Fine Art Applicants and Universities 2014!!

Holy **** well done! You gonna take them up on that offer? and to get a place from the amount of competition is pretty amazing.

Awh thank you! I was quite surprised as at the interview I questioned the guy who interviewed me about their lack of print and dark room facilities so I thought i might have lost it.
I don't think I'm gonna accept it. I doubt I'll hear from goldsmiths for at least another month(!!) But I would be choosing between Camberwell, Chelsea and Goldsmiths (if they offer me a place), between Camberwell and Goldsmiths will be really difficult but I think between Camberwell and Chelsea i'd pick Camberwell, because Camberwell have the print and dark room facilities that Chelsea don't, and there is 7/8 people per tutor group as opposed to 25 per tutor group at Chelsea, so that's quite a difference!

Yeah to be honest you choose the university that you think will benefit you best haha. I'm looking forward to seeing the facilities at Goldsmiths and Wimbledon as I've never had a chance to see them. I just hope they're good.

After the interviews at Goldsmiths I pray they don't keep us waiting for to long. I don't think it should be seen as they won't have as many people to go through. I only realised today as well that I only have one day at college to ensure my portfolio is perfect and I've printed off my Poland photographs seen as I go Tuesday.

But its great we're all hearing good news from our unis haha

Looking at previous years, Goldsmiths don't seem to keep people waiting too long. Last year they interviewed 450 people, which I think is the most I've heard of.
Hope you enjoy Poland!

Yeah to be honest you choose the university that you think will benefit you best haha. I'm looking forward to seeing the facilities at Goldsmiths and Wimbledon as I've never had a chance to see them. I just hope they're good.

After the interviews at Goldsmiths I pray they don't keep us waiting for to long. I don't think it should be seen as they won't have as many people to go through. I only realised today as well that I only have one day at college to ensure my portfolio is perfect and I've printed off my Poland photographs seen as I go Tuesday.

But its great we're all hearing good news from our unis haha

Yeah exactly, they both have a good reputation so i'm not too worried about that
I've heard Wimbledon is great, the only downside for me is the location, but it's enough to put me off, someone I work with studied there and loved the course, but said the area is like a town on the edge of london, quite white and racist too. But he said the course was fantastic (I think he studied BA Painting)
Facilities at goldsmiths are great too
Ah try not to worry, you've prepared it for other interviews so i'm sure it's fine good luck!

I saw on twitter congratulations! Have you heard from CSM? I can't for the life of me remember :'). Now you have an offer from Chelsea its gonna make it all the more challenging to decide where to go of course unless you're already set on that. But well done!

Congrats!!! I just called them, apparently I have an interview on the 28th, and they emailed me and sent a letter about it on the 7th (neither of which I have received). SO glad i called

Haha white and racist bloody hell that sounds nice. Yeah Westminster is zone 4 so aslong as I'm in a nice location as close to the centre as possible I don't mind. I'm looking forward to have a good nosey round them to have some comparison.

Let's just hope they don't have to interview that many this time haha I would imagine it has dropped since then. I have noticed a decrease in interest there so I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have to. But you can only be hopeful.

I felt the same when I caught glimpses of other portfolios. Yes, they did ask quite a lot of questions, but it might just be their way of doing it. I know, I want to keep the dream alive. :')
I had the head of undergraduate painting (I recognised him from the open day, grey hair and quite scruffy haha), another man who had glasses and short spiky hair, and then two women, one with short brown hair, the other with long brown hair. Is this who you had?

I only had 3 interviewers- 2 men and 1 woman and it was up the small stairs. They were really nice though!

Yeah exactly, they both have a good reputation so i'm not too worried about that
I've heard Wimbledon is great, the only downside for me is the location, but it's enough to put me off, someone I work with studied there and loved the course, but said the area is like a town on the edge of london, quite white and racist too. But he said the course was fantastic (I think he studied BA Painting)
Facilities at goldsmiths are great too
Ah try not to worry, you've prepared it for other interviews so i'm sure it's fine good luck!

Hahah Wimbledon is not all that white or racist!! It is really multicultural. If you want white suburbia then you should try Kingston, Richmond, Esher etc! Big asian community in Wimbledon. It is quite an edgy area where the college is. Not like posh cars and Chelsea mansions!

There's a community school right next to the college. It's also only 15 mins from central London on the train - which is arguably closer that some other centrally located UAL colleges! Like camberwell, LCC, CSM etc. Also there's more space at Wimbledon. It's not a tower block on a major road! - like LCF!!

I can vouch for Kingston being pretty much entirely white. The art campus is opposite a primary school and there was only 1 child who wasn't white, which I thought was really weird. Also passed an estate agents and there wasn't a house listed under £1 million. I think this is actualy part of what put me off.
I didn't realise Wimbledon was so close to central London. I still haven't heard from Chelsea and I'm actually hoping they might offer my an interview at Wimbledon now. I've never been, but it's starting to sound like a better course for me.

Sorry about Chelsea but well done for Goldsmiths and Wimbledon. At least that softens the blow a bit.
What was bizarre about Chelsea? People tend to say Chelsea interviews are weird. Not bad necessarily, just weird.
I've heard the Goldsmiths interview is like an interrogation. haha.

Hey, Sounds like everyone is only just hearing back from goldsmiths for the interview. mines on thurs for the joint honours. just wondering whether anyone applying for that course has had the interview and what to expect?..its my top choice and iv heard scary things haha...feeing rather nervous

Hey, Sounds like everyone is only just hearing back from goldsmiths for the interview. mines on thurs for the joint honours. just wondering whether anyone applying for that course has had the interview and what to expect?..its my top choice and iv heard scary things haha...feeing rather nervous

This is a bit off topic (hope no one minds) but I'm having a problem applying dry paint pigments and wondered if anyone might be able to help?

I want to apply dry paint pigments (and eyeshadow) to plaster, but want to keep it looking powder-y, I planned to use PVA, sprinkle over the pigments and seal it with gloss varnish, so I had a powder-y glossy effect. I went to a painting specialist shop and he told me 'forget it' and said it won't work. Sold me a resoluable binder and said that this would bind the pigments so they stuck, whilst keeping the powder-y effect.

It doesn't have this effect at all, it makes a thick paste with the pigments and dries looking like hardened mud which was not what I wanted at all. He won't refund me and now I've lost 40 quid! Still none the wiser though.

The only other idea I have had is to mix the different coloured pigment in with the paster and make small grains with the plaster (looking like lumps of pigment) which I could then (hopefully) glue on with PVA and varnish with another coat of PVA. I'm not sure about this either though, think it would be easy on a flat surface but a lot trickier on a sculpture

I just wondered if anyone has come across this problem and knows any solutions?!

I use a lot of plaster in my work and I've found that the best way to get an almost powdery (but more sand-like) finish is by mixing paint into the plaster then continually adding dry plaster to the mix until it forms something like breadcrumbs (you have to be pretty rough with it, works best in a bowl), then compacting it onto the surface. It's quite fragile and crumbly though, so varnishing it with something like resin would probably work better than PVA. Hope this helps!