Has anyone studied an art or design based degree ?

[DuddleDipper]

Hello, I've tried posting this is the student and education threads but have not had much response, I guess you are all lurking over here !! I am thinking abut doing an arts based degree in a couple of years when all my children are in school and want to know how many days you are expected to be in college as some full time courses only require you to be there 2 or 3 days a week. I need to weigh up full time v part time and also how does this affect fees and loans too as the rules for each are different. Any info gratefully received, thanks.

I'm probably not much help as I did my Graphic Design degree in the '80s when of course there were no fees or loans, but on a full-time course we were expected to be there pretty much every day - there are so many different disciplines within graphics & we had different teachers every day, for typography, illustration, 3D etc. Obviously within that it's all quite fluid ie noone was checking whether you're at your desk all the time! But if you wanted to do it properly, there was a lot of work to do & all the facilities were at college so it made sense to be there.

It really depends what subject you are doing and which college/course you attend. Why don't you ask the colleges you are thinking of applying to? Where do you live - presumably you'd study near home?

HTH but probably not!

I was studying Applied Arts at Middlesex. (In the last few years.) While we only had tutors 3 days a week there was lots of work to do the rest of the time.
Hertfordshire also runs the same course and the tutors are completely different in teaching style.
It's worth having a good look around and talking to the tutors.

HTH

I was studying Applied Arts at Middlesex. (In the last few years.) While we only had tutors 3 days a week there was lots of work to do the rest of the time.
Hertfordshire also runs the same course and the tutors are completely different in teaching style.
It's worth having a good look around and talking to the tutors.

HTH

sorry dont know what happened there

Thanks for your comments. One of my lines of thought was how much I could work at home indepedant of lectures
but really I would probably still need to be on site for the facilities. I am in the middle of Bristol / Cardiff / Glos if anyone has studied at these ?

Come on all you arty craftys, where did you learn to do all the wonderful stuff on your blogs (Lucykate your stuff is fantastic) did you study any courses or is it from hobbies that have developed over time ?

I did my art degree in the early 80's and the tutors expected us to be on site most of the time, plus depending on what area you are working in you may need the studio space and facilities. I know from experience unless you have a dedicated room at home to work in it's difficult to leave work and materials out with small children around! Plus it's very important to be around other students I think, and not work in isolation.
Best thing to do is wander around the department of your local college and chat to students & tutors there. Art courses can be more time-consuming than other subjects too.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Did an arts foundation course first at a technical college, and then a degree.

Watch out for the course you pick as there is such a broad difference between the 'conceptual' and more traditional courses.

I don't know anything about current funding as I was at uni in the mid 90's,

BUT!

It was absolutely brilliant and I enjoyed every minute of it, and as a 'mature' student was thrilled at how easy it was to fall in with the younguns. I would cheerfully go back tomorrow and it was very hard work and in no way an 'easy' option subject. Agree it is very time consuming but the support is tremendous and my tutors were happy to accomodate(?) my other commitments as long as they knew how committed I was.

Go for it, and Good Luck if you do,

I did my fashion design degree in the mid 90's. So, again, no use when it comes to fees and loans nowadays.
But, with regards to hours, it was totally full time. 5 days a week, 9-5. Plus extra in the evening.
In my experience all design based degrees are the same.
It is possible to do PT degrees though. I'd look into that.

How old will your children be?
When I was in primary & early secondary school, my best mates mum went back to uni and did a art foundation & interior design degree. Which all totalled to 5 years full time uni + ALOT of homework.
In all honesty, I have to say, her mother doing a PT degree course would have been more beneficial to her and her sister in terms of parenting.

I did my art degree back in the 80's and as others have stated the expectation then was that you be on site pretty much every day to develop and explore your ideas, make use of facilities and have creative interaction with other students on the course.

Definitely pursue all your options by chatting with course tutors and the best of luck.

I also did Graphics in the 80s and it was full-time plus (at least 9 - 5.30). You don't have 'lectures' as such, you're working towards your final degree show rather than exams, so if you don't put the hours in your show (and result) reflect this. I'm interested in this thread as I'm thinking of doing an MA in Fine Art (should have done my first degree in this subject).
I have met mature students recently, though, who seem to be genuinely part time. Don't know how this works.

most degrees nowadays, in the arts are pretty intensive. when i did mine (textiles) in the early 90's we were expected to be in college every day, 9-5. mind you, i did weaving, so had to be in to use the looms, too big to take home!

i can ask dh, he lectures on an illustration degree course, will quiz him later about part time, there has to be a way of helping mature students re-train and still raise their family, if there isn't, there should be.

do you have any idea what subject you're interested in?

My cousin graduated in fine art two years ago - she went into university every day, pretty much 9-5. Everyone seemed to do most of their work from the studio, rather than at home.

Hello everyone and thank you for all your posts, lots of interesting and useful comments. The overriding impression is that an arts based degree is pretty intense, needing a lot of time and commitment so I think now part time would be more realistic in terms of having a good work life balance. I do have to work part time at the mo so I wouldn't want to end up in a situation where I was using afterschool club every day of the week.

Lizzzombie, your comment about your friends mum was very useful, I would want to do this alongside raising my family but not at their exspense.

Lucykate, ironically I am interested in textiles and illustration. I like looking, drawing and constructing images, (not so good on painting/ shading) but good with lines and using found materials. I'd be very interested in hearing your dh's views as I'm also thinking about what I could use my work for and illustration does have a clear vocational element to it.