MA Fine Art: Painting At UAL Camberwell VS. MA Fine Art Chelsea

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Would love if anyone could give me some information on what the MA Fine Art: Painting pathway at Camberwell is like, thinking of applying next year ! Would also love to know what the main difference between Camberwell's course is vs Chelsea's ! Thank you, any help is appreciated

Reply 1

username6079319

7

Camberwell’s MA courses are more focussed on making/reflective practice, whilst Chelsea MA Fine Art is a bit more focussed on exhibiting work and collaboration on group shows than making etc Camberwell is also more studio based whereas at Chelsea you don’t really get a fixed studio space.

Reply 2

bb8776718

OP

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Thank you so much that really helped ! Do you happen to know anyone who has done the MA Fine Art at Camberwell as that seems more like what I want to do and it would be super great if I could reach out to them. I am curious about their portfolio and the 1 image per page thing and if that would mean I can only put 1 singular image, meaning I can't put a collage of images as 1 image if you know what I mean. Also want to know if there is anywhere I can go to for good examples of a Master Portfolio for an MA in Fine Art as they're super tricky to find, any advice would be really helpful

Reply 3

username6079319

7

Original post

by bb8776718

Thank you so much that really helped ! Do you happen to know anyone who has done the MA Fine Art at Camberwell as that seems more like what I want to do and it would be super great if I could reach out to them. I am curious about their portfolio and the 1 image per page thing and if that would mean I can only put 1 singular image, meaning I can't put a collage of images as 1 image if you know what I mean. Also want to know if there is anywhere I can go to for good examples of a Master Portfolio for an MA in Fine Art as they're super tricky to find, any advice would be really helpful

Anytime!! So I studied for my BA at Camberwell, on Fine Art Drawing and I graduated in 2019. I would say Camberwell is better than Chelsea for a lot of facilities and the technicians there are really good, they also have a makerspace etc… I would check out the Camberwell instagram and also look through the graduate showcase on the UAL website it should still be up there I think??? I sadly lost touch with a person I did know on the MA course :frown:

For the portfolio what I would do is make it in powerpoint and save each slide as a JPEG, I think it makes it easier to annotate the pages that way rather than in pebblepad ^^
I chose to arrange mine by projects with about 2-3 pages per section, what I did was collate some of the scans of my sketchbook pages, and some making photos together and then annotate them on those pages (1-2) and then for page 3 put a picture of the finished artwork.

I do wish UAL gave more portfolio guidance as it’s really confusing >< I think GSA glasgow has some examples of portfolios on their site which are pretty good :smile:

Reply 4

bb8776718

OP

1

Thank you ! I will definitely take a look. So, if Camberwell are asking for 1 image per slide for the portfolio, do you have any advice on how I would go about that, maybe it is a new thing with them for their Masters course. Thank you for all the help, that'll help me with structure and I will try and go about it by arranging it through projects. They mention 1 image per slide so because that leaves me with not much ability to show much per slide, should I spread things out more ? Thank you ! :smile:

Reply 5

username6079319

7

Original post

by bb8776718

Thank you ! I will definitely take a look. So, if Camberwell are asking for 1 image per slide for the portfolio, do you have any advice on how I would go about that, maybe it is a new thing with them for their Masters course. Thank you for all the help, that'll help me with structure and I will try and go about it by arranging it through projects. They mention 1 image per slide so because that leaves me with not much ability to show much per slide, should I spread things out more ? Thank you ! :smile:

sorry for my late reply!! i think with the one images per slide thing i checked and they say key images… so with the key images it’s more like the main photos of the work so the sketchbook and development work could be compiled together seperately from the main images of the work if that makes sense… the descriptions on the UAL site are so vague lol if you want some examples of some online portfolios you could look at for inspo let me know and i can link you to them :3

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 6

bb8776718

OP

1

Original post

by username6079319

sorry for my late reply!! i think with the one images per slide thing i checked and they say key images… so with the key images it’s more like the main photos of the work so the sketchbook and development work could be compiled together seperately from the main images of the work if that makes sense… the descriptions on the UAL site are so vague lol if you want some examples of some online portfolios you could look at for inspo let me know and i can link you to them :3

Amazing thank you so much. So you think I can put the main art piece separately as one image, then the sketchbook pages and development images as another, compiled into a collage or something ? If so that’s fine, just didnt want to put more than one image and then I do it wrong. Yes please, literally cannot find any anywhere, if you can help me find some fine art portfolios that would be super helpful, preferably masters level ? but if not thats totally fine. Thank you again !!

Reply 7

meghanlion

Hello! I'm applying to MA fine art at UAL, too! would be so nice if I also get the link... I need some references to make my own! ah.. i am international student from Korea.

Reply 8

PG Rep Anwesha

Official Rep

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Original post

by bb8776718

Would love if anyone could give me some information on what the MA Fine Art: Painting pathway at Camberwell is like, thinking of applying next year ! Would also love to know what the main difference between Camberwell's course is vs Chelsea's ! Thank you, any help is appreciated

Having studied MA UX at LCC - which sits quite close to Service Design at LCC - the biggest difference I’ve noticed isn’t the tools or methods, but how each course shapes your thinking. A lot of that comes down to the course leader, the teaching staff, and their design philosophies. So my biggest advice is: deep dive into the student work from both courses, look at the professors’ backgrounds, and see whose approach you naturally align with.

As for campuses, the vibes differ too:

•

Camberwell tends to feel more relaxed, intimate, and community-oriented. It’s smaller, more social, and you get to know people easily.

•

Chelsea, on the other hand, has a more gallery-driven, fine-art energy. It feels slightly more formal but still very creative, with a focus on critical and conceptual thinking.

Both places are collaborative - just in different ways. Camberwell leans toward organic, social collaboration, while Chelsea encourages more conceptual or critique-based collaboration. The right choice really depends on the environment you thrive in.

If you want to get a clearer sense of which vibe fits you, explore the teaching staff pages and student work portfolios side by side. Comparing them will tell you a lot more than the course descriptions ever will. Attaching the links for you MA Fine Art: Painting & MA Fine Art Chelsea.

Hope this helps!

~ Anwesha 🍁

MA Fine Art: Painting At UAL Camberwell VS. MA Fine Art Chelsea

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