BA (Hons) Fine Art

This module will introduce you to the workshop and studio-based learning community in LSA. You will have the opportunity to gather some initial visual research based on your exploration of the city followed by a series of practical workshop inductions and short projects using a range of facilities in the John Lennon School of Art Building including: studios, gallery spaces, the 3D workshop, fab lab, print making and digital imaging suites. In these workshops you will develop exemplar pieces of work based on your research that will demonstrate your understanding and engagement in some of the fundamental processes and methods used in each area.

Your professional development starts in your first year. In this part of the module you will be supported to develop your ideas and practice through a series of group reviews and learn how to document your work and collate it into a digital portfolio that you will continue to edit and develop throughout the programme.

This module will support you to focus on a more specialist field of practice and you will elect to join a weekly workshop in 2d, 3d or digital media where you will have the opportunity to learn new skills and explore some of the conceptual and practical frameworks relevant to working in these areas.

You will also be expected to develop a more independently driven studio project where you can play and test some of these ideas through the lens of your individual interests and concerns. This activity will be supported by engagement with an interdisciplinary studio tutor group that you will attend each week and, through a varied programme of activities you will have the opportunity to discuss the development of your practice, your personal development planning and engagement with the wider cultural life of the city, undertake research visits and consider approaches to exhibition and documentation.

This module will culminate in an end of year exhibition in the School of Art and the presentation of your portfolio to staff for assessment.

In this module you will learn how to become an independent researcher and start to understand how artists, their practices and arts institutions, organisations and communities work together to reflect and challenge the world in which we live and work. You will take part in lectures, seminars, presentations, walks, talks and visits and consider the many and varied models of practice that artists and arts professionals use to discuss, critique and disseminate ideas to different audiences. Increasingly, you will be expected to reflect on your own lived experiences and concerns and start to think about how you might fit or position yourself and your work in relation to these different models of ‘being’ in the art world. Throughout the module you will be given opportunities to try different approaches to research, finding information and presenting your findings. You will also start to use a range of digital tools and software to support you in developing different aspects of your work to more professional and independent outcomes that will support you throughout the course and in your future careers.

In this module you will be supported to establish a more independent approach to studio practice and start to identify some of the media and ideas you want to work with as an artist. You will be allocated a studio space and a tutor group to support you and you will have regular tutorial opportunities to present and reflect on your studio project and your emerging sense of practice.

Once you have established your studio project you will be given the opportunity to undertake a ‘mini-residency’ in which you will be supported to make work in response to an external environment or set of ideas. This might include working ‘as an artist’ in a social setting, a specific place or space, another academic faculty or a museum and archive. Tutors on the course will use their research and practice to frame the projects and together you will respond to this external environment through the lens of your own experience and working methods.

At the end of the module, you will work with your ‘residency group’ to curate and present an exhibition of the work to a public audience.

In this module you will be introduced to some of the key critical thinking that has informed global developments in contemporary and historical art practices. Through a series of lectures, you will explore issues of class, politics and genders, as well as related notions of personal, social and national identity and how these are played out and constructed in exhibitions. In the Fine Art Programme talks you will also experience first hand, a wide range of artists, curators, and art-world workers presenting their career journeys and how they have developed practices that critically synthesise their personal positions and values through self-determined approaches to work. Every week you will join a smaller seminar group where you will have the opportunity to talk about and explore in more depth some of the ideas and practices you have encountered, and you will be encouraged to think how these positions might be important to you. The assignments for this module will be a review of an exhibition exploring how it defines a key model of practice from the lectures or talks and a more in depth essay on a subject from the lectures that you have found important for your own development. You will be supported to plan, research and write this essay through individual and group tutorials.

In this module you will be expected to start defining your studio practice through an independently negotiated studio project and a professional practice experience. You will be allocated a studio group which will meet regularly throughout the semester and in addition you will be expected to attend a series of professional practice workshops that will teach you about writing proposals and other aspects of project management relevant to working freelance in the arts including: Funding, budgeting, pricing your work, health and safety, ethics, documentation and evaluation.

You will also be expected to gain some ‘real world’/professional practice experience of your own choosing during this semester. Typically, this might include a placement in a school, gallery, health or community environment, initiating an exhibition in an external space, voluntary work in one of the many art institutions in the city or undertaking a commission, competition or residency.

At the end of the module, you will exhibit and present your work in an ‘open studio’ event – a popular model of artist led activity for promoting individual practice to a public audience.

This module will further extend your knowledge of the contemporary critical thinking and practices commonly used by artists to identify and locate their work. You will also continue to have the opportunity to engage with the work of contemporary artists and practitioners  through the Fine Art Programme Talks. In this module, however, you will be expected to use these lectures and talks as a springboard for more independent research, and you will be encouraged to research and start to define your own critical framework made up of key texts and practices.

You will be supported to develop your research through seminars and tutorials. The assignments for this module will give you the opportunity to undertake a review of one artist's work from the lecture/talks series and a more in depth literature and practice review that will help you to define your practice and support your progression onto Level 6 projects.

In this module you will have the opportunity to work with the full fine art programme team, including curators, professional artists, researchers and writers. At this level we aim to support you to professionalise every aspect of your fine art practice, ensuring you are ready to present your work in a range of public forums when you graduate.

The module is organised through 3 interrelated strands of activity: Practice Development, Professional Skills Development and Exhibition & Presentational Strategies.

In Practice Development you will work in studio tutor groups and meet regularly to propose, present and reflect on your ongoing arts practice with the support and feedback of the group.

In Professional Skills you will have the opportunity to attend masterclasses and workshops which will actively respond to the needs of the student cohort and provide staff led workshops that focus on a range of activities from specialist material techniques to planning and project management techniques. You will also be encouraged to think about some commercial applications for your work and there will be opportunities to attend workshops on self-employment, budgeting, pricing work and the production of multiples and editions of work for selling.

In Exhibition & Presentational strategies you will work in large and small groups or individually to plan, test and present your work at a range of institutional and external venues or projects in preparation for the degree show and to build your CV and professional arts experience.

The focus in this module will be to develop your understanding of professional standards and support you to meet these expectations and feel confident in your ability to present on the public stage. Culminating in the Degree Show this module is your launchpad into the art world.

In the first part of this module, you will have the time and space to research and critically explore a subject of your choice that will inform and is informed by your studio practice. You will be taught how to present the work as an academic paper, a report or an artist’s book and create a research publication in one of these formats as an outcome of the assignment.

The second assignment for this module is the creation of a professional digital portfolio. You will be supported to research and choose an appropriate platform for your work that will provide a space for you to archive your work and operate as a promotional and presentational tool for public or private viewing.

You will have the opportunity to learn about how to propose, document and present your work, produce biographic and personal statements and a professional CV.

To support you in completing both these assignments you will be allocated to a tutorial group, have the opportunity to attend lectures, workshops and the weekly Fine Art Programme of Artist and Professional speakers talks.

At the end of the module, you will be able to talk through your portfolio as part of the assessment and present your portfolio and research publication at the Degree Show.