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From Kings Brighton to the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

27 May, 2021
From Kings Brighton to the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL

Ho-Sa, from Taiwan, has been studying the Art and Design Foundation programme at Kings Brighton since September 2020. After 9 months of hard work developing his portfolio and submitting his university applications, Ho-Sa received offers to study Fine Art from Goldsmiths University London, Kingston University, University of the Arts, London (UAL), and The Slade School of Fine Art.

He has accepted an offer from The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (UCL), ranked #1 in the UK for his subject (Guardian, 2021). Here, we get to know Ho-Sa better and hear more about his Kings experience.

Hi Ho-Sa. Tell us about your university offers?

I got an offer from The Slade School of Fine Art at UCL, and I will be doing a Fine Art course there.

How did Kings help you to get your place at Slade?

At the beginning when we started to apply for schools, I only knew the very well advertised schools and Slade was not one that I'd heard of. My teacher recommended this school to me and said I should have a try at applying there. That was very helpful. I did some research and found out that it was one of the best schools in the UK for Fine Art, and so I applied for it! I feel very lucky to get into this school.

How did you feel when you found out you had been accepted to Slade?

It was in the afternoon and I was just finishing classes when I decided to check my UCAS and saw it had been updated. I told my tutor and she was very happy, and I told my friends and my family and they were all very excited about it.


Above is an example of Ho-Sa's work, entitled 'String'.

Do you feel like attending The Slade School of Fine Art will be a strong first step in your career?

I think it will definitely give me more chance of having more visibility for my artwork to other artists and to people who are really involved in the industry — people who are more serious about art and their work. When I looked at the videos that Slade post about their students, it feels more serious. I'm definitely very happy to be studying with people who have a clear goal for their future plans.

What is the teaching like at Kings?

All the staff are very friendly. They like to hear what’s new with you every day, and they want to hear about my experiences and my opinions about what I want to do in the course as well.

Can you tell us about the support you get from teachers at Kings?

When I arrived at Kings Brighton I felt it was very convenient because I could cycle to school every day and they have a bike shed that I can use. The tutors are very helpful and have a lot of knowledge about art and related subjects. When I have questions, I can ask any of them and they will help me as much as they can.

What’s the school community like?

"The staff are very friendly, and they give me all the support that I need."

The food in the cafeteria is also good! I don’t live in the residence, but I come here to eat most of my meals. I used to live in homestay, but then I moved to private accommodation later because I wanted to do painting in my room and I needed quite a big space to do this.

Have they been helping you to get your portfolio together?

"I think Kings is a very nice place to develop my portfolio because one of the tutors, Ms Montgomery, has a lot of experience in helping students to develop their portfolios and write their personal statements."

We have the freedom to develop our portfolios. I know that at some other schools they can be quite restrictive because they want you to get offers from certain universities so they make their students work in a certain style. I think that at Kings we have more freedom to do whatever we feel comfortable with, especially with the portfolios — we are allowed to have a lot of freedom.

I think this is a good place to concentrate on whatever we are working on. I’m definitely having enough personal space to develop my ideas and I don’t get distracted. I think it’s very important that you have enough time to spend alone to develop yourself.


More work from Ho-Sa's portfolio. Bin (left) and Snail (right).

How would you describe Kings Brighton to a friend back home?

It’s a lovely place to study and to do whatever you want to do. You will feel at home in some sort of way here.