BA (Hons) Fine Art

• Year 1

• Your first year is about exploration of materials, processes and ideas. You’ll examine the diverse traditions of fine art up to the present day. There’s ample studio time to try out different techniques and technologies from painting to digital media. Building critical analysis skills through interaction with other students and teaching staff will boost your confidence and you will be introduced to interdisciplinary art practices, working in response to the global challenges that we face today.

  Core modules

  • Fine Art Studio 1: Processes and Materials (ART418)

    This introductory module introduces students to the diverse natures of fine art and the role of the studio within it. It aims to provide students with the skills to identify and investigate individual and collaborative interests and concerns through practical engagement in the studio and through interdisciplinary research; to develop students' capacities for self-criticism through informed debate; to develop student confidence in recognising and using processes and materials relevant to their developing practice; and to introduce practices of documentation. Lectures, seminars, and workshops support students to relate examples of contemporary fine art practice to their own, studio-based explorations of relevant concepts, material processes and techniques.

  • Interdisciplinary Approaches 1 (ART419)

    This practice-based module introduces students to interdisciplinarity and to how artists have worked collaboratively in multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary ways with researchers and communities. Students will learn a range of approaches and methods and will experiment with and test their artistic responses to themes that draw on interdisciplinary research.

  • Interdisciplinary Approaches 2 (ART420)

    This practice-based module enables students to consolidate their awareness of ideas and approaches to interdisciplinarity and to how artists have worked collaboratively in multi-disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary ways with researchers and communities. Students will deepen their approaches and methods and will experiment with and test their artistic responses to a theme that draws on interdisciplinary work and develops out of Interdisciplinary Approaches 1.

  • Art Writing 1 (ART421)

    This module focuses on exhibition visiting and creative review writing to introduce key ideas, methods, and approaches in fine art practice. Students will begin to develop skills in creative-critical writing through being introduced to examples and excerpts of art writing. Students will visit local and online exhibitions as part of this module and will produce a collection of short experiments in art writing.

  • Creative Reading 1 (ART422)

    This module introduces key ideas, methods, and approaches within contemporary art practices through techniques of creative reading of critical texts. The focus is on concepts, methods and approaches that are current in contemporary art and are relevant to students’ emerging practices and will lead to a coherent expanded essay (choice of written, video, or audio) that evidences a sustained research process.

• Year 2

• Drawing on your work from the first year, you’ll now have confidence to follow your instincts, choose your own media, use your inspirations and intentions to outline project aims and research strategies. You’ll further develop your critical skills by reflecting on your own work and that of others. In groups, you will curate a selection of work for a public exhibition and engage in a professional placement or interdisciplinary residency. You’ll also make work in response to common challenges – environment, health and equality. There is also an opportunity to take part in an international exchange programme.

  Core modules

  • Creative Reading 2 (ART525)

    This module will examine key theories and ideas which relate to contemporary fine art practice through close and creative reading of texts collaboratively selected by the tutor and students. These will be used to explore areas of artistic inquiry as well as strategies for researching, writing and engaging in practical research within a group and individual framework.

  • Art Writing 2 (ART526)

    This module focuses on experiments with critical reflection and art writing through key theories and ideas which relate to contemporary art practices. Building on the previous module, selected works, texts, and modes of writing will be used to explore areas of enquiry and textual and print forms as artistic practice.

  • Fine Art Studio 2: Collaborations and Collectives (ART527)

    This module provides an opportunity for students to develop a negotiated art practice through sustained studio experimentation and a DIY/DIWO (Do It Yourself / Do It With Others) culture, including strategies for navigating collaborative practices. The studio-based module will develop an awareness of contextual frameworks in relation to art practice and enable students to research and experiment with materials, processes, concepts and environments in preparation for a public show of art practice.

  • Artist Placements in Interdisciplinary Settings 1 (ART528)

    In this module students will undertake research into interdisciplinary contexts and practices of the artist placement, with a particular focus on questions of socially engaged and participatory work across a range of settings. Students will also develop a detailed proposal for an artistic response to the interdisciplinary placement context they have researched, including designs, drawings, models.

  • Common Challenge: Artist Placements in Interdisciplinary Settings 2 (ART529)

    In this module, students will develop and realise a collaborative research-led practice in an interdisciplinary placement and/or residency setting. There will be a specific focus on strategies for collaboration, community-based practice and socially engaged art. Students will work in groups with interdisciplinary partners to develop collaborative outputs to be disseminated to a public audience.

• Final year

• In your final year, you will produce a comprehensive body of work, exploring its social and cultural context and the relationship between artist and audience. Deepen your knowledge of a specific area of artistic practice and its concepts through the common dissertation module, where you can develop critical and creative skills in an interdisciplinary setting. Continue to prepare for a career in art by developing a research portfolio and art publication for use when you graduate. Develop professional and transferable skills in collaborative arts administration and management through curation, design, marketing and installing your degree show.

  Core modules

  • Common Dissertation: Critical Practices (ADA600)

    The module engages students in situating practice through research, contextualisation and critical reflection, in relation to their final stage study and post University aspirations. Programmes can offer: a traditional dissertation; preparation for an extended dissertation; situating existing practice; or the construction of a new body of work as practice-based research.

  • Fine Art Studio 3: Resolving Practice (ART625)

    Students will develop a negotiated conceptual framework for individual and/or collaborative creative methods, with reference to contemporary practices, approaches and theories. The module will enable the development of student learning towards an increasingly independent enquiry into source material and appropriate practices, linked to critical research and professional practice. The focus will be on further development of research practices to ground and underpin student practice together with the development of detailed proposals and plans for work to be developed for exhibition at the end this module, which will be carried forward to the subsequent module in Semester 2.

  • Fine Art Studio 4: Going Public (ART626)

    Students will realise a negotiated conceptual framework for an individual and/or collaborative artistic body of work, with reference to contemporary practices, approaches and theories. The module will enable students to realise independent, practice-based enquiries into source material and appropriate professional practices, linked to critical research. This will be developed into a body of work for final presentation that is suitable for public exhibition. The module also requires students to work together collaboratively to develop a Degree Show, drawing on the full range of professional skills required for the creative industries.

  • Art Publication (ART627)

    In this studio module, students will develop an art publication that aligns with their current art practice and areas of research. The module questions what constitutes 'publication' - from artist books to 'zines to broadsheets to video essays to performance lectures – and explores the theoretical implications for contemporary art within a network of communication and circulation.

Every undergraduate taught course has a detailed programme specification document describing the course aims, the course structure, the teaching and learning methods, the learning outcomes and the rules of assessment.

The following programme specification represents the latest course structure and may be subject to change:

BA (Hons) Fine Art programme specification_0506