Art and Design (Taught)

This MA Art and Design helps you build a strong, thoughtful and sustainable creative practice. You develop and deepen your current work, try new ideas, learn new skills and create ambitious, innovative projects. The course gives you access to a range of bespoke facilities and expert tutors across specialist fields including fine art, photography, graphic design, animation, fashion, illustration, interior architecture, motion graphics and interactive design. You work in your own studio space alongside other students, taking part in group critiques and one‑to‑one tutorials that help you reflect on and improve your practice.

Facilities and specialist equipment
You develop your skills to a professional level in a lively studio space with access to industry-standard facilities, equipment and software including:

• a 3D workshop with a laser cutter, vacuum former, a variety of drills, saws and other tools

• a print studio offering large-format fine art printing (up to A0); textile printing; risograph printing; and extensive screen-printing equipment

• a digital suite equipped with Apple computers; industry-standard, calibrated Eizo monitors; Adobe Creative suite and other image-processing and moving-image software; scanners; and a range of Inkjet printers which print up to A0

• a storeroom with access to industry-standard photographic and filmmaking equipment

• vinyl cutter

• bookbinding equipment

• access to a 3D printer and CNC machine

• a photographic studio equipped with Profoto lighting systems and a range of light shapers (umbrellas, lightboxes, reflectors, polyboards, and neutral and colour backgrounds)

• an analogue photographic darkroom to process and print black and white analogue film in almost any formats (35mm, 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, 4x5); equipped with Durst Pictochrom bench enlargers; individual booths; and communal space with a sink to process film and prints.

Career-powered links
You meet, interact and engage with local institutions and companies including Luton Culture Trust (The Hat Factory Art Centre, Wardown House Museum and Gallery, Stockwood Discovery Centre); Bedford Creative Arts; London Luton Airport; Lightsource bp; Luton Town FC; and MK Gallery.

Your student experience
Develop your practice while collaborating with students from a range of disciplines in a studio environment.

Work on live briefs and self-initiated research projects, producing high-quality research and a practice portfolio ready for submission to national and international competitions as well as job applications.

Build a strong understanding of current issues in art and design; explore critical and theoretical ideas; and learn how to connect them to your own work and place them in a wider context.

Take part in visits to artist studios; attend external lectures and exhibitions, either locally or farther afield; and expand your professional knowledge and networking skills by attending talks and workshops delivered by visiting speakers.

Attend our weekly ‘World of Work’ guest talks series where a wide range of creative-industry professionals share their insight into paths to employment and establishing yourself as an independent creative.

Take up the opportunity for freelance commissions and work experiences with the support and advice of the University’s Careers and Employability Service.

Benefit from our proximity to London with industry-relevant field trips to the Tate Modern, Royal Academy and Gagosian as well as local arts and culture venues such as The Culture Trust, The Hat Factory Art Centre, Wardown House Museum and Gallery, and Stockwood Discovery Centre.

Postgraduate support includes one-on-one tutorials with your personal tutor as well as professional and academic support.

Course modules

The course features two studio-based units:

Studio and professional practice – How to establish yourself within the studio with an effective working practice specific to your field.

Studio practice and research – Using advanced production techniques and coherent research enquiry, propose and create a body of work in your field of study.

Other units include:

Contemporary issues: art and design – Explore a specific theme or issue by gathering, analysing and synthesising a wide range of material to build a confident expertise in your chosen field.
MA Art and Design major project – Develop and complete a creative independent project that draws on your experience while bringing together research and production.

Every effort is made to ensure this information is accurate at the point of publication on the UCAS website. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to our website.

The following are examples of the various assessment methods used.

• Coursework to include examples of creative practice in an appropriate medium, associated research material, notebooks, research reports, essays and contextual writing.

• Assessments based on individual presentations.

• Portfolio reviews, a key means of assessing but also important for collating work for presentation in a professional context such as an interview.

• Essays and reports feature in developing your writing skills, helping you to express ideas in a variety of ways and styles, and to develop academic writing skills that are of particular benefit in producing a contextual rationale for your major project.