Creative Arts Blog Posts | The Open College of the Arts

Explore #WeAreOCA

Browsing Category:

Creative Arts

In conversation: OCA student Mel Brown & tutor Bryan Eccleshall

Posted: 06/05/21 09:40 | 0 Comments

As a tutor that’s seen a lot of these projects, it’s perhaps important to mention that no two projects are the same and there isn’t really a ‘right’ answer. The important thing to take from this is that a complex project doesn’t arrive fully-formed but is developed over time. The final format (at least for now) of this work is a recreation of Mel’s teenage bedroom – something that she couldn’t have imagined when she started.

Student work: Christine Bruce

digital assessment sustaining practice

Posted: 20/04/21 09:02 | 0 Comments

OCA Programme Leader for Creative Arts, Doug Burton, in conversation with Christine Bruce.

‘Dealing with the flood’?

Creative Arts Cross curricular Photography tutors

Posted: 31/03/21 09:57 | 1 Comments

OCA tutor, Helen Warburton recalls the discussion of image overload, and asks how do artists and designers deal with this now in the midst of a pandemic? During lockdown, I’ve been revisiting a 2013 WeAreOCA blog post that posed a provocative question: how do we deal with the flood of images? The discussion gravitated around […]

Beeple’s ‘Everydays’: The Value of Digital Artwork

Cross curricular fine art graphic design Illustration Visual Communication

Posted: 18/03/21 09:37 | 0 Comments

Last week an artwork sold at Christie’s Auction House for $65m (about £47m). ‘Everydays: The First 5,000 Days’ by the American artist Beeple (better known to his family as Mike Winkelmann) is now the most expensive piece of digital art ever created, but its provenance and value are not contained within the work itself, as […]

Notes on the winter digital assessment for Creative Arts – A programme leader’s perspective

Posted: 22/01/21 08:39 | 0 Comments

This second digital assessment event for creative arts followed up on all the successes achieved in running the summer assessment online whilst allowing room to progress. I was keen to gain further insight into the approaches CA students take to developing their work and understand more about their learning journeys. The creative arts programme is […]

A conversation between Foundations Drawing student David Csaba and tutor Cheryl Huntbach

alumni Creative Arts drawing Illustration student stories student work

Posted: 09/12/20 09:09 | 1 Comments

It may be interesting for prospective students, and others to know a little about your background, your life, and art experience prior to your OCA studies- for example from where you originate (how this may or may not inform your own studies / drawing work / process. My name is Csaba David and I have […]

Sharing Reading Strategies

reading reading strategies Study tips

Posted: 27/11/20 10:25 | 0 Comments

This post has developed out of conversations which were part of the Creative Arts group work sessions last year. These were exploring a range of approaches to combining practice and research. This got me thinking about reading and how it can underpin practice based research and so it would be useful to share some tips […]

Motivated to work in Equality and Diversity

Equality & diversity

Posted: 30/10/20 09:28 | 10 Comments

The motivations for my becoming the OCA student representative for Equality and Diversity are deeply embedded in my personal experiences of racial and social class based injustices. I felt that this personal context was important to illustrate my interest and commitment to the role. But equally I wanted to add a real life dimension to the discussion on equality and diversity.

Black History Month 2020: Creative Arts in conversation

Equality & diversity

Posted: 19/10/20 09:12 | 0 Comments

When encountered in an art institution like Tate and reimagined in this way, we have no choice but to engage with this darker side. Events of the past few years, such as Brexit and BLM have really started to change that – I think people are noticing public monuments and statuary a lot more.

Printmaking studios at home

creativity innovation sustaining practice

Posted: 23/09/20 09:29 | 1 Comments

During covid lockdown I’ve been so grateful I have a studio space at home. I was reflecting how my OCA students use their homes as studios. I asked a number of printmaking students to reflect and share how they made printmaking spaces within their homes.