OCA preloader logo
Arts & Environment Blog Posts - The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

#WeAreOCA

The Open College of the Arts' blog

Browsing Category:

Arts & Environment


Student stories: Ange Mullins thumb

Student stories: Ange Mullins

I’m Ange, a Creative Arts student, and I’m within touching distance of the finishing  line after many years of study with OCA. I began in about 2008, although I can’t  now recall exactly when I signed up with what was then a very different OCA. I  joined purely as a means to learn more about ‘art’, a promise validated with a  certificate of completion at the end, along with a vague suggestion to have work  assessed; little did I realise that my journey would culminate with a BA (Hons) Creative Arts Degree. 

Read More
Student stories: Geraldine Leahy thumb

Student stories: Geraldine Leahy

A solo exhibition of work by Geraldine Leahy will be on display in Rush Library, Chapel Green, Rush, Co. Dublin  from the 4th – 14th April 2022 . Intriguing combinations of monoprint and paint reveal the devastating consequences of coastal erosion in Portrane, Rogerstown Estuary and Rush. The artist observes the entanglements of manmade and natural materials and the impact mankind has had on the coastline.

Read More
What is your tutor up to? Caroline Wright thumb

What is your tutor up to? Caroline Wright

OCA Programme Leader Caroline Wright is a contributor to an online conference on 19 November titled Eco-creativity 2021: Art, Music, Ritual and Global Climate Politics. It explores climate change and cultural change confluences, with particular interest in innovations in art, music and ritual.

Read More
Student stories: Geraldine Leahy thumb

Student stories: Geraldine Leahy

OCA Painting student Geraldine Leahy successfully completed her Major Project this year and is now embarking on her final course – Sustaining Your Practice. Geraldine currently has work featured in an online publication as well as other platforms. Her Major Project tutor, Clare Wilson, asks her to discuss these opportunities and the of impact of getting work seen by a larger audience. 

Read More
Green design thumb

Green design

Good interior design sets out to create ergonomic, functional and aesthetically pleasing environments that are pleasant to interact with. In response to increasing societal awareness of environmentally responsible design, more clients are seeking to incorporate the principles of sustainability into their interior spaces.

Read More
What is your tutor up to?  – Garry MacKenzie thumb

What is your tutor up to? – Garry MacKenzie

In some of my previous blogs I’ve explored writing about the environment, translation, and building on other texts in your own writing. These are all issues which I’ve been thinking about for my poetry book Ben Dorain: a conversation with a mountain, which has just been published. In this blog I’ll explain what the book is about, and share what I’ve learned from writing it.

Read More
Student work – Art & Ecology thumb

Student work – Art & Ecology

As Programme Leader for both the painting and drawing degree pathways I am very pleased to present the finissage of the painting and drawing ecology group’s recent group work, led by artist and tutor Lydia Halcrow.

Read More
A musical collaboration for World Oceans Day thumb

A musical collaboration for World Oceans Day

I’ve just completed a short collaborative piece with Music Programme Leader Carla Rees in celebration of World Oceans Day, which occurs every year on June 8. Across the world there are close to 3000 events in 150 countries designed to celebrate and focus our attention onto the value of the world’s oceans and what we can do to conserve and protect them and allow them to flourish.

Read More
To creatively focus on the present thumb

To creatively focus on the present

We may not all have access to outdoor spaces with the chance to nurture and grow, but our creative endeavours – even simply the planning of, or reflection on them, facilitate a state of mindfulness: ‘to still a busy mind, settle into a new activity and refocus on the present’

Read More