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Creative Arts Blog Posts- Page 4 of 7 - The Open College of the Arts

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

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Creative Arts


How Creativity Can Help Your Mental Health thumb

How Creativity Can Help Your Mental Health

Happiness has a domino effect. Creativity has a domino effect. Research has shown that within 45 minutes of doing something creative, the levels of stress hormone cortisol is massively reduced.

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Student work: Accidental lessons – sourced through higher learning thumb

Student work: Accidental lessons – sourced through higher learning

Through my BA, I have personally observed how within art, the physical act of creating, we can find our own version of OK. This was not something I set out to discover or had any prior inkling of; yet it is a topic I now feel so strongly about, that it has become deeply embedded within my practice.

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New Year, New Intentions thumb

New Year, New Intentions

A temptation can be to revise plans, maybe draw up elaborate study timetables which take up more and more time. You can get caught in the never ending spiral of spending so much time planning that you never get any work done, and then need to revise plans which use up more time … and end up repeating this process ad infinitum.

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OCA collaboration project 2019 thumb

OCA collaboration project 2019

Are you interested in the potential for creative disciplines to come together in exciting new ways?  Have you ever considered using sound or music in your work, or perhaps created visual pieces that resonate with music in some way? Or perhaps you are a composer, who has thought about how your compositions might be informed and extended through other approaches.

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New Year, New Intentions thumb

New Year, New Intentions

Taking some time to think how and when you study best and being realistic about how much you can achieve in a study session can improve the time you spend on your course.

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Using your learning log thumb

Using your learning log

Learning logs should not be approached like a diary or a place to write streams of creative consciousness but instead to be used as a clear and edited learning tool to mark your thoughts over the course.

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New Year, New Intentions thumb

New Year, New Intentions

This is the start in a series of posts for the New Year.  Whether you have lost your routine over the break or finding it hard to focus on your studies now life is returning to its normal pattern, there will be guidance on how you can get back into your course.

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The art of prison: Thinking inside the box thumb

The art of prison: Thinking inside the box

Prison is concrete and steel proof that the more you confine a person, the more creative they become. Nowhere are the creative arts more vibrant and prolific than locked up inside. As the OCA embarks on its Offender Learning Project this series of posts explores the art of prison.

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I don’t recall your name, but your “fez” is familiar thumb

I don’t recall your name, but your “fez” is familiar

Oh my goodness it’s Christmas Eve! Not being funny, but when we talked about launching an advent series no-one mentioned writing all of the blogs. I now have writer’s cramp and have lost a large amount of sanity, can someone please send help…

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Don’t discount the benefits of being a student! thumb

Don’t discount the benefits of being a student!

Are you a fan of discounts? I know I am. Some just absolutely blow me away! See what I did there? No? Yes okay, I should probably quit while I’m ahead. All joking aside, the first thing I do before I purchase anything, is check if the store has a sale on or if they have any valid online voucher codes.

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