Fine Art

We provide you with the opportunity to acquire knowledge and appropriate practices. You’ll develop your creative potential and critical understanding as a practising artist.

· Research Methodologies introduces generic principles and processes of research relevant to the practice and study of art, design and curatorial practice. It provides you with a strong sense of methodological purpose when thinking about your practice. It will give you confidence and authority by assisting you to identify key areas of interest and to build on this towards a mastery of your subject. It will outline established models of academic enquiry – both practical and intellectual – proposing ways to gather, analyse and communicate a wide range of information and ideas.

· Studio 1: Re-establishment of Studio Practice is designed to re-establish and situate your existing practice. Its aim is to support and challenge you in further developing an awareness of this using material and methods acquired in the Research Methodologies module. You’ll produce work based upon a written proposal, negotiated individually and agreed with staff. Technical staff will introduce you to a wide variety of workshops as necessary, so you can experiment and explore, bringing your outputs to a finished level for exhibition at assessment.

· Develop your re-established practice in Studio 2: Developing Studio Practice. The module aims help you consider your initial studio developments you made in Studio 1: Re-establishment of Studio Practice and develop a working strategy to build on and develop these further. You’ll be encouraged to pay greater attention to the exhibition element of your practice and to test finished resolutions not only of individual works in isolation but of a group of works relating positively to each other in appropriate exhibition settings.

· Aspects of Contemporary Art Practice: You’ll develop relevant research methods and advanced reflective research, including appropriate references to theoretical and critical resources. This will give you greater understanding of the historical context of your studio practice. You’ll analyse your previous studio work and build on agreed experimentation/exploration in order to develop your technical, contextual and conceptual understanding of your studio practice.

· Studio 3: Advanced Studio Practice is a double module that leads to the award of MA Fine Art. The aim is that you’ll carry out a proposal developed in Aspects of Contemporary Art Practice. The outcomes based on this proposal will have been agreed and this forms your programme of study for the module. You’ll work in the studio with increasing independence and you’ll be able to demonstrate an advanced capacity to work within your chosen idiom and have advanced your understanding of this.

Course assessment

At the end of each trimester the modules are assessed by internal staff, moderated by an external examiner. Assessment of each stage of the studio element of the course is by exhibition and all related materials together with an advanced written reflective statement. The research modules are assessed by an oral/visual presentation made by the student of their practitioner ‘position’ at the Postgraduate Certificate and Diploma stage.