January 2010 - new module (Artefact) stage 1

My goal for today is to have discussions about the artefacts the client would like us to make and how we would go about making it.

Today we started a new module, artifact's. Firstly Mr coulson gave us a brief idea of what were doing on this module and things we are learning. We read pages 76,77,78,79,100,106 and 107 of the Creative and media book. We learned what we will be learning, understanding the process of creating an artifact, planning the creation, creating an artifact, knowing how to monitor my own creative activity, investigating artifacts, researching them, analyzing other people's work, researching visual arts artifacts and preparation you have to do for the assessment.

For the last part of the day we went into the mini-bus to Sarisbury Junior school, sarisbury. We were going to meet Mrs Harrington, our client and teacher at the school. We are going to make things that the school can use and we were going to meet her to see what we can do. When we got there Mrs Harrington and 3 year 6's presented what they would like us to make for their school. These were their ideas:

- Mini solar system to show students how planets orbit. We thought about how we would do this, paper machaeing small balls (the planets) and painting them. Then we would have to made a frame for them all to orbit each other.

2- Mosaic with the junior schools logo - we thought that this would be fun but quite hard to do because we would have to make it safe and make sure that where they put it is a place where it will be safe.

3- Treasure chest to put things for the school in. This would have to be quite light weight for the students to carry and not too big so it is easy to store. Also they want the chest to look authentic and old - a traditional pirates treasure chest. Also we thought about what materials and lining or the inside of the box could use.

Today I have learned what an artefact means and how people research and create artefacts. I also need to develop my skills in evaluating information given to me e.g - how things could be made and how they can be improved.

Furthermore, after assessing each artifact I think that the mosaic would be the hardest. There are a lot of elements to this piece and would take a lot of research into building. The orrary also looks quite complicated, as you have to get the measurements and planets exactly right. The final artifact, the treasure chest also looks like an interesting task. This would entail a lot of wood work, accurate measuring and care. All 3 artifacts are the going to be complicated and a lot of work, developing our skills making it a positive outcome and hopefully we will have 3 successful artifacts to present to our client at the junior school.

I then researched into the three elements we had been asked to create;

Mosaic; creating an image with a range of materials eg stone, glass etc. It is usually in cubes and a range of colours which are then used to create a pattern or picture.

Orrery; A mechanical device that positions the motions of the planets in the solar system in a clockwise rotation. Usually there is a main globe representing the sun and then planets on arms.

Treasure chest; It is based on the idea of pirates. Mainly seen as wooden objects holding stolen treasure buried with a treasure map showing where the treasure is buried.

* (CT1) I have generated ideas to the group today and explored possibilities for all the artefacts.