STAR Answer

• Give me an example of a time when you had to deal with a difficult co-worker or fellow student on a project. How did you handle the situation? What were the outcomes?

S- In my surface design class that I took my last semester of college, a fellow student and I were assigned to work on a collaborative piece together. Developing the concept was the first vital step before going to work, but the subject matter and ideas that my collaborator mainly focuses on in her own artwork vastly differed from mine.

T- The collaboration project focused on the alteration of fabric. We had to chose textile articles and alter their normal perceptions and form an artists statement for our project concept.

A- My collaborator and I began working by first brain storming, but I couldn't help but noticed that our general ideas were very opposite from each other. My collaborator had a concept in her head, but she wasn't communicating her ideas to me clearly. Her ideas were all scattered and I initially couldn't put my finger on exactly what she was trying to convey. I can tell that her idea was one that I normally wouldn't work with, but I wanted to push myself to try new things and to fully & clearly understand her idea.

We had already picked out some materials to work with from when we were brain storming and messing with an idea. After our first meeting with the teacher, she told us that our concept needed further developing, so I took notes on everything she suggested to us and decided to take control of the situation. After the meeting with the teacher, I asked my collaborator if we could sit down and visually map out our concept.

While preparing for discussion, I told her to put all of our materials away in my locker so that we can just focus on our concept at hand. We sat down and I took out a pen and some paper and began asking my collaborator basic questions so I can visually write out her concept through her simple answers. In time, I began to understand her idea more and more and began to take the concept and logically break it down. From there, I was able to break down the concept to support the 6 ideas and suggestions the teacher had given us. So, in about half an hour, we had a finely developed concept and what I had written down from our meeting was all the information I needed for writing our artists statement.

R- We evenly split up the work and our project resulted in a success. We received supportive and positive feedback in critique. My collaborator and I both worked with ideas and subject matter we usually wouldn't work with and the teacher was impressed with our project.