The Slade has specialist technical workshops and facilities to support teaching and research. These facilities are open to students across all the studio subject areas of painting, sculpture and fine art media. The Slade has a close relationship with UCL Art Museum which is part of UCL Museums & Collections.
Electronic media
There are two dedicated studios with Mac Pro's running a full range of software from Raster and Vector based, image-text and photo-manipulation packages (Creative Cloud) to digital video (Final Cut Pro, Final Cut X Premiere, DaVinci, After Effects), animation (including Maya and Cinema 4D), sound (Audition, Logic Pro, Ableton), internet and interactive media (including Flash, Dreamweaver, Max/msp & jitter). Studio peripherals include scanners (A3 flatbeds, A4 flatbed, dedicated Nikon film scanners for 35mm and medium format); animation rostrum for still or video camera; DVCam deck;an SSD capture deck for 4K files; a CD/DVD duplicator. There is also access to large format and A3 colour archival inkjet printing equipment (as part of the Slade digital print studio). The Slade website has space to host a full range of online student projects and includes webcasting facilities for audio and video. Entirely networked, the studios have full access to the www and internet, forming a hub of the UCL high-speed hub linking through ethernet and wirelessly via UCL Eduroam which is available throughout the Slade building and campus wide.
Film
There is provision for both Super 8mm and 16mm formats. Super 8mm equipment includes two cameras, splicer, a super 8mm Steenbeck flatbed table and projectors. 16mm equipment includes cameras (an Arriflex ST, an Arriflex SR and 2 Bolex) with provision for animation, a 16mm Steenbeck flatbed table, pic sync and 16mm projection. The Steenbecks and pic synch are in a dedicated film edit suite.
Knowledge Base
The Slade Knowledge Base is an online resource for students and staff to share useful information for studio work in all subject areas at the Slade School of Fine Art. All documents are accessible while connected to the UCL network. Slade Knowledge Base is at http://ucl.ac.uk/slade/know/.
Photography
There is a wide range of camera formats including 35mm, medium format cameras, large format cameras and digital SLR all supporting a wide range of lenses. Other equipment available includes tripods, light meters, portable flash units, portable daylights and other peripherals. Darkroom facilities include black and white film processing and printing for all formats, colour printing with RA4 processing machine up to 50cm wide and b/w mural printing. There is also access to film scanners, large format and A3 colour archival inkjet printing (as part of the digital print studio). A large, fully-equipped photographic studio is bookable for individual projects with various flash units, backdrops, product table and large studio tripod. For documentation of two-dimensional work there is a flat copy system which is both analogue and digital.
Facilities include workshops for etching, with three copper plate presses facilitating traditional and photo-mechanical intaglio techniques; screen printing is fully equipped, with three vacuum tables, power wash out and backlit developing unit and uses water based inks and direct photo-stencils; lithography has one large direct press for stone and photo plate methods; there is an albion press for relief and surface printing and a fully equipped bindery for the preparation of artists' books, with power guillotine, nipping presses and a titling press; digital print facility with A3+ and large format printers for high quality printing with colour managed workflow integrated with the electronic media facilities.
Sculpture
The workshop has an extensive range of metal-working facilities, ranging from lathes to fabrication, forging and welding equipment and a foundry for casting bronze and aluminium. Wood-working facilities include a band saw, planer, drill press, table saw and router. In addition specialist tools and a range of hand power tools are available. The metal and wood workshops are supplemented with facilities for mould-making, wax preparation, stone carving and other traditional techniques. A computer suite enabling 3D modelling and a computer navigated cutter complete the facilities in sculpture.
Sound
There is an accoustically insulated studio equipped with midi-sequencing,
hard disk recording (Intel iMac runing Logic Pro and Soundtrack Pro), sampling,
effects, soundproof booth , SMPTE time coding and provision for post dubbing. There is also a Yamaha digital piano that can can play standalone or via the mixer to Pro Logic. There is a separate digital edit suite with sound library, (logic pro, Adobe CC, Final Cut Pro, Final Cut X, DaVinci) and a Nucleus SSL mixer.
Video
There are Black Magic and Sony 4K and HD video cameras, audio recording and support equipment, provision for digital video editing in two computer labs and four editing suites comprised of iMacs with i-movie and Final Cut Pro, Final Cut X, Adobe CC and DaVinci software plus image editing and web design applications. One of the video edit suites has an HDV tape deck and two of the suites are capable of authoring Blu-Ray DVDs. There are two transfer facilities between video formats (VHS, Hi-8, Mini-DV and DVD) and a film/video/Green Screen production studio.
UCL Art Museum
UCL Art Museum is an
experimental space for interdisciplinary interrogation of the image. Located at
the heart of UCL’s main Bloomsbury campus in a traditional print room, the
Museum is uniquely positioned to support interdisciplinary research and teaching.
The collections consist of many unique groups of material of international
importance dating from the 1490s to the present day. A selection of these is on
permanent display in the public and semi-public rooms in the college, including
paintings, sculptures and murals. Works in the reserve collections are
available for viewing by appointment. These include prize-winning student work
from the Slade School of Fine Art, prints and drawings by old master artists
such as Dürer, Rembrandt, Turner and Constable, and sculpture models by the
renowned Neo-Classical artist John Flaxman – the largest group of works by this
sculptor in any collection.
UCL Information Systems
Informations Systems provides central IT facilities, cluster rooms and network, together with a wide range of IT support activities and training. All students are issued with their own computer account including email when they enrol.
UCL Library
The principal collection for Fine Art and History of Art is in the Main Library, just a few seconds walk from the Slade. It has a dedicated Art Librarian, Liz Lawes. The Art Collection comprises Fine Art and History of Art, including historiography, museology, curating and the art market; philosophy, aesthetics, criticism and cultural studies; topical, chronological and geographic sequences; applied and performing arts, graphics, costume, theatre and vernacular; film studies; photography; techniques, colour, materials, conservation; and rare art books in the Special Collections. The Library subscribes to Art periodicals in both print and electronic format. There is also a Special Collection of Small Press materials, comprising Little Magazines, Alternative Presses, and the Poetry Store. The Audio Visual Collections include feature films, documentary etc. Art related videos and DVDs include interviews with artists and examples of their work, and there is a collection of audio CDs which includes interviews with artists, recordings of performances and original soundworks. There are also electronic collections, art related bibliographic databases and an extensive collection of digital images. Library News For Artists is a blog by the Art Librarian, Liz Lawes, which contains news about new art resources in UCL Library. Students have full access to collections in all other disciplines held by the UCL Library.
