of contact leaves little space for more than a quick catch up of the most imminent, pressing matters. As Thompson and Thompson (2008) point out, this is more the reason to create space for reflection.

Regular, meaningful group reflection could potentially be built into the rhythm of the academic calendar by instigating a ritual of post-show, or end-of-term debriefs with my direct colleagues. However, to properly prepare for such a meetings, I would need to consider setting aside time, and potentially physically removing myself from the open access studio space in which I work, which may be difficult to achieve consistently. A more realistic and manageable approach may be to keep a reflective journal or blog, as I have been doing as part of the pg cert. Going forwards, I would be interested in finding a mentor to work with, to build in some more reflective space for my teaching practice, and interrogate my collaborative skills as a colleague in more depth.

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References

McKie, A. (2024) ‘Reflect on this…or that? Enabling space for meaningful reflectivity in the creative arts’ [online seminar]. Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice: Theories, Policies and Practices. University of the Arts London. 14th February 2024.

Thompson, N. and Thompson, S. (2008) The Critically Reflective Practitioner. Great Britain: Bloomsbury. Pp.55-69.

I found myself intrigued by the parallels within Object Based Learning, and costume for performance. Costumes are objects which are presented to an audience who experience, interpret and discover (dramatic) information about, through, and from them. They are sometimes contextualised by narrative, movement, set, light, other dramatic information, and sometimes they are not. Much like OBL, the choice to withhold or supply this information by the creatives involved (educators) affects the ways in which the audience (learner) interprets the costumes (objects).

This deliberate choice is interesting to me in its relevance to my own teaching practice using objects, as it is in teaching this as a concept to students. A costume (object) will be disseminated through the lens of the individual audience member, and the specific historical and cultural references they bring into the theatre (classroom) and that recognising this is an important part of costuming practice. A scarlet red dress may communicate intensity or danger to one person, but symbolise celebration and joy to another. I find myself discussing with students often, in relation to colour, texture and material choices, or when helping them choose an appropriate garment of accessory from our Costume Store. As exemplified in Hardie’s reflections on the choice of objects in her activity; ‘Design Crimes’ (2015) the diversity of the student body affords an opportunity to highlight the complexity and weight of the semiotics of objects (costumes), peer to peer.

I moreover found the concept of giving value and time to ‘extra-rational responses’ to objects, as presented by Willcocks (2024) very interesting. It is widely recognised that the opening image, or first impression an audience member experiences before a performer has spoken or moved, has a powerful and lasting impact on how they experience the rest of the performance. OBL is well suited to teaching performance design students this phenomenon out of context.

I was also taken with Vilhaur’s dissemination of Gadamer’s ideas around the ways in which we understand Art – by interacting with objects, and through dynamic play with other people (Vilhaur, 2010). The ingredients required for play to happen, according to Gadamer, includes unpredictability. This offers an opportunity in my teaching practice where a challenge lay. So many elements of my work as an educator are unpredictable – even in a timetabled workshop scenario, a great deal of reactivity and spontaneity is required. It is perhaps then, best to embrace this, and utilise play as a philosophy within my teaching practice.

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References

Hardie, K. (2015) Wow: The power of objects in object-based learning and teaching. York: Higher Education Academy.

Orgill, G. and Willcocks, J. (2024) ‘How to…use objects to support learning and teaching’ [online seminar]. Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice: Theories, Policies and Practices. University of the Arts London. 24th January 2024.

Vilhauer, M. (2010) Gadamer’s Ethics of Play: Hermeneutics and the Other. Washington D.C.: Lexington Books.

It was great to chat to John about how I had been surprised at my own interest and enthusiasm, and discuss ways of setting the scene and finding time for the pg cert. I expressed my concern for my propensity to write too much, and that I would like to improve my ability to filter and summarise information or thoughts. He suggested using haiku! I really enjoyed this idea, as it reflects something I do in my professional practice to communicate concepts – instead of trying to communicate the full set of complex and rich, research, ideas, processes and references that have fed into the costume design of a work of dance, I like to boil it down to just a few key words or a snappy phrase (e.g. dinner party at the end of the universe, flock of golden phoenix in an oil spillage etc…) This not only allows me to communicate the essence of the idea clearly to the choreographer, my colleagues, and the performers, but is useful in keeping the direction and parameters of my design clear. I would be interested to see if this process could be taught as a technique for my students – as a way of encouraging clarity in the communication of their own design concepts.

In this shorter session I felt exhausted after the invigorating morning workshop. There was a really interesting discussion around the corporate style of the HEA descriptors. I would be interested to learn more read about the development of the contemporary morals and values in which HE sits.

I felt apprehensive and excited about the first day of workshops. However, as soon as I had spoken to some of my peers, and enjoyed the polite conversational structure that the string exercise afforded, my apprehension was eased. I thought that the visual evidence of turn taking in this icebreaker was very interesting, and would work particularly well in balancing out participation during creative discussions in the studio.

However, this idea was challenged by a peer in the second workshop in a discussion around styles of participation and cultural dynamics. Rather than it being a balancer, it became apparent that it may also cause anxiety in its visual pressure to participate. In relation to the specific issue of Asian students often being the quietest within participation activities, Tim mentioned that some of us may find the intercultural practices training at UAL helpful, which I made a note to sign up to at the next opportunity.

The practical, physical, collective task of making a timeline on the wall using bright colours made the subject matter far more engaging, and the information much easier to relate to than it may otherwise have been. The visual signposting of events that have had some impact on or related to the subject matter invited us to make and acknowledge connections, without needing to delve too deeply into every single item of the timeline. I wondered if I could use this type of task to help decolonise some of my teaching around European costume making methods. I could, for example, utilise some of the events detailed in Fashion History: A Global View (Welters and Lillethun, 2018) to contextualise culturally and socially weighted historical garments such as bustles, corsets and bodices.

