Fine Art Painting BA(Hons)

International requirements and visas

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

Visas and immigration advice

Portfolio advice 

Admission to this course involves reviewing your portfolio. After you apply, we will ask you to share a link to an online portfolio of your work. This enables us to see your potential and understand your approach and motivations.

We will ask you to log on to Student View to share your portfolio link. We will not be able to progress your application to Brighton until you share your portfolio.

• Find out about the specific requirements for your course.

Creating your portfolio
We’ve put together advice and guidance to help you create and share your portfolio and we run regular online portfolio advice sessions where you can get help from our expert team.

Top reasons to choose this course

• There is no house style – we believe that to develop as a painter you must be unafraid of taking risks and be willing to learn through both failure and success.
• We encourage you to explore all aspects of painting, discovering how different media and processes impact on the ideas and content of your work.
• We will encourage you to test boundaries in an environment of discussion and debate.
• Strong links with local arts communities provide volunteer and employment opportunities.
• The optional placement year gives you the chance to make connections and gain valuable experience.
• You will have your own studio space 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.
• Your lecturers are professional painters, so you will receive guidance from established artists.
• International links with the University of Nagoya, Japan, including an exchange programme available by competitive application.
• Professional development lectures in your final year cover areas including self-employment, networking and project management, preparing you for a career in the creative industries. 

Follow Fine Art Painting on Instagram  

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

• 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.

• 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 also be briefed on good health and safety practice within  workshops and studios.

• Theories and Practices of Fine Art: Introduction to Global Art Histories and Art Writing

  This module introduces a range of global art histories underpinned by various modes of art writing and art practice. You will examine and critique the Western canon of art history; indigenous, decolonial, punk, feminist and queer art histories; high and low art theory; art criticism; art journalism; and artist’s experimental writing. 

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 modules allow you to explore topics outside your usual learning range.

You may also apply for overseas study placements in Japan and Korea.

Modules

• Diary Practice: Making Meaning in Times of Global Challenge

  With our world facing unprecedented challenges, including hunger, poverty and climate change, it is critical to rethink how we live, work and learn. In this module you will explore ways in which fine art practices have engaged with these challenges and sought new ways of connecting communities. During the module, you will develop a project that explores an area relating to the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals.

• Professional Development

  This module will support the development of your independent practice, explore how your learning can be used to improve your employability and enterprise prospects and identify key skills you have acquired to date. It looks at issues related to your personal and professional practice, including a variety of presentation forms, visual and written documentation, and how these can be used to publicise and disseminate your work and ideas.

• Theories and Practices of Fine Art: Contexts and Specialisms

  This module will explore the theoretical, analytical and critical frameworks in your field of fine art practice. It addresses how characteristics of disciplines, genres and media have been defined and challenged within an expanding and global field of practice. You will be encouraged to think about and articulate your ideas around art and consider alternative viewpoints to the Eurocentric Western cultural traditions within fine art.

• Studio and Public Exhibition Practices

  In this module you will develop a body of work from which at least one will be presented for public exhibition. You will be guided towards professional approaches to presentation through inclusive, safe and ethical working practices in studio and exhibition contexts. You’ll also be supported in developing speculative approaches to making, exploring materials and processes through experimentation and developing self-critical evaluation skills through post-exhibition reflection.

Placement year

Gain valuable experience and earn money during an optional placement year following year 2. You’ll return to the final year of your degree with added confidence, additional real-world experience and valuable contacts. 

A placement year gives you the chance to work with established professionals in design studios, galleries, film sets, music labels, creative agencies, newsrooms and many other environments. You’ll be able to get an insight into creative workflows and come away with a portfolio filled with real-world projects that will stand out in a competitive job market.  

It can also help you discover your creative direction and passion for a particular area of work, helping you grow artistically as well as professionally.   

Our dedicated Placements and Employability team will support you in getting a placement that suits your interests and career goals by helping you with your CV and cover letter writing, applications, online testing and more. Plus, they’ll provide support and guidance when you’re on placement and make sure that everything is going well. 

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: Reflection and Experimentation

  This module supports the development of your painting practice, building on your work in the previous year. It encourages reflection and experimentation, enabling you to further your knowledge and understanding of painting through critical evaluation and judgement. Technical, contextual and theoretical research will inform and enhance your work, and you will be guided towards a consolidation of the different elements of your studies to produce a focused studio practice.

• Theories and Practices of Fine Art: Articulation of Your Critical Position

  In this module you will continue to work with increasing independence, expanding and refining your work in relation to theory and practice. The practical aspects of this module give you a foundation to explore, develop and shape your independent and reflective positions on art. You will identify a focused area of investigation and articulate an in-depth body of work which demonstrates an understanding of the theories and issues that underpin your subject.

• Studio Practice and Final Exhibition

  This final studio practice module supports the development of your painting practice, building on your previous work. Focusing on the synthesis of your interests and practice to develop a completed body of work for public exhibition, it is devoted primarily to the production, planning and carrying out of this body of exhibitable work to professional standards.

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 with 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
• 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’ 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

Course leader Chris Stevens

Summer shows 2024

Course fees

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

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

• Brighton Boost – cost of living help for our new undergrad students. Find out about how we can help with your study, accommodation or travel costs and more...
• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• Read our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf) for more on University of Brighton tuition fees.

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