Myself and Damian found it difficult to confirm dates that suited us both so we had a break of a few weeks before the final session.  With some groups I would be worried that they would have lost interest or forgotten about what we were doing but they were all on form when I arrived up.

I decided to visit the school for session 6.  I wanted to find out what they thought of the project – what were the advantages and disadvantages of working using this software.

It seemed the advantages and disadvantages roughly evened themselves out!  Working form my studio/home allowed the class a unique perspective – they got to see where I worked and my new dog Duke! Working online allowed us to share links and keep track of the progress with this journal.  However, we experienced long delays with made communication difficult at times and often the links I shared would be blocked from their end – sites like Vimeo or Youtube.

For the main part of this final session I had brought up 200 bamboo sticks, with a view to making a huge collaborative sculpture – in a away an extension of the stick sculptures that we had been working on.

I was a little unsure how the day would go – how we could organise the work so everyone was engaged. We figured out together that it was best to work in teams first, and then try to join the work together.

I was amazed by their problem solving abilities – how they figured out what the strongest structures were and how they added supports to weaker areas.  Also, the work remained  about the materials and process as opposed to it becoming representational.

I learned a lot from this project.  The communication difficulties required me to take somewhat of a back seat, but this meant the class took the lead a little bit – which was great.  Connecting with the class from the place where I make work helped to draw out parallels in my practice and what we as a group were making.  I found I had to place my trust in Damian and Ruth more than I would do if I was doing a project like this in a classroom, and I was pleasantly surprised by the groups willingness to keep looking at the same subject, even if it was from slightly different angles.