University and Apprenticeships Research
Visual arts courses are available include fine art ,cinematics ,photography ,fashion ,graphic design.
The arears that I am most interested in is fine art and textiles. I think that I enjoy making artwork physically as I also enjoy the variety off the different processes you can use in these areas to create artworks. I think that I am interested in both making artwork to be in an exhibition purpose but also for use in products.
I am also interested interior design as I think that I would enjoy designing spaces and seeing ho people could use as space. I also like the idea of adapting existing spaces,.
I think that I am also interested in to fashion design as it links to textiles but I think I could enjoy designing patterns to be as inclusive as possible.
The general entry requirements or visual arts course are though ucas points which are achieved from A level and vocational courses .Entry can also be from a foundation year or an access to higher education course.
In addition you will have needled to achieve at least five Gcses with a pass in English language and math.
Specific to each course you will need to have done an art related subject. Also most courses require you to submit a portfolio off work relating to the course that you are applying for which is submitted after your UCAS form.
A personal Statement allows you to talk about achievements and add information to your application about your self which is linked to the course. Some of the information that you should include about why you choose the course, work experience and future plans ,achievement skills and life experience that you have had.
For all of the visual arts courses you will be required to submit a a personal statement with your ucas application and a portfolio of work which links to the course that you are applying for.
Sometimes the portfolio is sent to the university digitally and other times you will have to talk through your work at an interview. Based on the strength of the portfolio university could lower the entry requirements off the course.
Other routes in visual arts that are not degrees are apprentices .Which allow you to earn a salary and work whilst spending around one day a week at a learning provider.
Apprentices are split up in to different levels the highest being degree level apprenticeships which are level 5-7 and equivalent once completed to a Bachelors and Masters degree to level two apprenticeships which are GCSE level qualifications.I am not interested in doing an apprenticeship as the area of art and design i hope to go in to textiles there are not many available and would be difficult to find a place.Also the apprenticeships are often very specific to one carer and i think through doing a degree would keep my options open in being able to try different disciplines within textiles ,fashion and interiors to understand more what i enjoy the most.Also at universities there is a large range of equipment from many different disciplines which i think i would not have access to or be taught if i went on a specific apprenticeship.
Artist/Illustrator
Next i have researched in to two career options and looking in to what each job would involve and the qualifications needed.
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Examples of the tasks which an artist would do each day could be, creating commission pieces off work, Selling artworks in craft fairs and markets, Contacting gallery's about future potential exhibitions and planning, sketching pieces off artwork which could then be sold or exhibited.
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The wages start off for new people in the industry £8,694 to the most experienced which is £55,733 with the average salary is £27,258.
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The job prospects are mostly freelance work through commissions and short term contracts .The amount of job vacancies last year were 8,009 compared to graphic design which was 71,994.This may be due to freelance work not being included in the statistics.
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Some off the hard skills which are required to become an artist or illustrator are adobe photoshop and illustrator, Auto desk Maya, Animations as well as marketing
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Some off the soft skills are communications this could between gallery's and customers for commissions, Problem Solving and Self-Motivation.
Courses that I have found that link to the career off becoming an artist or an illustrator.
Theses links are to undergraduate courses for illustration.
https://www.ucas.com/explore/unis/b79a4cbd-f530-3251-06b9-99ec0d90d1fb/Bristol,%20University%20of%20the%20West%20of%20England?studyYear=current
Theses are undergraduate courses for fine art
Some of the other routes in to the course would be to do work experience with an artist or at an art gallery to understand more about the processes off creating the exhibition.
You could start working freelance by building up a portfolio off work and to create a website offering your design work and examples off previous work to be able to achieve commissions.
Photographer
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A photographer could manage equipment and its positioning at a photo shoot. Changing lenses and adjusting aperture, Also process and edit images .Contact clients about commissions .Planning and arranging photoshoot.
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The wages are for new workers start at £14,563 and the most experienced were £50,633 with the average salary £24,800
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Some off the hard skills which are required to become a photographer would being able to use a camera ,Adobe photoshop to edit photographs ,Lightroom ,Zoom to contact clients ,Image editing.
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Some off the soft skills which would be needed to work in photography could be editing the photographs ,Communication with clients, Being detail orientated, management and customer service
Courses which I have found are undergraduate degrees in photography
https://digital.ucas.com/coursedisplay/courses/73218fca-37a5-a757-c1ae-97110d8a57e1?academicYearId=2023
Then there are more specific curses that focus in one area off photography such as fashion photography
https://digital.ucas.com/coursedisplay/courses/4ee95a71-4bb6-4125-aae6-e172f469c5c6?academicYearId=2023
And documentary photography
https://digital.ucas.com/coursedisplay/courses/c530f7e4-abc1-4f4a-83d6-e3cd7bbad622?academicYearId=2023
Other routes in to becoming a photographer would be to do an which would be an apprentice at fisher studios which at the end off the apprentice they could work for the commercial photography business. Other routes could be to build up a portfolio off work and start freelancing through making a website and social media profile so that your audience can find you.
