#WeAreOCA
The Open College of the Arts' blog
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creativity
Writing in a child’s voice
Posted: 02/03/20 09:35 |
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When you’re an adult, writing as a child is a sleight-of-hand exercise. Children stumble over their words, repeat things, stray from the point, come up with complete irrelevancies. You have to give this impression without losing your reader through boredom, or the effort of untangling a web of mispronunciations and deviations to get to the action. People’s behaviour may seem incomprehensible, because the child doesn’t have the background knowledge to interpret it correctly.
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Creating pattern and forms with under-celebrated materials
Posted: 24/02/20 09:41 |
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Pattern has been a huge anchor for my own practice, and it is often intrinsic to designing and creating textiles even if we don’t realise it. I wanted to share images of contemporary practitioners that explore pattern within their work, but also focus on works that use under-celebrated materials- the things that are perhaps classed as mundane, or simply overlooked.
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Starting a new course. Part 2.
Posted: 15/02/20 09:18 |
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What does your working routine look like to you? Where do you work best?
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Student stories: Alan Fletcher, Photography.
Posted: 14/02/20 09:19 |
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“I knew that I didn’t have the qualifications to enter a photography degree at a traditional university but in my search for a course I came across the OCA’s ethos of open access and inclusion it gave me a path into a level of education I would otherwise have been denied. With my academic angst it took me a year or so to pluck up the courage to enter the course.”
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Woven Textiles exploring sustainable and waste materials
Posted: 13/02/20 09:42 |
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The textiles and fashion industry is second only to the oil industry in terms of the huge amount of pollution created from production and manufacture, and it needs real change to become sustainable in terms of the effects on the environment and being sensitive to kinder production within the design supply chain. I wanted to write a blog post that shines a little spotlight on some contemporary practitioners who are creating the innovative fabrics the industry is so desperate for whilst also using sustainable fibres and waste material, to push traditional weaving techniques and create exciting fabrics.
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Student work: Cathie Lloyd, Mixing traditional and digital techniques.
Posted: 11/02/20 09:53 |
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Cathie Lloyd has just completed Painting 2: Concepts in Practice while studying for a Painting Degree. While studying this unit she has developed a method of making that incorporated traditional drawing and painting techniques with those offered by digital image-editing software. Her tutor, Bryan Eccleshall, asks her a few questions about this workflow and how it has impacted on her approach to making and thinking about that making.
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Student work: Natasha Davy, Working BIG.
Posted: 04/02/20 09:00 |
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A Fine Art student completing Drawing Two: Investigating Drawing reflects on how the difficulties and opportunities of working large impacted on her practice.
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Starting a new course – ways of getting stuck in and finding your feet.
Posted: 01/02/20 09:36 |
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As a tutor within Further and Higher Education for the past 7 years, I am familiar with the logistics of starting a new course, seeing it all happen behind the scenes from the tutor’s perspective. This year however, alongside teaching at the OCA, I am starting a new course of my own – an MA in Textile Design.
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Student work: Ramona Mason
Posted: 27/01/20 09:14 |
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Creative Arts level 1 student, Ramona Mason, has employed text, place and a personal perspective of her life in London to significant effect in the completion of her work on Printmaking 1. I spoke to Ramona about her prints, at the start of her creative arts journey, and wanted to share these with you now.
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In Conversation: Gina Lundy and Dan Robinson – periodic review and vision for photography?
Posted: 16/01/20 09:51 |
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From the end of January Photography Programme Leader Gina Lundy will be taking maternity leave. We are really excited to welcome Dan Robinson into the role whilst she is away. Below, Dan and Gina discuss the coming 12 months, course review and the vision for the Photography Programme going forward.
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