Access to Higher Education or Foundation in Art and Design?

Hi guys! Need help with making some important decision. So our town has only one college and its quite a well established one. Im 29, I work part-time while my husband works full time and I have a 2.5 year old who attends nursery. He will be turning 3 at the end of July. I really want to go back to studying and my strongest interest is in art. I have a BTEC Level 2 Art and Design with a D* which I received in 2014. The college offers a full time Level 3 and a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design. These classes run 4-5 days a week. There are 4 part time Art and Design courses that are also being offered but they only qualify as a Level 2. The college does not offer Access to HE in Art and Design but does have Access to HE in Humanities and Social Science (2 days a week) which I also like but it isn't my first choice. I've attended the college open day but stupidly only chose to go to the Access to HE in Humanities and Social Science and did not consider going to the Art and Design department to find out more. My brain simply said, 'Art Design+Full time = No work and no money'. I then contacted to the lecturer to get her opinion after explaining my circumstances but all she suggested was to apply for the part time Level 2 courses and perhaps come to another open day. I have no intention of doing another Level 2 course when I already have the qualification. Quite frankly,her response to my questions did not seem well thought out and has put me off applying for the Art and Design course at the college. Saying that, I have sent an application for the Art and Design Foundation course AND the Access to HE in Humanities and Social Science. I have been given an interview for Art and Design so I'll see how that goes I suppose. Realistically speaking, studying closer to home will be easier to do but attending college 4-5 days a week sounds unreasonable and risky to me when I have other important commitments. The Access Course in HE at the college is way more doable but it's not want I would like to do. It will give me the grade to enter Uni but I would really need to polish up on my art skills if I did so.

The other option that Im thinking of is travelling further afield to attend Access to HE Art and Design. I've found a few colleges down in Leeds and Halifax (2 hours away) like Calderdale College, Leeds City College, and Bradford College. There is also Carlisle College (one hour away) and the Northern School of Art down in Middlesbrough (2 hours away). These classes run 2/3 days a week. The long travelling time is the issue but I'll be doing what I enjoy. Question is, should I try this option instead? What do you think?

Reply 1

Scotney

20

What would you want to do afterwards?Btw 2hrs either way is not realistic.Unis want portfolios of Art and FAD is easiest way to get this done to a satisfactory standard.I would apply to both places and ask lots of questions from students who will probably be about on interview day

Reply 2

Tulvander12

OP

2

Original post by Scotney

What would you want to do afterwards?Btw 2hrs either way is not realistic.Unis want portfolios of Art and FAD is easiest way to get this done to a satisfactory standard.I would apply to both places and ask lots of questions from students who will probably be about on interview day

I know, right? Two hours is waayy too far. ☹️ Any artwork that i have from the previous years are all gone, (most of them given away or lost in transit). I have a few large pieces like murals that Ive made for companies and ive taken pictures of them. Otherwise, any artwork ive done and recorded is posted on my instagram profile. If you have instagram, my account is marjoriemorana (solo leveling icon). I tend to have it private but will leave it public for a few days for this purpose.

What would I like to do?
I want to go to uni and take on a diploma course part-time for any of the following: Illustration/Graphic Design/Concept Art.

Reply 3

Scotney

20

Original post by Tulvander12

I know, right? Two hours is waayy too far. ☹️ Any artwork that i have from the previous years are all gone, (most of them given away or lost in transit). I have a few large pieces like murals that Ive made for companies and ive taken pictures of them. Otherwise, any artwork ive done and recorded is posted on my instagram profile. If you have instagram, my account is marjoriemorana (solo leveling icon). I tend to have it private but will leave it public for a few days for this purpose.

What would I like to do?
I want to go to uni and take on a diploma course part-time for any of the following: Illustration/Graphic Design/Concept Art.

I guess what I was saying was what do you hope to achieve career wise by going to uni?

Reply 4

Tulvander12

OP

2

Original post by Scotney

I guess what I was saying was what do you hope to achieve career wise by going to uni?

My ideal career would be to be create illustrations for books especially children and young adult books. Working in the movie/theatre industry creating storyboards would also be a good choice and if I were to ever work for a large retail company, Id like to be a product illustrator.

Reply 5

HarleyQ

3

I did a UAL diploma which did prepare me well enough but I had a good few years between that and actually pursuing a degree. From my observations as a current art student, those who did the foundation year seem more well equipped to handle undergraduate in general. Especially if they stayed at the same university. The methods of learning and the marking rubrics are pretty different to most things people do prior eg. A-level. I sometimes wish I had done foundation just for that extra year of education.

Keep in mind that a lot of what you're paying for is access to resources - workshops, equipment, skills, print rooms, casting, woodwork, etc. This should rank as a top 3 priority when deciding where to go. If you desperately want to learn metalwork for example, it's useless going somewhere that doesn't do it.

If your end goal is illustration, then definitely go over the syllabus for courses. I do fine art and while it's pretty broad, art and design varies dramatically by institution. Some are 90% digital, focusing on things like video, VR & sound, while others are primarily traditional.

Regarding travel, I would avoid any longer than 40 minutes or so. Perhaps 1 hour if you're comfortable driving. You will be carrying heavy materials, sometimes unavoidably. Access and foundation courses usually cover at least a reasonable spread of disciplines so you may find yourself carting around a decent sized sculpture and wondering how the hell this happened.

Edit: Regarding portfolio, be prepared to show ideas, process. Completed paintings of clichés (eg. a portrait in a broken mirror or big hyperrealistic eye) might show skill in the discipline of representational art, but the majority of art courses today have a strong conceptual angle - even within illustration they'll expect you to demonstrate willingness to experiment and explore beyond a specialism.

(edited 3 months ago)

Access to Higher Education or Foundation in Art and Design?

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