Slade School of Fine Art Application Advice

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For the portfolio inspection can i use a ring-bound portfolio with my work in plastic wallets on black paper? It specifies not to use hard plastic ring binders or plastic pockets but i would've thought there wouldn't be a major difference :s

For me the portfolio composed of

1. recent/ongoing foundation work
2. older foundation work
3. independent/outside college work
4. drawing
5. sketchbooks/notebooks (2x foundation skbk, 2x foundation notebook, 1x independent sketchbook)


In my case, there was little painting as I work more in installation/photography. The drawing made up about 20% of the folio.

I'll send you a private message to my flickr account irina793

What I should say now that I didn't before is this-
The most important piece of advice I can give is to be yourself. Having e-mailed graduates of the school (they put their addresses on the degree show site - presumably for potential marketing rather than unsolicited questioning from annoying applicants...) this advice rings true. If you aren't what they're looking for - f**'em and move on.

Advice based on my successful application (for the 4 yr BA) staring 2011
For the benefit of any 2012 applicants (you poor, ****-on souls)

1. Portfolio Inspection

Book online, but ignore the time you book - the times are just to stagger the arrival - there was a large queue (that moved pretty quickly) on the day I went. The drop off isn't at the main slade HQ either, so watch out for that.

The 'strict' 15kg weight limit isn't strict at all - a man walks down the queue to check that each portfolio is light enough to lift.

You will be given a receipt with your number that tells you to return strictly AFTER 4.15 - I rocked up at half 2 and picked mine up (some people at that time hadn't had theirs inspected by that time though)

2. Interview

First of all - well done if you get this far - it's no mean feat in itself.

What did they ask?

a. After a brief introduction (to 3 tutors - each was from a different specialism) I was asked to choose a piece of work and talk to them about it: which I duly did. This part of the interview lasted half of the 20 minute total.

In this time each tutor would interrupt/chip in to my discussion and ask about what i'd said if they had anything to say. I felt that there was a tendency towards a 'final' piece. Eg. they wanted to know how work would be presented (i.e. how would you exhibit this piece?). The feeling I get is that they want to know how you take an idea to completion. So the ideas, the concepts behind your work are important, but the way you realized them (or how you think about their realization) is just as important.

The feel of the interview wasn't particularly formal - your objective as an applicant is to get into a 'group crit' situation: show them that you are a tutor-able and thoughtful individual.

b. I was then asked 3 set questions -
-why slade?
-why the 4 yr BA (as opposed to the BFA)
-what are you reading/have you read?

I tried not to dwell on the obvious (good reputation and location) and told them why I preferred the 4 yr course.

It's not a bad idea to ask them some questions (about studio space/who are the visiting tutors in the coming term?)

c. One tutor took a photo of me with a piece of the work - so that they would remember a face when deciding on who to take I presume.

At this point i pulled a cheesy grin and put my thumb up. I said to them 'why the hell did I do that!?' which garnered a laugh. It's probably not a bad thing making them laugh - you'll stick in their mind (the same could be said for crazy art school hair, but that's another issue all together)

So that's what to expect (I can't imagine the system would change much over the coming years). Don't hesitate to ask more advice, but please don't clog up the feed with which member of ****ing girls aloud you think is the hottest.