Level 3 Creative Media - Year 1

1. Induction Project
September 2019
CERTA L2 Developing Study Skills

2. Task 1 - Research
• Optical art, commonly abbreviated as op art, is an art moment that
utilises the visual medium of optical illusions. The art form itself is
particularly unique in that, when the viewer gazes on a work
produced in such a style (such as Movement in Squares by Bridget
Riley), their perspective suddenly appears to shift, providing them
with the illusion of movement.
2.4

3. Task 1 – Research – Web source
• Victor Vasarely (1906-1997), a French artist of Hungarian descent,
renowned as the “Father of Op Art”, was one of the first known painters to
heavily incorporate optics into his work, beginning with The Chess Board in
1935. Following on from this, he also began incorporating this practice in to
his sculpting work, eventually resulting in the creation of The Cube in 1970.
Structured as a three-dimensional object, the viewer is enticed through the
use of various elements, including impression and perspective to look at
the object from every angle, thereby creating the impression that the
shapes imprinted on the cube itself are moving, despite it remaining
completely immobile.
• Said Vasarely himself when commenting on how unique and precious the
format of art in general is: “The art of tomorrow will be a collective
treasure or it will not be art at all.”
2.2
2.3
The Cube,
originally
created by
Victor Vasarely
at the start of
the 1970s.
Source 1: Title: MFA Masterworks – Victor Vaserly (The Cube – 1970) https://www.masterworksfineart.com/artists/victor-vasarely/sculpture/cube-c-1970/id/w-3432 Date
accessed: 09/09/2019.
Source 2: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/654540 - Victor Vasarely (date of quote undisclosed) Date accessed: 11/09/2019

4. Task 1 – Research – Web source
• Bridget Riley (1931-) is one of the key pioneers and voices of the op
art movement and is primarily known for exploring the concept of
perception within her work, which has resulted in the creation of
various works that play around with the viewer’s sight and bring their
perception into question, such as Blaze 1 (created in 1962, as pictured
above) or Movement in Squares (created in 1961).
• When commenting on her work in optical art and the time and
concentration required in order to create something unique, Riley
was quoted as saying “Focus isn’t just an optical activity, it is also a
mental one.”
2.2
2.3
Source 1: https://edinburghartfestival.com/whats-on/detail/bridget-riley Date
accessed: 10/09/2019
Source 2: http://fixquotes.com/authors/bridget-riley.htm Date accessed: 11/09/2019

5. Task 1 – Research – Book source
• In 1943, at a time when he began to establish a keen interest in
painting, Victor Vasarely simultaneously set up his own advertising
agency, which eventually resulted in the creation of his first self-
financed one–man exhibition (title undisclosed) the following year.
•
2.2
2.3
Book 1 (Source): Vaserly. Library code: 759.39 DIE
Book 2 (Source): Art Since 1960. Library Code: 709.04 ARC

6. Task 2a – Idea Generation [individual]

7. Task 2a – Idea Generation [group]
Poster for
Art
Exhibition
Poster
Format
A4
Art Gallery
Tate
Modern,
London
Artist
Timeframe
of
Exhibition
October
2019-April
2020
Bridget
Riley
Poster
Fonts
Sans
Serif
Myanmar
(poster title)
Helvetica (text for
location and
details of
exhibition
timeframe)
Colour
Scheme
Black and
White

8. Task 2b – Action Plan/Schedule
Session Activity Who is responsibile
1 Research on the Op Art Movement and Associated
Artists
D (Daisy) and D (David) will go to the library
and undertake research as a joint team effort.
2 Production – Poster for Bridget Riley exhibition at
the Tate Modern in London.
D (Daisy) and D (David) will create posters on
Photoshop using relatively similar formatting
techniques.
3.1

9. Task 2b – Action Plan/Schedule
3.1
• Generally, I managed to stick to my plan wherever I possibly could.
However, there was at least one day within the week when my fellow
classmate was unable to attend, motivating me to complete as much
work on my own as possible.

10. Task 2c – Planning
3.2
This is a rough sketch I drew for the
planning of my poster. In the future, I
could design more than one poster to
choose from in drawn format.

11. Task 2c – Planning
3.2
These are some rough
notes that I put together
during the initial planning
of my art poster.

12. Task 2c – Planning
3.2
Initially, I began experimenting with
black and white text for the poster,
which ultimately proved to be too
difficult to read.
In this poster, I began experimenting
with colour so that the text advertising
the art exhibition would stand out
more clearly.
Design 1 (Black and White Text) Design 2 (Colour Text v1)

13. Task 2c – Planning
3.2
Design 3 (Colour Text v2) Design 4 (Colour Text v3: Final
Version)
With this version of the exhibition
poster, the colour version of the text
was retained from Design 2 but I used
a different background, composed of
checkerboards.
This version of poster features wavy
lines with the text being altered to fit
the visual style accordingly. This was
the version of the poster I ultimately
chose to be my final design

14. Task 4 – Production/Final Products
3.2
3.4
https://davidleemedia.blogspot.com/2019/10/induction-
project-level-3.html
This is the main link to
my blog post on this
project.

