There are around 160 full-time undergraduate students at the Slade studying on either the four-year BA or the three-year BFA studio based programmes in Fine Art. The BA and BFA are of equal academic standing and have the same entrance requirements. The BA includes a history and theory of art component and an additional course chosen from another UCL department. The BFA includes a practice-based critical studies component.
See the work from the Slade Degree Shows and the 2020 Showcase.
Introduction
The practice-based element is themes around three areas: Fine Art Media, Painting and Sculpture. At the end of Term 1, students select one area. Students will initiate and develop their own programmes of work with tutorial guidance and technical support.
Workshops and seminars develop students’ skills and technical abilities, supplemented by visiting artists, contemporary art lectures and, when possible, gallery visits.
Whilst normally organised in-area, a temporary year-group structure is in place for the 2020/21 session. This will be reviewed in light of developments with the Covid pandemic.
In Years 1 and 2, BA Fine Art Students complete courses in History and Theory of Art, assessed by written assignments. In Year 3, a longer Independent Study is written. BA Fine Art students must also pass an additional subject module – a unit of study taken in another department.
BFA Fine Art students complete Critical Studies course in each year, aligned with their practice and art research.
Both BA and BFA students may apply for a period of study-abroad as part of the Slade’s exchange programme. Places are available on a competitive basis.
Aims
The BA and BFA Fine Art programmes aim to:
- develop the individual visual intelligence each student brings with them to the School
- develop in each student a critical awareness and understanding of fine art and its contexts
- provide the intellectual and practical resources to enable each student to realise his or her creative potential as a professional artist
- provide studio-centred teaching and a forum for debate through which students become increasingly professional and articulate in their questioning
Practice-based Programme
The tutorial system
Each student has a personal tutor within their year group, and meets at least twice per term. One-to-one tutorials can be arranged, subject to availability, with other Slade tutors from across the undergraduate, graduate and PhD programmes.
Content-led seminars
Content-led seminars are arranged around themes, such as photography. Some are pre-organised, with some slots left empty to respond to students’ current interests. These seminars aim to relate the students practice to specific ideas and subjects to develop critical awareness.
Critiques (Crits)
All students will take part, both as observers and as presenters in studio crits. The crit provide a forum for students to present their work to students and tutors across all the years and subject disciplines. The aim is to relate the work to a broad context beyond the year groups and subject disciplines in which it is produced. The crit also aims to develop students' understanding of how to locate, place and present their artwork for exhibition, performance or public setting.
Core Programme
All Year 1 BA and BFA Students must complete the Core Programme. Led by tutors from the History and Theory of Art programme, with contribution from Critical Studies and studio staff. This provides a solid grounding from which to begin the History and Theory of Art and Critical Studies programme, in a way which is relevant to students’ practices.
Visiting Artist Programme
Each area has a programme of visitors including artists, critics and curators who give tutorials, lectures and participate in seminars. Recent visitors include: Recent visitors include: Jonathan Allen, Michael Armitage, Oreet Ashery, Stefania Batoeva, Sutapa Biswas, Holly Blakey, Maeve Brennan, Lisa Brice, Heath Bunting, Bonnie Camplin, Alice Channer, Celine Condorelli, Chen Chieh-Jen, Lewis Hammond, Than Hussein Clark, Enrico David, Siobhan Davies, Peter Doig, Kaye Donachie, Eloise Hawser, Jana Euler, Extinction Rebellion, Adham Faramawy, Azadeh Fatehrad, Denzil Forrester, Charlie Fox, Lothar Goetz, Max Haiven, Ayeesha Hameed, Mark Harris, Eloise Hawser, Lubaina Himid, Andy Holden, Marguerite Humeau, Evan Ifekoya, Tarek Lakhrissi, Joshua Leon, Rachael Jones, Isaac Julien, Samson Kambalu, Mikhail Karikis, Patrick Keiller, Ibrahim Mahama, Paul Maheke, Johnathan Meese, Rosalind Nashashibi, Harold Offeh, Isabel Mallet, Melanie Manchot, Jennifer Martin, David Medalla, Dawn Mellor, Jade Monserrat, Oscar Murillo, Ima-Abasi Okon, Heather Phillipson, Amalia Pica, Planningtorock, Candida Powell-Williams, James Pyman, Morgan Quaintance, Raju Rage, Rachel Reupke, Maggie Roberts/Orphan Drift, Prem Sahib, Larissa Sansour, Hannah Sawtell, Malik Nashad Sharpe, Tai Shani, Marianna Simnett, Alexandria Smith, Melanie Smith, Hannah Starkey, Clare Strand, Sintra Tantra, Luc Tuymans, Bedwyr Williams, Zadie Xa, Shen Xin.
