Fine Art BA(Hons)

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Portfolio advice 

We are looking for independent, self-motivated, and creative individuals who are keen to experiment and expand their fine art knowledge through practical making and thinking. We seek evidence of curiosity about and commitment to fine art and are looking for students who are able to discuss fine art work and critically reflect on their own and others work. The Fine Art course welcomes students whose work embraces different fine art branches, processes, materials and contexts but also students who are keen to expand and deepen their knowledge of specific fine art forms.

What should I include in my portfolio?

You should prepare an online portfolio of 15–20 examples of your art work that specifically reflect your interest in joining the Fine Art course and that show evidence of your creative process and making skills. To demonstrate your enthusiasm for the fine art subject area your portfolio should contain self-motivated investigations and include independent projects in addition to examples of any work resulting from set briefs. How you research and critically reflect on topics within sketchbooks, models and through preparatory studies is as important as providing examples of your completed artworks. Your portfolio should focus on work and forms of work that you are actively interested in and demonstrate what themes, materials, processes and related research excites you when making artworks.

Whatever form/s your work takes, whether it is handcrafted or digital or a combination of both, we look at your portfolio to evidence the ways in which you develop ideas in practical forms. The personal statement you include with your application should demonstrate your ability to articulate ideas about your art works and show your enthusiasm for practical and intellectual enquiry.

Following portfolio selection there will be an opportunity to meet staff in an online Q+A forum to discuss any queries you may have about studying fine art at Brighton.

Find out more about how to create and submit your portfolio.

Year 1

In the first year you are introduced to studio practice and explore the relationship between thinking and making in a supportive and friendly environment. An expansive approach to research enables you to explore different methods of articulating your ideas and documenting your work.

You'll develop your emerging fine art practice within the studio and in relation to a specific site or sites. There is an emphasis on material exploration and experimentation and work is challenged through critical discussions and debate, building confidence in articulating your practice.

You will be introduced to key institutions, roles and terms within the expanded world of contemporary art and learn to navigate and discuss complex ideas and issues which increases your understanding and builds a collective vocabulary.

Modules

• Studio Practice 1: Thinking and Making

  This module is an introduction to studio practice. You will identify key concerns in your practice whilst exploring the relationship between studio practice, thinking and making.

  The module introduces an expansive approach to research, and you'll explore different methods of articulating ideas and documenting work.

• Studio Practice 2: Making and Site

  This module supports you to develop and explore your emerging studio practice in the studio and in relation to a specific site or sites. Your work is challenged through critical discussion and wide-ranging material exploration and experimentation, which opens up new possibilities for your practice.

  The module stresses the importance of expansive research and changing methods of documentation. Individually and in groups, you will explore new ways of articulating your critical language based on observation and feedback.

• Contemporary Art Institutional Roles and Terms

  This module will introduce you to key institutions, roles and terms within the contemporary art world, encouraging you to engage with discussion and debates about these.

  This module introduces key institutions, roles and terms within the contemporary art world. Using inquiry-based learning, we meet each week as a group to discuss an institution, role or term from a range of perspectives, for example, what is the practical, ideological, economic and social function of an art gallery.

• Introduction to Theories and Practices of Fine Art

  This module introduces a range of approaches used to think about the relationship between fine art practice and the social and cultural contexts in which art has emerged at various periods. Attention is paid to how artworks and art practices embody changing ideas, meanings, values and effects.

  Students from all fine art areas take part, enabling interdisciplinary dialogue. The module explores historical contextualisation appropriate for studio practice, supporting the development of library-based research and academic skills.

Making sure that what you learn with us is relevant, up to date and what employers are looking for is our priority, so courses are reviewed and enhanced on an ongoing basis. When you have applied to us, you’ll be told about any new developments through Student View.

Year 2

In your second year you'll continue to advance your fine art practice through explorative and practical approaches. You develop the visual, written and spoken communication skills to present your work to varied audiences. There is a greater emphasis on considering the context, form and cultural framing of your work and on the professional skills associated with proposal making, documentation of artworks and exhibition making.

The second-year public exhibition teaches you to present a resolved work in a group exhibition, to negotiate, to work as part of a team and to practice key roles associated with exhibition making. The fine art placement / residency provides opportunities to develop your thinking, planning and negotiation skills to work in new contexts.

The option module allows you to explore topics from across our arts subjects.

Modules

• Studio Practice 3: Proposals and Public Exhibition
• Studio Practice 4: Practice-led Research
• Theories and Practices of Fine Art: Contexts and Specialisms
• Option module from across our arts subjects*

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Final year

In your final year you'll develop and consolidate your art practice and extend your technical skills base through the creation of a body of work. Research situates your practice in relevant contexts and professional skills are developed to support future ambitions.

You synthesise your previous learning, test your ideas practically, write proposals and work towards a final degree show exhibition. There is a strong emphasis on documenting your practice, writing a CV and artist statement, and on placing your work in critically informed contexts. This helps you to prepare for postgraduate study and careers within the creative industries.