15. Task 5 – Evaluation – Problem Solving
• Describe three problems you faced in your project and how you solved these
• 1. The first problem I ever truly encountered in putting together my art exhibition poster was during its initial stages as I was
conducting research, looking for books studying the op art movement and its history in great detail. Despite being able to find one
or two books studying said movement, there was at least one book centred around a singular artist, Victor Vasarely, that I was still
unable to find. Working alongside a fellow classmate to find the book that we were looking for, we began searching systemically
across the shelves for books carrying the following library code “759”, eventually finding a large, hardcover book bearing the
eponymous artist’s surname as the title as well as the code suffix “DIE”, indicating the name of its author, Gaston Diehl.
• 2. On the second day of work dedicated to this project, the classmate I was working with in order to create the poster failed to
show up, forcing me to complete several important aspects of our research alone, including finding quotes either related to artists
associated with the op art movement or made by the artists themselves. In spite of this small setback, I was ultimately able to rise
to the challenge and ensure the completion of my research, adding an entire slide dedicated to another optical artist, Bridget Riley,
in the process.
• 3. Finally, the creation of the art poster proved to be a challenge in of itself as, owing to my limited knowledge of op art (or artists
thereof), it initially proved difficult for me to find a suitable op artist to focus and whose work would be the subject of said poster
advertising an exhibition to be held in the London branch of Tate Modern. After numerous discussions with my fellow classmate on
this subject, creating a collective group mind map as we went along, we eventually agreed to create a poster centred around the
work of Bridget Riley as, being one of the few women to work in the industry of optical art, we felt that her work deserved
celebrating.
3.3

16. Task 5 – Evaluation – Working with others
• Choose three aspects of your production where you worked well with your team and this
benefited the project
• 1. When undertaking research on the op art movement during the project’s initial stages, we, my
fellow classmate and I, were able to use the OPAC application on the York College website to
identify any books in the library related to artists associated with the movement or the
movement itself. This, in turn, would enable us to seek out the desired book almost immediately,
in spite of the lengthy search process that can regularly occur when such a task is undertaken.
• 2. As my classmate and I were the only two people putting together a poster centred around the
op art movement, this allowed us to formulate ideas more quickly which would be translated on
to a digital mind map, using Bubbl.us or PowerPoint, followed by discussions on who to centre the
art exhibition being advertised, where it would be held and when, and finally, how we would
structure the poster itself.
• 3. Finally, when the time came to creating the art exhibition poster itself, past experience with the
Adobe Photoshop software was a particularly useful lead. In order to properly create the poster,
however, we first had to find pictures of optical art on Google Chrome that would serve as
inspiration or could be used in the final design.
1.2b

17. Task 5 – Evaluation - Feedback
• Discuss the feedback you received from your tutor during the project
and how you used this to improve the project.
• Although I was given a considerable amount of creative freedom to
make the poster however I envisioned it, my tutor suggested that I at
least make only one change to it, namely altering the colour of the
font I would be using so that it would stand out clearly against the
black and white backdrop. This change was made so that the viewer
would be able to properly read what was being said, instead of having
to squint in order to do so.
3.5

18. Task 5 – Evaluation – Active Engagement
• Define active engagement in your studies and briefly explain how you
used it in this project
• Active engagement, also known as student engagement, is a learning
process in which students are encouraged to acquire a complete and
thorough understanding of the material they are working with and
subsequently be able to reflect upon it.
• Despite my limited knowledge on op art at the very beginning of this
project, I was able to utilise active engagement in this project by
looking through books related to artists associated with the
movement during the research phase, beginning with the book
centred around Victor Vasarely.
1.2a

19. Task 5 – Evaluation
Accessing and storing information
• Explain where the books/resources are for your area in the LC
• Books related to op art and artists involved in or related to the movement
are located in the library on the second floor.
• Explain how to take a book/resource out of the LC
• To take a book, audio disc or DVD that you are interested in studying,
watching or listening to for research purposes out of the Learning Centre,
you must first go to the main desk located nearby the entrance of the
Centre. The staff stationed at the desk will then scan the book you wish to
take out, note the time it was withdrawn and provide you with a timeframe
by which the book must be returned. Said time will be recorded on the slip
located within the first few pages of the book.
2.1

20. Task 5 – Evaluation
Accessing and storing information
• Explain where to store electronic information on the college network
• To store digital information on the college network, you have an H
drive which can be used to save any outstanding work you may have.
Do not save anything in downloads (this applies to Mac as well as PC),
as any changes you have made to your work could potentially be
deleted overnight.
• Explain where you upload work when it is completed
• Once any and all outstanding tasks have been completed on part of
the project I have been working on, I submit my finished contribution
onto Blackboard to be reviewed by my tutor.
2.1

21. Task 6 - How do you learn best?
• Explain some of the ways you think you learn best [refer to the VAK
questionnaire results in tutorial]:
• As a college student, I learn best by taking down notes on paper
followed by translating them onto a digital format. As a result,
although this attention to detail reveals a relatively meticulous
thought process, this can sometimes put me behind work causing me
a lot of unnecessary stress in the process.
1.1

22. Task 6 - How do you learn best?
• What makes it hard for you to study?
• I get easily frustrated when there is a question I cannot immediately answer, which causes me to
linger over it for extended periods of time until I have found the answer I am looking for.
• I am unable to cope with loud noises or heckling from classmates in any shape or form when I am
working and this can sometimes hamper my progress when trying to complete a simple task such
as evaluating a project and what my views and opinions on my finished project are.
• What strategies do you think would benefit your studies?
• If I find myself trying to answer a question but am unable to for whatever reason, it is feasible
that I simply move on to another one and answer that question instead. Once that question is
answered, I should then able to answer the previous one with a fresh train of thought.
• I can either go into the Oasis room on the third floor at break time during a college day and try to
collect my thoughts before returning to my studies, depending on the time that this occurs.
1.1