Week 1: Introduction

This week is a starting week of the third semester at BCUIC. Today is just about introducing the module, what we are going to do for assessment A/B. First week, I was not ready for anything and I was really struggle with ILSART module last semester so I was scared a little bit. However, this semester Lydia is my ILSART module, according to my classmates last semester, she is really nice and helpfull. The only thing I am worried is just the workload because everything will get harder this semester so the workload will be huge.

Evaluation: This session today was really good, I got a chance to analyse Vincent Vangogh’s starry night again, but this time it was as an example for PESTLE elements. These elements helped me to critical analysis artworks in different ways. I think it is more logical than just analysing them in how they look. However, it will be helpful for me a lot because sometimes I struggle with critical analysis. It also makes the process of analysing more interesting when I can explore more knowledge behind artworks which broaden my viewpoint. Plus, it is important to understand reasons according to political, economic, social, technology, legal and environment for analysing, make more sense. Because everything will have a reason for it to happen.

Week 2: Political and Social influences

This week, I was not attend the class because of some health problem ( My stomach hurt really bad). But there is a video of today’s session on moodle, so I will evaluate based on that video.

Evaluation: TThis session helps me identify the political and social elements in a piece of work which show how they impact on the decision-making of an artist or the foundation of an artist’s idea. I have chances to link my artist research with the PESTLE model (political element), which helps me build the foundation on using political elements for my research and analysis further because politics is an important element which affects artists across different eras and also influences other elements in PESTLE. It also helps me think deeply about the artwork’s meaning and identify the purpose of artists which is necessary because I think every piece of work is created for its own meaning and purpose, the artists use it to convey messages. 

Week 3: PESTLE analysis continued & How to research an artist/designer proffesionally

This week is the third week of this semester, I already felt that time is running so fast and is not enough for me. The weather is getting hot and it made get sick easier. This week, we continued with PESTLE analysis and develop our research more proffesional.

Evaluation: This session is really good, I have a comparison before/after I know about factors behind a piece of work. Before I just analyse based on how the artwork makes me feel, what it looks like and evaluate its colors and shapes. But after being introduced, I understood why the artist created this project and its functions serve a rational purpose. This activity helps me to understand that in some cases artists do not design based merely on personal preference, they also design to find solutions to specific problems. I am also introduced to a new architecture style, Brutalism which showed me how architects designed their project in the period of post-war. This showed how architects solved the problems of shortage of accommodation for people after the war .Also, I gained some feedback about my essay which helped to develop my writing skills although I am not good at writing. In addition, I am also listing and outlining which artists and PESTLE elements I will use for my 4 essays. 

Week 4: Environmental and Technological influences & Harvard

This week, I started feeling stress because of the workload, I felt like I am doing the research so slow that I cannot finish tasks by the previously set deadline.

Evaluation: This session helps me to understand the environmental and technological aspects in critical thinking when I analyse artworks which helps me broaden my perspective in learning and analysing. Especially, these 2 influences are really important for a landscape architect when they design their work, because landscape is environment and our job in this field is to create a healthy environment in modern era. Technological aspect is also vital which allows me to understand how artists design their work. After learning these influences, I found myself easily to find the solutions and reasons behind every artworks. I also gained the first feedback for my essay which pointed out I had many mistakes when I wrote it. This helps me clearly see my weaknesses and improve my writing skills which become more mature and academically.

Week 5: Legal and Economic Influences

This week is nearly the first submission for the assessment A and I do not finish anything yet. It caused me become worried and stress which affect my mentality and physical health. This week is also really hot which I really hate, I got crankier in the hot weather.

Evaluation: I was introduced 2 influences of PESTLE model, legal and economic influences. These factors helps me gain more knowledge about the law and economy now affect my field. Before studying, I did not have any knowledge about law or regulations in my major, so I designed and made decisions without considering any affect of legal factors However, I understanded how important is it and how it influences artists when they design, so I can apply it for my final outcome this semester and my professional skills in the future. For economic influence, I have understood that every project has their own budget which make artists change their decisions while designing. I realised that I also needed to consider economic influences for my final outcome, because It is important and can decide my choices are possible or not.

