Been a long time in posting this as it was completed in February. Nevertheless, this is the film of my painting a portrait of my Mum.

Acrylic on canvas, measures 80cm x 100cm.

I found this article on the man who most influenced him very revealing:

The Man Who Inspired Jobs  - being Edwin H. Land – creator of Polaroid, and this quote a breath of fresh air:

“Market research is what you do when your product isn’t any good.” And his sense of innovation: “Every significant invention,” Land once said, “must be startling, unexpected, and must come into a world that is not prepared for it. If the world were prepared for it, it would not be much of an invention.” Thirty years later, when a reporter asked Jobs how much market research Apple had done before introducing the iPad, he responded, “None. It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want.”

It has been self indulgent, but as with many courses of this nature, being given the time to reflect on what you enjoy, why you enjoy it, and remembering the last time you did this was probably at uni, is the biggest treat of the whole process. I would never have taken the time to redevelop an interest in photography without this course. I would never have spent the time needed to develop my skills with Photoshop to the degree they are at present. I would not have questioned where I was going with my paintings and where my interests really lie. There are so many things that I have been privileged to rekindle, begin and think upon, which would have been out of the question. So many silly little attempts that failed miserably. So many chance happenings that my eyes where more open to because I had started to think about looking for them – again. When did it happen that a creative and flexible job like teaching became the trap that it is today? Don’t get me wrong, There is a lot about teaching that is creative – for me, most especially the performances. But without those moments, when I can put that hat on, I would have died inwardly years ago. And fortunately, I had a class that were wonderfully open to trying out different ways of working. They looked for ‘creative’ ways to ‘do’ work.

But now its back to the serious project. The last, big, final reflection. And despite my interest in painting and portraits, I have found that the main focus I will be exploring, with various groups around my school, will be film. Film or video. Recording for a whole host of reasons and how we use it in the class room, how we use it for our selves, creating films, animations, whatever.

We have a film club, where we can watch a variety of films and of course, there have been plenty of Bug’s Lives, and Bolts, and other animations to watch. But developing a wish list of more unusual films has been an interesting trip.  Some suggested ‘Born Free’ so we watch that. The film club were so interested in it we watched the follow up film, ‘Living Free’. I would never have expected that group to have had the patience for a film of that pace. They loved it.

We’ve also made our own short films – another big learning curve as here was a whole new language to learn. And the field is so enormous.

This is were I’m asking you to make a contribution

I want to know which were your favourite childhood films. Make a list and add them to the comment box below. I know the font is faint in there, but I would love to compile a list of favourites.

Also do any of you have experience of making films?

At home? How did you edit?

Did you ever do that cine thing!

Please comment on your film past. Reflections essential!

Brilliant opening sequence by PolitelyHomicidal. It features Roy Lichtenstein’s comic strip works, of course Andy Warhol portraits, and others from the Pop Art movement, but also the much overlooked Richard Hamilton’s Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?

Weekly non-contact time would crawl round and in the allotted shift I would sift through the backlog of mail and find myself making time to actually scan beyond the enticing ‘Don’t miss this opportunity, apply now!’ This might actually be something that could be meaningful to me, and, I can’t stress how important this and is, and not bore me to death with dissertations. Statements like ‘assessment via portfolio’ ‘written work or it’s equivalent – presentation/exhibition’ were music to my ears.
My friend and I were discussing how wonderful it would be to go back to college and just listen and not have to do all those laborious essays. Only do when really interested. How many people have you come across who have just finished – in particular – their English degree, A level, whatever, a subject they really thought they loved, and didn’t want to do anything with it again? Their love for reading or writing analysed out of existence. That is such a crying shame.
That’s why I’m somewhat nervous. On paper this course does look good and after the initial meeting I’m still feeling eager to press on. There are plenty of get out of jail cards to play. I can ‘rest’ after earning a PG certificate, or later with a diploma. But if I find the creative juices haven’t been altogether squished I can progress to the heady heights of MA. If I’m good enough. Well, we’ll see.
My other doubt, and this is one that was mooted by many who were there at the first meeting, is the all encompassing, exponential nature of teaching, subsuming all attempts at work/life balance. Really have to work hard to find the other you. It makes me feel how important it is to be selfish and seek out those opportunities to do something for your self.
OMG. I’m going to be a student again. I’ll get a bona fide card and everything. Wow!

One anecdote made me swallow back tears. He talked about how we can be trained into conditions, like flees. Flees can jump extraordinarily high considering their mass. But if you trap one in a cup and put a lid on it, it will eventually learn to jump to the height of the cup. And if you take away the lid it will still only jump as high as the cup – so never jumping out.

Admittedly, that’s not the part that made me tearful.

It was when he went on to describe an associate who had, as a child, loved singing. Sang all the time. But at some point in her Primary school life, the music teacher was listening to children for the school choir and had them all singing a song. She was to walk along the line, listening to them individually, and if she put her hand on the child’s head they were to mime. It makes my blood boil just to write this. Well, as you can imagine, the child in question was praying not to be touched. And sure enough, as the teacher approached, she touched her head. That spark of desire disappeared. She never sang again. Even to herself. She had been trained to jump only as high as the cup. Only to mime. Disturbing isn’t it, what we (i.e. teachers, trainers, adults) do for the accepted norm? And how thoughtless that norm is.

We need to see our selves without the lid. To learn to see the world and what we can do in it with new eyes. When that veil is taken away, my god it’s exciting.

Intelligence is dynamic, creative and reacts to different ways of seeing things.

We need to radically review our view of intelligence.

We’ve all been crippled or educated out of creativity. In this, frankly amazing and inspiring talk, Sir Ken Robinson discusses why we need to re-evaluate our approach to education. Creativity as important as Literacy? Shocking!

Schools Kill Creativity (link to the TED site)

Scribbler art from Ze Frank's site

www.zefrank.com