Fine Art BA (Hons)

The Learning and Teaching Strategies that we use in Fine Art are designed to enable your understanding and knowledge to develop progressively. The complexity of learning new ideas and ways of thinking is carefully considered in the way that we structure the award.
Speculative enquiry, testing ideas through practical endeavour and a rigorous approach to researching in fine art are the methods that fine art practitioners use as ongoing development in their professional practices. With the appropriate academic framework and support, you will adopt these methods as central to your understanding of developing a studio-based practice in fine art.
Key skills in presentation of work, critical discussion and writing are embedded throughout the award and will enable you to understand and articulate your ideas to others.
Your critical and creative thinking will develop as you make and exhibit your work and are prompted to interrogate the outcomes you produce.

Teaching, learning and assessment strategies for Art and Design are based on the recognition of three main strands as applied to the BA (Hons) Fine Art/ BA (Hons) Fine Art: Photography courses:
Practical: Involves you in the acquisition, development and refinement of technical, conceptual, communication and problem solving skills as relevant to a fine art discipline, and your application, as appropriate, to the making of creative products within particular contexts.
Theoretical/Contextual: Includes your knowledge and understanding of the major issues and debates within and around fine art, as a broadly defined discipline, and the development of your ability to integrate a critical, analytical approach within an informed fine art practice area.
Professional: Includes your knowledge and understanding of the historical, cultural and professional contexts within which fine artists operate. This constitutes a body of specialist knowledge that includes vocabulary, professional awareness and a realistic sense of your
career options.
The conjoining of these three strands is central to our course ethos and forms the basis of the Learning Outcomes that accompany each of the Module Handbooks. The mix of Learning, Teaching and Assessment that you will experience in Fine Art/Fine Art: Photography reflects our belief that practice must be conducted in the context of learning, theoretical understanding and a critical, questioning approach. At the same time, the problem solving rigors of practice are tested against theory, as you develop an informed and reflexive fine art practice.
Your teaching will be supported by our understanding that you will have a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, mirrored by a wide range of needs and expectations. Wherever possible we will endeavour to provide flexible learning opportunities that you can negotiate to suit your individual circumstances. We target our resources, in terms of staffing and facilities, at the earlier levels of the courses, so that you gradually take more responsibility for your learning as you progress through your course of study.
Your theoretical and contextual learning takes place alongside your development of a practice based enquiry. Initially supported by core modules that invest you with an underpinning knowledge, you will develop an individual approach to learning that enables you to make practical work with growing critical understanding, awareness and confidence.