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Painting Blog Posts - Page 3 of 13 - 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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Student stories: Arlene Sharp thumb

Student stories: Arlene Sharp

The Freelands Painting Prize has been developed to support artists at an early stage in their practice and all UK art colleges are able to nominate a single student in their final course of study to be considered for it. We convened a panel of all the tutors for the eligible students and undertook a two stage process to identify one candidate. We used a simple scoring system and, whilst everyone got some points, one person was a clear winner and that was Arlene Sharp.

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Study event review: Nathan Eastwood’s studio thumb

Study event review: Nathan Eastwood’s studio

After an excellent visit to Eddie’s ‘End of Degree Show’ in the morning at Halpern Gallery, Nucleus Arts Centre, we walked along Chatham High St to Nathan Eastwood’s studio at Sun Pier House. Nathan greeted us at the entrance and showed us to his shared studio space on the second floor. The information sheet Nathan kindly provided explained his artistic journey from MA to current practice. 

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Study event review: ‘Collocations – pain & trauma’, Chatham Kent. thumb

Study event review: ‘Collocations – pain & trauma’, Chatham Kent.

This was a study event with a big difference for me to all the others I have attended with OCA – instead of looking at other artist’s work, in this instance, I was the subject of the study visit.  

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Introducing the Painting department programme tutors thumb

Introducing the Painting department programme tutors

In a new development at OCA, we have introduced the new role of Programme Tutor. For painting, the programme tutors support the Head of Department and tutor team to develop the degree programme and to support the learning community to thrive and feel at home in the painting department.

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Augmented Reality – what place does this have in art? thumb

Augmented Reality – what place does this have in art?

The primary focus for Artivive, going by their website, appears to be its use in galleries, but I was beginning to see the potential beyond that context. What if artists could add an audio track for people with literacy difficulties? Or a video of themselves talking about the work? Or how about a video comprising photos showing how the finished piece came about? 

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LGBT+ History Month thumb

LGBT+ History Month

February is LGBT+ History Month in the UK, a month-long annual celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and non-binary history.

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Painting and Drawing student work Autumn 2021 thumb

Painting and Drawing student work Autumn 2021

As Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Painting and the BA (Hons) Drawing degrees at OCA I am delighted to present a curated exhibition of the work presented by the students in both departments for the Autumn 2021 assessment event.

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Postcard from the edge of Art and Science thumb

Postcard from the edge of Art and Science

Increasingly fascinated with the connections between Art and Science, I was delighted to secure a place on Edinburgh University’s ASCUS* Art and Science on a Postcard 2021 event which took place earlier this year over three consecutive weekends.

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Jim Cowan is retiring after 32 years with OCA thumb

Jim Cowan is retiring after 32 years with OCA

As Programme Leader for the painting dept, I am pleased to be in conversation this month with artist and tutor James Cowan. James has worked for OCA since September 1988 (the year I sat my A Levels) and his experience and, I would suggest in particular, his rich art historical knowledge has been an asset for students over the years. Jim is leaving us in the months ahead so I’m taking the opportunity to have a conversation with him now and hear about his own practice and also listen to his unique insight into the development of OCA.

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