BA (Hons) Glass and Ceramics with Foundation Year

Module: 3VA001

Credits: 60

Period: 1

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

In this module you will work on a series of short projects that aim to introduce you to the core art and design skills that will support your development as an artist or designer at degree level and beyond. In semester 1 you will explore a range of approaches to drawing as a fundamental art and design tool for thinking through and communicating your ideas. Increasingly drawing will be seen as a basis for exploring 2d, 3d and media solutions to art and design problems. Alongside these practical workshops you will begin to explore how research, reflection and documentation can inform your ideas and support studio practice by creating a studio journal containing a series of structured tasks. In semester 2 you will have extended opportunity to work with specialist staff from the different art and design subjects taught in the school and develop projects responding to more defined areas of practice appropriate to your interests and ambitions for degree level study. You will be expected to develop a more focused and independent approach to research through your journal responses and studio practice. Increasingly you will be expected to take greater control and direction of your learning. In semester 1 the workshops, studio projects, research tasks and study visits will be clearly structured and you will be expected to attend regularly and participate in a range of learning activities within and outside of taught sessions. As the course develops and you start to define your subject and contextual interests you will necessarily need to become more independent in accessing appropriate resources for your personal development as an artist/designer. The studios, workshops and other resources are open 5 days a week and you are increasingly expected to manage your taught and independent studio/study time effectively to complete work well and on time.

Module: 3VA002

Credits: 60

Period: 1

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

In this module you will be introduced to the range of art and design subject specialisms taught in the School of Art. Academic and technical teams from across the school will introduce you to specialist workshops and provide a range of short project briefs to enable you to explore and test your ideas out in different mediums and contexts. This will be accompanied by contextual visits, lectures and seminars that will explore how the different artists and designers address genres and issues pertinent to their practice. Assessment reviews and tutorials will be used to support you to reflect on these experiences and begin to consider some areas for extended experience in Semester 2. In semester 2 you will work in subject groupings and propose an individually negotiated project aligned to a broad subject area in the school. You will work with Foundation and degree level tutors to develop your ideas and work towards degree level entry standard. You will need to demonstrate some ability to work and learn independently and reflect on your work to progress your ideas. Alongside practical work you will undertake a portfolio of contextual research which will underpin your core knowledge of your chosen area of study and learn the basic research and writing skills that you will need to progress to degree level study.

Module: 4VA005

Credits: 60

Period: 2

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module aims to introduce you to the range of workshops, resources and staff working across the School of Art and to provide you with specialist making and media instruction. It is an intensive studio and workshop based module and throughout the year you will undertake a series of studio, workshop, software and material based projects that will provide a foundation for your developing independent work. As a Level 4 student in the School of Art you will be supported to make the leap between your prior educational experiences and full time art, craft and design practice. You will develop time management skills through structured tasks and increasingly you will be expected to make use of independent study hours to further test and progress your work in the studios and workshops. In this module you will also learn to document and record your work effectively and gain confidence in reflecting on your work in sketchbooks, journals, blogs, group reviews and tutorials in relation to a range of contextual ideas, artists, craftspeople and designers associated with project briefs and self-initiated work.

Module: 4VA006

Credits: 60

Period: 2

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module aims to provide you with the time and space to develop increasing ownership of project briefs. These will be tutor led or negotiated in order to help you build skills, and support you to become more experimental and speculative in the production of your work. The emphasis, in this module, is on process and practice rather than end product. Throughout the module you will be encouraged to test new approaches and ideas and to reflect on the successes and importantly, the failures of your work. In tutorials and group reviews you will be asked to reflect on these experiences and to consider how you might learn from speculation and the feedback of potential audiences to re-think and re-work your ideas. This module also aims to introduce you to a range of models of practice and contextual knowledge that will help you understand contemporary art, craft and design practice and its relationship to society more fully. You will engage in subject specialist lectures and seminars and produce a range of creative and academic contextual assignments. Again the module aims to encourage you to organise your time effectively, work more independently and demonstrate the personal curiosity to find and evaluate contextual ideas alongside art, craft and design work that has a specific value for you and your work.

Module: 5VA005

Credits: 60

Period: 3

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module aims to extend your experience and knowledge of specialist making, media, art and design methodologies and research methods, providing you with the opportunity to explore and investigate conceptual development, and to research practice techniques and methods. You will be predominantly based in the studios, computer and material workshops and through a mixture of demonstrations, workshops, group critiques and material experimentation, alongside contextual research, you will develop work that gives you the opportunity to evaluate your methods, discuss initial concepts and develop appropriate practice proposals. You will also begin to consider in more depth an engagement with wider contexts and audiences, developing and communicating your material and creative art, craft and design vocabulary through increasingly independent work. While this will be within a structure of contextual research, materials experimentation and design development, it will be important to develop your own methodologies. You will do this through undertaking primary research, investigating a range of material, textual, digital and media-based resources, develop appropriate creative responses and be able to communication visually and verbally in a comprehensive record of your studies and a reflective engagement with your subject.

Module: 5VA010

Credits: 60

Period: 3

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module aims to establish firm understanding of your subject and its relationship to related practice in Art and Design and other external contexts. You will be encouraged to indulge your curiosity and adopt more speculative approaches in the development of projects. You will engage with your peer group and tutors through various forums in the process of informing your decision making. Your evolving work and understanding of the motivations and contexts that inform its making will be supported by a range of opportunities to test its effectiveness for your community of practice.

Module: 6VA010

Credits: 60

Period: 4

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

This module aims to support a project, negotiated with your tutors, through which you will develop a body of subject specialist work that draws together your own conceptual ideas, advanced material production and an understanding of audience. You will negotiate, plan and develop this project and, though supported, will be expected to maintain a working practice that is independent and professional. The work you produce should reach a professional standard informed by research, material experimentation and an understanding of relevant contexts for your subject area. You will maintain an ongoing reflective approach to the development of your work and be able to communicate this verbally, visually and in written form.

Module: 6VA005

Credits: 60

Period: 4

Type: Core

Locations: Wolverhampton City Campus

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This module further develops your independent professional practice and personal creative journey, supporting the projects you undertake in your other module. You will increase your awareness and understanding of the environment in which an independent artist, craftsperson and designer might operate, researching relevant subject specific contexts and professional models of presentation that will establish relevant and informed positions for your practice. You will also have the opportunity to undertake the University Employability Award. These varied activites will provide you with a framework through which to develop your practice in readiness for the degree show and other external opportunities. In order to achieve this, throughout the module, you will be supported to develop a portfolio of practice that emerges from personally generated research interests or in response to appropriate externally set projects with companies, organisations and entrepreneurs