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At Glasgow Kelvin College, creativity is about more than producing great artwork – it's about exploring ideas, developing your own creative voice and build the confidence and practical skills to turn your creativity into future study or a career in the creative industries.
Whether you're interested in fine art, illustration, graphic design or digital media, you'll learn through hands-on studio practice in a friendly and supportive environment where experimentation is encouraged. Working with experienced lecturers, you'll develop practical skills, build a professional portfolio and discover your own creative style.
Our students don't just create work in the studio. They collaborate with community organisations, exhibit their work, visit creative studios and galleries, and work alongside professional artists and designers on live projects. These real-world experiences help you develop the skills, confidence and industry awareness needed for further study or a career in the creative industries.
Sarah – Creating Art for the Community
Meet Sarah, one of our HND Art & Design students, as she shares how a live community project helped her develop her creative practice, confidence and professional skills.
At the end of her journey, Sarah reflects on her experience at Kelvin, describing it as "a beautiful journey" that helped her grow as an artist.
Our Art & Design team offers progression routes from introductory Level 5 courses through to HNC and HND study. Whether you're taking your first steps in art and design or building a portfolio for university, there's a pathway to help you reach your creative goals.
This reinforces progression without repeating the course descriptions.
Working with organisations including Strange Field and The Pipe Factory gives our students the opportunity to experience life beyond the college studio. Through workshops, exhibitions and community projects, students collaborate with practising artists, develop professional skills and create work for public audiences.
Our students undertake workshops with professional artists and designers off site, learn the process of creating art and design work for public audiences, produce public exhibitions of their work in historic buildings and learn to teach their practice in community settings supported by working artists at Strange Field and course Lecturers.
Discover the creative journeys of our Art & Design students at Glasgow Kelvin College.
From Catriona’s sketchbook exploration and personal artistic process, to Georgia developing her digital design skills and building her portfolio, students are encouraged to express their ideas in a range of creative forms.
Beyond the classroom, follow Joshua as he explores some of Glasgow's creative spaces, meets local artists and discovers how studying at Kelvin connects students with the city's thriving arts community.
Creativity. Collaboration. Real-world experience.
Hi there, I'm Sarah Madely, a student for the HND Art and Design.
I did this Sculpture. It was a public practice project.
We have to choose a public site that would speak to us and then to propose a project to put on that site.
I chose the Rumpus Room in Govan Hill, a place where they work with children and young people, have lots of activities, they're very, very connected to the community.
My final work is a totem, Imaginarium totem, a symbol of imagination and creativity.
I think we should have more places where art is promoted, where kids are allowed to explore freely art.
This is my final sculpture. It's all recycled materials, papier-mâché, acrylic paints. I did sketches to imagine how I would create the totem. I have a 3D printer, so before I commit to something big, I did a little totem.
The final work would be ideally a big ceramic totem that they could put on their outdoor space. Maybe in the future I will be able to do that.
If this speaks to you, you should go to our website and apply. I must say it changed my life, beautiful journey
I'm very sad that this is going this is my last year the teachers they absolutely amazing they will give you lots of support they help you develop as an artist to places that you never thought you could go
My name is Catriona. I am in the fine art course at Glasgow Kelvin College.
This block I'm doing trees, kind of their energy and how I feel about that.
Started off just kind of like taking photos of like random places where I go for walks and then just kind of copying that down. This is like the energy I feel when I'm out in the trees at night.
I use different mediums. This is like blind drawings where like I don't look at the paper, I just look at a tree. This is just like energies and just do a lot of like printmaking, sculpting, we use clay and paper mache, paint, we use everything.
My favourite medium is mixed media. Anything I can get my hands on so I usually start with a base of paint or watercolour and then I add paper or sticks, twigs, leaves.
My favourite thing is the free supplies and also just kind of the instructions. I would have to take a lot of workshops to try and learn all the things that I learnt here. #
Also just like a bit of a community, I get very inspired by other people's art and it's also really interesting to see how people change the brief and make it their own. Stuff that I wouldn't have thought of and now have in my brain. Pattern I can use or like concept I can use.
Inspiring place to be and very accepting of all kind of art.
Hi, my name is Georgia. I am an ex-student of the HNC Digital Design and Illustration class. I am now currently studying HND Art and Design.
I actually studied art before. I came from more of a conceptual art background studying contemporary art. I had to start thinking logically about future potential in the arts, better ways in which I can kind of stylise my art and how I can make it appeal to a mass market. I saw this course as an opportunity for me to hone in my skills in digital design.
Photoshop is kind of like one of the bigger things in Illustrator. Those are kind of the main programs that you'll be using. It's basically just helping you understand basic principles of design, working with clients. It really sets you up for prompt work.
I'd say the lectures are a really, really good part of the course. They're really supportive.
Hello, this is Joshua Durant speaking with the beautiful HND class from Glasgow Kelvin College. Doing illustration by the way.
Currently heading down Duke Street so that we can visit... Studio Plylon, owned by a previous GKC student. Okay, that's it, we're going in now.
We just had a lovely chat with Cat. She basically just gave us a rundown. What she did in college, she did illustration. After she left, she saved up some money and opened her little print shop.
Now we're heading over to the Pipe Factory, the studio that we shall be doing a little workshop in. She even told us that even though she was making more money off of commission work, it was just more fulfilling to run a print studio.
We are now in what is technically part of the Barras.
Heading into the Pipe Factory to have a little look around at the studio. Have a nice wee afternoon, making some stuff.
We are going to be writing down some words and we're going to jumble it all up and see what we can put together.
What we've just done is cut up all of our little words. I just picked at random. I'm gonna go back to my table and see what I can give her.
Our little activity has wrapped up. I'm gonna give some lovely dramatic readings.
Thankful to the creation of strange dopamine chaos. Beautiful. How detachable, sentimental, and imagine your life as a fairy tale.
That's us all wrapped up here. A lovely wee spot to come and relax, make some stuff, enjoy art, and yeah, that's about it.
