The Liberal Arts

It was Steve Jobs who first introduced me to the phrase The Liberal Arts. If I remember correctly he thought this would be the future for the computer, that is applying technology to the liberal arts.

Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash

I did buy a luggable mac, as pictured above, in the late 1980s. I stayed up deep into the night to produce marketing work on it for an exhibition at the NEC in Birmingham. It was a night when I also learnt, big time, about the importance of backing up your work!

Photo by AB on Unsplash

Thirty-five years later I use the iPhone for photographs, for taking calls, for texting, for writing and for browsing the web. In January 2019, at the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, I once again got the inclination to study. And what better place than there I thought.

Sadly that wasn't to be. My age disqualified me from qualifying for a grant, which meant I could not follow the UEA master's programme. Undeterred I determined to produce and follow my own Home-Made PhD.

The study programme consisted of producing video poetry. I used the Agenda application for keeping track of progress. The videos can be seen on Youtube by searching for Coastmoor. This also gives you access to my non-PhD videos.

The homemade study helped me, but ultimately I needed support to encourage my diversification. Winchester University provided such a portal with their Liberal Arts BA. While unable to join them on the course I could use their curriculum and study guides to set up my own Home-Made BA.

And that's where you will find me from the 13th November onwards. All that I have to do now is to find the books in the packing boxes.