Some soft skills I think that I have is good at problem solving I think that I have worked on this through my projects where my plan to make something has not been successful such as not having the correct shape off fabric in the quilt to adapt to create a new design. I think that another soft skill is patience as sometimes to create an outcome such as the natural history museum poster and quilt takes a long amount off time where I need to be self motivated to continue adding small amounts off detail to make a most successful outcome. I think that I have also improved my decision making through picking a final layout or color in part off an outcome and knowing when there is no more detail and changes that you can add to your outcome
I think that I would like to develop my organization and time management skills due to at the end off the project I struggle to finish all off the sketchbook pages off evaluation. I think that I also could be able to improve it through setting out time limits for the tasks which I need to complete then moving on to the next task when the time limit is up then using any time to go back and finish so that I make sure that I complete the tasks not as rushed
Soft Skills
Some hard skills which I think that I have are physical are using the sewing machine, Lino printing, screen printing, printing press, painting and hand embroidery. Also using a DSLR camera and camera equipment .Then some off the digital skills that I can use are adobe photoshop, lightroom and illustrator.
These skills I have mostly gained in my Betec course in different sections of projects such as in the typography project where I explored printing then in my A2 project I explored using the sewing machine to create my quilt. Then in most of the projects I improved my use off photoshop through creating mock ups off how my outcomes would be seen as well as photographing my outcomes.
I think that I would like to develop some more skills such as knitting and crocheting so that I could use these skills in creating sample fabrics. I would also like to explore more intricate embroidery using beads to create embellished patterns that could be used in more intricate embroidery pieces. I also would like to develop my skills on photoshop with repeat patter
Hard Skills
COURSES I AM INTRESTED IN
Courses that I have identified that I am interested in are textiles and fashion design.
I think that some of the skills that you need for both of these courses are visualisation and problem solving to be able to plan out what your outcome could look like also being ok with changing your final outcome after researching and the process of making trials and samples.
I also think that I will need to have skills to be able to self reflect about my own work. I think that this could mean that you could see where I need to go back and improve a design or change part of an outcome .Another Skill which I could need would be to research and finding inspiration which could help to inform my designs such as historical and cultural references.
I think that some of these courses would require a lot of patience due to learning a lot of new skills take a long time at the beginning of the course. Such as the learning to hand embroidery and use the different looms in a textiles course. Then in fashion learning how to cut patterns, fashion illustration ad Cad design software which are continued to be developed throughout the whole of the course.I think that a university degree is something i am more interesting due to the range of different skills and processes that you will learn.Also most of the degrees are not specific to one job at the end so there are range of different options i could go in to.
Textiles
I think that this course looks interesting through the range of different techniques that you will learn and the ability to create a range of outcome for fashion ,interiors or product design.
In textiles I think that I would like how there are made different processes that you can create designs. Often a lot of the weave and embroidery seems to be very practical which is the method of creating artwork that I enjoy the most. Also in the course you would learn digital skills to create patterns as well as machine embroidery and printing which are often used In the industry to mass produce textiles.
Most of the textile courses that I have researched are 100% coursework so your projects are assed by portfolios ,sketchbooks ,journals and written assignments.
https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/textile-design this course at Falmouth university, In this course there is an option to complete a professional placement year where you will learn more about the industry and be able to create a portfolio of your work. The course structure is that there is one written module in year 1 and 2.Then a final dissertation in year 3.
I think that this course looks interesting as there is a focus in environmental impact of the materials which are used to create conscious practices to see of this can relate to production and manufacturing of textiles. In the second year you will be able to create designs for an brief set by external client so that you can understand more what the requirements are like.
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/course/art-and-design/ug/ba-hons-textile-design#what-you-will-study This course at Nottingham Trent. Is different to Falmouth as at the end of first year you chose to specialize in one area of textiles after rotation in many different workshops of print ,weave ,knit ,embroidery and multi media. There is also an option to transfer courses to more specific knitted textiles and Fashion Knitwear design. In the first year of the course you ‘explore core design concepts 'which allow you to explore many different techniques and processes through workshops. Then in the second year you will explore in the modules more advanced techniques that they use in industry and look at markets. There is also an optional module that allows you to pick a module. Which I think would be interesting as they look more specific examples are, Made to last-clothing for longevity and circularity, Material Stories and trend forecasting. Then in the final year you write your dissertation and I think that then the final project is a design brief which you write.
https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/degrees/index.php?action=view&code=J420 This course is at uni of Edinburgh. it is in Scotland most of the degrees there are 4 years long.In year one you focus on more on research drawing and materials. You can also choose up to 40 credits of different optional courses from the wider university I think that this would be good as you are not focusing just on one subject all of the time and gives a range to what you study.Also there are options for professional placement .
