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Postgraduate

MA Fine Art: Painting

Installation with painted red background with painting of a portrait in the centre with brass objects hung either side. Work by Stevie Ray Latham - MA Fine Art: Painting, Camberwell College of Arts.
Stevie Ray Latham,
MA Fine Art: Painting, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL
College
Camberwell College of Arts
Start date
September 2024
Course length
15 months (full time)

MA Fine Art: Painting at Camberwell College of Arts will help you develop your individual practice and research. You’ll be part of a vibrant and diverse community of artists who recognise the enduring currency of painting and its capacity for invention and reinvention.

Applying for more than 1 course

You can apply for more than 1 postgraduate course at UAL but we recommend that you apply for no more than 3. Find out more in the Apply Now section.

Course overview

Through material investigation and critical research, you’ll explore how painting is used to respond to urgent contemporary debates and past world traditions. You’ll learn both traditional processes and expanded forms of painting practice through workshops and demonstrations.

You’ll be encouraged to challenge your own creative vision through critical analysis, reflection and contextualisation. This will help you to situate your practice within the field of painting and in relation to wider social, political and cultural concerns, as well as carry out research beyond the discipline.

What to expect:

  • Workshops: Practical workshops with technicians and visiting artists focus on a range of painting processes and materials. You can also access other College resources such as printmaking, photography, digital, wood, ceramics and metal workshops. View the Camberwell facilities.
  • A sense of community: You’ll take part in cross-course seminars, group crits, tutorials and external projects with students from Camberwell’s other fine art pathways.
  • Collaboration: You’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with local, national and international networks.
  • Showcase your work: You’ll regularly show and discuss your work and research at exhibitions and other public-facing events.
  • Social, cultural and ethical contexts: You’ll explore debates surrounding painting, the arts and culture including narratives of inclusion and social justice.

Industry experience and opportunities  

The course will develop your skills in creative leadership, problem-solving, collaboration, resourcefulness and communication. You’ll also learn how to sustain open-ended lines of enquiry, an essential skill in any professional setting.

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to showcase your practice including organising and participating in public events and exhibitions. A programme of talks and workshops will help you identify which part of the art world you would like to contribute to after graduation.

Mode of study

MA Fine Art: Painting is offered in full-time mode and runs for 45 weeks over 15 months. You will be expected to commit an average of 40 hours per week to your course, including teaching hours and independent study.

Course units

Unit 1: Locating practice within subject

During this first unit, you’ll be introduced to the teaching, learning and research culture of Camberwell College of Arts. Through practical experimentation in the studio, workshops and beyond, you’ll test your ideas and challenge your approaches to making your artwork. You’ll identify your aims and intentions through research and critical reflection. To support this, there’ll be introductions to key practice-based research methodologies.

You’ll interrogate and debate key ideas and developments within your subject and build upon your technical, practical and presentation skills. You’ll extend your network beyond your subject specialism through cross-pathway MA Fine Art lectures, presentations and crits. Alongside these, a programme will support the development of your professional skills.

Throughout the unit, you’ll create a body of work and keep an online journal in which you’ll research and critically reflect upon the ideas that underpin your practice. 

Unit 2: Testing beyond subject

In Unit 2, you’ll focus on the creation of new artworks and define your own unique set of creative processes. You’ll have lectures and seminars that explore current debates within art and society. You’ll test your work and research in both subject-specific and cross-pathway seminars, crits and exhibitions. You’ll be encouraged to extend your research methods and to engage with research resources beyond the University.
 
A series of workshops will explore different approaches to critical reflection and writing about your artwork and research. You’ll continue to equip yourself with a broad range of professional skills and knowledge.
 
At the end of the unit, you’ll submit a body of work, along with your online journal in which you’ll have continued to articulate your current research while critically reflecting on key developments in your work and the ideas and contexts that shape it. 

Unit 3: Making public

In the first part of this unit, you’ll exhibit your work in a public exhibition to test ideas in front of an audience. Feedback from this exhibition will help you in the continued development your practice, both technically and theoretically.

Your research and learning will be supported by tutorials, crits, seminars and workshops. You’ll continue to develop the professional skills and knowledge to progress to further academic research or employment in the art world, broader cultural industries or other professional environments.

Towards the end of the unit, you’ll work in collaboration with students from across the MA Fine Art pathways to stage a public event where you’ll present your research via one of a range of formats that might include published writing, artist books, workshops, presentations and live events.
 
You’ll submit a substantial body of work and a public-facing reflective journal, which contextualises your practice within and beyond subject.

Note: 120 Credits must be passed before the final unit is undertaken.

Learning and teaching methods

  • Artists talks 
  • Crits 
  • Independent practice and research 
  • Knowledge exchange with external agencies 
  • Lectures 
  • Presentation of work through exhibitions 
  • Professional toolkit
  • Reading groups 
  • Seminars 
  • Tutorials 
  • Workshops and inductions 

MA Fine Art: Painting

Open day recording

Course Leader Geraint Evans gives an overview of MA Fine Art: Painting at Camberwell College of Arts.

Student work

  • Amy-Powell-Camberwell-College-of-Arts-MA-Fine-Art-Painting-crop-2000.jpg
    Amy Powell
    MA Fine Art: Painting, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL
  • Camberwell-College-of-Arts-MA-Fine-Art-Painting-Lucrezia-Abatzoglu-crop.jpg
    Lucrezia Abatzoglu
    MA Fine Art: Painting, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL
  • Chen-Danying-Camberwell-College-of-Arts-MA-Fine-Art-Painting-crop-2000.jpg
    Chen Danying
    MA Fine Art: Painting, Camberwell College of Arts, UAL

Staff

Fees and funding

Home fee

£13,330

This fee is correct for 2024/25 entry and is subject to change for 2025/26 entry.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Students from countries outside of the UK will generally be charged international fees. The rules are complex so read more about tuition fees and determining your fee status.

