Neil Cooper
Student spotlight details
Having recently retired from a career as an investment analyst, Neil sought a new challenge and enrolled on our Certificate in the History of Art. He now hopes to build the foundations for becoming an art historian.
'It has always been very important to me to keep challenging myself and to learn new things, especially now, having recently retired from a career as an investment analyst. I have always enjoyed reading about, visiting and looking at all forms of artworks, but have been increasingly aware that my contextual knowledge is very narrow. I started off by taking a couple of the short online courses at Oxford Lifelong Learning that endorsed my decision to start the Certificate in the History of Art earlier this year. I am thrilled to be at the foothills of learning about the history of art and to experience artworks in new ways – to fill in the many gaps in my knowledge and to learn how to interrogate artworks better for their meanings.
'The course has a good rhythm, and the teaching is excellent. I have enjoyed the classes and the gallery visits: in fact, we are just back from visiting the National Gallery in London. Each week, there is a new subject, with essential topics to explore that are all provided online. It is important to keep up with the syllabus, but there are also suggestions for further reading – I have enjoyed going down these avenues and making extra connections between topics and works of art. Already, I have seen paintings and spotted similar visual ideas and meanings with other works of art, none of which I knew anything about just a few weeks ago, and I think that’s just incredible and very satisfying.
'I have really enjoyed meeting the other students in classes at Oxford. It’s very collaborative, and I believe the hybrid structure of the course works for all of us in our different ways. I am lucky to live nearby, and it has been fantastic to study regularly at the Bodleian libraries, which has been a real privilege. Our assignments have been lots of fun – not always easy – but it has been brilliant to get stuck into researching ideas and having to communicate those findings clearly and succinctly, which I have found very rewarding.
'My main motivation is to keep learning and pushing myself with the aim of becoming an art historian. It is very exciting to see where this goes, and I am also hoping to travel and get to see lots of the artworks that we shall be learning and thinking about, too. I want to do the best I can on the Certificate, and my plan is to proceed onto the Diploma and – well, just keep going in developing my research and experience in the history of art. It would be amazing to publish an article in due course or perhaps volunteer at the Ashmolean Museum.
'I certainly recommend this course. Like lots of things, the more you put in, the more you get out. It’s lots of fun and the structured learning means the course builds, so we progress our skills.'
