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Lydia Halcrow, Author at The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

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Lydia Halcrow


Slow observation – Time and slowing down to notice in Creative Arts thumb

Slow observation – Time and slowing down to notice in Creative Arts

Despite technology being positioned as an enabler to modern life, it can often seem as if time and demands on our time have increased and sped up broadly in line with each technological innovation. Studies including the 2019 International research published in World Psychiatry suggests that the Internet and smart technology is changing our brains […]

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Student stories: In conversation with Andrew Howe. Part 2. thumb

Student stories: In conversation with Andrew Howe. Part 2.

Edgeland landscapes are diverse, ranging from non-places, like industrial estates and retail parks, to degraded post-industrial sites. There is often a duality in places like urban woodlands or derelict sites because they can be places of peaceful refuge and biodiverse wildlife habitats, places where young people can experiment away from adult gaze, whilst also being perceived as places of threat

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Student stories: Walking, Psychogeography, Collaboration….. thumb

Student stories: Walking, Psychogeography, Collaboration…..

Through a conversation between tutor Lydia Halcrow and former OCA student Andrew Howe, this blog post explores themes around making through walking and Psychogeography in relation to Andrew’s socially engaged, collaborative and multi-disciplinary artistic practice. The blog post is in two parts with some recommended reading that has shaped the development of Andrew’s practice during and since his time at the OCA

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Contemporary drawing research thumb

Contemporary drawing research

I wanted to bring together a short summary of the most recent book in the Drawing series – Vitamin D2, focusing particularly on some of the artists featured whose drawing practices it might be interesting and useful for students to look at.

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Place, surface, mapping, recording… thumb

Place, surface, mapping, recording…

I spend time walking in these places, talking to people who I meet along the way, researching the histories, stories, geology, geographies. My aim is to try to capture and distil some of the unique visual qualities of each place through a record of my time spent there. I think of my work as alternative ‘maps’ of a place or ‘recordings’.

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