Students Blog Posts - The Open College of the Arts

Browsing Category:

Students

OCA Drawing: Showcase

Posted: 11/02/26 09:51 | 0 Comments

We are pleased to share a showcase of work from the BA (Hons) Drawing at Open College of the Arts, curated by their Programme Leader, Emma Drye from work submitted at the completion of their course units.

OCA Painting: Showcase

creativity degree digital pedagogy online learning showcase sustaining practice

Posted: 27/01/26 02:51 | 6 Comments

We are pleased to share a showcase of work from the BA (Hons) Painting at Open College of the Arts, curated by their Programme Leader, Emma Drye from work submitted at the completion of their course units.

Lorna Hall – How Textiles Became My Creative Escape

BA hons textiles degree creativity neurodiversity open day student work Textiles

Posted: 26/01/26 08:00 | 1 Comments

My name is Lorna and I am just about to begin the last unit of a textiles BA Hons) degree. As a child, I always found comfort in repeated surface patterns, and since I can remember, I have enjoyed experimenting with cloth as well as drawing. I went to art college when I was young […]

Felicity Talman – How My OCA Degree Led to Postgraduate Study

creativity fine art OCA students open day Postgraduate studies

Posted: 26/01/26 07:34 | 2 Comments

My name is Felicity Talman, and I recently completed a BA (Hons) Fine Art degree with the OCA. I started studying with the OCA in 2019 after moving to Wales and deciding to pursue a creative education—something I had always put to one side. At the time, I had two young children aged four and […]

Alix Brown – Flexibility, Feedback and Finding My Voice

creativity Illustration illustration student neurodiversity open day student work

Posted: 25/01/26 08:31 | 4 Comments

I’m Alix Brown, and I’m currently studying Creative Arts at OCA. At the time of writing, I am partway through Unit 3.2, and working on external projects related to Photography and Illustration. Originally, my plans were to write for children as well as illustrate, but during Unit 3.1, I fell in love with the visual […]

Angharad Thomas – Creativity and Life Long Learning

creativity Foundations open day student stories student work

Posted: 24/01/26 08:26 | 0 Comments

I’m retired from a mixed career in teaching, youth work and textile design. I always intended to do more drawing but, without some sort of structure and deadlines, I never got round to it. In my mid 70s, I decided that a course would provide those incentives so I searched and found the OCA Foundation […]

Helen Snooks – School Run to the Shutter Speed

open day Photography photography student student stories

Posted: 23/01/26 08:40 | 2 Comments

My name is Helen, and I’m a 34 year old mother of three (eldest is 11 and youngest is 4). My son has ADHD and my husband has severe epilepsy so I care for him. As you can imagine, life at home is very hectic. Yet still, you’d find that most people would say I […]

Gaëlle Vallée-Tourangeau – The Gap

BA (Hons) Painting degree Foundations open day painting painting student progression

Posted: 23/01/26 07:46 | 8 Comments

I was 49 when I enrolled in OCA’s Foundation Painting course. People were dubious. Why a foundation course? Why not just take a class? You have an established career. Why would you do this now? You can’t become an artist at nearly 50. It was the same reasonable advice I’d been hearing for decades. At […]

OCA Fine Art: Student Journey, Jess Reid

contemporary art film making Gender identity interdisciplinary performance

Posted: 11/12/25 09:59 | 1 Comments

Fine Art Programme Tutor, Hayley Lock, discusses the student journey so far with Jess Reid, a student on the BA Fine Art degree.

In Conversation: Nina Milton and Lizzy Perkins

BA Hons creative writing creativity graduation publishing sustaining practice

Posted: 10/12/25 09:33 | 3 Comments

Reaching the final unit of your stage 3 (HE6) studies is a thrilling moment, but filled with some trepidation. In the Creative Writing Department, The final unit, 3.3 asks the student to create a self-directed outwardly facing project, by clarifying what they want to do as a creative practitioner, so that they graduate knowing where their writing can take them, and how to approach readers, agents, editors, publishers, audiences and producers in a professional manner.

#WeAreOCA

The Open College of the Arts' blog