Central Saint Martins (CSM), London

I did a short course in Architectural Drawing there, so I can't say much about the fashion side. However the course was good, and the tutor was excellent, although he doesn't do much teaching at CSM. He used to be a part-time tutor on the Industrial Design course, but he only does summer schools now.

It seemed like a pretty good place to study, but out of term time and only for a week you don't get much of an impression.
 
MissAlexis said:
Hey, going there on August 30th for 4 days so will keep you posted. :flower:

Thankyou, any info would be greatly appreciated! I'm looking into it and coming from abroad so I want know everything I can:flower:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I remember how McQueen totally dissed this school ... dont know many mentions by Galliano or McCartney ...

I think if I'd pursuit a career in fashion ... actually ... scratch that ... this is the school of my dreams ...
 
Does anyone know it's reputation for Graphic and Fine Arts?

I'm in the US so I don't know if it'd be worth it to look at this school when I get around to looking in the spring and summer. (07) Plus I'm in NY so if FIT would be better, it's a state school and all. Ahhghh colleges confuse me too much.
 
The CSM site is a little difficult to navigate but from what I've gathered, is it correct to believe that the foundation course for taking the undergraduate BA (Honours) Fashion course is the Foundation in Art and Design course? Then what about the Fashion Folio course? And that it is a mandatory requirement for one to have at least three A-Levels before he or she can be enrolled into the foundation course? Do I need to take Art for GCSE or A-Levels to get into the foundation art and design course?

Also, what's the minimum age for admission? I believe it is 19?
 
^ Im starting my Foundation art and design course in sept (went to uni for a year to do english, realised i'd made a mistake) and i didn't have an A-level in art, I did have G.C.S.E art though and i took my sketchbooks from that in to my interview along with some sketches etc that i had done more recently, so i don't think its a solid requirement because mature students can apply and they probably wont have those qualifications. You will need to prove you can draw etc though
 
Hmm it might be tricky for me to go there with the information you guys are talking about..A Levels and all, seeing as those don't exist in America. And the minimum age is 19? Americans go to college usually at 18. hmm maybe I could take a gap year and travel the world looking at art! And then go to CSM (if it has a good graphic/fine program?) !!! hahaah my dream :rolleyes: :wink:
 
^ I don't think the minimum age is 19, its just because you usually need a foundation art and design before you start the proper course which you do when you're 18, so you start the actual course when your 19, if that makes any sense lol
 
^Wait, so is there a foundation year for all incoming students before they move on to their majors like at Parsons?:blink:
 
Ithillien said:
^ Im starting my Foundation art and design course in sept (went to uni for a year to do english, realised i'd made a mistake) and i didn't have an A-level in art, I did have G.C.S.E art though and i took my sketchbooks from that in to my interview along with some sketches etc that i had done more recently, so i don't think its a solid requirement because mature students can apply and they probably wont have those qualifications. You will need to prove you can draw etc though

Wahey Ithiliien! That is great. I pretty much took time out before my second year uni exams so technically I only did a year of English. In Oct 2007 I will go back to do my last two years so I will finish my degree (hopefully) but I have made a mistake too. I should be doing art. I only have GCSE art but I got an A in it, which along with Math was one of my worst grades so I dont know if they will think I didn't commit to art back then. That of course would be true because I didn't much like the teaching at school and I did the whole exam in the few weeks before the deadline.

So basially I dont have a portfolio for foundation and need to start working on one. I want to aim towards either fine art and sculpture or fashion so would you have any advice as to what to include in the portfolio and how many pieces, sketchbooks I should have? Should there be any projects? I.e. preliminary pieces running towards a final piece? How do I go about carrying out a project without teaching? I cant remember what we did at school. I think the teacher gave us a title and we went from there somehow. Should I do the same?
 
J'aime La Monde, a lot of students just do the foundation in their GAP years and then go onto 'proper' degrees at regular unis. Some take the foundation and do the art degree. So yes you need a foundation year.

