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engaging Blog Posts- Page 4 of 11 - The Open College of the Arts

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Lockdown reading thumb

Lockdown reading

Writers need to be readers. How else do we increase our vocabularies, our knowledge of what’s been tried, our understanding of how something as banal as layout affects the way we read? And now is the time when splendid isolation means that some of us can really immerse ourselves in a book, without the interruptions of normal life.

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Virtual study event: Susan Bright | Collaboration & Creative Practice thumb

Virtual study event: Susan Bright | Collaboration & Creative Practice

We are delighted to announce a special guest lecture by renowned international curator Susan Bright. The format is a zoom webinar-style meeting. You can watch, listen and ask questions using the chat box. Please register in advance to help us plan numbers.

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Student stories: My quarantine diary thumb

Student stories: My quarantine diary

My name is Victoria, I’m 20 years old and currently studying Creative Arts at OCA. A few weeks ago I realised this scenario in which we are living right now is definitely going to be a mark in the history of our generation. That said, I figured it would be relevant to start registering my quarantine days here in Brazil, as a way to preserve my experiences and memories.

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Reading like a writer – Reading prose thumb

Reading like a writer – Reading prose

Recently I ran a couple of workshops on the art of close reading, so for those of you who were unable to attend (and for those who did attend but would like a refresher) I’ve put together a two-part blog, looking first at an extract from a novel and then at a poem.

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Unmasking the everyday: part two  thumb

Unmasking the everyday: part two 

Unmasking the everyday explored some of the critical questions thrown up by mass isolation and its impacts on time, space and ‘the everyday’. The following is slightly more practical in nature, offering just a few thoughts on how you might go about using the opportunities of the moment to open up how you go about your creative activities at a time when everything seems be closing down. 

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Unmasking the everyday: part one thumb

Unmasking the everyday: part one

Queues outside supermarkets have become strange symbols of this, epitomising how one of life’s most everyday activities has come to feel risky and dangerous. The usually unnoticed has become unsettlingly conspicuous. 

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