Fine Art Painting BA(Hons)

Why study with us?

• You will have your own studio space at the university, and be in regular contact with expert staff through individual tutorials, lectures, seminars and workshops.
• There are opportunities to exhibit your work throughout the course including student-led exhibitions at the university and in art and exhibition spaces across the city, culminating in the Graduate Show in your final year.
• Your lecturers are established professional painters, so you will receive guidance from tutors with specific, up-to-date knowledge of the medium.
• International links with the University of Nagoya, Japan, include an exchange programme available by competitive application.
• Two Fine Art Painting graduates per year are chosen for a six-week residency in Chongqing, China organised through the university.

Hear from Fine Art Painting degree student Archie Nash about the studio spaces, the course tutors and living in Brighton

Year 1

First year tuition develops your ability to produce self-directed work. Studio practice units emphasise experimentation and risk-taking within a critical but supportive environment; workshops cover all technical essentials of painting; you'll explore the contexts of art; and seminars introduce you to professional development. 

Modules

• Studio Practice 1: Introducing Studio Practice

  This module introduces you to the main elements of artists’ studio practice, with emphasis on investigation, experimentation and risk-taking, as important aspects of generating of new work. In this module, you will explore painting and the different roles of drawing, together with studies in a variety of media, as a means to process and develop source material, record information and generate ideas. You will develop your understanding of artistic practice and ability to lead your learning and research.

• Studio Practice 2: Developing an Independent Practice

  In this module you will explore the themes and ideas you initiated in semester 1, adding to this growing body of work with new subject matter and content. You will be helped to take increasing control of the direction of your own artistic research. The emphasis continues to be on investigation, experimentation and risk-taking. In addition, you will be encouraged to begin to articulate the art, historical and cultural context in which your work sits. 

• Methods and Materials

  This module introduces you to materials, processes and technical skills and will support you to develop your confidence with independent research, time management and planning. You will learn how to make a stretcher and prepare a variety of supports and grounds. Through workshops and demonstrations, you will be introduced to a wide range of oil and water based media and learn about presenting and hanging work.

  You will be briefed on good health and safety practice within the workshops and studios.

• 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 continue to produce self-directed work, but there is greater emphasis on its relationship to the worlds of cultural and political debate. The interim show teaches you about the key issues of exhibiting publicly, and the option module allows you to explore topics outside your usual learning range.

In your second year you may choose to study a module from another course or discipline. You may also apply for overseas study placements in Japan and Korea.

Modules

• Studio Practice 3: Studio Practice: Investigation, Experimentation and Public Exhibition Practice
• Studio Practice 4: Articulating Your Development: Professional Practice and Research Material
• Theories and Practices of Fine Art: Contexts and Specialism

• 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 produce a body of work to professional standard, exhibiting it in the acclaimed, annual graduate shows; write a research essay to define and contextualise your practice; and receive professional development lectures on subjects ranging from self-employment to project management, networks and planning strategies.

Assessment for studio units is based on artwork and writings; historical and critical work is assessed through written work and presentations. You’ll receive written feedback on your progress. At these points you complete your own self-assessment matching the form used by your tutors. These encourage you to reflect on your development. 

Modules

• Studio Practice 5: Reflection and Experimentation in Studio Practice
• Theories and Practice of Fine Art: Articulation of Your Critical Position
• Studio Practice 6: Studio Practice and Final Exhibition

Facilities

• Dedicated studio space for each student.
• Expert technical staff to assist you in workshops and inductions into equipment and technologies.
• Wide range of power tools for woodworking.
• Essential hand tools available for loan.
• Media Centre, including specialist equipment including materials for sound, film and photography available for short term loan, computer rooms with contemporary software for digital image processing and manipulation, graphic layout and typography, animation, film and sound production and editing.
• Photographic Services Unit including well-equipped dark room, studio and camera loan facilities.
• Students also have access to 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.
• Department print bureau.
• One of the country's best-stocked specialist art and design libraries.
• Internationally important Design Archives.
• On-site supplies shop.

You must provide your own painting materials (paints, paper, canvas and wood supports) and basic equipment such as brushes, hammer, staple gun, drawing board, Stanley knife,etc. As a student on the Fine Art Painting degree you are entitled to educational discounts on computers and software.

Meet the team

Christopher Stevens, course leader

Chris's work spans painting, drawing, photography, animation and video, and has won numerous national awards. Since graduating from Brighton in 1981 his work has been exhibited widely both in the UK and abroad, winning prizes in numerous national art exhibitions. In 1993 he was shortlisted for the post of official war artist in the Bosnian conflict by the Imperial War Museum. Throughout his career as an artist he has remained committed to realist painting as an ongoing and vital artistic practice. His work is represented in London by Mummery+Schnelle.

Find out about the rest of the Fine Art Painting staff: Alex Pollard, Dr Yvonne Feng, Oliver Gosling, Bernadette Kerrigan and Robert Hersey.

'Washed Up’ by Chris Stevens, Oil on canvas 137 x 183cm

International requirements and visas

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visas and immigration advice

Portfolio advice 

Our online selection process is vital in letting us see not only your work but also how you engage with and think about it. We will need the following from you in your application to the course:

• 30–35 jpgs of work you have produced, focused as much as possible on the work that you are most actively interested in exploring
• a written statement (max 500 words). This is in addition to your UCAS statement.

Your work, 30–35 images, can include not only finished paintings, but also studies, sketches, collages, whatever you feel is important to your work. Include some details to show us the physicality of the work, but also include an image of the whole work – it’s important that we get a sense of scale.

You should choose works that show evidence of:

• painting and drawing skills (this may or may not be about technique, some of the best artists have made very ‘raw’ work, we just want to see how you use the medium as appropriate to your intentions)
• other works you have made that you feel are relevant to your interests as an artist.
• your engagement with subject matter and content. Show us that you are interested!
• self-motivation / ability to work on your own initiative
• your development, experimentation, risk taking.

Your portfolio should be focused as much as possible on the work that you are most interested in exploring.

How to create your online portfolio
If you already have an online portfolio hosted by another site this is fine, but please edit it where necessary so that your work meets our criteria.

If you do not already have an online portfolio, you can create one on an image-sharing website such as Flickr or BlogSpot.

Please do not send work by email, by uploading as attachments or multiple links. You should send us one link which contains all your works and writings. Make sure your submission does not require a password to view. It must be accessible to us!

Unfortunately, we cannot accept submissions via file sharing websites that require plug-ins or PDFs to be downloaded. We also cannot accept submissions via Facebook. Full guidance and details of formats, where to send your link and deadlines will be sent to you once you have applied.

Your written statement
You must also include a short (max 500 words) written statement telling us more about the ideas and interests that underpin your current work, and your ambitions for its future development. This is in addition to your UCAS statement.

To help with this, think about critical responses to at least some of the following:

• tell us about your work, what sorts of things are you interested in?
• what is it about this kind (or kinds) of work that interests you? •  where might your work be going? Talk about what you might want to do next.
• what artists have you looked at and why? Who and what interests you? This can also include other, non-art interests if relevant.
• experimentation: what other things are you also interested in exploring?
• risk-taking: evidence you have you pushed yourself. Did it work? What didn’t work? What have you learned from it?
• why do you want to do fine art, and painting specifically, at Brighton?
• what sort of things might you like to get out of our course?
• what might you want to do in the future, as a student, as an artist, or in other careers?

Please note: we are not asking you to stick to what you tell us forever, artists change their minds all the time. Also, we are not looking for justifications or reasons why. We want to know how you think about your work, and your passion for the subject and medium.

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

Course fees

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2023–24.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full-time or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

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