Oh and does anyone know of any courses in London where you can work on projects and or get work for a portfolio? Central's classes are too expensive considering I am also saving for plastic surgery and travelling!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Oh and does anyone know of any courses in London where you can work on projects and or get work for a portfolio? Central's classes are too expensive considering I am also saving for plastic surgery and travelling!
Im not going to Central's for my foundation diploma (can't afford it either, have to wait to apply for degree course there lol) Im goinng to a local college (skint after a year of uni and can't afford to live away from home without the loan) and it says in the prospectus' that the fees would be something in the region of £850 (because im not going to be 18) but im only going to be paying £50 if anything, if you talk to the tutors they will advise you on how you can get out of paying the fees lol so its a good idea to look round different colleges because i know at one i would have had to pay the full course fees and it wasn't really an art college.

I only have GCSE art but I got an A in it which along with Math was one of my worst grades so I dont know if they will think I didn't commit to art back then
They didn't even ask me about my other GCSE's so if they don't ask then don't tell them lol, because i didn't do A-level art at some colleges they were a bit dubious at first as to whether i would commit to it now, but once i told them my reasons and showed them some work they seemed ok with it. Plus A is hardly a bad grade lol

So basially I dont have a portfolio for foundation and need to start working on one. I want to aim towards either fine art and sculpture or fashion so would you have any advice as to what to include in the portfolio and how many pieces, sketchbooks I should have? Should there be any projects? I.e. preliminary pieces running towards a final piece? How do I go about carrying out a project without teaching? I cant remember what we did at school. I think the teacher gave us a title and we went from there somehow. Should I do the same?

I had about 6/7 sketchbooks in all, my GCSE ones (that i seriously think are so so bad, but they like to see how you've developed) and then ones with random stuff i've been doing more recently. I had an interview with some other people and they had done A-level art and had some big peices and absolutly loads of work lol (intimidating) but i still got in, i think they would have liked to see some larger peices alongside sketchbooks but I didn't have any and got in all the places i applied. There were several projects (missing the final peices lol) but i did have some photos of things that i'd done out of clay etc. They like to see work in different medias to show that you can experiment and they like to see development of ideas so i think it would be a good idea to do some projects if you don't have GCSE work on hand. Stuff like artist research and how this has effected your work might be good to include, doing little bits out of their work or interpreting it into your own style, try doing a project on something that interests you, for example i needed some more newer work so i did a collage of pics from when i went to see The White Stripes and then filled all the white space left with song lyrics. Starting from the choosing a word or theme thing would probably be a good idea, just found a question sheet and theres stuff like "illusion" and "ancient cultures" so you could try working from something like that.

woo long post!
 
Ithillien said:
^ I don't think the minimum age is 19, its just because you usually need a foundation art and design before you start the proper course which you do when you're 18, so you start the actual course when your 19, if that makes any sense lol

thats not true i'm 18 and i've just finished my first year of BA fashion womens wear i did a btec in fine art before this course so thats the equivalent of a levels and a foundation
 
^ahh, i didn't know what a btec was the equivalent of, thats the 2 year one you do after school right?
 
yeah so if you do one of those you still have the opportunity to apply right after that, god knows how i got in my course had nothing to do with fashion i had to make it into fashion :lol:
 
^you must be good lol!

I had a look at that but i only want a one year course since i've already done the college thing and want to live at home for as short a time as possible lol, course tutor said i could work in the textiles department too so hopefully that will help me lol
 
Omigosh! Thankyou for this amazingly helpful post Ithillien!


