“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.”
Read More
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.
Read More
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.
Read More
A Fine Art student completing Drawing Two: Investigating Drawing reflects on how the difficulties and opportunities of working large impacted on her practice.
Read More
But here’s the thing I believe: creativity isn’t always a choice; for so many of us, it’s a need. And when you don’t satisfy the things you feel compelled to do, life doesn’t work so well.
Read More
“Before OCA I tried other online courses similar to OCA but the difference was that OCA offers rich contents and broader art information. Other online courses concentrate more on techniques only.”
Read More
The session will have a practical focus and is primarily aimed at helping students develop their ability to work with the instrument in a composition or orchestration context, however, anyone who wants to learn more about woodwind instruments in any capacity is very welcome to join us.
Read More
Following on from my previous blog, I’m going to discuss my second residency in Finland. This was at Saari, which offers two-month residencies for artists of all description, not just writers. I applied to work on a very new project, Vegetal Souls, a book which I hope will consist of poems, short essays and short fiction, all exploring what it might be like to be a plant.
Read More
This year, for the first time in my life, I was awarded an international writing residency. Then, in quick succession, I was awarded another! My life is not usually so glamorous, but this double stroke of good luck meant I spent August at Varuna Writers’ House in the Blue Mountains of Australia, followed by September and October on the shores of the Baltic Sea in south-west Finland. I had a week in-between to do my laundry and get my head together!
Read More
Joanna Whittle is a painter based in Sheffield. Joanna studied at Central St Martin’s and the Royal College of Art and her work has been included in the Royal Academy Summer Show (2019) and the John Moores Painting Prize (2018). She recently won (jointly) the Harley Gallery Open Prize and the Contemporary British Painting Prose (both 2019). Her work is exhibited widely and is held in many collections. Joanna was recently awarded one of five career development bursaries granted by the Freelands Foundation in conjunction with Site Gallery in Sheffield.
Read More
