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Study tips Blog Posts - Page 3 of 10 - The Open College of the Arts

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Sharing Reading Strategies thumb

Sharing Reading Strategies

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 […]

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Visual research in action thumb

Visual research in action

All design briefs begin with research questions. These questions should hopefully lead to ideas, that can be turned into possible design practice. 

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Metaphor, meaning and message thumb

Metaphor, meaning and message

If you want to effectively communicate through any non-verbal media, then it is important to understand the construction of visual language.

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How to make research writing easier! thumb

How to make research writing easier!

A Win-Win situation: citation software… What would you say if you were offered less work, better-focused research, easier and quicker writing, better accuracy of citations and bibliography and everything as neatly organised as a series of music playlists? Okay, who wouldn’t say yes? However, this is a post about one of the most boring topics […]

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Printmaking studios at home thumb

Printmaking studios at home

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.

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Exhibitions – Physical and virtual thumb

Exhibitions – Physical and virtual

One of the positive effects of lockdown is that we all have to think outside the box and to take risks, myself included. The online exhibition, Study Visit and Artist talk was not something I was considering but these have proved to be a fantastic way to promote my work to a wider audience. I am looking forward to being able to hang my work in a gallery as originally planned. 

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Who is Acting? Tightening Up Agency in Storytelling. thumb

Who is Acting? Tightening Up Agency in Storytelling.

The heart of any story is somebody (or a group of somebodies), and the things that they do, their actions, in response to their desires and aversions. If you keep the focus on this, you will be able to tell much more powerful stories.

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OCA wellbeing: What’s in your wellness toolkit? thumb

OCA wellbeing: What’s in your wellness toolkit?

It’s a challenging situation we find ourselves in, and I realised that all of my usual ‘wellness tools’ are unavailable to me owing to the restrictions in place, so it’s no wonder even little day to day issues feel more difficult.

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Tips on how to photograph your work for assessment thumb

Tips on how to photograph your work for assessment

In this short video I talk to OCA tutor and historical artefact photographer Derek Trillo. We discuss ways of making the most of the camera you have and how it is possible to take good quality photographs during lockdown. 

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