Question by : Can you analyse/help improve this personal statement? It’s for an Art and Design Foundation Diploma?
Growing up I have been inspired by many aspects of potential career opportunities from policing to skiing instructing, but my heart lies with art and design. As a young child I was influenced by an artistic upbringing, on a typical afternoon my family and I would create paper maché balloons and decorate them the next day with paints. Together we’d create cards for Birthdays, Christmas and Easter for friends and family, although at the time, I’d just enjoy the thrill of it like most small children would. But, as I grew older, I started to appreciate different styles of art, from photography to relief forms and even films, which is another passion of mine.
Taking GCSE Art at school was just one step of many for me, but I felt we just touched the surface of the most popular forms of art, so I decided to take them further and I began to stay behind after school to experiment with different medias with my art teacher. My most memorable moment was producing print after print of monoprints; I loved not knowing how your design would turn out and the anticipation that arose whilst peeling back the paper to reveal it was great. Along with Art I was also part of the crew for Global Rock Challenge, a popular dance competition that my school entered annually, as part of the crew, I’d help design and create the set required for the stage performance. My favourite year was when our theme was ‘Inspiring Artists’, which consisted of Andy Warhol, Edgar Degas, L S Lowry, Edvard Munch and Pablo Picasso, myself and the rest of the crew hand painted each set design, which was a copy of one of the artist’s most inspiring pieces, was such fun in emulating.
After leaving school I started at Barton Peveril College and took Art Graphics as one of my subjects, within a few months of the course I knew that I wanted to continue learning about this course or something similar in university. One of the coursework projects was to produce a clothes tag and t-shirt logo design, this I enjoyed thoroughly as I really got l into the concept of producing a clothes company’s label. On this course, I was introduced to Photoshop, something I had never experienced before, yet it was an exciting event. Throughout the year my confidence in using Photoshop to create some of my projects grew significantly, and I became confident enough to produce pieces solely on Photoshop.
Moving onto my second year at college, as well continuing Art Graphics I took up an AS Digital Photography course where we learnt the ins and outs of how to use our Digital SLR Cameras to the best of its ability. With Digital Photography and Art Graphics I started to combine my knowledge of both to advantage myself in each subject.
I believe that studying an Art and Design Foundation Diploma will broaden my knowledge even more so, as I consider that this course will be the most important year of my studies so far. At present, I am not one hundred percent confident in what course I would like study at University and this is another reason why I would like to apply for this course as I know at the end of it I will discover which course I would wish to study.
Other than art my other hobbies include going to the cinema, as I am also a Film Studies student, and I feel that film is another form of art with the cinematography, set design, lighting and art direction. I really appreciate a quality film and I have many films that I love to watch and just to name a few; Amélie, The Girl With The Pearl Earring and Let The Right One In. I also love to ski and in my free time I enjoy going to Southampton Sport Centre’s Dry Ski Slope and I often go to the Swiss Alps too. I believe that my personal qualities are that I am congenial as I can work well with others yet I can also work very well on my own. Competent, as I can meet deadlines without a last minute rush and I feel that I am persistent as I can stick to a task set even if I feel that my enthusiasm has dwindled.
Best answer:
Answer by Maggie
Here’s an interesting idea — if it’s for an Art & Design degree, I’d say include some of your own artwork INSIDE the essay. Art & Design programs love to see students thinking outside the box!
You could bring some of your artwork into Microsoft Word, change the transparency and use it as a background for the essay (just make sure it’s still very readable!)
Tips:
1. take out the “but” in “But, as I grew older…” — just keep it as “As I grew older…”
2. Take out “I’m not 100% confident….” (towards the end) They want to see POSITIVE not NEGATIVE sentiments.
3. In all the cases where you say “I believe” – change it to “I know” (shows confidence).
4. Make sure you either underline or italicize (or both) the names of the movies you are referring to.
Other good tips can be found here: http://www.unigo.com/articles/stand_out_on_your_college_applications%5E58_8_crucial_steps/?taxonomyId=695812
Ok! Have fun with that!
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
