Labour, work and play: action in fine art practice

These notes draw particularly on the ideas of Daniel Willis, as expressed in his book The Emerald City and Other Essays on the Architectural Imagination, (Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 1999), concerning the nature of different productive and unproductive forms of activity. Specifically, the demarcation of such activities in terms of the categories of labour and work are used as a basis for interrogating some forms of creative practice. One particular characteristic of both labour and work is found in its objective and subjective organization of time. These notes question those practitioners who produce ‘works’ of art by the means of labouring productive action, including its particular organization of time

The Wayside Mechanic: An Analysis of Skill Acquisition in Ghana

This is a study of skill learning in an informal learning setting in Africa. The purpose of the study is to describe an analyze the nature of the skill acquisition process in one indigenous training system: the apprenticeship of the wayside mechanics workshops in Koforidua, Ghana. The study first examines informal skill training from a broad perspective. The history of the West African craft workshop and its associated apprenticeship is traces. Several major themes in the literature on informal skill training systems such as apprenticeships. The second part of the study describes the specific setting of the wayside mechanics workshops and the general features of the apprenticeship system. Subsequent sections consider contextual factors which may have a bearing on apprentice skill acquisition. Case studies of several apprentice and master artisans are presented to illustrate personal experiences at various levels of the mechanics profession. Finally, the learning/teaching process in the wayside workshop is analyzed intensively using data gathered from general observation, structured interveiws, and structured observation instruments. Apprentice skill competence is assessed through self-reports and administration of mechanics skill test. Results are used to evaluate the effectiveness of apprenticeship training in fostering diagnostic skills and higher-order theoretical understanding. Several possible ways of enhancing apprenticeship training through supplementary training programs are suggested. The implications of the study are of interest to educational anthropologists who are concerned with learning in traditional naturalistic settings. The study is also significant for educational planners in that it calls attention to the strengths and limitations of building nonformal educational programs around indigenous learning systems

Apprenticeship Participation at GE Appliances: An Insider’s Ethnographic Study of Apprentice Participation and Factors Contributing to Student Success

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has defined an apprenticeship as a combination of on-the-job training and related classroom instruction in which workers learn the practical and theoretical aspects of a highly skilled occupation (Smith, 1996, p. 5). General Electric Appliances (GEA) has viewed the DOL model as a viable solution to the decreasing numbers of skilled workers available to employers. Leaders at GEA determined a void existed between the number of skilled workers needed for GEA operations compared to the number of skilled workers available. GEA apprentice programs were suspended in 1995 but reinstated in 2015 to address the skilled labor shortage. This study assessed the Federation of Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) apprentice program offered at GEA for entry-level employees and the more traditional Maintenance Apprentice Program (MAP) for incumbent GEA workers. The purpose of the study was to better understand the programs’ impact on employees compared to their perceptions of their career prior to entering the program. The primary research question was: What is the program impact on students who complete an apprenticeship through GEA? The secondary questions asked how mentorship, related technical instruction, and company-provided skills training contributed to the success of the student and the barriers that hindered student success. The study involved 24 maintenance apprentices from both the FAME and MAP programs, as well as MAP and FAME graduates. All 58 current or former apprentices were asked to participate in personal interviews for the study, with 24 accepting. Interviews were conducted with participating apprentices, and observations were made of those apprentices on the job floor and at school. Feedback from mentors and GEA leaders was given to the researcher regarding the progress of apprentices participating in the program. In a structured interview, subjects were asked 10 questions relating to their overall experience in their respective program. Interviews were synthesized and analyzed for common patterns and themes. Results were organized by the research questions and summarized in outline form. The common themes that emerged were the following: (a) related technical instruction did not always align with in-plant instruction; (b) mentor engagement issues were present; (c) apprentices desired access to more technical training; and (d) some apprentices did not feel prepared to be journeypersons. MAP apprentices shared more challenges with work-life balance, related theoretical instruction (RTI) (Appendix D), and company seniority than the FAME participants. FAME apprentices struggled more with daily mentor placement in the early stages of their program than their MAP counterparts. Both MAP and FAME apprentices gave suggestions on that which they perceived as viable ways to improve the GEA program for current and future GEA apprentices

Distúrbios de saúde relacionados ao aprendizado de solda: avaliação de abordagem para comunicação de risco

