Oliver Reed

Head of Arts

Tel: 0131 6516079
Email: oliver.reed@ed.ac.uk

Centre for Open Learning

Biography

Background

I am the Head of Arts within the Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh overseeing Art, Design and Music courses within our Short Courses provision, Access, International Foundation and ISS programmes. I am a practicing artist and lecturer in drawing and painting.

Qualifications

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (2023)

Postgraduate Certificate in H.E. - Learning & Teaching, UAL/ECA (2007)

Master’s of Fine Arts Degree at Edinburgh College of Art (1999)

Fine Art (Hon's) Degree at Hull College of Art (1993)

Foundation Diploma at Leeds College of Art (1989)

Responsibilities & affiliations

Head of Arts, Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh.

Professional Body

Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Visual Arts Scotland - Professional Member

Research

Research summary

As an Artist, my practice relates to the natural environment, of space, time and memory, moving from one point of focus to another, whilst bodies of work also shift in their focus of employing various processes and approaches. Walking and haptics play an important role when gathering reference materials. The sense of touch and walking through a space is central to informing my perception. These experiences are then built upon through employing other means of recording, such as drawing, photography and recently, the use of Lidar.

When returning to the studio, it is the combination of the experience, which helps to act as a visualization aid a trigger for the memory, and perceptions whilst recorded materials can build on the perceived knowledge. It is arguably this binary relationship between the embodied experience of ‘being in’ the landscape and being 'in the studio' that is central to my enquiry.

Current research interests

My most recent series Ecotone, a word used in ecology to describe the transitional space between two biological communities, where two communities meet and integrate. Acts as a linking word between the ‘on-site’ experience and the studio, between the digitally generated and traditional drawing and painting approaches.