Funny old week. I handed in my final Assignment for my degree in Visual Communications this week. It should have been a great moment of celebration but instead was a stressful and anxiety provoking because of technical issues. I found a way around it but the gilt was well and truly off the gingerbread by the time I finished.
I will still have to prepare for Assessment in September but hopefully that will just be a week of stress in due course. I no longer care how well or not I do, I just want to get the degree signed off.
But the bigger thing is that the Open College of the Arts has been part of my life for a long time now. As an online degree that was originally open ended, I have been studying with them for over 12 years.
A structure and framework that I have worked within, kicked against, complained about and learnt a lot from. I’ve written essays (which I REALLY didn’t want to!), done projects which I’ve disliked but overall it has got me to where I am now, producing work which I feel very driven to produce. My goodness it has taken a long time to dredge that work up from the depths! I’ve never had a plan, it has all seemed to work backwards, only in hindsight has my artistic path / journey made any kind of sense. I’ve made some good friends through the course too which has been an unexpected bonus for an online degree (and committed introvert like myself).
And here I am, coming out of the end of it……I’ve used it as a good excuse to hole myself up in my studio endlessly (course deadlines, you know) and I wonder if I will feel a bit lost? directionless? I still have my zine series to complete so I will keep going with that for the time being anyway.
Other possibilities: I could sign up for another course????
MA in Animation in Dundee??? I could fulfil my ambition of being an art student at a bricks and mortar Art School. I know it’s not going to happen really but I like to play with the idea.
Graphic narratives course at OCA??
Printmaking course at OCA (just for the fun of it)?
A short evening drawing course with LayDeez Do Comics, making graphic narratives, now that is a distinct, realistic possibility.
The images with this post are random "blasts from the past", work I made while doing the course but which never went anywhere specific.
