Oliver Shipley profile
University for the Creative Arts alumnus Oliver Shipley is carving out a successful career as a thought provoking media artist across the pond.
After graduating from the Surrey Institute of Art and Design, one of UCA's founding colleges, with a degree in Digital Screen Arts, he followed his heart to America and found himself documenting the arts in Los Angeles.
Oliver used his skills for online new media to develop the LA-Artist Documentary Project which has been fiscally sponsored by IDA (International Documentary Association). His initial inspiration for this project came in 2006 when he visited 'La Tierra de la Culebra' community art park in North East Los Angeles. The visit introduced Oliver to public and community art in Los Angeles.
In the ongoing LA-Artist.com film series Oliver has featured a number of diverse and passionate artists. The films highlight these artists' stories uncovering the disposition behind the art.
Oliver has worked with and been mentored by Oscar-nominated director Lyn Goldfarb. Through Lyn, his work has been included in a video installation commissioned by the city of Los Angeles for the Guadalajara International Book Fair and a short film called 'Museums Without Borders' which was made for the American Association of Museums.
To date, Oliver's career has focused on arts education, empowerment and access. "I am a strong believer in open cultural access, decentralization and democratisation of media," he said. "I currently have four LA-Artist episodes online alongside a growing collection of ArtCards which is a grassroots community art project that envisions a citywide collaboration among people who live and/or work in the incredibly dynamic city of Los Angeles." His work centres around sharing, collaboration and equal opportunity in the arts.
Oliver has set up his own organisation called Shipley Films which is focused on film distribution, art education and documentary film. He said: "My wife and I are developing curriculum and teaching methods to engage students through the arts. As well as producing documentaries I teach inner-city children film and photography and I'm involved with Youth Art and Media LA which is a collaborative venture between community arts and media organisations to help promote the creative efforts of inner-city youth".
