Below is some quotes I’ve pulled from “the education of an illustrator” and the “education of a graphic designer”. Some act as a reference for myself and others I’ve responded to.

What is professional about professional education – Meredith Davis 

“We are in the future business: we make informed assumptions that or curriculum and instruction today will serve our students and thier constituents well for the next fifty years and that, in doing so, we play some role in defining the future of the field.”

“The contract between the institution and the profession is that this knowledge base results from an informed guess about what will serve the profession well into the future.” – does the institution (UAL) know what is happening in the “professional” world? How does an institution have a relationship with the “professional” world? During a meeting between Foundation and BA GCD the discussion of live briefs was brought up. We were informed that BA GCD now take the policy that live briefs are not ethically appropriate. There was however a subtext to the conversation that the businesses coming to the course and the live projects are not innovative, the example given being a duvet company looking for illustrations for their products. In my opinion although not an exciting job it is a real job all the same that many practicing illustrators would covet. What message might that communicate to the students? 

Emptying the spoon, enlarging the plate: some thoughts on graphic design education – Warren Lethrer 

“Do I teach design? Or do I teaching human beings?”

“Am I a teacher of individuals aspiring to excel in design… Am I a teacher who should help students discover a path to a life’s work filled with meaning…”

“Am I a teacher in the service of training designers to create a better world?”

“Am I a teacher in the service of training a highly competent and employable workforce?”

No Art director ever asked to see my portfolio – Daniel Pelavin

“ The education of many a successful illustrator takes place quite handily outside the bounds of any certified program… The most important, perhaps only credential of any significance in this field is the portfolio” – my argument to this is how is someone aspiring to be an illustrator to form a portfolio without the practice or developed skill to form and communicate ideas?

“While it seems obvious that working illustrators would be the obvious choice as illustration teachers, the axiom, “those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach” may have originated in the illustration field… All too frequently, what you find are semi-illustrators with too much time between jobs and underfed egos.” – the illustration field in the UK specifically, is small particularly in comparison to graphic design. Applied illustration in the world is often I feel, quite limited, this is because it is considered a superfluous expensive decorative element. Illustration has fought hard to be intellectually relevant and places itself one foot in art and another in design but illustration will never have the “importance” as art or the business astuteness as graphic design. In short, there is an over abundance of gifted and skilled illustrators but not enough jobs and perhaps this is why many illustrators turn to teaching. 

“If you don’t recognise illustration as a business and don’t concentrate on the required skills, you are shortchanging those foolhardy enough to believe in you. After all, they don’t need that degree more than Dumbo needed that lucky feather.” – I dont think my BA or MA in communication design addressed the ideas of business sufficiently. I have reflected a lot on the economic value of my art/ illustration practice and under the scrutiny of that lens it is unrealistic. If something doesn’t make money does it still have value?

While working with a colleague they were obliged to attend an online workshop regarding the merger between CCW and CSM foundation courses. Due to my pay grade, I was not invited to the workshop despite AL’s making up a significant proportion of the course staff population. This was the third in a  series of “visioning” workshops for the new course. The host aimed to get “imaginative”, “brave” and “forward” thinking as to the shape of the new course. However, the relationship between the participants and the host was cold, and reticent resulting in responses that were more concerned with the practicals of what there actually is rather than what we could have. 

I include this because I consider it a factor that is influencing my attitude towards teaching and the institution. The merger itself doesn’t fill me with optimism. I don’t trust those who have the greatest influence directing the course. There is a massive disconnect between those who need to deliver the course and those who make the big decisions. Much of the ways these people talk and communicate is through opaque language that is often utterly meaningless to the people it affects. I speculate and felt the host was in fact using the input from the participants to inflate themselves and their achievements for a future job.

The effect of this on my teaching is “fuck the institution, let’s make the year the best we can, I might not be teaching anyway next year. In a way, this attitude has resulted in a more adventurous way of teaching and the group has reflected this with positive results. 

We’re currently concluding a screen printing project this week. It is a very physically demanding project for the tutors and students.

As a curriculum area, we manage the print room ourselves meaning that there is no additional support from technicians. Something occurred with a student during this project that I would like to recount. The project requires students to design and physically draw screen print positives. Knowing this is a long process we scheduled enough time in the project timetable to allow the students to complete the positives successfully. One student has taken a particularly long time in completing their positive because they didn’t follow the steps put in place to achieve it on time. In the morning I checked on their progress and explained that we had to put down at least one colour that day (this being the official final day of printing). The student reassured me that they would have completed the positive in time. The post-lunch session begins and I again press upon the student on the importance of completing one layer, again they say they will be ready. 15:45 approaches and I look across the studio to see the student still filling in the same area of image they’ve been working on for the past session. I said to the student “We need to print your work now, we cannot wait anymore” They replied “Just 15 more minutes” I replied, “You have two.” It is at this point his face appears as if I have just strangled his pet. I walk away to continue a plethora of firefighting in the print studio. 10 minutes elapse and I again approach the student and say “It’s now or never” he has a broken demure.

