Art and Design at university; for past, present, and future students and parents

[PhotoDad]

I've been on a wonderful thread about applications for art/design applications for the coming academic year, and I thought it might be useful to have a more general place for people at different stages of the process to share advice and hints. The normal MN advice about universities is often not applicable to these subjects!

I'll keep this short because I personally don't like huge posts that appear at the top of each page, but I'll add some starting thoughts below. I know that there's a huge range of experience here and a lot of support, so please do ask questions, or share triumphs and disasters.

The original thread is here:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/higher_education/4626697-2023-uni-applications-for-those-pursuing-art-and-creative-routes

@artant Thank you! Off to Google it now.

@artant Thank you! Off to Google it now.

@HatchetJob one of my dcs did work experience at a theatre. They got to see how it all worked, every department: front of house, rehearsals, technical stage management, wardrobe, set design, props, music etc. They had a wonderful time!

That’s a great idea, we only have a small local authority theatre nearby but I will put that on the list. Thanks

Lovely to hear how everyone's dc are doing. We also had a lot of great info from @PhotoDad Dd is also year 12 and definitely wants to study fine art. She is planning to go to the Florence Academy of Art, even though it's a very different offering to UK fine art courses. She's lucky enough to already have had an art residency with a working artist and hopefully has another one lined up for this summer. She's had a painting recently on display at a big gallery near us, so need to go and collect that over the next couple of days.

Great to hear that things are going well.

DC here has really enjoyed Goldsmiths and all that in on offer. Really enjoying the studios as well aa the Art History half of the Fine Art and Art History degree. Technically it's the History of visual communication or culture I think.

Not too much disruption from the organisational changes thankfully, at least not in Fine Art.

DC has been helping a final year prepare the studio for degree show and is looking forward to that.

Hello all! I somehow completely fell off Mumsnet for a while, but am trying to get back into the habit.

DD completed her illustration degree at Cambridge School of Art (Anglia Ruskin) with a very high First, having worked seemingly every waking hour for three years (and discovering a love of ceramics). She made some amazing friends, too, and gained a lot of adulting skills living in an overpriced shoebox room only 15 minutes walk from the studios. We attended her degree show, and then her graduation (that was a palaver as the uni messed up paperwork), then it was straight to exhibit at the "New Designers" fair in London where she got a few 'send us your portfolio' leads.

She doesn't really know what is next! But as she didn't take a gap year or do a foundation, she is planning on living at home for a few months while she finds her feet, and gains some freelance work (or not). She's also considering a sideways shift into museum conservation or set design, both of which tie into things she did at uni, so... watch this space (or another thread).

Lovely to read about experiences!

Congratulations to your DD, how wonderful she got a first. I look forward to seeing what she does next when she decides!

@PhotoDad That’s such a wonderful update! Well done to your dd and all best wishes for her next steps. Dd was accepted into the Florence Biennale (seems a bit crazy even to me!) but it’s too expensive to do it. She has another painting which is currently being delivered to a gallery in London for a summer exhibition, and she’s just working on commissions over summer and I’m trying to get her to do her UCAS personal statement (which is going very slowly).

@PhotoDad amazing to hear your DD’s result. When we all first connected she was just beginning! Congratulations!

@FriendlyLaundryMonster - your DD has exceptional talent. I saw your other thread too. It’s unbelievable how accomplished she is without much teaching. I really hope she succeeds in her goal to go to Florence.

My DS has completed his first year at LCF and fashion design. He has loved it - the course, tutors, other students. The quality of his work has developed so much. He’s worked v hard and managed to balance independent living and enjoying everything London and the course have to offer. Struggled a bit with deadlines due to his ADHD but he’s leant a lot about that too. And his course were extremely supportive which was great to see and the DSA support helped him too, He’s home for summer and working at pub to earn his holiday spend and get out of his overdraft. But overall a good first year.

@Duchessofmuchness Thank you; that is really kind of you to say. Great feedback on your DS's first year - sounds like it couldn't have gone any better. Well done him (and you!)

Huge congrats to your daughter @PhotoDad - hope she finds a path to follow very soon but is able to spend time celebrating her success in the meanwhile!

