BA (Hons) Fine Art

BA (Hons) Fine Art

The BA in Fine Art aims to equip you with creative, interpretive, critical and analytical skills, so that you can participate in and contribute to the expanding field of contemporary art.

The main purpose of the degree is to teach you how to make art and to evaluate different critical approaches to your own practice, through integrated Studio Practice and Critical Studies courses. The programme aims to support your development and creativity and to help you acquire independent learning skills. This approach requires you to be committed, to thrive on constructive criticism exchanged between staff and students, and to participate in discussing your own work and that of others.

What you study

All the staff on the programme are practising artists, curators and writers, here to respond to the work that you make and to help you understand how it contributes to, and challenges, the critical debates that exist in the study area and beyond. Our aim is to help you develop the necessary self-motivation and confidence in your work to continue successfully and independently in your chosen career. The degree structure enables you to develop your work through exploring selected media and approaches, including: drawing, painting, constructed textiles, film, installation, performance, photography, printed textiles, printmaking, sculpture, stitch, fabric and video. You can specialise in one or more media throughout the degree. Studio teaching is enhanced by technical support, which introduces you to techniques relevant to the development of your work.

The first year is the beginning of three years of intensive studio and research laboratory practice. Each year you are allocated a studio space which forms the focal point of your activities. In the final year you mount an exhibition of your Studio Practice for assessment, which is then open to the public. Throughout the programme you will be taught through individual tutorials in your studio, group tutorials, and mixed year studio practice presentations. The parallel Critical Studies course is designed to support your practical work in the studios. The lectures and seminars introduce and develop key issues which inform diverse art practices and encourage you to extend your critical faculties and develop your ability to discuss, write about, analyse and judge contemporary art. In the third year you demonstrate your research skills and ability to pursue an argument of your own choice in a dissertation.

Assessment

Continuous assessment of studio practice coursework is evidenced through individual tutorials and group seminars alongside studio presentations (year one), viva voce (year two), and final exhibition (year three). Critical Studies is assessed through essays (years one and two) and a dissertation (year three).