BA (Hons) Fine Art.
UCAS Code W213
Sheila Gaffney 0113 202 8000 sheila.gaffney@leeds-art.ac.uk
BA (Hons.) Fine Art.
The BA (Hons) in Fine Art involves you in a diverse, lively community of people experimenting, challenging, learning and engaged in the business of being an artist in the contemporary world. This studio-based programme is structured around a system which houses four specialist subject strands in Fine Art to enable you to experience a deeper acquistion and performance of skill in your favoured media. Each subject strand is led by an experienced artist in this arena and working in a dedicated subject studio you will engage with a range of strategies to support your development.
Course validated by the Open University.
Our programme still links the traditional approaches in art education, pioneered by the Leeds School of Art, with contemporary strategies and thought in art practice using our modern up to date techniques & equipment. Our programme supports the development of your studio practice with an emphasis on craft and skill, whilst enabling you to position yourself and your practice in terms of art history and critical thought, so that you will be equipped with the tools to map and research your own concerns. Frequent opportunities for public facing exhibitions and projects prepare you intellectually, practically and professionally for a wide range of rewarding careers in this exciting and dynamic discipline.
On joining the programme you will embark on an initial period of orientation, induction and familiarisation after which you will confirm your place within one specialist strand. In each strand there will be regular critiques, seminars and specific material workshops relating to your particular practice involving students from different levels of the programme. There will also be critiques and seminars which involve students from the different strands in order to support and develop your growing understanding of working within the complexity of 21st century discursive art practices. You will also be a member of a tutor group with students from your own level of the programme and come together to share concerns and ideas relevant across the subject strands. As part of our larger community of practice in Fine Art you will undertake a series of lectures which explore aspects of art history and critical debate, alongside tailored sessions which address your developing personal and professional practice. Studio practice is linked to the external world at all times. You’ll be encouraged to find and negotiate opportunities to show and perform your work, particularly through exhibitions, events and other public-facing practices. Previous groups of students have created exhibitions and taken part in a range of external arts initiatives as part of their live professional practice. We arrange cultural visits to galleries, exhibitions and events of interest, including visits abroad and excursions within the UK.
Painting & Printmaking.
Drawing.
Working in specialist studios you will be encouraged to pursue your ideas in and around painting and printmaking processes in an informed and challenging way with a growing understanding of their intrinsic materials. Traditional approaches of making surfaces will be introduced. For example, glazing, wet-on-wet, encaustic, oil or acrylic medium and dry brush work are explored in order to be challenged as part of the wider curriculum in this subject strand.
Working in the drawing strand allows you to elevate your drawing from being a well understood core discipline in art practice to being the distinct and exciting art form exhibited in museums and galleries across the world. Our artists will introduce you to processes and visual drawing systems whilst also exploring the integral expressive nature of drawing which is primal, elemental and our most immediate form of image making. You will be encouraged to extend your drawing practice widely in 2, 3 and 4 dimensions in a range of of materials, media and techniques.
Media.
Sculpture.
The media strand engages with technologies that confront you daily in the world – photography, film, video, text, book, electronic and digital technologies. You will explore media and ideas with a diverse approach and be encouraged to embrace appropriate forms of resolution such as installation, performance, screenings, or sound works as you engage with the contemporary currency of these forms of communication. The programme will encourage you to test the boundaries and relationships between different media, or work intensively in a chosen media.
In the sculpture strand you will be introduced to sculpture in its most expansive form. You will explore the notions of object, space, installation, public art and participatory practices to enrich your understanding of the definitions of sculptural practice. These considerations will be under scrutiny as part of lively studio debates which will enhance your study. We will develop your techniques in material practices and processes as part of our diverse but focused discussion about sculpture. You will be working in an excellent place from which you can conveniently visit internationally renowned examples of sculpture – The Henry Moore Institute, The Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
The programme involves you in a diverse, lively community of people experimenting, challenging, learning and engaged in the business of being an artisit in the contemporary world.
Course Structure. Year One. You will embark on a common introductory programme with a strong emphasis on drawing, an approach for which the College is renowned. This is an initial period of orientation, induction and familiarisation after which you will confirm your place within a specialist strand and join the community of practice of your choice in semester 2.
Placements.
Sheila Gaffney Programme Leader
Students negotiate their own engagement with external organisations which have included creating a public workshop as a group called ‘Handling Space – Being Barbara’ with The Arthouse in Wakefield on the opening weekend of the Hepworth Gallery; an internship as a bronze foundry technician at SSW, the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Aberdeenshire; working with the management team of Pavilion on a commission The Tiger: Additionals ; working with analogue film company Cherry Kino; a solo mentored exhibition project with ESA ( East St Arts); undertaking volunteer positions in the Learning Team at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park led by artist/photographer Asha Munn.
Year Two. You will develop your work in your specialist strand where tutorials and critiques will extend your studio practice. You will enhance your professionalism through specific modules which focus on artists’ strategies and exhibition practice.
Year Three. You will consolidate your informed and positioned practice working within the specialist studio strand, undertaking tutorials and critiques to mentor you through your final year. You will position yourself as an emerging professional artist, undertaking an agreed project in the form of a public exhibition and an extensive research project.
Accolades.
Future Careers.
Our students win many prestigious awards and prizes. Recently, these have included The Kenneth Armitage Student Sculpture Award, Departure Gallery Art Prize, Art Idol, Northern Design Competition, Leeds Art Fair (Best in Show), winner of The Northern Art Show Award, and Bursary Winner of The Drawing Year at The Princes Drawing School.
Graduates go into a wide variety of careers including independent art practice, community arts, curating and teaching. Some go on to further study at master’s or doctorate level.