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cross discipline Blog Posts - The Open College of the Arts

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Moving image in Visual Communications thumb

Moving image in Visual Communications

In Vis Com we have had a significant uptake of students exploring moving image within their work, and as we are more than happy to encourage students to investigate and even go on to specialise in animation within their degree, we thought it would be beneficial to talk about the possibilities of animation within the BA Visual Communications pathway at OCA. 

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OCA Creative Arts: Unpicking Couture thumb

OCA Creative Arts: Unpicking Couture

In an ongoing quest searching for more examples of interdisciplinary practice for our BA (Hons) Creative Arts students, I recently came across an interesting exhibition in Manchester. The Costume Gallery has now merged with the Manchester Art Gallery and subsequently has various fashion-related exhibitions that can now be seen in the city centre until November 2025.

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A PDF-to-print zine as engagement for Creative Arts: Gesa Helms’ A/Folder: an instructive glossary thumb

A PDF-to-print zine as engagement for Creative Arts: Gesa Helms’ A/Folder: an instructive glossary

This blog explores a distributed and self-printed form of engagement in my recently completed Creative Arts practice. A/Folder: an instructive glossary is a downloadable PDF-to-print zine. Each zine offers a prompt, a set of instructions, a method to explore. I want to unpack a little what this form allows for in terms of engagement as key modality of Sustain your Practice, and, should you be interested, invite you along.

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Collaboration: Cherished Child or Frankenstein’s Monster? thumb

Collaboration: Cherished Child or Frankenstein’s Monster?

We are five students studying Undergraduate Degrees on Drawing, Painting and Fine Art at levels one and two with OCA. We have been meeting for a number of years to support each other with our studies. Last year we agreed to work together on a collaboration project, none of us had tried this before.

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Practice-as-research and Research-as-practice. The Creative Arts work of Stage 3 student Gesa Helms. thumb

Practice-as-research and Research-as-practice. The Creative Arts work of Stage 3 student Gesa Helms.

In May, after concluding Stage 3 of the Creative Arts pathway, tutor Rachel Smith spoke with student Gesa Helms to explore the interweaving between practical and theoretical work in her practice and how practice-as-research methods have informed her three Stage 3 modules. 

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Student stories: From Big Draw participant to Psychogeographer thumb

Student stories: From Big Draw participant to Psychogeographer

Nina is an Investigating Place with Psychogeography student, in this piece she writes about her journey in the OCA.

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