International fee

£28,570

This fee is correct for 2024/25 entry and is subject to change for 2025/26 entry.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Students from countries outside of the UK will generally be charged international fees. The rules are complex so read more about tuition fees and determining your fee status.

Scholarship search

Entry requirements

The standard minimum entry requirements for this course are:

  • BA (Hons) degree in either art and design or drawing-related disciplines, including social and other sciences or engineering
  • Alternative qualifications and experience will also be taken into consideration
  • Personal statement
  • Portfolio of work

Entry to this course will also be determined by the quality of your application, looking primarily at your portfolio of work and personal statement.

APEL - Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

Applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements may still be considered in exceptional cases. The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:

  • Related academic or work experience
  • The quality of the personal statement
  • A combination of these factors

Each application will be considered on its own merit but we cannot guarantee an offer in each case.

English language requirements

All classes are taught in English. If English isn't your first language you must provide evidence at enrolment of the following:

Selection criteria

We look for:

  • Commitment and motivation for studying the subject at Masters level
  • Work that shows potential for further development
  • Demonstrate a holistic understanding of research
  • Ability to identify or speculate on the direction and development of practice and research
  • An awareness of contexts and frameworks for contemporary practice
  • Able to communicate clearly in order to present and discuss work and ideas with others
  • Able to demonstrate written skills

Apply now

Application deadline

Deadline

Round 1:

13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)

Round 2:

3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)

Digital portfolio deadline

Round 1:

16 January 2024

Round 2:

16 April 2024

Decision outcome

Round 1:

End of March 2024

Round 2:

End of June 2024

Round 1
Round 2
Deadline
13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)
3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)
Digital portfolio deadline
16 January 2024
16 April 2024
Decision outcome
End of March 2024
End of June 2024

All applications received by 3 April will be treated equally. If there are places available after this date, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

Read more about deadlines

Apply now

Application deadline

Deadline

Round 1:

13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)

Round 2:

3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)

Digital portfolio deadline

Round 1:

16 January 2024

Round 2:

16 April 2024

Decision outcome

Round 1:

End of March 2024

Round 2:

End of June 2024

Round 1
Round 2
Deadline
13 December 2023 at 1pm (UK time)
3 April 2024 at 1pm (UK time)
Digital portfolio deadline
16 January 2024
16 April 2024
Decision outcome
End of March 2024
End of June 2024

All applications received by 3 April will be treated equally. If there are places available after this date, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

Read more about deadlines

Apply to UAL

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How to apply

Follow this step-by-step guide to apply for this course

Step 1: Initial application

You will need to submit an initial application including your personal statement and CV.

Personal statement advice

Your personal statement should be maximum 500 words and include:

  • your reasons for choosing the course
  • your current creative practice and how this course will help you achieve your future plans
  • any relevant education and experience, especially if you do not have any formal academic qualifications.

Visit our personal statement page for more advice.

CV advice

Please provide a CV detailing your education, qualifications and any relevant work or voluntary experience. If you have any web projects or other media that you would like to share, please include links in your CV. If English is not your first language, please also include your most recent English language test score.

Step 2: Digital portfolio

We will review your initial application. If you have met the standard entry requirements, we will ask you to submit a digital portfolio.

You’ll need to submit this via PebblePad, our online portfolio tool.

Digital portfolio advice

Your portfolio should consist of recent work that reflects your creative strengths.

It should:

  • be maximum 20 pages
  • include independently produced work with key pieces placed on individual pages
  • include supporting research to demonstrate your contextual understanding of fine art practice
  • include critical reflections of your current creative practice
  • indicate your desired direction for future work/study
  • illustrate your keen interest in fine art and other visual art forms.

For more support, see our Portfolio advice and PebblePad advice.

Step 3: Interview

You may be invited to an interview following our review of your application. All interviews are held online and last 15 to 20 minutes.

For top tips, see our Interview advice.

You also need to know

Communicating with you

Once you have submitted your initial application, we will email you with your login details for our Applicant portal.

Requests for supplementary documents like qualifications and English language tests will be made through the applicant portal. You can also use it to ask questions regarding your application. Visit our After you apply page for more information.

Applying to more than 1 course

You can apply for more than 1 postgraduate course at UAL but we recommend that you apply for no more than 3 courses. You need to tailor your application, supporting documents and portfolio to each course, so applying for many different courses could risk the overall quality of your application. If you receive offers for multiple courses, you'll only be able to accept 1 offer. UAL doesn't accept repeat applications to the same course in the same academic year.

Visas and immigration history check

All non-UK nationals must complete an immigration history check. Your application may be considered by our course teams before this check takes place. This means that we may request your portfolio and/or video task before we identify any issues arising from your immigration history check. Sometimes your history may mean that we are not able to continue considering your application. Visit our Immigration and visas advice page for more information.

External student transfer policy

UAL accepts transfers from other institutions on a case-by-case basis. Read our Student transfer policy for more information.

Alternative offers

If your application is really strong, but we believe your strengths and skillset are better suited to a different course, we may make you an alternative offer. This means you will be offered a place on a different course or at a different UAL College.

Deferring your place

We do not accept any deferral requests for our postgraduate courses. This means that you must apply in the year that you plan to start your course and you will not be able to defer your place to start at a later date.

Application deadlines

For postgraduate courses at UAL there are 2 equal consideration deadlines to ensure fairness for all our applicants. If you apply ahead of either of these deadlines, your application will be considered on an equal basis with all other applications in that round. If there are places available after the second deadline, the course will remain open to applications until places have been filled.

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