The Painting Area
Tutors from the undergraduate painting aim to enable each student to pursue their ideas in and around painting in all its forms in the most committed, imaginative and experimental way. Work may manifest itself in a wide variety of different mediums and materials. Interaction with each other is an essential aspect of the painting course. One-to-one tutorials are a crucial part of the course and regular seminars and crits take place where students are encouraged to discuss and present their work to fellow students and staff. Workshops are programmed to introduce painters to stretcher-making and materials. An integral part of the course is the extensive programme of visiting artists and critics, who give tutorials and lectures and participate in seminars.
The Sculpture Area
The undergraduate sculpture academics embrace an expansive idea of sculpture towards the expression and exploration of ideas in space, using material or dematerialised processes. We encourage experimentation, invention and intervention which may incorporate object making, installation, the uses of appropriation and the found object, drawing, still and moving image, sound, text, printed matter and performance. Staff and students engage in rigorous, discursive conversation, exploring and developing the ideas generated by student activity, and the subject of sculpture and its possibilities. We consider production in its broadest sense, the contexts of space and place, audience, process, temporal and haptic encounter through the discussion of work, the contexts of art practice and relevant historical and contemporary models of thought. When permitted, field visits are made to galleries, studios, factories and sites. Technical support is provided in the use of wood, metal, plastic, ceramics, construction, casting, carving and moulding techniques, moving, still and 3D digital image, sound and printed media. For the 2020/21 session, technical workshops will operate at a reduced level and will provide Production Support service.
Fine Art Media in the BA/BFA
The undergraduate fine art media tutors encourage a diverse approach to exploring media and ideas. The area allows students to specialise and develop expertise in a chosen medium or a combination of approaches that test the boundaries and relationships of different media. Students can develop their practice through a broad range of technologies and approaches that include film, video, photography, print, electronic and digital media, drawing, performance, sound, object-making, installation and the production of texts and publications. An experimental and critical approach is encouraged and a wide range of conceptual and practical expertise is provided by staff who are practitioners specialising in the field. Technical tuition and theoretical and philosophical discourse relevant to the area are introduced to students through workshops, gallery visits and seminars, when permitted.
History and Theory of Art in the BA
History and Theory of Art courses in the first two years are thematic, looking at both historical and contemporary art. They provide a grounding in histories and theories of art which contributes to students' overall development as artists and their awareness of the relevance of these critical studies to the contemporary practising artist. The programme helps students to contextualize their practice-based work and to understand and negotiate the complex relationships between making art and the ways in which contemporary and historical art is interpreted, displayed and understood. The programme takes the form of lectures, seminars, individual tutorials, written papers and, when permitted, gallery and museum visits. It is structured to encourage increasing independence of thinking and the third year Independent Study is an in-depth research project on a subject chosen by the student and developed through regular supervision. Students are expected to participate actively in the programme: reading set texts in preparation for seminars and generating discussion through informed questioning and debate. Through a range of assessed assignments, seminars, tutorials and more informal discussion, students develop and refine their skills in articulating ideas in spoken and written forms and their powers of criticism and self-criticism.
Additional Course in the BA
BA Fine Art students take one additional course from a vast range of options offered in other UCL departments (subject to availability), normally in their second year. This may relate to their practice-based work, for example, a course in anthropology, psychology, architecture or film, or it may provide an additional skill such as mathematics or computing. Students may apply to take an intercollegiate module at other University of London colleges.
Critical Studies in the BFA
The critical studies component of the three-year BFA Fine Art programme is integrated into the undergraduate practice-based course and the tutorial system. Students’ understanding of critical studies will be developed through their participation in lectures, seminars, workshops tutorials, and the visiting artists’ programme. Critical studies is designed to provide students with the ability to reference their work within a relevant contemporary and historical cultural context, to enable students to develop verbal, written and practical skills in relation to the development of their work and to enable them to develop effective methods for the presentation of their work. It is supported in the first year by an introductory core course into the contexts and histories of art practice and a Critical Studies course in years two and three.
Assessment and Examination
Practice-based work in the BA and BFA
Students receive an annual tutorial report and present a portfolio of practice-based work for assessment at the end of each year. Students must demonstrate development of their practice, critical awareness, and their participation and contribution to the programme. These end-of-year assessments lead up to the final-year degree exam and progression to a career as a practising artist.
The degree exam contributes 80% of the final degree mark for BA Fine Art students, and 100% of the mark for BFA Fine Art students.
History and Theory of Art in the BA Fine Art
In the first year, students complete one written exercise for the Core Programme in Term 1, and one written exercise for one of the Term 2 short courses. Both essays are formative (the mark does not count towards the final degree.
