Wimbledon

To the inaugural episode of writings.

Tonight, I am somewhat concerned with the usefulness of part-time university courses in practical based subject areas. Having very recently returned home this evening from an Open Evening at Wimbledon College of Art, I have decided to not pursue the Masters avenue for the time being.

The majority of questions regarded the format of the part-time route, and the questions themselves reveal the possible inability, and indeed unwillingness, to fully engage with the course. Examples include the question of transporting work to the College for critical analysis sessions, as part-time students don't have a studio base provided. The questioner herself revealed that her present situation (at Chelsea, no less) of being required to bring in work for discussion has resulted in her producing work smaller than she would like. The pleasure in being an artist is more a topic of having the ambition that results in work that you feel the necessity to produce. That she is willing to compromise to such an extent that her work is not what she needs to produce to satisfy her curiosity indicates that her motivation is probably not suitable for creating a dynamic course 'cohort'.

Similar examples include the lady asking whether putting together a portfolio of work from a few years ago, which isn't necessarily representative of the pathway and ambition she wishes to take, would be a disadvantage to her application. If she hasn't done any new work in the past few years, why is she applying at Masters level? Likewise with the lady who went to University for a year in the 1960s, but didn't complete her BA and who now wants to get back into artistic ventures, but finds that art schools have surprisingly changed 'an awful lot' in just 40 years.

The tutors attempted to disuade any part-time applications, but stopped disappointingly short of discounting them altogether.