Week 6 & 7: Feedback for 4 essays (Assessment A)

Mostly of these weeks is gaining feedback of our essays both from peers and tutor. Because of the hot weather, everyone got sick easily so we have 1 more week to do our essays before the submission (week 8). I was so sick and my head is spinning and flying all time in week 6, I hoped this weather will get better. This make me become the first person , depressed because of summer’s weather.

Evaluation: These weeks are focusing on feedbacks of my 4 essays. Initially, my essay contained quite a few flaws, such as failing to capitalize technical terms, mixing in American English spellings, and using the right formatting for citations. More importantly, some arguments lacked clarity, were unsupported by actual data, or failed to provide thorough explanations of architectural concepts. However, it was precisely this detailed feedback that enabled me to address issues and significantly improve my writing. I took the time to carefully re-examine the source materials to fill in missing information, specifically deeply researching into the core rationale behind design decisions to make my arguments clearer and more logical. Additionally, I refined my phrasing for better flow, adjusted titles to ensure they accurately reflected the central focus, and diligently sought out credible evidence to substantiate each point. This process of review not only resulted in essays that were more coherent and academically rigorous, but also made me a habit of carefully writing.

Week 8: Assessment A submission and Introduction to Assessment B

This week is the submission of assessment A, we spent half of time for final feedback and fixing. I have trouble with reference because at the beginning I did not reference seriously so when it came to the last minute I panicked then using chatgpt to reference but it was still not right. To solve that, I look back to the reference structure downloaded from the bcu library to reference all the things. That was the only thing I was struggling with, another thing was just about the word count for each essay. I exceeded the word count for all the essays but my tutor helped me with it so I was not really worried. I hope I do well for this assessment because I am not good at writing. After writing an essay for Art103, I knew why I just got 6.0 for my writing test. Then we were introduced to assessment B which is a poster. I was excited to do the poster because I got so many things and ideas for the poster, but the poster is for my journey in BCUIC after 3 semesters. I do not think all of my ideas are relevant to it.

Evaluation:The final feedback was really helpful because I had more problems than I thought but I still can fix it. To improve this, I realise that I need to check it carefully at the beginning so when it comes to the last minute I will not panic or handle other unexpecting problems. I do not know how to fix the word count problem but I think the best solution is talking with tutors for help and feedback. Moreover, the poster reflects on my journey in BCUIC which allows me to convey my feelings and experience after 3 semesters. It is important to identify the key influence for the poster based on our experience which can be a moment special to us in semesters. 

Week 9: Poster

This week, we continue with our poster, specifically typography. I think I am a picky person and I found it hard for me to find typographies I like, such a difficult job. 

Evaluation: With the peer review which allows my classmates and my tutor to give me some feedback that I can develop my poster better. After getting peer reviews I think I should change my poster because it is not relevant for my journey. I also think that I should recreate a deep meaning for my poster which can encourage me to continue my pathway, because I was quite negative this semester. Then, I started finding some type of font that I like and relevant for my poster. This allows me to view and experiment with many types of fonts. Also, during the lesson I was asked to create a font by sketching it. I really like this activity because I like doing bullet journal in my highschool where I can decorate my note books so I can find it attractive to study. So, this activity allows me to create fonts based on some of the fonts I found on the internet. 

Week 10 & 11: Poster Development and Presentation

On week 10, we prepared for the final presentation which is the most important presentation in the semester. Also, it can be graded for ILS1ART. Also, we continued to develop our poster by finding some graphic images that we can use for the poster. I had done the first version of the poster but I do not like it because my handwriting font was not as good as I thought and the images were not connected with each other so well. Thereby, I created a different version of it which conveys the same meaning of growing up but I think the elements connected better. 

Evaluation: The preparation for the presentation was pretty helpful which allows me to understand what is a good presentation throughout how we prepare the slides and how we present. This helped build a good presentation which I am not good at. Moreover, these weeks I kept going on with my poster for assessment B which I was finding key graphics or images for my poster. Combining research and my understanding, I was able to find elements that represent specific meanings which are relevant and support the overall meaning of the poster. The poster allows me to express my feelings and thoughts after 3 semesters, also conveying a message which encourages me to continue with my art pathway in the BA course and the future. I really enjoyed the process of making the poster even though I was struggling and had to create many versions. However, the poster represents me and my journey so I really like it.