Fine Art Degree

Fine Art Degree - 3 years (W100)

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Fine Art degree at Aberystwyth University

The Fine Art degree at Aberystwyth aims to provide an education based on the experience of a professional training in art and, within the subject expertise available, to help to develop the student's creative abilities as an individual. The structured three year Fine Art degree begins in the first year with directed group projects and teaching. In the second year there are smaller specialised groups and individual tuition. Finally, in the third year of the Fine Art degree scheme, the projects are originated by the student and supervised through one-to-one turorials.

The Fine Art degree requires training, creative intelligence and thorough knowledge of theory and practice both present and future. At the School of art we are devoted to the development of traditional skills as well as innovative applications of recent trends. The School has excellent facilities for the study of painting, the graphic arts, and photography. Fine Art degree modules offer the opportunity for specialization after the first year or for taking various combinations of subjects to provide a broader visual education. From the beginning of the second year of the Fine Art degree scheme, studio options are offered in one or more of the following: drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and book illustration. The School has studio facilities for painting, and for printmaking in intaglio, lithography, screen and relief printing, typography, black and white and colour photography, computer graphics, and most forms of reprographics. Teaching of Fine Art degree students is through lectures, seminars, group and individual projects and tutorials.

Fine Art degree - Year 1

In Year 1, Fine Art degree students get to grips with current issues in Art History and Visual Culture. You will also study the fundamentals of drawing in Graphic Representation modules and the use of colour in modules on Painting and Colour-based representation. Throughout your studies as a Fine Art degree student at Aberystwyth, you will be encouraged to bring together historical and present underUpdatestanding of visual culture with your own practice in drawing, painting and other aspects of making art.

Fine Art degree - Years 2 and 3

Building on the foundation that has been laid in year 1, years 2 and 3 of your Fine Art degree encourage you increasingly to broaden your approach in order to arrive at an understanding of the focus of your own art-making. Some students arrive with a strong feeling about the media and techniques in which they will specialise. Others are much less sure: but to whichever of these groups you belong, you will find your understanding of your own art enriched, challenged and expanded by your growing understanding of the cultural context of the subject and the range of new techniques which you will learn from Aberystwyth's highly regarded researchers and practising artists.

Fine Art degree Final exhibition

All your work builds towards the making of your final exhibition and of your presentation of it. As well as the public presentation of your art in the exhibition format, you will explain in an accompanying piece of reflective writing the inspiration, ideas and practical issues relating to the making of it.

Fine Art degree career opportunities

Artists make art for many reasons; but not many of them start out thinking that this is the best way they can earn a living. Neverthless, our Fine Art graduates have much to offer prospective employers - and not just in the obvious art-related fields. Our Fine Art degree students learn the proper disicplines of the artist: from the procurement and optimal organisation of materials for the art-making space, through patient experiment with techniques and media to achieve exactly the right artistic effect, to the best possible presentation of their work for its intended audience. An artist with training in these disciplines, and with the training to reflect critically upon his or her own practice, brings much to the workplace that employers really value.

The Aberystwyth School of Art enjoys an excellent employment record from its graduates. Students have gone on to obtain careers in all areas of teaching and lecturing, in museums, art galleries, libraries and in arts administration, and as designers, researchers, conservation officers, and art therapists in addition to practising as professional artists, photographers and printmakers.

Fine Art is also available with

* = Welsh Medium Courses

Alex Dudbridge BA Fine Art with Art History Stourbridge, West Midlands
“I chose to study at Aberystwyth because it offered my course, it’s by the sea and it’s such a pretty little seaside town. I love it! The department is amazing. The staff are easy to talk to and friendly, and everyone gets on well together. The University’s academic facilities are also good.The library always has what I’m looking for and there is, of course, the National Library nearby just in case! The Arts Centre on campus is invaluable to me. As an artist, the cultural facilities enable me to connect with the modern art world. The School of Art also puts on various events. What I like best about Aberystwyth is that everything is so compact and accessible – it’s good for cycling and walking.”

Study Scheme Information

The information on this page refers to the following study scheme(s)

Key Information Set