Pursung Fine Art as a Mature Student

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice and support as a mature student aiming to get back into studying fine art.

I’ve got a Biomedical Science about 10 years ago. My experience has primarily been in medical labs, healthcare, and recruitment and I’m now looking to shift my focus to fine art.

Currently, I’m enrolled in a drawing intensive course with the Royal Drawing School. Next year, I plan to undertake a pre-foundation portfolio course with City Lit. My ultimate goal is to do a graduate diploma at a university, but I want to complete a foundation year first.

My questions are:

1. Does my plan sound reasonable? Does anyone have experience with a similar path?
2. What should I look for in a foundation year programme? Any recommendations for programmes or schools, particularly in London?
3. How can I better organise my time and resources? Any tips on managing coursework, portfolio preparation, and life in general as a mature student? Also, I’m looking for part time work alongside volunteering but I’m wary of overextending myself.

I’m finding it challenging to navigate all the options and to stay organised. I would appreciate any advice or shared experiences, especially from those who have taken a similar route.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Reply 1

BCU Student Rep

Official Rep

Original post by FriendlyFriend

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice and support as a mature student aiming to get back into studying fine art.
I’ve got a Biomedical Science about 10 years ago. My experience has primarily been in medical labs, healthcare, and recruitment and I’m now looking to shift my focus to fine art.
Currently, I’m enrolled in a drawing intensive course with the Royal Drawing School. Next year, I plan to undertake a pre-foundation portfolio course with City Lit. My ultimate goal is to do a graduate diploma at a university, but I want to complete a foundation year first.
My questions are:
1. Does my plan sound reasonable? Does anyone have experience with a similar path?
2. What should I look for in a foundation year programme? Any recommendations for programmes or schools, particularly in London?
3. How can I better organise my time and resources? Any tips on managing coursework, portfolio preparation, and life in general as a mature student? Also, I’m looking for part time work alongside volunteering but I’m wary of overextending myself.
I’m finding it challenging to navigate all the options and to stay organised. I would appreciate any advice or shared experiences, especially from those who have taken a similar route.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi @FriendlyFriend

I think it's great that you're considering returning to studying fine art!

I had a slightly different path from you myself, but I did complete a Foundation year before I started uni. I completed mine at my local college up North, so I'm not sure what is available in London. But some things I would look for in a course is the possibility to try lots of different art styles and mediums. I know lots of Foundations offer this anyway, but I would suggest finding out what different areas you can try and if you have an interest in these and also how easily accessible these are. My course allowed me to try fine art, photography, textiles work and also ceramics and 3D design, so I could really experiment with my art style.
I'd also look for somewhere that offers enough contact hours with tutors that you would like. My course required me to attend classes four days a week, and each day I had allocated time with the tutors. I really liked this as I had lots of support and feedback each week. This might be something you like and are looking for, or you might want less hours if you're working at the same time or just prefer less time physically on site.
My course also allowed me to access the studio outside of study hours, which I liked as I could use the space in my own time too.

In terms of managing your time, I would start out with less commitments in addition to your Foundation and then build up how much you take on once you're used to your schedule. You don't want to be burning yourself out as soon as you start. I managed a part time job and my Foundation - 4 days at college and 2/3 days at work - and this worked well for me, but I still had free time for socialising or working on my projects.

Planning is your best way to organise yourself I would say. Set yourself a weekly timetable of your classes/time you want to spend dedicated to your artwork - this could be official class work for your course, and also other art related things you might want to do in your free time, like your drawing class. Then start to work your other commitments around this. It probably won't be a perfect schedule each week and things will change as you go, but start at a steady pace and I'm sure you will be okay.