Modules

• Studio Practice 5: Consolidating and Situating Practice
• Studio Practice 6: Public Exhibition and Professional Practice
• Theories and Practices of Fine Art: Articulation of Your Critical Position

Placement and studio residency

Our fine art placements take place at the university in a different discipline. The breadth of subjects taught at Brighton means there is a variety of choice.

Our studio residency provides space to research a particular subject, take up a live opportunity or plan a project which expands your studio practice.

Whether choosing the Fine Art Placement or the Studio Residency you will develop vital professional practice skills in new environments. This may involve arranging and chairing meetings, researching a particular topic or process, communicating your practice to new audiences, negotiating opportunities or finding connections between art practice and real-life situations.

The studio / fine art placement lasts several weeks and you will develop a proposal that expands your experience with guidance from course staff. Examples of where placements might take place are: earth and ocean science, midwifery, or web and mobile computing; or in university departments like the Chaplaincy.

Studio residencies may respond to live opportunities, focus on developing external exhibition opportunities or support practical studio research activity.

Facilities

The course has its own studios and you will have access to a fabrication workshop and skilled specialist technical demonstrators. Within the workshop areas it is possible to work with a broad range of materials and processes including:

• woodworking
• metalworking
• plaster casting
• concrete casting
• metal casting
• plastics
• clay and stone
• mould making
• maquette making
• sewing
• bronze casting.

Alongside the course-specific facilities you will have access to central services such as:

• The Media Centre where you can loan cameras, video projectors, monitors, media players and audio equipment to experiment with ideas or to use for exhibitions and crits.
• The TECH HUB – a team of technical demonstrators based in Grand Parade who provide specialist creative software support including Adobe CC (Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects etc), Rhino, Blender and C4D, as well as web and blog-related software. They manage digital manufacturing services within the School of Art and Media, including laser cutting, 3D printing, CNC routing, plasma cutting and 3-axis CNC milling. They also have VR headsets and 3D scanners. The TECH HUB has its own dedicated PC suite with all of the software they support as well as standard university programmes.

360 facilities tour
Take a look at our studio and workshop facilities.

Meet the team

Professor Matthew Cornford

Matthew Cornford is an artist who has worked on a wide range of art projects in response to specific contexts and situations. He has had work and projects exhibited in Europe, North America and at galleries in the UK including Camden Arts Centre, ICA, John Hansard Gallery, Photographers Gallery, De La Warr Pavilion and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. For a number of years Matthew Cornford has worked with John Beck researching the cultural history of British art schools, giving talks at galleries and universities. In 2019 their exhibition The Art Schools of North West England opened at the Bluecoat, Liverpool. Read more about Matthew.

Amy Cunningham

Amy is a multidisciplinary artist who explores the glitches and gaps in forms, media and ideas using the singing voice and visual art. She teaches and researches in fine art, music and performance at the University of Brighton, and has exhibited her performance, installation and screen-based work in various galleries and spaces in Europe since 2000. She collaborates widely with researchers, artists and institutions. Read more about Amy.

Dr Mary Anne Francis

Dr Mary Anne Francis is an artist and writer. She studied Fine Art at Central St-Martins and completed at practice-based PhD at Goldsmiths. She exhibits regularly and has shown at venues that include Tate Britain, Towner, and The Whitechapel. Her work is included in many collections (Tate, British Museum, and the London Transport Museum for example). Her writing on art has appeared in publications such as Art Monthly, The Times Literary Supplement and many academic journals.

Ole Hagen

Ole Hagen works in sculpture, drawing, performance and moving image, often staging theatrical tableaux for the camera. His work explores selfhood, introspection and perception in the context of cultural narratives relating to the distinction between the physical and the mental, the material and the immaterial. Ole employs humour and hyperbole to exaggerate the apparent gap between subject and object in order to question orthodox materialist paradigms. Read more about Ole.

Suzanne Hutchinson

Suzanne Hutchinson is an artist whose artworks have been exhibited widely in venues that include, Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, The Hayward Gallery, The Royal Festival Hall, The Barbican, The Crafts Council Gallery, Nicola Jacobs, Fabian Carlsson, and Atlantis Gallery. She has created performance installation works in specific sites working with Glyndebourne Education Department, Northlands Festival and the Unit for Art and Offenders and has directed live and screen performances. Her set and costume designs include work for, The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Phoenix Dance Company, David Glass, Call of the Wild, Robin Driscoll and Tony Haase. Read more about Suzanne.

Naomi Salaman

Naomi Salaman is an artist, curator and lecturer. Her work investigates art practice, pedagogy and cultural institutions using historical, critical and feminist perspectives. Her interests are in contemporary art, Image/Text, the history of vision, the art school, art education and art theory. She has a doctorate in visual arts practice on the history of the art school and art theory. Read more about Naomi.

Technicians on the course include: Helen Stuart, Paul George and Louise Gregory.

Course fees

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2023–24.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate and postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

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