Gosh thought I’d check in this thread for any news and great to hear @PhotoDad that your DD did so well! @Okisenoughglad to hear things going well so far at Hertfordshire- it was top of the list for DD if she had pursued Animation. @Lottsbiffandsmudgealso happy to hear about UWE. The lad I know who dropped out of the Architecture course there did not enjoy it but your son seems to have grabbed some good opportunities. @PhilandbillI’m not so sure about Psychology, unless they plan to pursue it further it’s such a in vogue degree these days I’d go with their passion (said as someone with an masters in counselling psychology - after my art degree - which got me nowhere).
My DD (refresher as it’s been a while) decided on Durham to do Sociology and has finished her first year. She’s still not a people person but threw herself into it, became a deputy editor on the newspaper, joined several societies, had two executive roles at her college, course rep for her year and to top it off became a Laidlaw Scholar which includes a paid internship this summer, and next summer will work abroad at an NGO. And it’s not just in creative careers - she’s got her LinkedIn profile going and is trying to wrap her head around networking and posting updates is a part of the game these days. So far her MS has not hindered her, though she does suffer from fatigue constantly and had vertigo for a while. But she only missed one day of lectures and that was because she went to visit friends at another uni!
She has not lost touch with her artistic roots and meets up with her Art Foundation pals regularly. She’s just bought herself a second hand sewing machine and hopes to supplement her Vinted and charity shop finds with homemade clothes. And she’s always drawing still.
I keep having to remind myself that she’s an adult and while inevitably reverts to a ‘child’ role while home when she is perfectly capable of adulting when living away, she has opinions and views different to mine! @PhotoDadliving with an adult full time again will take some adjustment! Rent is so high now (especially here in London) that I can’t see my DD affording to move out as soon as she graduates. Currently she is learning to drive (the only one of her friends doing so) which is draining her bank account fast! She’s also paying rent on her second year house though she doesn’t move in til late September.
Let’s hope they all keep up the good work!

@mondaytosunday lovely to hear about your dd and how well she is doing in her first year. She certainly is busy and taking up all the opportunities she finds interesting. I am also glad that she's still doing all her creative hobbies, a great way to balance out her life. And yes I agree, now we are dealing with adults, we do have to step back and let them get on with it even when they hit problems.

@FriendlyLaundryMonster glad to hear you dd is doing so well. Good luck with the personal statement.

It will be interesting to see how all of our dcs get on over the next few years and whether creative degrees were the right choice as well as being able to see what damage or not AI did to creative industries. Good luck to all of them and hope they all have a wonderful summer whatever it brings.

I did a degree in Illustration in the 90s. Since then, following various post grad courses over the years, I've been a secondary school art teacher, an art therapist, a TEFL teacher abroad and now I'm a web developer. I do feel that there has been a creative element to all the work I have done, but if I had my time again I think I might have chosen a different degree, something more intellectually stimulating.

Hi guys just an up date to say that, following his 10 week internship this summer, DS has been offered a Grad job with a major supermarket in marketing. He can now throw himself into his final year of his Fine Art degree with all that pressure off. We are made up for him!

@Lottsbiffandsmudge that's wonderful news. Congratulations to him. All the best for the final year!

@Lottsbiffandsmudge Thats amazing. How fantastic

Oh, belated congrats to @Lottsbiffandsmudge DS!

That's wonderful news @Lottsbiffandsmudge Well done to him!

DD is going to be on Season 12 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year! She filmed this in April, but hasn't been allowed to tell anyone until now. V exciting, if a bit scary!

Oh that's great! When does it screen, do you know? Love that show.

@Lottsbiffandsmudge The season starts on 1st October and dd will be in episode 5 on 29th October. You can watch it on Freeview channel 36 and all Sky Platforms. It's a bit nerve-wracking! But, we're looking forward to seeing it. Although we were on set with her, we mostly kept our distance so have no idea what conversations she had or what the judges said about her work 😟

That's super exciting @FriendlyLaundryMonster hope we can catch that. Dd is now 3rd year at Herts. I just hope she does well enough to get an actual job! Getting actual employment is my major anxiety. She can live at home - but she now has a bf and they want/need to be self-sufficient somewhere ( for everyone's benefit).

Lovely to hear that about fine art - My DS is starting Fine Art BA as I write today. I'm an art school grad and have never regretted it - but it's really part of my personality and I would never have been happy not doing something in the arts. I'm really pleased he's doing it because of the purity of the idea of art - I really think if you can learn to think about what art is and what it does and what it's for, than you have really transferrable skills even if you don't become a fine artist in you career.

I say that as someone now researching what creativity is in my professional life; and it really is something to be prized in all walks of life. Really interested to hear that engineering is valuing creativity too - tell me more @Lottsbiffandsmudge - because my other DS is about to apply to engineering degrees, and I'm interested in the idea that they are open to leaning into creativity