The day comes to a close, and the student approaches my colleague and asks, “Will there be time to reprint my work because I don’t like it” My colleague softly explains no. Internally I’m using expletives that would make the occupants of a barracks room blush. 

I think we make a lot of provisions for students to complete their work successfully and to a high standard. My colleague and I have refined this project to ensure every step leaves plenty of time for students to create a complete piece of work as well as an induction into screen printing (a new technique for them).

Had I not forced this person to print their work the effect would have been a greater level of pressure and stress on my colleague to complete the job at a later date and the student to be without a piece of work for their portfolio. Would the alternative to this be to deny the student to print and explain you missed the deadline? What is the greater harm, the student feeling a little bit anxious as I frantically save the project or no project at all? 

There are too many points to cover in a single reflective account but I’ve identified a few small aspects I want to discuss at this point in the project.

My colleague is/has practised as a filmmaker and photographer. My own design practice as an illustrator is more isolated and the ownership of the ideas and work is typically mine. They proposed that ideas are free. As a film maker, the relationship to teaching has some similarities and crossovers. They explained much of the work they did was negotiation, organising and proposing ways of working therefore the work was never completely their own but a shared collaborative ownership. 

This allowed me to build on some reflection I had been unpacking on my previous days teaching. The session itself wasn’t bad, and in fact, the students produced very good results. However, I think I put too much of my own design practice into the day. This is where the separation between my own work and teaching is blurry. Often the catalyst of tasks or briefs originates from things I want to do, can’t do as a result of time, or elements of thinking that I’ve tested in the studio myself. I’m not sure how to separate those things and make a distinction.

I think I try to control too much during the sessions. This is because of my training but in large part a distrust of others. I do not have confidence that other people will fulfil their part of the bargain. The result of this I think is a lack of skill in networking and forming relationships that could otherwise be beneficial.

The illustration pathway is often perceived as “uncool,” “carefree,” and understood to be “kids stuff” among the student cohort. This perception is based on shared student expressions among my colleagues and myself, as well as the pathway’s low subscription rate this year.

This low sign-up to the pathway has been a huge welcome to me. We are running the classes at 25 students compared to 35 last year and so far the attention and interest the students are showing in the work we are doing is high. 

In discussion with my colleague who is the lead tutor of the pathway, we have both expressed a desire to “show off” and purposely make work with the students that peacocks, demonstrating both the value of illustration as a discipline and the pathway. The effect of this has been positive on our new group. There is an air of confidence as well as a harmonious community spirit emerging. My colleague had also informed me of students from other pathway areas commenting on the work the illustration group are doing such as “Wow, this way more fun”, and “How can I do it too”.

Starting the second unit has been very positive for me with the new group. I feel good to go to work and present the days tasks, ideas, and approaches to making work. I feel a lot happier to share and give to others than I have for a long time and It no longer feels like an expectation of duty but a genuine interest in someone else’s growth. The smaller group is an essential factor in this. It allows me to get to know them faster, as well as for us to make more complex and sophisticated work.  I also don’t feel (at present) that I have to carry and motivate students who are disinterested which has often been a burden to me.

In our newly formed illustration group, we have a student who is emotionally demanding both on staff and students. Two specific incidents have occurred with the student that I will detail below. 

During one session I was trying to solve a variety of different problems for a collection of students at the same time. They ranged from the conceptual resolution of project ideas to the changing of a scalpel blade. The student in question negotiated around the others like a speeding whippet to take precedence over anyone else’s concerns. This particular brief required careful and accurate cutting of formal typography. The student held up their work poised to ask a question and in an instant of looking at their progress I  said something to the effect of “Your letters are not drawn properly you need to do it again.” Thinking little of the matter, during the lunch break, my line manager informed me that they had to calm the student down and the student had to be reassured that my feedback was from a place of good faith and with the intent of making the best possible work. My line manager suggested talking to the student later in the day and apologising.

I followed my duty and spoke to the student and explained that my actions came from the best of intentions. 

Critical and constructive feedback is essential to a design practice. My own education was filled with honest pointed feedback, and I chose to seek those specific people for that experience and insight.

The second incident was during my day not teaching but in the studio. An important perk to the job has been free unfettered access to the print workshop. This allows me to make my own work with the benefit of showing students various approaches to printmaking during taught sessions. I usually use the print room outside of taught days but I may have to answer a few questions or help a student if they happen to be in, but this is mostly unusual. 

On this occasion, the student came to work for the day. Shortly after settling down, they became vocally and visibly upset proceeding to shout “My workflow isn’t working!” Repeatedly. Not wanting to see someone in distress over a small inconvenience I tried to diagnose the problem eventually solving it. During this process, I had to be extremely calm and reassuring. However, being around a person who is emotionally volatile makes me uncomfortable and stressed. I’m thinking what scenario will happen, will this person lash out physically or verbally at me or another student? This person does have an ISA, and I have fulfilled the requirements during the taught sessions. However, this doesn’t mean I’m supplied with all of the knowledge skill,  and psychological tools to support this person when they are in extreme distress.