Applied Art

Why Choose This Course:
Unleash your creativity with our Applied Art degree where you will focus on the high-quality craft skills needed to launch your professional artistic career. We will help you develop your material and design expertise and versatility through ceramics, metal, jewellery and mixed media.

You will:

Learn the art of high-quality making, originality and how to create personal responses to materials and processes.
Not only take your creativity and innovation to the next level, but also develop entrepreneurial skills to ensure you are industry ready.
Be able to combine your conceptual and technical skills in applied arts with the professional skills needed to be a successful maker.
Develop interpersonal skills through collaborative projects and teamwork, further preparing you for your career after your degree.
You can build a solid basis to prepare you for your studies with our BA Hons Applied Art with foundation year.
*This subject area is rated joint 2nd in the UK for Satisfied with Teaching in the Fine Art subject area league table in the Guardian University Guide, 2025.

You can build a solid basis to prepare you for your studies with our BA Hons Applied Art (with foundation year)

What you will study

YEAR 1 (LEVEL 4)
Introduces you to the breadth of materials and techniques within the Applied Arts, where you have the opportunity to work across all the material areas, experimenting with glass, ceramics, metal and mixed media.

MODULES

History and Context
Creative Futures 1
Visual Communication
Material Exploration
Craft Processes
Material and Language

YEAR 2 (LEVEL 5)
Expands your making skills within your main material choice, developing a depth of knowledge and understanding about materials and craft skills and allowing you to advance your own creative style. The key professional skills of understanding market, publicity and costings are also developed through practical projects.

MODULES

Critical Thinking
Creative Futures: Making a Living
Extended Practice (Applied Arts)
Art Practice
Practice in Context
Specialist Study (Applied Arts)

YEAR 3 (LEVEL 6)
Allows you to realise your ideas in the direction of your choice, with students developing their own individual themes to produce collections, demonstrating high-quality making skills and innovative design solutions.

MODULES

Dissertation
Creative Futures: Professional Practice
Negotiated Practice
Applied Art Degree Project

The information listed in this section is an overview of the academic content of the programme that will take the form of either core or option modules. Modules are designated as core or option in accordance with professional body requirements and internal academic framework review, so may be subject to change.

Teaching & Assessment
Assessment is predominantly through practical and design work such as maquettes, sketchbooks, samples, and finished objects. Work is presented to tutors, and verbal feedback is given instantly, followed by more expansive written feedback.

You'll be assessed for each module. Formative assessments are used to monitor progress and can take place at any time. These consist of a band grading, plus evaluative comments and a feedback tutorial if appropriate. Grading isn't finalised until the end of the year, when work is reviewed and moderated by an external examiner.

TEACHING AND LEARNING
Wrexham University is committed to supporting our students to maximise their academic potential.

We offer workshops and support sessions in areas such as academic writing, effective note-making and preparing for assignments. Students can book appointments with academic skills tutors dedicated to helping deal with the practicalities of university work. Our student support section has more information on the help available.

Contact time is 14 hours per week for Level 4, 12 hours per week for Level 5, and 10 hours per week for Level 6. The workshop facilities are open and staffed 5 days a week and students have constant access to the workshops.