Fine Art BA (Hons)

Contemporary Art Practice
You’ll be introduced to the key concepts of contemporary art practice, and its place within political, social and environmental spheres, to help you develop your own relationship with art.

Critical Dialogues
The historical and theoretical ideas which inform contemporary art practice are introduced in this unit, as well as the historical practices which influence today’s artists.

Spatial Practices
The role of space within fine art is explored in this unit. You’ll learn how space is a key element of the making, presentation, consideration and critique of an artwork, and how audiences interpret the value, meaning and status of artworks.

Research and Analysis
You’ll learn how to collate, reflect, critique and disseminate concerns and interests through research folders and reflective and critical journals. Through a series of workshops and seminars, you'll be introduced to ways of supporting and enhancing your practice through your research and the ideas which come from it – and you’ll learn how to confidently present those ideas as well as your work.

Studio Practices
Within your chosen broad areas of discipline (painting, sculpture or print media), you'll develop your understanding from initial awareness to accomplished knowledge, specifically regarding the complexities and debates surrounding your subject.

Critical Theory
You'll explore key ideas and debates relating to art practices of the current and last century.

Contemporary Exhibition Practice
We'll ask you to conduct a personal field study of the contemporary art world. Through a process of reflection and critical analysis, and in collaboration with your fellow students, you'll pitch a joint proposal for a cultural event to a group of your peers. This will culminate in a live project external to the university, which you and your peer group will organise and curate.

Study Abroad (optional)
This optional unit is designed to broaden your educational experience and deepen your understanding of cultural diversity, enabling you to study within a different cultural context and gain fresh perspectives of fine art.

In the third year, your final major project will be an opportunity to combine the practical skills you have learned throughout the course, and you’ll have the opportunity to show your final work in the Graduation Show.

Practice Resolution
You'll be encouraged to identify key issues and concerns in your work through your final major project proposal, which may provide the basis for your future development and help you to discover a distinctive identity. We'll ask you to focus primarily on the resolution of current issues and concerns in your studio practice, rather than on the formulation of new ideas.

Dissertation
You'll undertake a substantial period of sustained, individually negotiated research on a subject related to the contextual and/or theoretical concerns of your discipline or chosen area of practice, towards the provision of structured written argument.

Realising Professional Practice
In this unit you'll be introduced to the specifics of creative management relevant to Fine Art and how this can be applied to sustaining and realising your practice externally.

This course offers the opportunity to study abroad for part of your second year. To find out more about studying abroad as part of your course please see the Study Abroad section:

• Study abroad information

As a long-established and well connected course, Fine Art at our Farnham campus has strong industry links with highly regarded names in the art world, including:

• The Institute of Contemporary Art
• Jerwood Space
• Zeitgeist Art Platform
• Henry Moore Institute
• Blythe Gallery (Imperial College)
• Resonance FM
• Leeds and Cass Sculpture Foundation.

Students have exhibited at galleries such as 242 Gallery, 10 Gales, Blyth Gallery at Imperial College London, Bargehouse in South Bank and so on. They've exhibited locally at The Lightbox in Woking, James Hockey Gallery and Alice Holt Forest in Farnham and Watts Gallery in Guildford. They've also been selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries, the Jerwood Drawing Prize and the Threadneedle Prize, amongst other competitions.

Our alumni have won the Jerwood Drawing Prize, John Walker Painting Prize and Neo Art Print Prize, and recent graduates have gone on to become practicing:

• Artists
• Curators
• Creative project managers
• Special effects prop makers
• Set designers
• Teachers
• Writers
• Production assistants
• Technicians
• Arts administrators
• Entrepreneurs
• Gallery owners
• Illustrators
• Art historians.

The adaptability instilled in our students has translated into exciting and diverse opportunities for many of our graduates, such as creating concert projections for Madonna, collaborations with Sadler’s Wells and the highly specialist casting of human organs for medical research.