Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Marquetry Masterclass & PPT
Size of student group:23
Observer: Kitty Eyes
Observee: Fflur Owen
Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
This session is a master class taught by myself to Year 2 BA (Hons) Cordwainers Fashion Bags and Accessories. This isn’t a part of the student’s unit brief, but an additional master class to teach a specific technique. The technique is often used in the first unit project for Year 2, as it lends itself well to the project (recycling small pieces of donated leather for a Lineapelle project). The technique is called Marquetry; you can create intricate patterns by placing small pieces of intricately cut leather material (e.g. Leather) next to each other to create your desired design.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
Last year I was their Year tutor, I also taught them technical pattern cutting and design sessions, therefore I know these students well and understand their technical abilities.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
During this session, I will be presenting to the students the art of Marquetry, and then I will demonstrate in steps whilst they also make a sample of Marquetry for their Unit’s 3D experimentation.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
The students will make a sample of Marquetry to learn the technique and add it to their sketchbook for the current unit as a part of their 3D experimentations.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
This technique requires precision and patience, this is why the workshop is always for Year two and above. Technically it’s not difficult, students are required to bring their toolkits to the session.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
The observation will take place following the session. The session took place on the 28th of September 2023.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
How to better improve the session? If there are any different ways to present technical sessions to students? As Kitty Is a Technician from a different department, I’m interested to find if they have any suggestions on this. Do you use PPT’s in performance? Or have you got any better suggestions?
I have added a Youtube video of a marquetry technique to the PPT- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6cYef1x-AY
And a link to a famous Marquetry artist page (unfortunately these links don’t work in the PPT- PDF- but I can share them with Kitty during the in-person discussion)
How will feedback be exchanged?
I’m sending all my information regarding my teaching session to Kitty on 3/6/2024.
We are currently discussing meeting w/c 11/03 to discuss both our Peer observations. Date tbc
Session’s timings-
Day session AM 9.30-12.30 & PM 13.30- 16.30
09.30 – 11.00 Start session- (p.1-6) Introduce the technique- explain it’s possible to create Marquetry in different materials, but today we are focusing on leather.
(p.8 & 9)Talk about the tools required for the task and show the best examples of leather- explain why using certain types of leather is important.
Ask students if they have seen this technique before, and on what kind of items (talk through the possibilities (p.10).
(p.11-14) Discuss different ways of cutting the leather- positives and negative.
Discuss how to make a strong but effective design, and allow the students time to think of their design over their break.
11.00 – 11.20 Break
11.20 – 11.50 Students will plan their template for their Marquetry design. They will be given dimensions of 15cm x 15cm and they need to create a simple design, using advice given during the morning session. Add a 1cm border allowance around the marquetry design and stick the design onto strong card paper.
11.50 – 12.30 – Cut out the design carefully following the lines and expanding the shapes over the 1cm line.
LUNCH
13.30 – 14.10 Students will now select leather for their design, and cut all the jig-saw-like pieces of the marquetry carefully.
14.10 – 14. 30 – Demonstrate how to create the marquetry on my sample using pre-cut leather.
14.30- 14.45 Break
14.45 – 16.10 Students can make their own Marquetry design.
16.10 – 16.30 (p15-23) Show further examples of more complex Leather Marquetry to inspire students. (p.25) show suppliers list.
Take photos of student examples, finish the session, and tidy up.
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
I just want to start off by saying how much I enjoyed this session and learning about marquetry from Fflur. Fflur is very clearly incredibly knowledgeable about leather work and so I felt supported throughout the session, especially whenever I had any questions. The session was based around a PowerPoint for a masterclass in marquetry, which Fflur stated is for second year students. She mentioned as well how this masterclass lends itself to the student’s learning outcomes for their projects that term and how it can tie into the sustainable aspect of the project.
The PowerPoint was very well created and organised, with a clear theme and UAL templates creating a flow and ease of reading. The history of marquetry and some modern examples started the presentation off, followed by the introduction to the class itself, including materials and kit lists, and some health and safety for the cutting of the leather. The remainder of the session is largely the process itself, and Fflur walked me through how the lesson is structured over the course of a day, and how the learning process is segmented into smaller “bit sized” pieces to ensure the pacing of the lesson and that students can absorb the intricacies of the technique.
One of the aspects of the PowerPoint that I was most impressed with was the type and the amount of examples that were included. Fflur and I both specialise in trades that have very historic roots and we had a very lovely conversation about how difficult it can be to create an excitement and interest in the students that encourages them to use these techniques. I think the addition of the TikTok artist (Valentineh Despointes) was particularly important and I am impressed by Fflur’s effort and ability to make her lessons interesting and engaging to a generation that potentially can feel quite removed from traditional craft.
My only suggestion regarding how to potentially improve this session is to look into the possibility of using a camera during the live demonstrations. We spoke about our mutual frustrations as technicians regarding the difficulties surrounding teaching fiddly skills, and I brought up how in the Performance department we use cameras that stream directly to the wall screens to give the students a better angle and to allow for accessibility needs. I am aware that as much as cameras can be a blessing, they can also be a real pain, and that they are not always the best route, but I feel it could be worthwhile to look into.
Overall I really enjoyed being introduced to this specialism and I really enjoyed hearing Fflur speak about something she is clearly very passionate and knowledgeable about.
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
I feel very proud of the feedback I received from Kitty, as a member of the technical team, I appreciate hearing her thoughts on my session. I enjoyed presenting this session to the students and teaching them a new creative but technical skill, so very glad Kitty also appreciated the experience. My lesson plan helps me when presenting this session as some groups are larger and tend to take more time – therefore having a structure helps to make sure I’m on track. I also ensure the PPT is intricate enough to help students when I’m not around, if they wish to continue experimenting with the technique for their projects- there are various examples, tips and tricks to help them along the way.
Kitty appreciated having modern examples of Marquetry in the PPT; I find this extremely important, as most of the techniques I teach are historic, therefore being able to help students modernise traditional techniques to create new unique designs is crucial in an innovative fashion college. I will continue to search for modern interpretations of the traditional leather-working techniques to help students and staff develop on the course.
Kitty did have a great suggestion about presenting using digital cameras, I would definitely like to experiment with live demonstrations and being able to project onto the AV screens at East Bank. We are hoping to have a camera set up over the summer holidays- therefore this would be great for next academic year. I could even record the session to put the technique up on the LCF Technology website. With good quality cameras and projectors, being able to show small details to students without them all having to crowd very closely to you while presenting would be a benefit to the students as they could possibly follow each step more instantaneously.
Thank you Kitty for your feedback, I will definitely chase up the AV technicians at East Bank to see if there are any developments with AV screens and camera set-ups. I will also keep researching to find the best option to display my Marquetry samples for this session, we had quite a long chat about best ways of displaying and preserving samples for future students. Currently, all my Marquetry samples are in a plastic wallet, and my “here’s one I did earlier” step by step samples are also kept in a similar wallet.
It would be great to have a chest or museum-like drawers to keep samples safe but also have them on display for students to access when they wish.
My Marquetry PPT from the taught session