BA (Hons) Fine Art (including Foundation Year)

The Fine Art course will expand and develop your visual creativity within a contemporary practice-based context underpinned by relevant theory.

Course overview

This practice based course allows you to explore and experience Fine Art within a contemporary context and includes possibilities in painting and drawing, sculpture, new and lens based media, textiles, printmaking and interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary studio contexts. Studio Practice is underpinned by the relationship between theory and practice, with a view to you becoming an informed practitioner in charge of the trajectory of your practice, research and thinking. You will have the opportunity to publically exhibit your work during all three years of the course and work on placements and live projects, thus enhancing your employability and transferable skills.

Why study this course with us?

The diverse and exciting nature of contemporary Fine Art is represented in the design and delivery of the course; whilst the emphasis is on practice, this is underpinned by a strong theoretical and contextual element. You will gain practical and workshop skills that are then applied to studio projects at Levels 4 and 5 and your own autonomous practice at Level 6. Whilst approximately 75% of your time at Level 6 will be occupied with studio modules, you will have the option of theory modules to suit all learning styles, from a short essay and presentation, to an extended essay or full-blown dissertation.

Workshops are well resourced and include specialist foundry, fabrication and construction workshops, printmaking studio, textiles studio, drawing and painting studios as well as facilities for video, photographic and computer based activity. Level 5 and 6 students work in their own studio spaces with adequate storage for work. Opportunities for placements and elements of professional practice provide the course with a ‘real-life’ edge, affording you to consider the nature of the Fine Artist you could become.

There is regular tutorial and teaching contact with academic staff many of whom are practitioners and researchers of national and international standing.

Teaching methods

Methods of teaching will include studio practice sessions, lectures, seminars, presentations, workshops, demonstrations, group and individual tutorials, and critiques. These take place in dedicated year group studios, workshops, lecture theatres and seminar rooms.

Assessment

Formative and summative assessment of coursework is applied to studio work, supporting work, sketchbooks, reflective journals, and visual and material experiments. Theory is assessed through written essays, a dissertation and assessment of oral presentations.

Job prospects

Fine Art graduates possess multiple transferable skills, including specialist workshop skills, research and presentation skills, communication and writing skills, universally applicable across a broad range of roles. Graduates from the course work in galleries and museums, as curators, educators and makers and roles that involve any form of visual communication.