MA Fine Art

Applicants will normally hold a minimum of a 2:2 honours degree in Art and Design and must be able to demonstrate, through portfolio and interview, practical competence and critical understanding appropriate to the course. Applications should be supported by images and a brief statement outlining the form, content and context of recent work.

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The MA Fine Art programme has been designed for students of serious artistic intent, who wish to develop their work within an environment of practical support and critical challenge.

Students who graduate from it will have a sharpened focus and purpose to their creative work, and a higher level of critical and contextual understanding that will equip them to practice independently as artists in a contemporary professional context or to continue an academic career as potential doctoral research students.

Beyond this, a postgraduate degree, because of its focus and specialisation, often equips graduates to teach in further and higher education.

Higher level cross-disciplinary skills including critical thinking, critical writing, visual analysis, research skills, project management and creative problem solving are particularly suited for art-related professions or careers within the cultural industries. They are also transferable skills that find general application within a range of professional and commercial organisations and contexts.

Programme Structure:

The MA (Level 7) programme (180 credits) is structured primarily for part-time study over 24 months with intermediate exit awards of Postgraduate Certificate (60 credits) and Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits).

The modular structure of the programme is designed to encourage personal artistic development, and students are free to choose their own way of working within the programme modules.

All routes take account of professional artistic practice and in this sense have a strong vocational rationale; however the ultimate exit award will be based on student choice and aptitude. The award of Masters (Level 7), takes cognisance of developments in practice-based research in the creative arts and the emphasis is on appropriate research methods occupying a central position in artistic practice.

Year 1 (Level 7)

In the first year, a 40 credit practice-based module (‘Orientating and Developing Practice’) and a 20 credit theoretical module (‘Critical and Contextual Approaches to Contemporary Practice’) run parallel and complement each other, informing and supporting a developing understanding relationship between theory and practice. These modules, over the course of the first year of the programme, constitute the award of Postgraduate Certificate.

‘Orientating and Developing Practice’ provides the means by which students are able to establish their practice and working procedures, and the emphasis is on an experimental and speculative approach.

‘Critical and Contextual Approaches to Contemporary Practice’ aims to build confidence by equipping students with the tools to start criticism and engage with debate. Students will be introduced to some of the broad critical paradigms and contemporary issues that have gained currency over the past 50 years. This knowledge will allow them to understand the wider contexts in which they are operating and assume an informed position in relation to the development of their own work.

Year 2 (Level 7)

In the second year, students take a further 40 credit studio practice module (‘Reflective Practice’) together with a parallel 20 credit theoretical module (‘Contextualising and Articulating Practice’), the successful completion of which constitute the award of Postgraduate Diploma.

‘Reflective Practice’ provides students with an extended period of studio practice with the intention that students will be able to draw on the insights that they have gained from the first year in order to establish more focused lines of enquiry.

‘Contextualising and Articulating Practice’ runs alongside the ‘Reflective Practice’ Module and provides students with the opportunity to build on the ‘Critical and Contextual Approaches to Contemporary Practice’ module of the first year and develop a personal research agenda which allows them to secure a more robust relationship between theory and practice. Consideration of a range of research methods appropriate to studio practice, provide the means by which students are able to frame their practice in a research context and construct a critically robust exhibition proposal.

During the summer period of the second year of study, students will be engaged in realising this proposal through a 60 credit ‘MA Major Exhibition/Research Project’.

The ‘MA Major Exhibition/Research Project’ is an independent project where students give focus to their artistic concerns through the production of a creative project that will be publicly exhibited. The exhibition of work is accompanied by a 2,000 word critical rationale or there is scope within the module for students to develop the rationale into a short thesis of 6,000 words [50/50 practice/theory] if this is appropriate.