The day I received my OCA letter was the day my life changed forever! I peeked out of my dusty closet, and there I saw it! An envelope with a mysterious, bold red letter ‘A’ addressed to Grubby Pottery! Why, that’s me, I thought! I stared at the letter, willing it to open (having no hands to open it)! The red ink fizzed. It smelled of brimstone and foisty textile scraps! It began to smoulder deliciously and then with a roaring POP! It exploded into a welcoming sing-song voice! My ears buzzed with delirious delight, my tiny gut lurching upwards with nervous excitement!
Greetings Grubby, it sang! Two magical, sparkling thumbs-ups appeared from the ethers! I am Professor Totally Rad Smithson and I teach on-the-page cross-transfiguration! I’m your new Professor of multi-disciplinary wizmagic!
Wizmagic? I don’t understand, Professor?
You're a wizartist, Grubby! Said the Professor.
No, not me, I thought - I’m not a wizartist! I can’t be, I’m just Grubby, Grubby Pottery!
An OCA equipment list fluttered out in front of me! In fervently scrawled scarlet letters it said: ‘Get really cool creative stuff for hybridising’. But where will I get all this? Why, Wizarts Alley, of course, the Professor boomed happily! I packed my pencil in my empty oversized trunk, it dropped to the bottom with a plunk! and off I went. My mind raced with awe: Could I really be a wizartist? When I got off the BACA Train, I heard the swishing and flicking of distant paintbrushes! I’ve made it! The Open College of Artwizardry! Suddenly, there was a thunderous pop and a mysterious figure appeared! I was being warmly welcomed by Professor Dug Burtrum, teacher of the magical dark arts of sculpture and digital trickery. He waved his digital wand and said Happy Creativity, Grubby! For the first time in my life, I knew I was home.
To be Continued…
Hello! I'm Tricia Burton, a sparkly new BA (Hons) Creative Arts student. I am currently studying 1.1 Experience Creative Arts. I wrote this short story for fun, playing with creative writing and combining text with images. I created the comic strip with digital drawing and watercolour. I learned through my studies that text and images can make feverishly exciting bedfellows! Creative practitioners who combine text and image are well worth some inspired researching.
A self-portrait! Grubby Pottery is me! Right at the beginning of my creative arts journey. I took inspiration from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. You might also recognise some of the characters, taken from our wonderful real-life OCA wizartists! A special thank you to everyone and especially the lovely Rachel Smith and Doug Burton (no relation!) for supporting and welcoming me as part of the OCA family.
Thank you for reading! I hope it inspires some creative experimenting. Remember to have a little fun to get those creative muscles flexing! Get swishing and flicking those cameras, pens and paintbrushes, or enjoy some ‘foisty textile’ wizartistry!
You can find me at: Growing Beautiful
I enjoyed reading this; thank you so much for sharing. I can relate to the idea of a metamorphosis.
I'm finishing my studies at OCA. Yes art is magical. What you discover at OCA is that there is method in all the magic. But is does open worlds. One thing to never forget. The creative bit that makes it art is your imagination. You already have that. As to what that is - I can't answer that. But it is key to success.