OCA Creative Arts: In Conversation – Rachel Smith and Melanie Jeffrey

Firstly, congratulations, Mel, on completing the final unit of the CA degree.

Tell us a bit about your current creative practice as you reach the finale of your Creative Arts degree. 

As a theatre production teacher and student of the creative arts, I work across several disciplines, including theatre design, textiles, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and film. 

Most of my work involves textiles in one form or another, but I would not limit myself to textiles alone and often my work involves combining disciplines to achieve an effective outcome.

In what ways have you developed interdisciplinary methods as part of the degree and your creative practice?

The Skills Hub has given me the opportunity to explore a range of methods and media. I chose to use this resource to explore disciplines including animation, drawing, painting, and photography, which opened up my practice and gave me the confidence to create without restriction.

During Stage 3, I realised that I could use my experience in theatre production to develop my practice and create pieces that challenge viewer’s perception of what art is. I never felt that my creativity fit into one distinct box, but had not considered that I could reshape the box to accommodate my practice. The immersive site-specific performative nature of my final 3.3 work Overwhelm, came from embracing all the creative aspects of my life and combining them rather than separating my work from my studies.

I enjoyed using the Skills Hub to explore so many different methods and media and develop my skillset. This freedom to explore different subjects really gave me the confidence to develop my interdisciplinary practice. I loved watching my peers develop their work during the Stage 3 share sessions and being able to help them when they needed support. This contact once a month made me feel part of something bigger. The presentation of my final major project, whilst terrifying, is a moment that I will never forget; the audience were so positive, and the buzz that I created at the installation was electric. 

What have you gained from the tutor/student or peer interactions through Stage 3? 

I enjoy studying independently, being able to work at my own pace, but there are times when having other people has helped me to refine my work in a way that I might not have considered. Joining the Stage 3 discussions not only challenged me to consider how I present my work but also gave me a chance to support others by offering my feedback. These monthly sessions led by Rachel Smith were vital to the development and refinement of my projects and made me feel a little less alone on my journey. I would recommend sharing work regularly with all students, whether on forums or in person.

What are the most important things you have learned along the way?

One of the most important things that I have learned is that the only limitations on my art are those that I place on it myself. When I started to believe that I produce large scale creative outcomes, I finally felt like I had found myself and my practice. During Stage 3, I finally learned to focus my ideas, and that was a very difficult lesson to learn. I am blessed with a very vivid imagination and the passion and enthusiasm to want to explore all of my ideas; but during Stage 2, this caused me to spend a lot of time and energy creating outcomes that did not lead anywhere. Focusing my time on one or two ideas has helped me to produce more coherent outcomes and to refine and develop my work successfully. 

What advice would you give to current and new students?

Keep up the momentum; it can be difficult to motivate yourself when you are distance learning, but it is worth organising your time so that studying becomes part of your weekly routine. 

Don’t judge yourself by what others are doing; the artists on this course are so diverse that it is easy to get distracted and feel as though you are on the wrong path. You are not! You are on your path, and you need to believe that you will find your unique practice at the end of that path. 

Seek feedback in a group share setting and use it to develop and improve your work; at times feedback can feel negative or personal, but it is not. If your work is not quite hitting the mark it is helpful to know that and adapt it before sharing publicly or submitting for assessment. 

What are your hopes and aspirations beyond the degree? 

I am looking forward to creating opportunities to work on collaborative projects, making art from reclaimed and recycled materials that I can sell from my website and increasing my social media presence to drive traffic to my website. I currently teach textiles at A-level, and I will seek opportunities to teach another art subject, such as photography. I may explore the possibility of Postgraduate study at some point in the future.

Find out more about Melanie’s work:

• Website
• Instagram