Welcome to the Art & Design Department at Glasgow Kelvin College—a creative community where your ideas and imagination can truly take flight! Whether you’re just starting your artistic journey or looking to refine your skills for a professional career, our department offers a vibrant mix of courses designed to help you grow as a visual communicator, designer, or illustrator.
Here, you’ll explore everything from traditional drawing and painting to digital media, graphic design, and contemporary illustration. Our hands-on courses encourage experimentation, collaboration, and the development of your own unique style, all within a friendly and supportive environment. You’ll have access to specialist studios, industry-standard software, and opportunities to showcase your work in exhibitions and gallery spaces.
Our dedicated team of experienced tutors will guide you through building a strong portfolio, developing your creative process, and preparing for further study or exciting careers in the creative industries. Whether your passion lies in fine art, digital design, or illustration, you’ll find the inspiration and support you need to take your next step with confidence.
Meet Sarah | Art in the Community 🎨✨
Meet Sarah from our HND Art & Design course as she shares her public practice project for the Rumpus Room in Govanhill.
Working on a real community brief, Sarah talks through her creative process and how the project has helped develop her skills and confidence as an artist.
Creativity with purpose.
We are proud to partner with Strange Field and The Pipe Factory where our students have the unique opportunity to build relationships and gain experience within a working arts organisation in the heart of Glasgow’s East End.
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.
Art & Design at Kelvin | Creativity in Action 🎨✨
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, our HND Art & Design students connect with Glasgow’s creative community — taking part in workshops, visiting studios and collaborating with industry professionals.
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.
