Unit 1 - What is my aim?

Unit 1 asks me to answer:
What is my aim?
Why am I taking this course?
What do I want to get out of it?

My long term aim is to have a degree in an art subject, with most of the content being Art History.

I studied Art History as part of another course about 7 years ago which is where I first became interested in it.

I have chosen this particular course as a starting point as it appears to give an overall view of Art History. I want to use it to remind myself of the various aspects and topics of the subject. I also want to use this course to get me back into studying, planning, projects and essays etc as I am quite out of practice.

I hope to develop and broaden my knowledge and understanding of art, its movements and artists. I would like to be able to understand and appreciate a piece of art in more depth and with more of an analytical approach. Currently I could describe an image or sculpture only in basic terms on a beginners level. I would like to be able to read more into a piece and to be confident in my explanation and understanding of it.

I hope that I can gain a greater understanding of the process an artist goes through and the methods used to create the final piece. To be able to understand why a piece has turned out in that particular way; what the influences and background to it is.

Another key reason for me taking this course is for career development and progression. I currently work in a non-art related job and it doesn’t give me the satisfaction or enjoyment that I hope an art-related career would do.

I have looked into, and applied for jobs in the art world but have found that they nearly all require a degree qualification and/or experience in an art subject. So this is my first step in achieving at least one of these requirements. Whilst I am not in a position to leave my current career, I hope that this course will give me the drive to change my situation and improve my long-term job prospects.

I have been thinking about making this step for some time but have always found reasons to put it off. Now I feel that if I do not start it now, I may always put it off and never achieve my goal.

This course hopefully will provide me with a general starting point to progress from. I would like to look into some of the other courses on offer after completing this one, but only in terms of being supplementary courses to my degree path.