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Garden Design Blog Posts - Page 2 of 3 - 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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Garden Design


Student Association study event: Visual Art and Text thumb

Student Association study event: Visual Art and Text

Join Bryan Eccleshall for two workshops (each two hours long) to explore how text has been used in visual art and to develop your own way of doing it.

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Perception: Where Science and Art Meet. Sort Of. thumb

Perception: Where Science and Art Meet. Sort Of.

The important point is our brains are wired in a certain way and we invent and build the world in our heads as much as perceive it as ‘truth’. This is important for anyone attempting to represent three dimensions in two. The world is indeed out there but perhaps capturing it requires more intervention than we might initially think.

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Motivated to work in Equality and Diversity thumb

Motivated to work in Equality and Diversity

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.

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OCA wellbeing: On self-care thumb

OCA wellbeing: On self-care

Increasing online presence may result in online fatigue with visual and somatic symptoms. To Self- care and to be aware of changing habits and maladaptive behaviour patterns may overcome not only chronic ‘online’ disease but also negative impact on concentration, mood and emotions. 

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OCA wellbeing: Community in lockdown thumb

OCA wellbeing: Community in lockdown

Miranda shares what she has found helpful during the pandemic so far. Miranda is new to the Student Services Team at OCA, and has had the challenge of joining the OCA ‘virtually’ during the lockdown period!

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OCA wellbeing: Pets thumb

OCA wellbeing: Pets

I have settled reasonably well into life in lockdown and I think it’s largely to do with my furry companion. I’ve kept my normal routine of getting up and walking to work, which currently means taking Enzo out and looping back home to log on.

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OCA wellbeing: Photography thumb

OCA wellbeing: Photography

I’d started up an Instagram account a while back, but I’d fallen into posting very sporadically, going months without and not making much of a contribution. So I decided to try out the whole ‘post an image a day’ and use some hashtags to get the message out that although we were in lockdown, we were still here.

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OCA wellbeing: Running thumb

OCA wellbeing: Running

I realise I am very fortunate to be in my running group.  It has opened my eyes to all the virtual experiences that people can now engage with.  Lockdown has resulted in the creation of so many activities to connect people – virtual running competitions, online courses, online counselling – the list goes on.  Being removed from family and friends is difficult, but having a great group of people online has kept me going.  I can’t wait until we can run together again.

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OCA wellbeing: Gardening for mental health thumb

OCA wellbeing: Gardening for mental health

Lockdown in mid-March prompted two responses. First was a recognition that getting outside for parts of the day without bumping into other humans would become a very valuable thing. Second, I had some new time, that used to be spent travelling and trolling the train companies about their poor service, and I could put this to good use by sorting out my embarrassing back garden.

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