Summer of Sustainability 2025

It's the Great Big Green Week and we're excited to announce our Summer of Sustainability 2025 event series. Join in and try something new!

Friday 27 June - Tataki-zomé with Jenny Udale

Tataki-zomé, which is a Japanese art form where natural dyes from flowers and leaves are transferred onto fabric by hammering them onto the surface. The session will start with a slide show about this Japanese art form with a simple demonstration of the technique. Students will follow this by trialling the technique with flora that they will bring to the session.

Tuesday 1 July - Creating Your Own Eco System, Terrarium Workshop with Katrina Whitehead

There will be a brief history of the terrarium, followed by my inspiration and research for making terrariums including photography and narrative. The workshop centres around practice-based research. The making during the workshop is optional depending on whether you have some, or all of the necessary materials to make a terrarium. If you do not have any of the necessary materials at this stage, you can still attend!

Wednesday 9 July - Creating Climate Fiction for Young People with Rab Ferguson

This workshop will look at creating fiction themed around the climate for a young audience. We’ll look at the difference between writing for different ages, and how Middle Grade fiction (for primary) differs from Young Adult fiction (for teens and above), with examples of climate fiction for these age groups.

Thursday 10 July - Exploring ideas of a circular economy in interior design with Catherine Byrne

Taking the idea of a materials economy in interior design as a starting point, we will be exploring the differences between a circular economy and a linear economy. Through discussion we will try to better understand what this could mean in terms of material choices, and how that then impacts on our design decisions.

Friday 11 July - Make a Crown Book with Andrea Norrington

In this workshop Andrea will show participants how to make a crown book structure. This is a very simple structure and can be made out of one sheet of A4 paper (ideally scrap) and some thicker paper e.g. from an envelope or packaging.

Saturday 12 July - Where I am: exploring a site or place, natural or built environment with Liz Cashdan

This is not a workshop about finding solace in Nature or in a built-up area but about using writing to discover the area.  So you will be asked to choose a site: eg.  garden, park, woodland, hillside, lake, shopping mall, residential street, factory, building site, demolition site.  And to explore it and make notes, photos, drawings, before the workshop if possible (but this is not essential). 

Tuesday 22 July - Paper flower workshop with Jennifer Collier

Join artist Jennifer Collier to make use of your old drawings, prints and any scrap paper you may have lying around. In this session Jennifer will show you how to make Paper Roses and a 5 point Origami Flower with participants making alongside each stage with our host.

View All Events & Sign Up Details Here - Look for code SoS25

How else can you get involved in the Summer of Sustainability 2025?

Arts, the Environment and Sustainability

Arts, the Environment and Sustainability is a free OCA Learn Resource – a space that has been created to present relevant student-facing research and activities. These include resource Padlets, reading lists and the hosting of events such as the yearly OCASA Summer of Sustainability workshops. Access it here.

Sustainable Practice Pledge

OCA and OCASA are committed to reducing the environmental impact we have by using various sustainability initiatives. We invite you to take part in this endeavour by signing our Sustainable Practice Pledge. Scan the QR code on the image or sign the pledge here.

Carbon Literacy Training

OU Carbon Literacy Training can be accessed (free) by all OCA staff and students. The online learning starts with four hours of self-study activity, followed by four hours of interactive training, and an individual and group action pledge that leads to Carbon Literacy certification. Find out more about it here.

Submit your work for edge zine - Green edition

Send us your work related to Arts, the Environment and Sustainability for our next edition of edge zine. The theme is Green. edge-zine is a non-profit, student-led, art publication showcasing various artistic approaches. It supports cross-disciplinary works of an international collective of students and alumni of the Open College of the Arts.

Submit your work here.

Student Voice Festival 2025

The 2025 Student Voice Festival takes place 7 - 18 July, look out for additional events such as Sustainability and Zine Making and Creating Pop Ups which tie in with our Summer of Sustainability. More details coming soon.

We hope you'll get involved and try something new!