In relation to the content of this exercise there was a very interesting discussion around the teaching and learning of technical craft skills in opposition to academic research and critical thinking. There was a general consensus among some of the louder voices in the room that the students seem to have more of a hunger to learn craft skills, and are generally expressing disinterest in academic practice. This called into question the reasons that students choose to study their subjects at university at all, and the way in which degrees are currently the primary way of gaining recognition for the study of the arts.

Reflecting on this discussion, I do not see these as distinctly separate from one another. I think that tactile process are thinking processes in the same way that mind is body, and rational is emotional (Jenkins, 2022). This is something which I have always felt in my own creative practice, but have recently had many interesting discussions around with my colleague Verity Cleary, who has been researching and developing concepts around critical thinking through materials as a pedagogic tool, which I hope to bring into my own teaching practice.

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References

Welters, L. and Lillethun, A. (2018) Fashion History: A Global View. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Jenkins, C. (2022) Sad Love. Cambridge: Polity Press.

I started by choosing to read Callender’s ‘The Role of Aesthetic Judgement in Psychotherapy’ (2005). Although I found the links between the arts and psychotherapy fascinating, I struggled to recognise whether or not I was fully understanding this dense and theoretical paper. I went on to read The Enchantment of Learning (Curry, 2007). I found the language in this paper more accessible, and the emotional charge of this article very interesting.

The reading of these papers led me to consider how the pre-existing knowledge (or lack thereof) profoundly affects a student’s capacity to engage. Feeling as though something is too far beyond your reach is very demotivating. If I had more of a base of knowledge around these topics, I am certain I would have been far more engaged with the content presented. This is directly applicable to my own technical teaching, whereby many students enter the costume workroom with little or no experience in this specialist area of performance making. In order to engage everyone as best I can, careful scaffolding is necessary.

Preparation for workshop 1

I was assigned preparatory reading of ‘The design critique and the moral goods of the studio’ (McDonald and Michela, 2019) to read ahead of the first workshop. After struggling to read the first two articles, I was delighted to find that I enjoyed the experience of reading this paper, and read it much faster than I would have expected myself to. I think this was partly aided by the way in which I had set the scene – printing the paper out, choosing a quiet time of day, and surrounding myself with coloured pens. This made me think about the ways in which I set a
scene for learning in the costume studio, which may or may not meet the needs of any one student.

The subject of this paper was directly applicable to my personal experiences of interacting with students in the studio environment, which gave me a genuine enthusiasm for the detail of the research findings. This led me to consider the students’ enthusiasm when learning construction techniques for a costume for a production, compared to learning construction techniques as samples. The obvious, immediate, and direct relevance of the information (technique, or tool) provides profound motivation. If I could incorporate some sense of immediate relevance into my workshop designs, this may serve as a motivator for students. Alongside Curry’s article (2017), the content of this paper made me notice and think deeply about my own ‘moral goods’ and motivations as an educator, alongside those of my colleagues.

Preparation for workshop 2

As someone who experiences great joy in drawing, I was immediately drawn to Salamon’s research as my chosen reading ahead of the second workshop (2018). I found the simplicity and clarity of this article inspiring. Memorising, learning, or developing ideas through drawing and/or physical movement is something I would like to explore and understand more about in relation to my own teaching practice.

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References

Callender, J. (2005) ‘The Role of Aesthetic Judgments in Psychotherapy’. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology. 12(4). Pp.283-295. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1353/ppp.2006.0019. (Accessed: 22nd December 2023).

Curry, P. (2017) ‘The Enchantment of Learning and ‘The Fate of our Times’. In Voss, A. and
Wilson, S. (eds.) Re-Enchanting the Academy. Seattle: Rubedo Press. Pp.33-51. Available at: http://www.patrickcurry.co.uk/papers/The%20Enchantment%20of%20Learning%20(print%20version).pdf (Accessed: 22nd December 2023).

McDonald, J. K. and Michela, E. (2019) ‘The design critique and the moral goods of studio pedagogy’, Design Studies. 62. Pp.1–35.

Salamon, M (2018) ‘Drawing laboratory: Research workshops and outcomes’. Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal. 3(2). Pp. 13

My name is Flo (she/her), and I work as a Specialist Costume Technician at CSM, in Granary Building. I have been in this post since January 2022, working across the performance programmes. I thoroughly enjoy delivering skills and materials based workshops, as well as the day to day interactions I have with these imaginative, ambitious students in the costume studio.

In previous roles, I have supported the teaching and learning of performance practices primarily as a collaborator (as, for example, the Costume Designer to the student Choreographer or Performer), and as an Academic Supervisor in my field of expertise. A large part of my role in my previous employment (at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance) also included the mentoring of a Costume Graduate Intern, and nurturing of the freelance Costumiers I worked with. In that role, with a desire to consolidate my understanding of my own teaching practice, I embarked upon an FHEA, which I was awarded in spring 2022. I found this experience enlightening, and inspiring, so much so that it led to my application for my current role at CSM, which involves a much larger proportion of direct teaching, and student contact. 

In July 2023 I attended a performance design festival called Prague Quadrennial, at which I met and took part in workshops with other costume educators. The conversations I had and the energy I gained from these events inspired me to apply for the PG cert here at UAL.

Despite only recently having completed my FHEA, I feel that the PG cert will offer me time an space to develop a more expansive toolkit with which to take the newer pedagogic elements of my current role into consideration. Encouraged by the experiences of fellow technicians and academics in my department, I am looking forward to building a deeper understanding of teaching practice, and look forward to questioning and exploring the way I approach my role as an educator in an academic environment.