Ithillien said:
They didn't even ask me about my other GCSE's so if they don't ask then don't tell them lol, because i didn't do A-level art at some colleges they were a bit dubious at first as to whether i would commit to it now, but once i told them my reasons and showed them some work they seemed ok with it. Plus A is hardly a bad grade lol

Oh cool! I thought you applied like at any other uni -with all your grades and CV and stuff. What did you say your reasons were? I find questions like 'Why do you want to do this' bizarre. Either you are honest like in this quote from the movie Red Shoes

LERMONTOV (to Victoria Page, at Lady Neston's party:( Why do you want to dance?
VICTORIA: Why do you want to live?
LERMONTOV: Why? I don't know exactly why, but -- I must.
VICTORIA: That's my answer too.

Or you bull****.

Ithillien said:
I had about 6/7 sketchbooks in all, my GCSE ones (that i seriously think are so so bad, but they like to see how you've developed) and then ones with random stuff i've been doing more recently. I had an interview with some other people and they had done A-level art and had some big peices and absolutly loads of work lol (intimidating) but i still got in, i think they would have liked to see some larger peices alongside sketchbooks but I didn't have any and got in all the places i applied. There were several projects (missing the final peices lol) but i did have some photos of things that i'd done out of clay etc. They like to see work in different medias to show that you can experiment and they like to see development of ideas so i think it would be a good idea to do some projects if you don't have GCSE work on hand. Stuff like artist research and how this has effected your work might be good to include, doing little bits out of their work or interpreting it into your own style, try doing a project on something that interests you, for example i needed some more newer work so i did a collage of pics from when i went to see The White Stripes and then filled all the white space left with song lyrics. Starting from the choosing a word or theme thing would probably be a good idea, just found a question sheet and theres stuff like "illusion" and "ancient cultures" so you could try working from something like that.

This is so so useful I cant tell you. How many of the 7 sketchbooks were GCSE ones? And the ones you have done recently, are they done in your own time or in some sort of course? Basically even though you didn't do A-level art, in between doing GCSE and dropping out of uni to go to art school, was there any more formal art teaching?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
SiennaInLondon said:
Oh cool! I thought you applied like at any other uni -with all your grades and CV and stuff. What did you say your reasons were? I find questions like 'Why do you want to do this' bizarre. Either you are honest like in this quote from the movie Red Shoes

LERMONTOV (to Victoria Page, at Lady Neston's party:( Why do you want to dance?
VICTORIA: Why do you want to live?
LERMONTOV: Why? I don't know exactly why, but -- I must.
VICTORIA: That's my answer too.

Or you bullsh*t.
I just rang up and spoke to the course tutor, then went in for an interview, i think she might have asked what i did in my a-levels but no grades or anything, i was suprised about that lol. Yeah i hate questions like that too, they seem pointless, i mean im there applying for it so obviously i want to do it, i think i just said something about how i'd realised how much i missed art and it was what i wanted to do. I think the fact i left uni was helpful in showing i was serious lol, i told her about some degree courses i was interested in and she asked me a bit about my fave desingers etc. It seemed really informal to be honest, she spoke about other students work and what kind of stuff they do and basic course content, then commented on my drawing style and said stuff she liked and we had a random chat about music 'cause of the white stripes stuff lol. Its a if you don't know, make it up situation lol.

How many of the 7 sketchbooks were GCSE ones? And the ones you have done recently, are they done in your own time or in some sort of course? Basically even though you didn't do A-level art, in between doing GCSE and dropping out of uni to go to art school, was there any more formal art teaching?

4 were GCSE ones, the others were just ones in my own time, i haven't had any proper teaching since school. They wern't full since i have sketchbooks all over the place depending where im staying lol, it was just random sketches, doodles and experiments i was trying to not throw stuff away even if i hated it because my old art teacher used to get really mad when i ripped stuff up lol. I didn't do any projects or anything it was just whatever i felt like drawing at that time, plus i was poor so i only had felt tips, pencil and oil pastels in the newer sketchbooks, suprised i got in lol!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

New Posts

Forum Statistics

Threads
210,541
Messages
15,118,260
Members
84,193
Latest member
Yams Yamborghini
Back
Top
monitoring_string = "058526dd2635cb6818386bfd373b82a4"