Art at uni

Hi! Has anyone here taken art at uni? I just want to know what it’s like :smile:

I’m going in September this year to take a foundation course so I don’t go straight into it, could anybody share their experiences (even if it’s not foundation, I’d like to hear about 1st,2nd, and 3rd year too)

(edited 2 years ago)

Hi there!
I am currently studying MA Fine Art at Plymouth College of Art, and I also did BA Fine Art here, and a Foundation Diploma in Truro before that! I loved my foundation year, it was a whole year of experimentation and trying lots of different mediums and techniques, including print, textiles, graphics, photography, mould making and more. This really helped me to figure out what I really liked doing, as I went into the foundation thinking I wanted to be a graphic designer, but I realised that I love fine art! In the course I took, we were set briefs for each module that were quite broad and could take these in any direction we liked. We also had set workshops every week in different disciplines to get us trying lots of new things. I can talk to you about my experience in my BA too if you like? And I'm happy to answer any more questions you have! Good luck!

Leah
MA Fine Art
Plymouth College of Art

Reply 2

Inneedofadvice1

OP

11

Original post by Plymouth College Of Art

Hi there!
I am currently studying MA Fine Art at Plymouth College of Art, and I also did BA Fine Art here, and a Foundation Diploma in Truro before that! I loved my foundation year, it was a whole year of experimentation and trying lots of different mediums and techniques, including print, textiles, graphics, photography, mould making and more. This really helped me to figure out what I really liked doing, as I went into the foundation thinking I wanted to be a graphic designer, but I realised that I love fine art! In the course I took, we were set briefs for each module that were quite broad and could take these in any direction we liked. We also had set workshops every week in different disciplines to get us trying lots of new things. I can talk to you about my experience in my BA too if you like? And I'm happy to answer any more questions you have! Good luck!

Leah
MA Fine Art
Plymouth College of Art

Yes please I would love that! Im just wondering if there’s a lot of writing involved? I’m not academic at all and struggle a lot with it :/

(edited 2 years ago)

Original post by Inneedofadvice1

Yes please I would love that! Im just wondering if there’s a lot of writing involved? I’m not academic at all and struggle a lot with it :/

I can only speak to my experience, and it may vary between courses, but on my Foundation we had to write one 1500 word essay for the year on art history. Don't worry if you struggle, I'm sure you will be able to access plenty of support for academic skills wherever you choose to study. Plymouth College of Art has a whole team called the Learning Lab who are there just to support our students with academic skills like researching, structuring essays and Harvard referencing, and they have helped me loads with my essays. On my BA we had one essay a year, 2000 words in first year, 2000 words in second year, and a 5000-6000 word dissertation in the third year. Each of these essays could be on whatever art topic we liked, which really helps because you can write about something you're really interested in.

In terms of my experience doing BA Fine Art, I really loved it! Through the whole course I had loads of freedom to explore my art practice and experiment with different materials and processes. Once again the briefs we were set had loads of room for interpretation and were more just prompts to get us thinking. One that comes to mind is 'Bigger than you' a brief from my second year. I was just starting to focus on the body in my work, and for this brief I made a 2 metre tall doll out of fabric digitally printed with distorted photos of my nude body! The course is all about developing your practice whilst researching relevant artists to put your work in context. There is also a module every year called Professional Practice, in which you are taught how to find and apply for artist opportunities, as well as the skills you need to be an artist in the real world. I found this module super interesting and it gave me the confidence to apply for an artist residency in Hong Kong at the end of my second year, which I was successful in, and so I spent a month in Hong Kong in 2018 working as an artist!

I hope this was helpful, let me know if you have any more questions!

Leah

Student Ambassador, MA Fine Art

Art at uni

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you