To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.
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Ironically, as a writing student (or as a student of creative arts who needs to write), you may not find simplicity easy to attain. First drafts often result in spontaneous explosions of writing which feel very good to get down on paper, but perhaps disappoint when you read them through.
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The study visit to Martin Parr’s documentary show ‘Strange and Familiar’ at the Barbican in London raised some perplexing questions…
The premise of the show is to reveal Britain through an ‘outsider’ view (the photographers are not British), which is held to be particularly relevant to our current cultural/political moment.
Join OCA tutor Wendy McMurdo on the 18 June at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize is the leading competition to celebrate and promote the very best in contemporary portrait photography from around the world.
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In March I went to a talk by Alec Soth at The Photography Show in Birmingham. Having visited his exhibition Gathered Leaves at the Science Museum, I was keen to hear him talk about his work process as I am currently very interested in photographers working processes on a project.
Soth spoke about his work in an open and direct way. It is clear that he has been asked questions about how he started many times and had a well prepared format to answer each section. The talk was titled ‘From here to there’, this process is fundamental to his work as he explained how one picture may lead to the next.
This a term that comes up from time to time in assessment criteria at OCA and most other art schools and has been the subject of a thread in the Student forums. The difficulty is that it is one of those phrases that is extremely difficult to explain even when one has quite a deep understanding of what it means.
Well…here goes…
The Photography Matters symposium is almost upon us and those who have booked and those yet to commit here’s an insight into what you can expect on the day.
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OCA tutor Angela Rogers reviews a recent study visit to the Serpentine Gallery in London.
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OCA tutor and Assessor Michele Whiting looks at the work of Painting 3 student Averil Wooton. Averil is not trying to hide the materiality of what she is working on, leaving the folds and the creases in the paper. She isn’t trying to make them anything other than what they are.
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This year, on a fine sunny Saturday in May, the Select festival of art and craft looked as strong as it ever has. Artist led exhibitions mixed with open studios and curated shows to form an atmosphere of creative energy.
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OCA tutor and assessor Doug Burton looks at the work of Printmaking student Denise McHale. Doug highlights how she uses her workbooks – termed so because she’s brought together very different parts of her practice and critical understanding.
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