skip to main content
Postgraduate

MA Fine Art

Apply
Photograph of performance in park with person in military uniform eating a picnic by Veera Rustomji - MA Fine Art.
Veera Rustomji.,
MA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL
College
Chelsea College of Arts Start date
September 2022 Course length
15 months (full time)

MA Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts offers emerging artists an intensive programme of development to professional practice.

Student work

  • Chelsea-MA-Fine-Art-Ant-Hamlyn-1000.jpg
    , Ant Hamlyn - MA Fine Art
  • Chelsea-MA-Fine-Art-Radu-Nastasia-1000.jpg
    , Radu Nastasia - MA Fine Art
  • Chelsea-MA-Fine-Art-Anqi-Zhao-1000.jpg
    , Anqi Zhao - MA Fine Art
  • Chelsea-MA-Fine-Art-Ryohei-Oba-1000.jpg
    , Ryohei Oba - MA Fine Art
  • Chelsea-MA-Fine-Art-Alex-Urie.jpg
    , Alex Urie - MA Fine Art
  • Chelsea-MA-Fine-Art-Karen-Piddington.jpg
    , Karen Piddington - MA Fine Art
  • Chelsea-MA-Fine-Art-Kyungryul-Park-1000.jpg
    , Kyungryul Park - MA Fine Art
  • Chelsea-MA-Fine-Art-Emmely-Elgersma.jpg
    , Emmely Elgersma - MA Fine Art

Jiaqing Mo

Course overview

MA Fine Art at Chelsea is designed to help enhance the making, criticality and articulation of your practice. It aims to expand your work’s audiences and contextual reach. Experimental studio practice and individual inquiry are activated in professional contexts. These challenge what art is or could be, how art is communicated, and how artists can develop their practices in forward-thinking and culturally progressive ways.

What to expect

  • To contextualise your work in relation to contemporary cultural practices and ideas
  • To independently produce critically aware work
  • To build your professional experience and portfolio through regular participation in public exhibitions, events and publications
  • Regular practice consultancies, discussions, group activities and workshops
  • To become an active member of an international arts community
  • To participate in discursive and collaborative practices with colleagues
  • To get involved in our partnerships network, through which we organise workshops, lectures, discussions, studio visits, field trips and exhibitions. These currently include Sotheby’s Institute of Art and the UAL Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN)

Mode of study 

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

Contact us

Register your interest to receive information and updates about studying at UAL.

Contact us to make an enquiry.

Course units

Unit 1 - Establishing a community

This unit is an introduction to your course, the college and the university.

  • Inductions to learning resources at Chelsea
  • To use the studios as a flexible space to produce work, foster dialogue and collaborate
  • To be introduced to the concept of ‘communities of practice’. This means that every practitioner is a participant within the arts community - at Chelsea, in London and globally
  • Off-site activities including professional practice workshops and introductions to London’s emerging art scene
  • To develop your own practice and ideas through participating in dialogue and knowledge sharing with your peers
  • To work collaboratively on exhibitions and events with your peers
  • To continually make work in a professional context for a public audience
  • To take part in a group show that is open to the public. This will take place at the end of unit 1 in the studios at Chelsea
  • To be assessed on your participation in the unit 1 exhibition and your contribution to the online course publication

Unit 2 - Making your work public

This unit is structured to foster an intensive period of practice development. It is designed to help you refine your ideas and how to articulate them to different audiences.

  • A lecture and seminar series to help you situate your ideas within contemporary dialogues and debates
  • Writing workshops to help you approach writing as an integral part of your practice
  • To create an online professional portfolio that will include your completed work, CV, artist’s statement and other relevant information
  • A series of professional development workshops will help you in thinking about exhibition strategies and project management
  • To take part in and organise an off-site live project with your peers
  • To present work in the college postgraduate show
  • To submit a formal proposal for your unit 3 self-directed live project

Unit 3 - Locating and sustaining your practice

This unit is about progressing your career ambitions and will take place entirely off campus.