Fashion
I think that fashion design degree covers similar arears to textiles but with a focus on pattern making and construction of a garment.
https://www.gsa.ac.uk/study/undergraduate-degrees/fashion-design/ This course at Glasgow School of art .There are some sections of the course which are linked to history of art which I think looks interesting. I think that the course focuses on traditions and looking in to the future. Also exploring digital technologies to create designs.
https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/fashion-design This course is at Falmouth university. The course covers both traditional process of creating patterns and more contemporary process including CLO3D. In the first year the courses modules focus on creating pattern and reusing original courses as well as looking at contextual reference and history to link to
https://aub.ac.uk/course/fashion This is fashion design at arts university Bournemouth. This course looks good as you focus in at the end of the three years in to an more specific are. The course starts of with skills and exploration where you learn digital fashion software pattern cutting and construction. Then in the second year focus is on
Interior Design
Interior design covers a large range of different spaces included commercials and residential. Interior design courses often look at the phycology of how we use spaces. Often a lot of the courses have a professional placement year where you can gain valuable skills in the industry.
https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/courses/ug-interior-design/ This is a course of interior design at bath spa university. There are a range of different spaces that you work on in the first year. In the first modules are on observation and model making. Then in the second year there is more of a focus on work experience and industry. Then in the final year there is more of a focus on hands on making creating a portfolio and the final major project.
https://courses.uwe.ac.uk/2C3W/interior-design In the first year there is a focus on an introduction to interior design .With each year there are options for work experience in the industry .The course covers arears of high end design ,working with building and digital design. There are opportunities to explore Photoshop, In design and illustrator. In the course you will visit locations to understand more about the space.
https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/artanddesign/courses/Pages/ba-interior-design.aspx This is at Cardiff Metropolitan University. At the beginning of the course you start by learning the skills in technical drawing, model making, CAD design. Then there is a module collaborating with other students and also theory's and contextual research that could inspire your ideas.
Degree Show
At the visit to the degree show there was work from a range of different courses including textiles, photographs and illustration. From the textile section of the exhibition from talking to the students I learnt that at BCU you chose to specialise in to an area in the second year of textiles from print, textile and embroidery. I liked that the fabrics had been used for a range of different purposes of fashion, products .But there is also a range of textiles for sensory purposes so that textiles could be used for many different purposes to help people for there wellbeing.
I was inspired by how the textiles had been displayed including parts of the raw materials which had been used so that the audience can understand more about where the fabric came from. I also liked the way that they hung up the fabrics to fill the space but then also included small amounts of samples.
I also saw the fashion design which I though was interesting the range of materials that they used to create the garments using knitwear and crochet . I also liked how some of the projects focused on costume and theatre. I though that the pages that they presented there work on to worked well as they allowed the audience to understand the process of how they were designed.
I also learnt that there were a lot of courses that were connected to fashion that explored other roles that are involved within the fashion industry such as fashion Management, Fashion Business and Promotion. But these courses did not look as practical and a lot of the final outcomes were digital which I think that I wouldn’t enjoy as much
Open Day Reaseach
These are the course options that I have narrowed down most of the unis do both textile and fashion design so I will be able to look at both courses.
The open day for Bath Spa is 20th September and 28th October https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/open-days/
Open days at Nottingham Trent Uni that I could visit are 30th June and 1st July https://www.ntu.ac.uk/study-and-courses/open-days/find-an-open-day
Open day for Birmingham City University is 24 June https://www.bcu.ac.uk/student-info/open-days
Open day for Falmouth university is 7th and 28th October and 25th November https://www.falmouth.ac.uk/experience/open-days#upcoming-open-days
Open day for Manchester metropolitan university is Wednesday 21st June https://www.mmu.ac.uk/study/open-days/undergraduate?gclid=Cj0KCQjw7aqkBhDPARIsAKGa0oKuzGZbA9p-1zaEuZtpm5AIwbBTQqMOjoINh0hgSy2rmtFNOA1XOu0aAs9NEALw_wcB
Open day for Glasgow school of Art Is 28th and 29th October https://www.gsa.ac.uk/life/gsa-events/events/o/open-day-2022
Open day for university of Edinburgh is 7th and 28th October https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergraduate/open-days-events-visits/open-day