OBJETIVO: evaluar la identificación de disturbios de salud auto-referidos por aprendices de soldadura y analizar la intensidad de la relación entre edad y tiempo de experiencia con los disturbios de salud auto-referidos por los aprendices antes y después de la intervención socioambiental de enfermería. MÉTODO: se trata de estudio casi experimental, no aleatorio, del tipo antes y después, realizado con 86 aprendices de soldadura de una entidad privada. RESULTADOS: los resultados muestran diferencia significativa para la diferencia de los promedios pre y post-prueba y aumento del promedio post-prueba para el sistema cardiovascular, respiratorio y tegumentario. También, hubo correlación negativa de la edad de los aprendices de soldadura con la identificación de disturbios de salud. CONCLUSIÓN: la intervención socioambiental de enfermería proporcionó informaciones de salud sobre los disturbios de salud relacionados con la actividad de soldadura. Esas informaciones posibilitaron a los aprendices evaluar las informaciones y mediante estas, auto-referir disturbios de salud.OBJETIVO: avaliar a identificação de distúrbios de saúde autorreferidos por aprendizes de solda e analisar a intensidade da relação entre idade e tempo de experiência com os distúrbios de saúde autorreferidos pelos aprendizes, antes e depois da intervenção socioambiental de enfermagem. MÉTODO: trata-se de estudo quase-experimental, não randomizado, do tipo antes e depois, realizado com 86 aprendizes de solda de entidade privada. RESULTADOS: os resultados mostram diferença significativa para a diferença das médias pré e pós-teste e aumento da média pós-teste para o sistema cardiovascular, respiratório e tegumentar. Ainda, houve correlação negativa da idade dos aprendizes de solda com a identificação de distúrbios de saúde. CONCLUSÃO: a intervenção socioambiental de enfermagem propiciou informações de saúde sobre os distúrbios de saúde relacionados à atividade de solda. Tais informações possibilitaram aos aprendizes avaliar as informações e, mediante essas, autorreferir distúrbios de saúde.OBJECTIVE: to assess the identification of health disorders as self-reported by apprentices of welding and to analyze the strength of the relationship between age and time of experience with self-reported health disorders before and after a socio-environmental nursing intervention. METHOD: this quasi-experimental, non-randomized, before-and-after study was conducted with 86 welding apprentices from a private entity. RESULTS: the results show a significant difference for the pre- and post-test means and an increase in the post-test mean score for the cardiovascular, respiratory and cutaneous systems. There was also a negative correlation between the apprentices' ages and the identification of health disorders. CONCLUSION: the socio-environmental nursing intervention enabled obtaining information on health disorders related to welding. In turn, such information enabled the apprentices to assess information and self-report health disorders

The Printer's Grey : alchemy, ritual and performance in fine art printmaking

Includes bibliographical references.Peter Zhang, in writing on the work of Deleuze and Guatarri, identifies what he calls Deleuzian minor rhetoric 1: namely the need to step outside of the major language and occupy the position of minority. This position of minority, which for Deleuze is a position of power, is achieved through the process of becoming, a constant state of mobility. In a sense this is one of the motivations for my project - understanding the language of printmaking I find myself invested in by considering the material qualities of printmaking as well as the process or act of printing through a number of visual forms. In order better to understand my own position within printmaking, I have used this project to explore the figure or persona of the printmaker and in doing so I am journeying towards the Deleuzian position of minority by questioning ways of thinking about print and the printmaker. This project is located within the fine arts practice of printmaking, but positions itself as an investigation of the liminal, in-between processes of printmaking in terms of alchemy and ritual through the figure of the printmaker. The project is everything in-between the initial idea for a print and the final product, a space I have come to refer to as The Printer's Grey. This reflects my own art-making methodology and my particular approach and thinking within printmaking, where my notebooks and proofs hold the same importance as the eventual printed product. These objects all reveal a creative process, which is flexible and shifting rather than one that merely renders an image in printed form. In drawing attention to the in-between processes during the act of making I assert both its instrumental role in the creation of the print as well as the importance of the process as a site of thinking through the visual. Specifically in relation to printmaking, The Printer's Grey speaks to and seeks to draw into the gallery space aspects of the in-studio process of making a print - aspects which often remain hidden when viewing a print

Artificial Orbit

By composing jewelry works which relate to forms and marks, I explore the relationships between practices and self-awareness, artificial objects in traditional arts and modern mass-production. The similarities between traditional art-making processes, industrial production, and art training which I have received, which all required great amounts of repetitive actions, led my interests towards experimental practices of combining artificial objects. By exploring my cultural background, and the idea of modularity in the art fields, my work focuses on the repeated use of the same component, PVC electrical conduits, to create both wearable and sculptural objects. My thesis contains a collection of body pieces displayed on second-hand furniture and other found objects. It is an interaction between objects and myself: my work is focused on variation and transformation of endless forms by continued use of the same artifact as a basic module. Revealing subtle layers of imperfection through painting, sanding, separating and combining. The aim of my work is to change the viewers’ perceptions of objects and materials by observation