I think it's a fit time to discuss my year of doing an Art and Design Foundation Diploma seeing as I am coming to the end of my time there. I have thoroughly enjoyed this kind of experience and would definitely recommend this kind of course to anyone studying Art and Design.

It has given me time to experiment and grow and learn things I probably would have missed out on if I had jumped straight into a degree. ( For those who are unaware, a Foundation Diploma is the stage between A level and Degree level that gives you time to develop before progressing to university.)

I started this course September last year and haven't looked back since. The course was split into three sections and I feel this progression helped me to shape my work whilst exploring techniques I hadn't yet had access to.

It consisted of experimentation and generally trying anything and everything which to someone like me was wonderful. Not just painting but most of the fields were included like textiles, printing, Photoshop, ceramics, 3D design, photography etc.

We then moved onto refining the area we wanted to work in and experimented further in that field. This was preparing us for the final stage where we composed a project with a finished product/ piece.


And finally we had to compile an exhibition of our work to display to the public.

 


This is a very condensed and poor quality compilation of my work but I wanted to include a lot of it. It is random but I have explored and tried a lot of things out this past year and want to give examples. Throughout my sketchbooks I have linked my work and tied it all together so collectively it makes more sense. I simply wanted to show the range of things I tried (this is nowhere near all of it either) and how I spent my time doing my foundation.

I really feel this experience has helped me grow in my skills, my techniques and my knowledge of who, what, where and how in the world of art and design. I feel I could just go for it, unafraid of the outcome and really set myself free instead of penning myself in with my perfectionism. My work is by no means perfect but I feel this is the beauty of it as I was free to have a go, and to find out where my interests and talents lay.

To anyone studying A level or Art BTEC I would more than recommend this kind of course because there is so much out there that you can experiment with and when an extra year to discover these opportunities, why would anyone turn it down? I was petrified at the end of A level as I felt so unprepared for university but know I feel so much more confident in my knowledge of the art world as well as techniques and media.

As one of my first posts of considerable length I hope you enjoy my work and I hope to include good quality, extended posts in the future too. And wow this sounds way more formal than I expected!
Bye bye for now!