Fine Art (with integrated foundation year)

Art is more than a skill; it's a language of expression. Our BA (Hons) Fine Art with Integrated Foundation Year degree encourages you to delve deep into your creative psyche to develop art that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also rich in meaning and context. Here, you'll learn to embed your personal experiences and perspectives into your work, making each piece a powerful reflection of your unique artistic voice.
Your journey begins with an introductory foundation year, designed to develop your skills, confidence, and core knowledge in a supportive and creative environment. This year helps you build strong artistic and academic foundations, ensuring you’re fully prepared to progress smoothly into the undergraduate degree.
From here, you'll develop professional-level skills across disciplines such as drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, photography, filmmaking, and digital media. Whether you prefer working with clay, paint, or digital tools, our course empowers you to experiment and express yourself through your chosen medium.
Our studios provide inspiring spaces for creativity, including a life drawing studio and fully-equipped workshops for 3D printing, ceramics, woodworking, metalworking, textiles, and printmaking, with technicians on hand for training and support.
Our practising artist tutors will support and inspire your studio practice, providing a deep understanding of Fine Art from historical, theoretical, and critical perspectives. You'll develop entrepreneurial skills and have opportunities to showcase your work, visit galleries, create your own space, and curate public exhibitions for valuable professional experience.

Module Examples

• Making Images

• Making Objects

• Visual Enquiry

• 2D

• 3D

• Collaborative Practice

• Enquiry 1: Artistic Autonomy

• Intersections

• The Professional Self  \

• Practice 1: Research Strategies  \

• Independent Research Paper  \

• Practice 2: Self-Designed Exploration

https://www.cumbria.ac.uk/study/courses/undergraduate/fine-art-with-integrated-foundation-year/

Assessment in Fine Art does not necessarily signal an end-point for a project. The assessment process, including self-assessment feedback, feedback tutorials, crits, and referral projects, are an opportunity for you to reflect, consider, and learn from your experience in order to continually develop your skills, awareness & practice.

Whilst assessment also functions to, eventually, provide an overall measurement of achievement in the form of the degree classification itself, it is, perhaps more importantly, part of the overall dynamic and continuum of the educational experience as a whole.

As a Fine Art student, you have the opportunity to learn during the assessment process, as you are invited to take part in the process itself. The presentation of a critical, self-assessment statement, and your presence at the assessment event, are important aspects of Fine Art’s learning and teaching dynamic. The expectation is that you will be in a position to compare your own self-assessment, with that provided by staff in feedback, as a means to reflect upon and to consider the development of your critical awareness with respect to your developing practice.

The experience should be viewed as an opportunity to ‘test reality’, in identifying common criteria used by us all on which to base our critical judgments of our work.

Summative and Formative Assessment
Assessment in Fine Art does not necessarily signal an end-point for a project. The assessment process, including self-assessment feedback, feedback tutorials, crits, and referral projects, are an opportunity for you to reflect, consider, and learn from your experience in order to continually develop your skills, awareness & practice.

Whilst assessment also functions to, eventually, provide an overall measurement of achievement in the form of the degree classification itself, it is, perhaps more importantly, part of the overall dynamic and continuum of the educational experience as a whole.

As a Fine Art student, you have the opportunity to learn during the assessment process, as you are invited to take part in the process itself. The presentation of a critical, self-assessment statement, and your presence at the assessment event, are important aspects of Fine Art’s learning and teaching dynamic. The expectation is t

Self-Assessment
Throughout the Fine Art course you will be invited to make self-assessment statements, typically at the conclusion of a module. This exercise provides tutors with the opportunity to monitor your awareness of the assessment criteria, and offers an insight into your own critical faculties. It is a valuable opportunity for you to explore your judgment relative to the criteria and assessment philosophy of the course.