In the second year, students complete one written exercise for the Term 1 course, and one written exercise for the Term 2 course. The aggregated mark of these essays contributes 10% to the final degree mark.
In the third year, students complete a longer Independent Study, supervised by a member of the History and Theory of Art team. The mark from the Independent Study contributes 10% to the final degree mark.
Through coursework, seminars, tutorials and more informal discussion, students develop and refine their skills in articulating ideas in spoken and written forms and their powers of criticism and self-criticism. The programme as a whole promotes independent research and the critical contextualisation of studio work.
Critical studies in the BFA
Critical Studies is assessed in years one and two and must be passed in order for the student to progress to the following year of the programme. Students are required to identify and articulate their works’ critical context and practical concerns by presenting a text and by making a presentation of their work at their end of their Critical Studies course.
Admissions
Visit the Slade
Applicants for our undergraduate programmes are encouraged to attend one of our virtual open day events. These will be scheduled in November and December, and you can book a place here (dates tbc). During these events, you will be able to speak with our tutors and ask any questions that you may have. Unfortunately, we do not expect to host our usual Open Studios event in December 2020.
Application procedure for Fine Art programmes
All applications to the BA and BFA in Fine Art at the Slade must be made through UCAS by 15 January at 6.00pm (GMT).
UCAS codes UCL: U80 / BA Fine Art: W100 / BFA Fine Art: W101
Portfolio inspection
All applicants are required to submit one portfolio for inspection by the entrance examiners. To provide resilience in the 2020/21 application cycle, all portfolios must be submitted electronically. Portfolios must be uploaded by 11.59pm (GMT) on Thursday, 28th January 2021.
Portfolio Handling Fee
All applicants must pay an inspection fee of £15 or US$20. The handling fee is not returnable.
Once you have submitted the UCAS application, you will be sent a link to Slideroom (please note that this may take a few days, whilst UCAS transfers the application to us). Applicants should submit up to twenty images with each image no larger than 5mb. Titles should be included for each image including the date the work was made, size and materials. Applicants with time-based or performance elements to their work may include a showreel with a maximum duration time of five minutes, no larger than 500mb. We also encourage applicants to upload a short video featuring pages from sketchbooks.
Slideroom (www.slideroom.com) is a USA based company and users IT infrastructure located in the USA. By uploading your portfolio via you agree that the personal details that you have provided along with your portfolio will be stored and processed in the USA. Slideroom’s privacy policy is available here: www.slideroom.com/privacy.html. UCL will remain responsible for your personal data and acts as the Data Controller as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998. Further information about ownership of content is available here: www.slideroom.com/applicant_terms.html.
Applicants must upload their portfolio to Slideroom by Thursday 28 January 2021. Portfolios will be reviewed in early February.
Conditions
If portfolios are not sent in the specified format, they will not be viewed and your application will be rejected. Portfolios will not be viewed without payment of the Portfolio Inspection Fee. The inspection fee is not returnable.
Interviews
Shortlisted applicants will be invited for interview at the Slade. We expect interviews to take place in late February or early March.
If you are selected for interview, you will be sent a date and time. Interviews in 2020/21 are planned to take place using Microsoft Teams, in order to provide resilience and reduce the risk of postponement or cancellation due to Covid.
Entrance Requirements
The BA and BFA programmes are of equal academic standing and have the same entrance requirements.
Details of entrance requirements, including grades for international qualifications and English language requirements can be found in the UCL Prospectus.
Special Entrance
In exceptional circumstances, a candidate who does not satisfy the published requirements may be admitted to the programme on the recommendation of the Slade Director and with the permission of the Dean of Students (Academic).
Mature Applicants
Applications from 'mature' candidates (aged 21 or over), who may not have a standard educational background, are welcome and are considered individually on their merits.
Deferred Entry
Applications for deferred entry are not normally considered.
English Language Requirement
Any applicant whose first language is not English must be able to provide recent evidence that their spoken and written command of the English language is adequate for the programme.
A list of all the qualifications accepted and the grades required can be found on the UCL website. The Slade requires the Standard level for the BA, BFA and Affiliate Study.
Fees and Funding
This should be read in conjunction with the UCL Scholarships and Funding web pages and the Slade’s own scholarship page.
Tuition fees
UCL’s tuition fees are set annually and cover registration, tuition and supervision for each academic year, or part of an academic year that you are enrolled. Tuition fees may be subject to an annual increase. The fee does not cover artists' or other academic materials. Current fees and further information about fee status, how to pay and living expenses can be found on the UCL Money pages.