  • To develop a proposal that outlines how you plan to progress your professional practice during the unit
  • To be assigned and supported by an advisor, who is an arts professional
  • To explore how you might activate your practice within an external context that you have chosen and identified as appropriate to your development. This may include setting up a studio collective with other students from the course, or operating within a professional context within London, the United Kingdom or abroad
  • To be assessed on contributions to the online course publication, your online portfolio and end of unit presentation

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

Learning and teaching methods

  • Exhibition making and publishing
  • Field trips
  • In-studio consultancies
  • Live projects
  • Professional practice workshops
  • Technical support
  • Theory lectures and discussion forums

Assessment methods

  • Examination of work in exhibition and live contexts
  • Online journal contributions
  • Practice analysis
  • Peer feedback
  • Professional portfolio
  • Self-evaluation

Staff

How to apply

Information for disabled applicants

UAL is committed to achieving inclusion and equality for disabled students. This includes students who have:
     
  • Dyslexia or another Specific Learning Difference
  • A sensory impairment
  • A physical impairment
  • A long-term health or mental health condition
  • Autism
  • Another long-term condition which has an impact on your day-to-day life
Our Disability Service arranges adjustments and support for disabled applicants and students. Read our Disability and dyslexia: applying for a course and joining UAL information.

Entry requirements

The standard minimum entry requirements for this course are:

  • BA (Hons) degree or equivalent academic qualifications
  • 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 strong academic or other professional reference
  • 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:

  • The potential to devise and develop a self-directed programme of fine art practice and related research
  • Evidence of an ability to carry out a sustained independent enquiry through making work
  • The ability to analyse and evaluate in both visual and oral terms
  • The ability to develop and contextualise work in written form
  • An eagerness to engage in the critical debate surrounding contemporary fine art practice and to develop a critical framework for their practice

Personal statement

This should be about 500 words long and include:

  • Your reasons for choosing the course
  • Your current creative practice and how this will help with your future plans
  • If you do not have any formal academic qualifications please describe your relevant education and experience

Portfolio advice

Portfolios should show the following:

  • Work that demonstrates how you develop your ideas through a process of ongoing critical reflection
  • Recent work that shows evidence of a sustained, independent enquiry
  • Clear documentation of large work
  • The portfolio should be concise, show critical awareness and the ability to select work that best represents your strengths

Making your application

Home International

Apply

Home students apply by direct application.

Apply

What happens next

Communicating with you

After you’ve submitted your application, you’ll receive a confirmation email providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal. We’ll use this portal to contact you to request any additional information, including inviting you to upload documents or book an interview, so please check it regularly.

Please add ccw.ukeu@arts.ac.uk to your contacts to ensure that you do not miss any important updates about your application to UAL.

Initial application check and selection

We check your application to see if you meet the standard entry requirements for the course. If you do, you will be invited to submit a digital portfolio through UAL’s online portfolio review system. These will be reviewed by the academic team.

Following the review of the digital portfolio, we select a small number of applicants to move on to the next stage of the process. These applicants will be invited to attend an online interview.

How we notify you of the outcome of your application

You will receive the final outcome of your application through the UAL portal.

Applicants for this course may be given an alternative offer. This decision will be based on our assessment of your creative and potential interests.

Feedback requests:

This course receives a high number of applications. Unfortunately, we can’t provide feedback to everyone who is unsuccessful. We can only provide feedback after you’ve had an interview. We are only able to provide feedback to you directly, or to someone you have told us in writing can receive it on your behalf. If you would like to request feedback please email ccw.ukeu@arts.ac.uk.

Deferring your place

This course accepts requests from offer holders to defer their place for one academic year. Deferral requests are granted on a first-come, first-served basis until all deferral places are filled, or a deadline has been reached, whichever is sooner. Read our Admissions Policy for details, including how to request a deferral and by when.

Transfers

If you are currently studying at another institution and if you have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units/modules on your current PG course and wish to continue your studies at Chelsea College of Arts, you can apply to transfer. The Admissions Tutor will consider applications on a case by case basis, subject to places being available. You must apply directly to the course via the course webpage as early as possible. Please check our Student Transfer Policy for more important information and be ready to provide us with your current course handbook and transcripts.

Please be ready to provide an official document (translated into English if necessary) from your current university, explaining the learning outcomes of the units you have completed.

Application deadline

12 January 2022 or 13 April 2022

The equal consideration deadline has now passed. However, this course will remain open to applications until places have been filled. We recommend you submit your application as early as possible to allow the Admissions team to quickly resolve any queries.

If this course requires a portfolio, we will request this separately after initial processing of your application is complete. Once we request your portfolio, you will have 7 days to submit it.

When you'll hear from us

This course receives a high volume of applications. We need to make sure that we give all applications equal consideration, so the course team will review them in two rounds. This means that offers won’t be sent to successful applicants until after the relevant application deadline date. Outcomes for Round 1 will be released by 31 March 2022 and outcomes for Round 2 will be released by 30 June 2022.

Remember to check the outcome of your application in the UAL Portal. If you apply in Round 1 and don’t hear back from us, we will consider your application within Round 2.

Find out more about what happens after you apply.

