Reflections on Studying Fine Art as a Mature Student at Hull College

I started the first year of my degree in September 2019 and luckily had the first term at college before COVID disrupted everything. Studying at degree level was nothing like the Access course! It was reassuring to discover that I was not the only mature student. The ages ranged from early 20s to mid-60s. My initial worry was that I would be too old to learn how to use the computers to research and document my work and that I would be struggling to cope with the more academic modules. A pleasant surprise was how helpful the younger students were in showing me how to get started. It is easy to feel intimidated when surrounded by people who appear to know what they are doing, but actually everyone was feeling nervous.

The first term introduced us to research in the form of creating academic posters relating to specific art movements. As I progressed through my degree, I realized how important this early module had been.  I developed a method of researching and documenting that I was then able to apply to my studio practice. I am the same as most art students and prefer to create a visual artwork rather than pursue academic study. However, the skills that I learned during the theory modules improved my approach to my own work, opening my eyes and mind to different art, practices, ideas, and influences.

Hull College uses what they call “self-directed learning” which initially seemed ridiculous to me. Like most of the older students I had expected a structured timetable teaching a variety of different skills – drawing, painting, printmaking etc. This was not the case (probably not helped by COVID), and we were left to choose our own subject and area of interest, then develop it further with individual tutorials from the overstretched tutors as and when possible. Daunting!

It is surprising how hard it is to start creating when you are given the freedom to do anything at all. The best bit of advice was to look at what interested me, what did I like doing best? Once I had found a subject of interest it was a case of learning to look at it differently, of using the resources at college to try different approaches. 

The first year of the degree flew by – experimenting, succeeding, failing.  Some of it locked down at home, some of it in the studio at college. I got my first smartphone, caught up with modern technology and embraced Zoom meetings. I discarded the digital camera and played with alternative photography techniques on sunny days in the garden. I smoked out the neighbours while experimenting with home firing ceramics in a dustbin and spent hours simply drawing.

The second year came around so quickly. We were in and out of the studio at college depending on the COVID situation and this difficult time unfortunately saw many students leave the course. Work continued in a similar way, and I came to realise that self-directed learning actually worked for me! Focusing on my interests and experimenting with different techniques did not feel like hard work. I was developing my own style without realizing it while enjoying every minute.