OCA News: Martin ‘Fred’ Bates – A Tribute.

Martin ‘Fred’ Bates, our Director of Teaching and Programme Tutor on the Graphic Design degree, has sadly died. As way of a tribute, I wanted to share the story of how I knew Fred and the work we did together at OCA and elsewhere.

Fred and I were both evening class students when we first met, rekindling a love of printmaking in the workshop of Leeds Art College in the late 1990s. Within a year or two, we were both working at the Art College, teaching across various Foundation and Further Education Courses. We also both had hair at this point, with Fred’s love of goth music clearly on show. 

Fred spent 20 years at Leeds Art College, helping to establish their Graphic Design and Illustration degrees, while I worked on the floor above, running the Visual Communication Degree. We had a healthy competition in how many D&AD student awards we could help students achieve. I’m glad to say we both did pretty well, thanks to the wonderful work of the students he helped to support and encourage. After I left Leeds, Fred was instrumental in helping the college to become an established Higher Education Institution, and to change its name from College to Leeds Arts University. He also helped set up new degrees in Communication Design and Animation. He always liked a project.

While I moved institutions, including working at OCA, we kept in touch due to the fact that I’d moved into his sister’s house in the same small town as Fred. The morning commute from Slaithwaite and the Friday evening pub were our points of contact. He’d talk about his new furniture making workshop, and his travels by ship around Oban. 

In 2020, Fred joined OCA as a Programme Tutor on the Graphic Design degree. He worked closely with the Graphics Department to help support students, and made an immediate impact in bringing the new curriculum to life. In 2023, Fred stepped up into the role of joint Director of Learning & Teaching, and then as a Director of Teaching in his own right. Our skill sets complemented each other, but to be honest, he was always the more organised one and took great pride in his spreadsheets! Despite only working two days a week, Fred made a huge impact in the role, helping to standardise aspects of OCA delivery, shaping our working relationship with the Open University, and setting out ambitious plans for how OCA could move forward. 

Illness slowly crept up on Fred, and despite the best efforts of family and colleagues to persuade him to seek medical help, by the time he received it, he was in a battle for survival. He passed away peacefully in February, having just turned 54. It’s a sad loss for everyone who knew him, and his commitment and talent as an arts educator is going to be missed across OCA. If you would also like to share your stories of working with Fred as a colleague or student, then please use the comments below.