What We Talk About Each Month

Each month, we look at everything you’ve been working on. Your sketches, tests, material experiments, things you tried and abandoned, artists who influenced you, decisions you made without realising… all of it matters.

Talking through your month as a whole helps you:

• notice your own creative progress

• understand how one idea leads to another

• describe your decisions in clearer English

• recognise the themes and threads forming in your work

• feel more grounded and confident in your artistic identity

These conversations become a kind of spoken creative journal — a record of your development that most applicants never create.

You don’t need to prepare anything special.
You just bring your month, and we talk it through in a warm, relaxed way.

Over time, you’ll hear yourself becoming more articulate, more reflective, and more sure of what you’re doing — both in English and in your practice.

How I Support Your English (Gently, and in Ways That Matter)

This isn’t an English lesson — and it’s definitely not a portfolio critique.

It’s a warm, supportive conversation with someone trained in Foundations and experienced in art school settings, who understands both how creative ideas grow and how hard it can be to express them in a second language.

During each Check-In, I help you:

• find clarity when explaining your ideas

• grow your vocabulary naturally (only when you need it)

• discover gentler or more confident ways of saying the same thing

• describe marks, lines, textures, materials, and methods

• talk about influences and research with ease

• tell more compelling stories about your work

• understand the value and intention behind your decisions

• start sounding — and feeling — like an emerging professional

It’s not about perfect grammar or repeating scripts.
It’s about helping you find the words that feel true to your artistic voice — and learning to trust that voice over time.

This gradual, steady growth is what makes you feel ready when interview day comes.

You’re building a portfolio that shows who you are today — but art schools also want to see who you can become.

Every year, thousands of young creatives apply with strong work, exciting ideas, and real potential.
You’re one of them.
But so are all the others.

Showing talent isn’t enough.
Admissions teams want to understand:

• how you think

• how you make decisions

• how your ideas develop

• how you talk about your influences

• how you reflect on your process

• who you might grow into during the degree

Some of this is visible in your portfolio.
But most of it lives in your thinking — and that’s the part many applicants struggle to express clearly, especially in English.

You can’t see the whole picture alone.
No one can at this stage.

That’s why practice-led English coaching is so effective:
it gently reveals the threads, connections, and decisions that matter — the ones art schools are actually listening for.

Through relaxed monthly conversations, you’ll learn to talk about your work in the same reflective, practice-led way you’ll use once you’re in art school.
Your English grows because your ideas grow.

This isn’t just preparation.
It’s becoming the artist or designer you’re already on your way to being.

I’m Ruth — a trained Foundations educator and former art school lecturer

I’ve helped hundreds of Foundation students get into art school, teaching on Preparation Courses and first-year programmes.

Now I specialise in practice-led English coaching — developing methods to support creatives as they talk about their ideas, explore their influences, and find the language that feels true to who they are.

At TVE we also help professional artists and designers.
It isn’t easy for anyone using English as a second language to express themselves with clarity and accuracy — especially when talking about creative work.

My approach is friendly and relaxed.
Your English grows because your art practice grows — the same way it works once you’re in art school.

→ Read about How Ruth’s Training Will Help You Get Into Art School

1. One-Off Art Voice Check-In:  £99

2. Monthly Art Voice Check-In:  £99/month (Subscription)

3. Annual Bundle — 12 Sessions for the Price of 10 (£750)

Which Option Should I Choose?

If you’re not sure, start with a one-off session.
You can upgrade at any time — and we’ll honour the savings if you move to the annual bundle.

Don’t prepare for your interview alone

Every art school candidate needs support while their portfolio — and their thinking — develops.
Someone who understands the creative process, who can help you reflect, who can guide you when things feel unclear, and who can hold space for your ideas to grow.

At school, that might be an art teacher.
But many applicants prepare on their own — especially international students navigating a system that feels unfamiliar.

If you’re building your portfolio without that kind of support, you don’t have to pretend you’re fine.
You deserve a place to talk things through.

A Monthly Art Voice Check-In gives you:

• someone who understands how ideas develop

• a gentle accountability point each month

• support expressing your decisions in English

• clarity you can’t get by thinking alone

• growing confidence through steady practice

You don’t need to have everything figured out.
You don’t need perfect English.
You don’t need to wait until you’re “ready.”

You just need one safe, friendly place to talk about your work —
and let your English voice grow naturally over time.

You’re becoming an artist.
Let’s help you sound like one.

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FAQ

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Useful Resources

List of UK Art Schools 

Study in the USA – School Search Tool

Related Articles

• English for Art School Applicants
• Will I Even Need English for My Art Career?

• Is Conversation Coaching the Fix Your English Needs?