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Summer in London: student work from our International Summer School

Written byCarys Thomas
Published date 05 September 2022

This year’s UAL International Summer School saw students from across the globe come together for three weeks of creativity in London.

Designed to offer a taste of the art school experience, the UAL International Summer School for 16 to 18 Year Olds Short Course is a good option for anyone considering further studies in art and design. If you are 11 to 15 years old, check out UAL International Summer School for 11 to 15 year olds Short Course.

Students work on a series of stimulating art and design projects inspired by London’s rich cultural landscape. The course covers several topics including research, art and design, theatre and performance, graphic design, fashion, textiles and 3D design.

To find out more, we caught up with some students from this year’s International Summer School to see some of their unique work.

I think I’d love to do art at university. This course has helped me realise that I do have the confidence and the ability to do that.

— Maya Boluktas, Short Course Student

Portfolio preparation

During the International Summer School Short Course, students have the opportunity to build a body of work for a portfolio for university application.

By the end of the course, students have created a range of new work and experimented with scale, texture and colour via the mediums of drawing, mark-making, design, 2D and 3D collage and modelling.

This was particularly helpful for 17-year-old Elizaveta Vorotyntseva, from Russia, who was looking for a short course that would help her develop a portfolio to apply for further study.

"I decided to take this summer course because I thought it would really help me to prepare my portfolio," she tells us. "I'm really happy that I joined because I've made a lot of new friends and I've really enjoyed it."

Elizaveta plans to use the work she produced at the summer school to apply for courses in the future and is hoping to progress on to a foundation course here at UAL. “I plan to do a foundation here first and then I’m thinking about studying either fashion or fine art,” she explains.

Collaborative projects

The International Summer School offers a valuable opportunity to connect with students from different backgrounds and collaborate on creative projects. Many of the students that we heard from enjoyed the opportunity to work collaboratively with other students on the course.

For 16-year-old Yoonshin Koh, from South Korea, the opportunity to work with other students was both inspiring and productive. “I learnt a lot from my friends on the course,” she says. “They taught me new things and challenged me to try more by asking ‘what will you do with this’ and things like that.”

“We did a group activity with yarn that I really enjoyed,” says Yoonshin. “We connected each other’s work and the whole class was connected by yarns – it was really incredible.”

Yoonshin also joined our new Summer Stays Social Package, which offers students the chance to join a range of social events and daily activities during their stay in London. “We ate together and enjoyed spending time in London,” she says. “We also went to see London Bridge at night which was really nice.”

**Students working together on the International Summer School Short Course (2022)**

Experimenting with new approaches

17-year-old student, Roujia Wang, from China, came to the International Summer School to explore different approaches to working and experiment with new techniques. She is about to start her final year at school and is planning to apply to study art at university.

“I came to this course originally to expand and try out different things,” Rou explains. “I wanted to do more experiments and get ideas for future projects. This course has really helped me realise what I like and what I don’t like. Doing lots of experiments has also given me a lot of new ideas – I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Rou has particularly enjoyed experimenting with 3D design and sculptural work during the course and is now thinking about applying for a foundation course to develop her skills.

“I was originally going to apply straight to an undergraduate BA course but I’ve found the experimentation process really fun,” she says, “so after this I might try a foundation course first to prepare myself better.”

Looking to the future

“The course has gone by really fast,” says 16-year-old Yena Lee, from South Korea. “It’s been really fun and we’ve covered so many different things. I’ve realised that I do want to pursue art and I've rediscovered how much I enjoy it.”

Yena is hoping to study in London and appreciated advice from her tutors on potential future courses. “The tutors have been helpful in telling me about the different courses that I can do before university. They’ve also given feedback on how to improve my work.”

Gloria Guo, from China, also found that she now has a clearer idea of her future goals. She is planning to apply for further study at UAL and found it helpful to experience the class environment beforehand. “At my school we normally just work with acrylic or watercolour,” she says, “so this has been a chance to try something different.”

During the course, Gloria worked on a model of a chair which she put together using wire (pictured below). “I made the spikes from wire and coloured them red and white to make them look bloody," she explains, "it’s designed to make people think about the position of women in society because some are treated unequally or violently.”

Maya, from the Czech Republic, is also looking forward to the future after finishing the course. “I have two more years left in school,” she tells us, “and I think I'd love to do art in university. This course has helped me decide that I do have the confidence and the ability to do that.”