Fine Art (Extension Degree)

Why study BA Fine Art (Extension Degree) at Goldsmiths

The BA Fine Art (Extension Degree ) has been designed specifically for students from countries outside the United Kingdom. Our aim is to enable you to work independently as an artist, and to generate and develop your own ideas.

• Within a university, the term fine art describes an area of study in which students make and learn about contemporary art (this means art being made and exhibited today). Fine art students might create sculpture, painting, video, performance, sound art, installation, drawing, art writing, or any other mediums to describe their aesthetic and intellectual ideas. The ideas expressed within the artwork are understood to be as important as the medium that the artist has chosen to use.

• On the BA Fine Art (Extension Degree) you'll make and study contemporary art in a dynamic, critical and interdisciplinary environment.

• Through the development of your individual practice you'll be introduced to a range of technical and conceptual skills that will help you to develop your critical judgment and establish the basics of your future work, and you'll undertake English Language study where necessary.

• It's a small, friendly programme, and we place an emphasis on one-to-one tuition and teaching in small groups.

• You'll have your own studio space from day one, and will have access to excellent facilities including specialist art practice areas.

• If you complete all Extension Degree modules successfully you'll be able to progress directly to year 1 of the BA Fine Art or the BA Fine Art and History of Art degree.

• All staff on the programme are practising artists, curators and writers, here to respond to the work that you make and to help you understand how it contributes to, and challenges, the critical debates that animate cultural practices and contexts today.

• Many Goldsmiths students go on to become internationally successful artists. Since 1990, former Goldsmiths students have been nominated for the Turner Prize more than 30 times, and have won the prize on 8 occasions.

Throughout the programme we'll encourage you to work independently as an artist, to generate and develop your own ideas.

If you complete all Year 0 modules successfully you'll be able to progress directly to year 1 of the BA Fine Art or the BA Fine Art and History of Art degree.

Year 0
Studio Practice
As a student on the Fine Art Extension Degree, you will be taught by practising artists, writers and curators and the student-centred learning means that it is your own practice and research that is the centre of the learning process.

You will join a tutor group led by your personal tutor as part of a larger group of students and staff. You take part in regular tutorials (one-to-one discussions) and studio seminars with staff and other Extension Degree students where you present your work and you are encouraged to participate in discussions around your own practice and that of others.

The development of your own practice will introduce you to a range of technical art practice areas and specialist tutors to support your work, and you will be allocated an individual studio space which forms the focal point of your activities for the full academic year. You will be supported, and your progress assessed, by the Studio Practice teaching staff and we have a programme of visiting artists' talks with workshops and tutorials throughout the year.

Critical Studies
The Critical Studies element of the programme introduces you to the broader critical, institutional, historical and social contexts of contemporary art practice.

Critical Studies is taught as a combination of lectures, seminars, tutorials and tutor-led visits to relevant exhibitions in London. This is designed to support your practical work in the studio, broaden your horizon, and help you ground your thinking and making in a contemporary cultural and theoretical context.

Critical Studies is intended to help you formulate your own ideas and responses to artworks across different mediums. We will encourage you to familiarise yourselves with key themes in contemporary cultural debate, develop ways of actively discussing other artists' work and grant insights into the varied infrastructures of contemporary art in London and beyond.

Portfolio of Art Writing or English language classes
Depending on your level of English language you will either study the Portfolio of Art Writing module or take English language classes.

Integration
As an Extension Degree student you'll meet students on the BA Fine Art or BA Fine Art and History of Art programmes through mixed-level group sessions and discussions arranged by our Junior Fellow Graduates. They enable you to benefit from contact and shared activity with other students working across different levels.

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

Studio Practice is continuously assessed through your participation in individual tutorials and group seminars, and presentations of your work during the first two terms. In addition to this, in the summer term there is an assessment of studio practice through a formal presentation of your work in your studio space.

Critical Studies is assessed through submission of essays and collaborative presentations in the first two terms.

Portfolio of Art Writing is assessed through submission and there are exams for English for Academic Purposes in the summer term.