Apply

There are 2 ways international students can apply to a postgraduate course:

Apply

Read our immigration and visa information to find out if you need a visa to study at UAL.

You can only apply to the same course once per year. Any duplicate applications will be withdrawn. Read the UAL international application advice for further information on how to apply.

What happens next

Communicating with you

After you’ve submitted your application, you’ll receive a confirmation email providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal. We’ll use this portal to contact you to request any additional information, including inviting you to upload documents or book an interview, so please check it regularly.

Please add ccw.international@arts.ac.uk to your contacts to ensure that you do not miss any important updates about your application to UAL.

Initial application check and selection

We check your application to see if you meet the standard entry requirements for the course. If you do, you will be invited to submit a digital portfolio through UAL’s online portfolio review system. These will be reviewed by the academic team.

Following the review of the digital portfolio, we select a small number of applicants to move on to the next stage of the process. These applicants will be invited to attend an online interview.

How we notify you of the outcome of your application

You will receive the final outcome of your application through the UAL portal.

Applicants for this course may be given an alternative offer. This decision will be based on our assessment of your creative and potential interests.

Feedback requests:

This course receives a high number of applications. Unfortunately, we can’t provide feedback to everyone who is unsuccessful. We can only provide feedback after you’ve had an interview. We are only able to provide feedback to you directly, or to someone you have told us in writing can receive it on your behalf. If you would like to request feedback please email ccw.international@arts.ac.uk.

Deferring your place

This course accepts requests from offer holders to defer their place for one academic year. Deferral requests are granted on a first-come, first-served basis until all deferral places are filled, or a deadline has been reached, whichever is sooner. Read our Admissions Policy for details, including how to request a deferral and by when.

Transfers

If you are currently studying at another institution and if you have successfully completed 60 credits in the equivalent units/modules on your current PG course and wish to continue your studies at Chelsea College of Arts, you can apply to transfer. The Admissions Tutor will consider applications on a case by case basis, subject to places being available. You must apply directly to the course via the course webpage as early as possible. Please check our Student Transfer Policy for more important information and be ready to provide us with your current course handbook and transcripts.

Please be ready to provide an official document (translated into English if necessary) from your current university, explaining the learning outcomes of the units you have completed.

Application deadline

12 January 2022 or 13 April 2022

The equal consideration deadline has now passed. However, this course will remain open to applications until places have been filled. We recommend you submit your application as early as possible to allow the Admissions team to quickly resolve any queries.

If this course requires a portfolio, we will request this separately after initial processing of your application is complete. Once we request your portfolio, you will have 7 days to submit it.

When you'll hear from us

This course receives a high volume of applications. We need to make sure that we give all applications equal consideration, so the course team will review them in two rounds. This means that offers won’t be sent to successful applicants until after the relevant application deadline date. Outcomes for Round 1 will be released by 31 March 2022 and outcomes for Round 2 will be released by 30 June 2022.

Remember to check the outcome of your application in the UAL Portal. If you apply in Round 1 and don’t hear back from us, we will consider your application within Round 2.

Find out more about what happens after you apply.

Fees and funding

Home fee

£12,650

This fee is correct for 2022/23 entry and is subject to change for 2023/24 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.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

International fee

£26,660

This fee is correct for 2022/23 entry and is subject to change for 2023/24 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.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

Scholarship search

Or view all

Careers and alumni

The course develops students’ potential to operate as professional practitioners within an international art community, or to progress to further academic research at PhD level.

Many students go on to set up their own studio practice, developing strong professional links with galleries, critics, and curators. Many Chelsea MA Fine Art alumni are practicing artists working at national and international level.

Due to the course’s interdisciplinary practical approach, many graduates have expanded or multi-platform careers in related fields such as curating, arts management, art dealing, arts advisory services, theatre, film, broadcasting, music, fashion, education, events management, online media, writing and publishing.

Alumni

Graduates from Chelsea's MA Fine Art course include Turner Prize winning artists and nominees Helen Chadwick, Peter Doig, Anish Kapoor, Mike Nelson, Mariella Neudecker, Andreas Oelhert, Stephen Pippin, Kimio Tsuchiya, Mark Wallinger and Rebecca Warren.

Other alumni, who are now established practitioners, include Keith Coventry, Nicky Hoberman, Morag Keil, Julie Lomax, Haroon Mirza and Saskia Olde Wolbers.

Find out how careers and employability helps our students and graduates start their careers.

Chelsea College of Arts

Contact

Telephone

+44 (0)20 7514 7751
Address
Chelsea College of Arts
16 John Islip Street
London
SW1P 4JU