A short description of each unit and what you can expect.

Year 1

Unit 1 - Introduction to Fine Art

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

Unit 2 - Studio practice

The aim of this unit is to help you begin to define your own practice.

• Lectures, seminars, studio crits, gallery visits will expand your subject knowledge
• To further develop your own critical and theoretical ideas
• To establish a self-directed, independent and exploratory practice
• To produce a body of studio work
• To present your work to your peers in an open studio setting
• To document your practice and research in your online journal

Unit 3 - Thinking through making and making things happen

The focus of this unit is an off-site group show. Working in student groups you will locate a space in London or beyond to test your work in an external environment.

• To produce a body of studio work
• Tutorials, crits and project sessions to enable discussion of both your own work and that of your peers
• To document the research of your studio work and the off-site project using your online journal
• Written work

Unit 4 - Positions 1

This unit is about exploring your position in relation to other artists.

• To consider how contemporary art relates to wider social and ethical considerations
• To do a presentation about how different ways of working as an artist engage with broader questions of research, production, site and presentation
• To learn valuable professional development skills by helping third year students put on their degree show
• To do a presentation as part of a group crit of the degree show concentrating on the work of one artist
• To document knowledge and skills exchanged in your online reflective journal

Year 2

Unit 5 - Positions 2

• To form collaborative groups loosely organised around research and practice interests
• To develop a presentation as a collective. This can take the form of a talk, event, exhibition or any other appropriate format

Unit 6 - Collaborative and collective practices

This unit aims to introduce you to different ways in which collaborative working can focus and enhance your own creative strengths. This unit has 3 core purposes: 

• To engage with fellow students with different practices and interests in a collaborative project towards a shared goal
• To engage with external audiences, participants or institutions to consider new contexts for your work
• To develop your creative attributes to enable you to take on future challenges in a variety of contexts

Unit 7 - Activation

This unit is about furthering your own practice.

• To explore ideas relating to your practice and submit an aspect of this as a written publication. You will present it as a publication to BA Fine Art students
• To work towards an exhibition which will help prepare you for your third year

Unit 8 - Positions 3

To produce a poster which captures and shares your thinking. The poster may be almost entirely visual, textual, or a mixture of the 2. It will help establish the kind of studio space and tutorial support you might require as you head into your third year.

Year 3

Unit 9 - Thinking, making, writing

The connection between theory and practice and its importance for the development of your work will be explored in this unit. There are 4 elements to this unit:

First Week Show - you will present work for discussion thinking about the relationships between content and form, material, medium, context, discourse and meaning.

Thought and Action - presentation of work that will be discussed in feedback tutorials and group critiques. This will inform your practice plan. Your practice plan is an online report that will outline new directions for the development of your work. It will assist your preparation of your essay and presentation of enquiry.

Essay - through writing you will explore and reflect on your references and the concerns underlying your practice.

Presentation of Enquiry - you will present and talk about your work to your peers.

Unit 10 - Making public

To write a report about your practice and your position in relation to site and audience.

• To present work in the college degree show
• To produce a publication documenting your practice

Optional Diploma between year 2 and 3

Between year 2 and 3 you can opt to undertake the Diploma in Professional Studies or the Diploma in Creative Computing.