Fine Art

BA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts brings together students, artists, curators, and writers to examine what contemporary fine art practice is, and to help forge its future. The ethos of BA Fine Art at Chelsea is experimental thinking and making things happen.

Your experience as a student is based around a series of events. These include on-site and off-site exhibitions, projects, presentations, publications, performances, discussions and screenings. They’ll give you hands-on experience of real-world practice.

What to expect

• A broad-based course: Work across a wide range of media - video, photography, digital technologies, print, sound, performance, painting, sculpture, drawing and writing.

• Event-based course: Work towards exhibitions, projects and events. Learn how to realise your work and ideas in a wide range of on-site and off-site contexts.

• Diverse teaching: Learn through tutorials, seminars, artist's talks, lectures, workshops, exhibitions and live projects.

• Experimental learning: Test your ideas in unfamiliar media and situations. Embrace uncertainty and what elsewhere might be considered as ‘failure’.

• Support for different learning approaches: Experience a curriculum and assessment processes that include approaches for those who may face barriers with traditional teaching methods.

• Creative community: Be part of an active community of artists. Draw inspiration from shared experiences, ideas and perspectives.

• Social and ethical exploration: Explore how art can contribute to redefining and reimagining issues of class, race, gender, disability and identity.

• A sustainable approach: Develop an ethical, inclusive and sustainable approach to working and exhibiting that prepares you for professional life.

• Theory and practice: Learn about how different ideas and contexts in art and society have shaped and change the way art is created and received.

• Facilities: Access Chelsea's shared workshops and facilities. These include 3D printing, ceramics, casting, laser cutting, metal and woodwork, photography, audio-visual editing suite, video and motion capture studios.

Industry experience and opportunities

A succession of independent live projects run alongside the course. These change year-on-year and can include commissions for public art projects, collaborative research projects with outside organisations, or opportunities for students to assist artists, galleries and museums with exhibitions and events.

About Chelsea College of Arts

Chelsea College of Arts has a reputation for producing some of today’s leading artists and designers. Our students are encouraged to radically engage with contemporary fine art and design practice. The College offers courses in fine art, graphic design, textile design, product and furniture design and interior design

At Chelsea College of Arts, we look at art and design in a social, cultural and political context. We are particularly interested in the effects of globalisation. This could either be on creative practice itself or a response to it. As an international hub of creative practices, we have a range of partnerships, projects and exchanges that broaden student and staff perspectives and knowledge.

Located in central London, the College's Grade ll listed Pimlico site overlooks Tate Britain and the River Thames. It has excellent workshops, extensive library facilities, a canteen and an onsite gallery, Chelsea Space. The College is home to UAL’s Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN) research centre, the Decolonising Arts Institute and Iniva.

The College’s alumni include Mariko Mori, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Haroon Mirza, Steve McQueen, Rana Begum, Chris Ofili, Margaret Calvert, Mark Wallinger, Thomas J Price, James Richards and Helen Chadwick.