Foundation Diploma in Art & Design

What it's all about?

This is an exciting and challenging course, ideal for helping you make an informed choice of degree as well as offering a major advantage when applying for highly competitive degree courses. As part of this course, you will also achieve a Level 3 qualification in Mixed Media Craft.

The course will provide the creative groundwork on which you can base the rest of your professional life. It will nurture and develop your abilities; within our intensively creative environment, you'll become inventive, experimental and analytical. The early start and finish to the course (August to May) gives you more time to prepare your portfolio for university interviews. (Applicants should not plan holidays during term-time, and particularly not during the early part of the course).

Is this the course for you?

If you want to do a degree in art or design but don't know how to choose from over 150 specialist art and design subjects, you need the diagnostic experience which this long-established and nationally respected course offers. Even if you think you know what art and design subjects entail, you may be surprised by what they really involve! The course could also help to prevent expensive mistakes.

Mature students (21+)

We actively encourage mature applicants and they have been amongst some of our most successful students.

Introduction to Visual Thinking (Exploratory stage)
The 2-week induction programme

After being introduced to your tutors and shown around the College, you'll begin work in the studios almost immediately, with the primary focus on drawing from life. You'll have basic inductions into the technical facilities you will be using throughout the course. These include printmaking, 3D workshops (wood/metal and clay), Mac software, photography and the Library. You will also begin to look at and discuss research skills that you will need to develop.

The 8-week visual thinking programme, September

During this period you experiment with the nature of creative thinking, developing an understanding of approaches to drawing, colour and materials, in order to challenge and investigate ideas. You'll also investigate colour theory and 3D thinking, both of which influence our perceptions of form and space.

Stage 1, October (Exploratory stage)

You will be asked to explore a wide range of more abstract ideas and principles, and to challenge your own preconceptions, and to become more independent in your study.

Understanding the diagnostic process

This continues right from the beginning of the course. You will develop new skills as a result of the projects you undertake, and your preferences and abilities, together with the lecture programme, tutorials and research into contemporary practice, will help you to choose a specialist area of study.

Stage 2 (Pathway stage)
November - specialist option

You will work in either Graphics, Illustration & Digital Media, Fine Art, Textiles, Fashion & Costume or 3D Design & Craft, initially to help confirm your choice, followed by serious preparation for university interviews. You will be encouraged to use the Photography, Print, Video, Computer and Workshop facilities of the College as widely as possible.

Stage 3 (Confirmatory stage)
February - final major project

Negotiated by you and forming the bulk of your presentation exhibition at the end of the year, this project is the culmination of your Foundation experience and is represented in the public End of Year Show.

Historical and contextual studies

You'll be encouraged to involve yourself in contemporary and historical art and design practice from the outset of the course. A lecture and seminar programme places your study in the context of art and design developments within the 20th century. Your research into recent developments in your specialist area, plus your written findings, are designed to support your credibility at degree-course interviews.

Resources

The course is housed in purpose-built studios in a building of character, with a long history of influence in art and design education. It is close to the city libraries, galleries and study centres, with access to the excellent College Library facilities and computer, print, woodwork, metalwork, photographic, video editing, multi-media and 3D craft workshops.

Study visits

Aside from visits to local museums, galleries and exhibitions, there are usually optional trips to London and a week abroad in a centre of cultural significance.

Number of places

There are 250 places, split into much smaller groups for teaching. The course is extremely popular and we receive between 650 and 800 applications each year.

Progression & career opportunities

Students progress to Higher Education courses in a wide range of subject areas throughout the UK. Our placement record is excellent.

The interview

All applications received by 15 January will lead to an interview. After that, interviews will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, within the interview slots available. All applications will be considered. You will be interviewed in groups of about ten. Members of the course team look at your folder of work while another member shows you the studios and workshop facilities and explains the structure of the course. You will then have a brief one-to-one interview lasting about ten minutes.

What do I need in my portfolio?

You should demonstrate a breadth of approaches to visualisation through analytical or observational drawing, use of colour, 3D work, the use of sketchbooks as a tool to develop ideas and creative thinking, and an exploration in art and design practice. We expect to see photographic documentation of any work which is too large for your folder, difficult to move, or not available due to examination at the time of interview. We recommend you include any work produced outside of school that might be of particular interest, eg theatre pieces, garments, life drawing, illustration, etc.

Destinations

The course has established links with a range of nationally and internationally renowned institutions, and consistently places students on some of the country's leading degree courses.