Theory - (By Dr Graham Lister and Lee Corner). An introduction to the works of Albert Bandura.

Outline of this semester's work;

The assessment for this module for this next semester will be based on 2800 words, (including captions).
1. Create five keywords as a three-dimensional representation of "where you want to be in five years time" and utilise your model created at the previous session to write approx. 500 words of a profile.
2.  Produce up to 10 images of your best work within a portfolio, with the intention of creating a personal website.
Use a suitable template which can be retrieved from the Association of Illustrators or Axisweb.com

• Include an artist's CV, which should be a short biography and list of your exhibitions.
• Display your own knowledge of your particular field of interest.
• Present the skills that you possess in terms of how they would relate to the work that you are looking for.
• Present the ideas and themes that you work upon through your practice.
• Provide an artist list of exhibitions you would like to work with.
• The images need to be captioned!

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During this lecture, an interesting exercise was carried out to describe all the materials that we saw immediately in front of us within 30 seconds.

From just a short scan of the room, I found; fabrics; nylon, cotton, wool, plant, wood, leather, Metals; steel, copper, gold. Plastics; Formica, melamine, carbon, cartilage, bakelite, PVC, computers, silicone, glass.  -
The object of this exercise was to develop a mindset similar to that of a personal Safari on our journey through our observational life during the working day.

A further exercise was conducted which associated emotions, to the spectrum of colours; e.g., Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, dark blue, indigo and violet. The outcome of this exercise demonstrated that everyone's perception of those colours and hence the emotions that they evoked provided a different and unique experience from each and one another within the group.

A further explanation of the "Creative / Innovation Engine" was given of the work by Prof. Tina Seelig (of Stanford University, USA), regarding the Möbius strip which was shown at a previous session. Whilst a short video provided an insight into the theory, the conclusion I drew from this personally was to make the point of reframing questions, and the analogy was that the best jokes actually reframe expectations. Whilst many of the comments I may have felt as American management speak, with quite a few platitudes, some of the own some of the examples of alternative thinking such as the Japanese art of "Chindogu", or, "un-useless" inventions: which is, creativity by combining two radically different ideas together that are not obvious, seemed an interesting exercise.

All of the above activities were positioned to challenge assumptions!

To summarise;

• Knowledge is a toolbox of imagination.
• Pay attention all the time, don't overlook what is in front of you!
• Attitude is the spark that gets us going.

With regards to the Tina Seelig innovation engine, the elements that make up the model should be shown in pairs.  For example; imagination and habitat; knowledge and resources; attitude and culture; are combined with external environmental resources and societal culture.

Conclusions to Part 1;

Whilst this model seems a good starting point I am concerned that it may overlook natural ability and adaptability; as the Möbius strip suggests that creativity looked upon and scrutinised through this process may be too prescriptive; I think there are other areas of importance, and here I am talking about the work done in the 1990s by Daniel Goleman on intelligence quotient versus emotional quotient; (in other words IQ/EQ); together with the seminal work by Karen Horny regarding positive mental attitude.

My own view is that there is a danger in creating processes of this nature that one complicates something that may, in fact, be quite simple.

Part 2 - Self-Efficacy;

The next part of the lecture discussed the work of Albert Bandura born 1925, a professor of psychology, also at the Stanford University, and his theoretical underpinning of self-confidence which he terms as self-efficacy.

"Self-efficacy reflects confidence in one's ability to exert control of one's own motivation, behaviour, and social environment."

Efficacy is often interdependent with efficiency, and both ostensibly mean similar things. Efficacy is the ability to get the desired result, combined with capability.

Bandura's theory is based on;
mastery experiences; social persuasion; vicarious experiences; and emotional status.

Each of these elements explored in a little more detail;

• with regards to mastery, the more you experience success, the more you are likely to enjoy it in future.
• With respect to vicarious experiences, by seeing somebody else accomplish something, will help you as an individual accomplish something too. (Similar to the old adage of birds of a feather flock together, but success breeds success). If at times you're struggling to find success through vicarious experiences, seek out a mentor.
• Emotional status. Simply put affect the habit of positive thinking.
• Social persuasion; this is about listening to praise and good feedback, whilst ignoring negative criticism and deconstructive comments.

See the video on YouTube regarding social learning theory and self-efficacy.

Conclusions to Part 2;

Following on from the last lecture yesterday, by Lou Bones of the AOI: one of the areas that I felt could be worth investigating is the provision of business services, coaching and mentoring for artists and illustrators in the North of England, to supplement legal and commercial skills for those practices. Whilst Lee is performing some of this activity, I think there is room to compliment it and help to grow her own client base perhaps?
Having mentioned this briefly also to Dr Lister, he explained that there was a similar business set up in Glasgow, for local artists along the M8 corridor which is known as WASPS. Workshop and Studio Provisioning services Scotland.