Fine Art

Fine art as a subject responds to the constant evolution of global issues and culture.

The course is structured around three studio areas: Painting, Print & New Media, and Sculpture. The range of subjects within these areas includes drawing, painting, performance, object making, photography, installation, etching, screenprinting, photographic processes, wood construction, metalwork, modeling, carving, mould making, casting, sound, video and Photoshop.

You will acquire skills based in many of these fields and throughout the course you’ll be encouraged to usemethodology appropriate to the concepts you are developing and the media you are working with.

The interplay between subject areas is flexible, allowing you to vary your practice. A programme of lectures, seminars and professional practice workshops are integrated with studio practice, resulting in a sophisticated and comprehensive learning experience. Significantly all course staff, whether permanent or visiting, are themselves practising artists. The course also invites major artists, critics and theorists of national and international standing to give talks and seminars in order to add richness to the programme. This, combined with strong staff and student involvement in internationally recognised organisations such as EAST International, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts and Outpost Gallery, provide an enviable context for professional development.

In recent years we have welcomed, among others, Richard Billingham, Amanda Beech, Lucy Clout, Jemima Stelhi, Matt Hale, Rebecca May-Marston, Grayson Perry, Gillian Carnegie, Catherine Yass, Peter Suchin, Boo Ritson and Juan Bolivar. Professional practice talks include Arts Council, Commissions East, Triangle Arts Trust, firstsite and Art Monthly.

LEVEL ONE

Level One introduces you to the course and its resources and begins to establish individual studio practice in a challenging, critical environment.

The emphasis at Level One is on the acquisition and understanding of the skills, methodologies and conceptual framework within studio areas, the adjustment to degree level study, the questioning of the functions and institutions associated with fine art practice and the idea of fine art as a means of communication establishing the foundation for your own personal enquiry.

You may participate in an optional study visit. Recent destinations include Paris, Amsterdam, Venice and Berlin.

LEVEL TWO

In Level Two you will develop a deeper appreciation of the content and context of your work and will be exposed to the reactions and interpretations of others as the relationship between work and audience is introduced.

The curriculum is designed to provoke responses from you, which can be shared with the whole of your year group. A growing awareness of professionalism is engendered throughout the year.

Increasingly you will be required to articulate the content of your work and how you position it in relation to contemporary and historical practices within fine art. There are distinct learning and teaching methods employed at Level Two to provide different settings or forums within which to explore these issues: through student-led seminars and group critiques and through a public exhibition of your work.

LEVEL THREE

Level Three of the course is the culmination of your study. The emphasis is on developing your studio work towards an exhibition for the final assessment and producing a significant body of research and writing. The final exhibition sees the completion of the course: this is a major event where you will have the opportunity to exhibit your work in the same excellent space used by EASTInternational during the summer months. As part of the exhibition Level Three students work together to produce a publication to accompany the show.

Attended by curators, collectors, art buyers, business and the public, this showcase event is a major opportunity to promote yourself and start your career.

WHAT MAKES US SPECIAL

Our knowledgeable and skilled Fine Art staff consist of practising artists, writers and academics. They have a prestigious national and international track record of exhibiting, publishing and scholarship.

Recent graduates represent an array of achievements, from exhibiting their work in the UK and abroad, securing residencies such as the Salem Art Works (SAW) residencies in New York state, to gaining employment in galleries, schools, studios and workshops, colleges, publishing and arts administration. Recently, a number of graduates have launched their own studio/gallery spaces by securing Arts Council funding. Others have won internationally renowned prizes such as the Beck’s Futures award and have been shortlisted for the Catlin Art Prize.

You may prefer to undertake further study. Our students are regularly offered postgraduate places at renowned institutions such as the Slade School of Fine Art, The Prince’s Drawing School and the Royal College of Art. Alternatively you may choose to progress to a range of our own MA courses, subject to the fulfillment of entry criteria.

Mode of Attendance: Full - time