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Emma Powell

Arts, the environment & sustainability

OCA Student Association tutor opportunity - Welcome to Dr Emma Powell.

Hi everyone,


I am the newly appointed OCA Student Association tutor involved with the Arts, The Environment & Sustainability 'Circle'. I will be working alongside Ashley McLaughlin (Student Association Rep) to add content to this group and initiate cross-discipline discussions and the sharing of relevant information.


I hope you will come and join us as we explore this important topic.


The link to the group can be found here and you will need to join the OCASA to access the content within the group:


Here’s a little bit about my long-standing interests in sustainability.


I am a Dr of Rubbish, or as some people have described me “A rubbish doctor!” My PhD is in Sustainable Design (2009) and my research investigated the use of rejectamenta (“things thrown away” – Webster’s 1828 Dictionary) by selected contemporary practitioners. The intent of the PhD research was to challenge preconceptions about the use of waste materials. It showed that items that initially hold negative value can be transformed, through the creative process, to objects that have a positive aesthetic value. Prior to my PhD I undertook an MA by Independent Study (2000) and this is where my interest in the re-use of materials and sustainability developed.


I apply the principles of sustainable design to as many aspects of my practice as I can. I am particularly interested in greener methods of printmaking and image-making. Sometimes my work can be purely aesthetic but often it communicates a message and / or tackles difficult subject matter.


When I am not working for OCA, as a Visual Communications programme tutor and part-time tutor, I can be found at my printmaking studio, at the allotment or on the back of a tandem cycling around Leicestershire, East Riding, Northumberland or the Scottish Borders.


You can see my PhD work here:


You can also follow me on Instagram here:

Come join us!

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