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Negative Space - The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

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Negative Space


The video above is one of the series of ‘Elements’ videos we are developing to enable OCA students and the general public develop their skills. The Elements content relates to OCA courses but stands outside them. It will be free to view and we are very grateful to the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation for supporting the training of staff and procurement of equipment to make this possible.
Videos are best seen full screen and because they are high definition do require a good broadband connection. You can switch to standard definition by hovering the mouse over the right hand side of the video and clicking on the ‘HD is on’ icon – this will make the video load much faster.
Feedback very welcome.


Posted by author: Genevieve Sioka

11 thoughts on “Negative Space

  • Brilliant. Illustrates so well what it means to use the negative space. Being a visual person, to see someone working explains so quickly something it would take a lot longer to understand from reading about it. Also, just to see someone working with charcoal has a value too.

  • Fascinating to watch. I think this is a very good idea, and agree with Sue G that seeing someone actually carrying out a particular task is a great way to learn.

  • This is very good. Videos make me feel more in touch with art techniques. It’s a great idea – visual demonstrations make it much easier to pick up ideas.

  • Unfortunately there are many of us who live out in the country who simply can’t get a fast enough broadband connection to watch videos without them stuttering and taking forever. Can anything be done to reduce the file type or size to make it load faster? 5 minutes and I’m still waiting for the thing to start.

    • We are looking at this issue. One possibility is that when Elements goes live we will offer alternative versions for high and low bandwidth areas

  • I’m a country-dweller too and have no broadband at all so this reply is courtesy of a friend’s connection. The video tuition is a great idea, with this negative space feature I find it fascinating to watch the abstract shapes grow into a recognisable form.

  • It’s great to have this resource. Despite the time it takes to load and that it pauses to load the next bit every few seconds, it was possible to follow the demonstration easily. A sense of immediacy comes from being able to watch a tutor in action and it encourages confidence in just taking the plunge, having a go. I look forward to seeing other “Elements” material in months to come.

  • I find that if I click the play button, allow it to begin, then hit the pause button, the video will continue to download. I do something else for a few minutes and then come back to watch it once it is downloaded. If nothing else it means you can watch a smoother, not stuttering version. Though it doesn’t solve the download time unfortunately.

    • Hi Beverley, that’s a good tip – I do the same myself; I find that even with a broadband connection, most videos take a while to download in the evenings. I’ll begin to upload videos to the OCA’s Youtube channel next week, as we’re having some broadband issues around here at the moment…

  • really enjoyed the video. Learning is so much more interesting and effective visually. Great tip re downloading, pause then come back to watch the video

  • I enjoyed the video clip- thank you. It is easy to forget to look at the spaces and instead concentrate too much on the actual object with consequent reduction in accuracy!

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