HS Art Studio, Pottery (LO5)

[LO5] Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively.

I think that pottery is an art that it generally very individual. Therefore, I assumed that there is a lack of teamwork or collaboration. However, though lessons, I was able to notice the collaborative nature of the arts. For instance, I learnt that when developing ideas and thoughts of what to create next, it is beneficial to talk and brainstorm with others. By merging ideas and bringing in new aspects constantly, I believe that there is a collaborative aspect of the arts and I think I heavily benefited from it because it enhanced my original ideas and also furthered my scope of possibilities. I think that with the arts, it is very free in terms of who or how many people you collaborate with which is quite interesting. I also think that sharing knowledge, for example how to attach individual parts in a better manner, is a form of teamwork in the arts where individuals take their mistakes or even discoveries and pass them forward to others for their benefit. However, I think that to maintain this teamwork, all involved individuals need to contribute and work together in order to get around specific challenges. One challenge with teamwork in pottery was that there were sometimes disagreements in techniques and styles. For example, when creating a pinch pot, there were a few varying methods which created disagreements. I believe that through multiple sessions we realised that sometimes there is not always a best way to do a task but that we can work with others to figure out which method we are most/least comfortable with. Although this was specific to pottery, I believe that overall I have realised that working with others makes you criticise and possibly alter your own methods or ways of working.