Our masterclass with Estela was engaging, thought provoking and fast paced. During our meetings, there was no time to over think things – sometimes we only had 30 seconds to make something so we no choice but to go with our first instincts. It was challenging (in a good way!). We were forced to push outside of our normal making habits and experiment with new materials. We received continual feedback about our work and had to think about and give feedback about other people’s work too. Sharing work I had just made, that I didn’t particularly ‘like’ and had barely had time to process myself was challenging. So too was thinking quickly and critically about other people’s work and articulating those thoughts. But, it was all good practice, and as the weeks went on I noticed it became easier. I felt freer to both make and contribute feedback, worrying less about whether it was good or bad or somewhere in between.
For me, one of main outcomes from the masterclass was that I learnt new ways generating ideas quickly and to do so without ‘thinking’ getting too much in the way.
I learnt to find more freedom in the making process: that ideas can come from something really simple like a word or a 30second sketch; that you can take something you’ve made and continue to push it in lots of different directions; that not everything has to be ‘good’ but it might be a stepping stone towards something that IS ‘good’ or interesting.
Below is some of the work that came out of the masterclass. These are some of the pieces that I am most happy with and interested in exploring further.
Thank you to Estela, for your wonderful energy, your ‘spot on’ and honest feedback and all the ideas you helped to generate.
