Fine Art

This Fine Art course creates opportunities to work across disciplines with the principal ambition of driving positive social change and impact in Nottingham, regionally and beyond. The course provides opportunities to build sustainable markets, grow communities and develop projects through core activities and initiatives that spill out of the studio and into the city, where art connects with people, places and ideas.

Through our involvement in Artists Access to Art Schools, a nationwide programme that connects art schools with local and regional talent, the course builds relationships with professional artists and artistic producers. Students work directly with these practitioners to gain valuable experience, skills and knowledge.

The ongoing curatorial projects and events that are platformed in the industry focused Design and Digital Arts resource also feature strongly in this career focused, flexible curriculum. The course is unique in providing professional standard resources and workshops, impactful research and staff expertise in both emerging technologies and analogue haptic production methods.

Our curriculum is built around the merging of these disciplines, from clay to code, and their critical application in professional, real-world contexts with the core aim of supporting and sustaining Nottingham's creative economy. Through our partnerships with both established and grassroots city organisations and richly diverse communities, this course is a core component of a thriving city arts scene in which our students learn, live and work.

Key features

• Gain hands-on industry experience: You’ll have the opportunity to complete a work experience placement of up to a year in length. Dependent on the duration of your placement, you could gain an additional Diploma or Certificate in Professional Practice.

• Learn from visiting artists and experts: Attend lectures and events featuring national and international artists, writers and curators. Connect with professional networks through our links to galleries, festivals and artist-led organisations across the UK and beyond.

• Take part in global opportunities: Apply to study part of your degree abroad through our exchange programmes. You can also join optional study trips to destinations such as Berlin or Copenhagen, expanding your ideas and artistic references.

• Be part of Nottingham’s art scene: Explore the city’s galleries, artist studios and cultural spaces including Nottingham Contemporary and New Art Exchange. Build connections with the local art community through staff, alumni and live project opportunities.

Employability

A high proportion of graduates stay in Nottingham to pursue artistic activities. Many go on to become artists or work in roles such as curators, teachers, gallerists, animators, musicians, community artists, photographers and filmmakers. Some go on to use the skills and experience they’ve gained to enter careers in journalism, media, photography, web design, interiors, landscape design, and education.

Successful and notable graduates from this course include:

• film director Simon Ellis

• painter Nigel Cooke

• artist and illustrator Jon Burgerman

• curators Hannah Conroy and Ashley Gallant

• artists Tim Noble and Sue Webster

• award-winning landscape designer Sarah Price

• video artist Marianna Simnett

• artist Yoko Hayashi

• sculptor David Batchelor.

[Year One]

• Thinking through making (40 credit points)
• Art ecologies 1: Global Systems and Frames (20 credit points)
• Speculative Practice (40 credit points)
• Art Ecologies 2: Networks and Neighbourhood (20 credit points)

[Year Two]

• Inquiry led practice (40 credit points)
• Situating practice: Staging and dialogue (40 credit points)
• Co Lab: Research, Exploration and Risk-taking (20 credit points)
• Optional module - You will also personalise your course by choosing from a suite of 20-credit modules. Depending on this choice, these modules will either develop your critical, theoretical and contextual understanding, or will broaden your technical and creative skill. Indicative modules include:
  Slow Making and Craftmanship
  Model Making: Object and Narrative
  Experimental Animation
  Responding to the Visual World
  Sound Art & Design
  Live Art / Collisions
  Drawing & Exploring with Natural Materials
  Ecological Futures: A Creative Response

[Final year]

• Defining practice and artistic agency (40 credit points)
• Art Ecologies 3: Sustainable careers (20 credit points)
• Resolved Practice Audience and Futures (60 credit points)