What will I learn?
You'll explore practices and interpretations of art across an exceptionally wide array of intersecting cultures and different periods. In a world increasingly defined through images and material culture, we approach art and art history as a vital and dynamic framework for understanding both our shared histories, and some of the most pressing questions we are faced with now.By immersing yourself in a range of art techniques and practices, you’ll experiment with your own creativity and discover your personal style. You’ll be given a dedicated studio space to work from, allowing you lots of opportunity to embrace a multitude of materials and methods. Our course provides you with multiple opportunities to experiment across different media and undertake original research, while building broader skills in curating, event production, critical thinking, writing, researching, publishing and media content production. You’ll have opportunities to contribute to the creative community, to build networks in the city and to exhibit your work regularly.You’ll have opportunities to contribute to the creative community, to build networks in the city and to exhibit your work regularly. You’ll investigate the interconnections between art and the larger social dynamics that shape our culture, such as ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, being human and our relationship to nature and the environment. You’ll become equipped to act in the world as artists and creative global citizens, innovators in your respective fields of making. We’ll prepare you to be a socially conscious graduate with an array of relevant and transferrable skills. Throughout the course, we’ll support you in discovering what kind of creative practitioner and art historian you want to be.Our learning communityOur course has a distinct position as a degree in a Russell Group university where art historians study alongside fine artists, in a purpose-built space that includes studios and a gallery alongside seminar rooms and a shared student common room. We have expertise in the social history of art, feminist art history and the critical study of race and global cultural encounters, with emerging interests in our historical and contemporary relations to nature through issues of sustainability, climate and the environment.We champion a School-based artist community ethos by providing a shared studio space with 24-hour access, regular open studio and exhibition events, informal learning groups, opportunities for student-led social events and access to the city’s artistic scene.You’ll evolve a personalised approach to achieving your creative aspirations and develop an ambitious body of work produced in our excellent workshop facilities. You’ll be guided by lecturers, technicians and visiting practitioners, while gaining a critical awareness of your own identity as a creative practitioner and art historian.All our teaching is driven by cutting-edge research, with a dynamic approach based on emerging issues and questions that matter to us as a community of academics, practitioners and students. Across the areas we teach, we attend critically to the institutions and spaces in which art is encountered, drawing on ongoing professional collaborations and long-standing expertise among many of our staff who have worked in major museums, galleries and related arts and cultural organisations.Field trips to art fairs, exhibitions and festivals, regional museums and galleries are organised for each year of study. Our exemplary Year in Industry programme has led to students successfully undertaking work placements in the UK and internationally, some of which have become permanent employment in the arts sector, whilst our Study Abroad programme has provided life-changing experiences for many in our community.
