Writing a commentary

Central Saint Martins BA Jewellery Design 3^rd Year

Writing a commentary

You can use these questions to get you started with writing your commentary. You do not have to answer all of these questions, but use them as a guide and add your own. The commentary is an on-going, self-reflective document intended to help you evaluate your work and to guiding its direction. It is not a day-to-day personal diary. Aim to reflect on your work regularly and date each entry.

·         What is my work driven by?

·         What are the ideas that excite me?  What sort of jewellery do I want to make? What materials appeal and why?

·         What are my observations about my research / materials tests? How can I use these observations?

·         What is the aim of the work? Is it clear? Can I clarify by making things, taking each idea a little further?

·         Do I have too many aims?  How do I combine them? How do I edit them?

·         How will I achieve my aims? What is my strategy for achieving them?

·         What are the possibilities / different ways of going about achieving them?

·         If I have too many ideas, can I separate them? Can I work on a few at the same time?

·         At what point do I stand back and see an overview?

·         How am I making decisions? What criteria am I using? How has one decision changed the direction of my work?

·         Have I made a poor decision? How do I retrieve the situation?

·         Do I have too much going on in one piece?

·         How can I explore this idea through a collection of pieces?

·         Does this direction feel right for me?

·         How does it work as a piece of jewellery? How can I improve the work?

·         How is it best photographed?