Feel free to ask any more questions about a foundation or anything else! 🙂

Emily
Student Rep at BCU

Reply 2

Aegb

Original post by FriendlyFriend

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice and support as a mature student aiming to get back into studying fine art.
I’ve got a Biomedical Science about 10 years ago. My experience has primarily been in medical labs, healthcare, and recruitment and I’m now looking to shift my focus to fine art.
Currently, I’m enrolled in a drawing intensive course with the Royal Drawing School. Next year, I plan to undertake a pre-foundation portfolio course with City Lit. My ultimate goal is to do a graduate diploma at a university, but I want to complete a foundation year first.
My questions are:
1. Does my plan sound reasonable? Does anyone have experience with a similar path?
2. What should I look for in a foundation year programme? Any recommendations for programmes or schools, particularly in London?
3. How can I better organise my time and resources? Any tips on managing coursework, portfolio preparation, and life in general as a mature student? Also, I’m looking for part time work alongside volunteering but I’m wary of overextending myself.
I’m finding it challenging to navigate all the options and to stay organised. I would appreciate any advice or shared experiences, especially from those who have taken a similar route.
Thanks in advance for your help!

hello, are you looking to study fine art just as a personal milestone or are you looking for a career in the arts?
there are different routes you can take, it depends if you are looking to study at top universities or no.
I would recommend to have a look at the foundation year at Morley college (Waterloo). they have a foundation year for mature students with classes running twice a week (plus one extra day in the week on your own schedule) to keep up with the work which is doable if you are looking for a part job as well.
it all depends which way you envision yourself in the future. sometimes people prefer to take several different workshops instead (in painting, sculpture, drawing, textiles, etc) and then a short course in portfolio preparation in between.

Reply 3

ArtsUniPlymouth

Official Rep

Original post by FriendlyFriend

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for some advice and support as a mature student aiming to get back into studying fine art.
I’ve got a Biomedical Science about 10 years ago. My experience has primarily been in medical labs, healthcare, and recruitment and I’m now looking to shift my focus to fine art.
Currently, I’m enrolled in a drawing intensive course with the Royal Drawing School. Next year, I plan to undertake a pre-foundation portfolio course with City Lit. My ultimate goal is to do a graduate diploma at a university, but I want to complete a foundation year first.
My questions are:
1. Does my plan sound reasonable? Does anyone have experience with a similar path?
2. What should I look for in a foundation year programme? Any recommendations for programmes or schools, particularly in London?
3. How can I better organise my time and resources? Any tips on managing coursework, portfolio preparation, and life in general as a mature student? Also, I’m looking for part time work alongside volunteering but I’m wary of overextending myself.
I’m finding it challenging to navigate all the options and to stay organised. I would appreciate any advice or shared experiences, especially from those who have taken a similar route.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi @FriendlyFriend

I made the decision to go back and study Fine Art after a career in management accounting. There's some great advice already posted, but I thought I'd post my route & experience too.

I did a foundation diploma locally. It was basically to see if I was really interested in becoming a full time student. It was a big step and when I started back in 2021 I was really nervous. The foundation diploma was great as I got to try and lot of different methods and materials, plus it was a great introduction to the academics of a Fine Art BA.

Then I took an even bigger step of applying to universities and moving during term time some distance away into student housing!

The foundation year helped me get into a work pattern with my reading & research as well as trying all the methods. I was able to work out a schedule that worked for me. For instance, I realised if I read anything before 11am in the morning, I retained less of it than if I read later. I didn't set myself a self study timetable initially, but by the end of the foundation year I had figured out a time table that worked for me. I'm about to start my 3rd year of the BA, and my personal study timetable is still relatively similar.

As Emily suggested, I found a Uni that has lots of contact time with tutors. It really helped with getting settled in during my first year. I had a couple of wobbles, but there was always someone at the Uni I could talk to about it, and it helped a lot.

Feel free to ask me anything about my experience.

Andrea. 3rd year BA (Hons) Fine Art
Arts University Plymouth Rep
Aup.ac.uk
Talk to our students -
💻 Email us at [email protected]⁠
☎️ Call us on 01752 203402⁠
📱 Whatsapp us at 07722 744184⁠

(edited 2 months ago)