Choice

When I first came to Chelsea, I thought that I was sure that Fine Art was going to be my specialism. I had chosen Fine Art at A-level and whilst open minded about the other rotations, and interested to see what they had to offer, I was pretty certain that Fine Art was where I would end up.
I began in 3D and Spatial Design, which I was looking forward to trying out as I had never done that sort of thing previously. I enjoyed the beginning of the rotation and was absolutely mortified on the first Friday when I found that I was incapable of making a model! I had, until then, been working in 2D. I tried to make my brain think in three dimensions, and tried to make my models work, but I was not enjoying the struggle and I came to the conclusion that 3D is not for me.
I then moved on to Fashion/ Textiles, where, once again, the first two days were looking promising. However, once again, I had to move on to dreaded 3D. Whilst I found it less of a struggle than in the previous rotation, I still did not enjoy it very much, and as I do not have much interest in the fashion world (with the exception of Fashion Illustration, which I love), I don’t think textiles is for me.
At this point, whilst a bit disappointed that I hadn’t greatly enjoyed either of the rotations, I was pleased that I was able to cross them off my shortlist, and that I was not going to be faced with difficult decisions when it came to specialisation.
The next rotation was Fine Art. The one I had been waiting for. However, It was not what I had expected. The first few days were good (a recurring theme for me in these rotations!), and I enjoyed getting back into observational drawing, and was very much in my comfort zone. However, when the second week arrived and we allowed to do what we wanted, the tutors told me they did not like my style of painting, and that they wanted me to paint in a more abstract manner. They also didn’t appear to care or be very interested in the ideas behind what I was doing - which threw me completely as I am very much an ideas-based worker. At this stage I became a bit disheartened as I love to paint and most enjoy reproducing images as I see them, rather than in abstract form.
I did understand what they were saying about the work I had started and in fact  was not at all pleased with it myself. I want to develop as an artist and do not want to stay the same, but I do not at this stage want to feel pressured to completely change my painting style. Despite being very confused after my experiences in Fine Art, it was a good learning experience for me and I did really enjoy the rotation and am reasonably pleased with my final pieces.
My final rotation was Visual Communication and although I still found it challenging this was the one that I felt most at ease with. The first project we were given was called ‘Ideas, Ideas, Ideas’ and after the short period we were given to fill an entire sketchbook with all of the ideas that popped into our heads from a given word, I knew that I liked Vis Com.
Ideas has always been a big part of my work and I really enjoy working from a brief- both of these are core within the Vis Com specialisaton. Right now, I think that illustration may be what I would like to go into- and I am also interested in animation. For these reasons I  have decided that this is the pathway I wish to pursue over the coming year.