Fine Art MA

Core modules

• Fine Art: Critical Practice

  Your knowledge and understanding on this module will be established through a sustained body of self-directed Fine Art research. This will be supported by supervisory tutorials, peer group learning and a seminar series exploring critical and theoretical aspects of practice. The specific content and mode of work within the module will be contingent upon the research direction of your individual project, which will be analysed within a critical and cultural context. You will be encouraged to articulate your ideas about your own research through and considered use of process, media and context. Aims, methodologies and achievements will be recorded and reflected upon through the Personal Development Plan (PDP). Your practice will be evaluated through supervisory tutorials, self-assessment and peer group presentations. Summative assessment of the research project will take place through a portfolio presentation and PDP on conclusion of the module.

• Process and Practice as Research

  You will engage with the relationship between research and production. In particular you will explore the process of designing a research project for Art and Design students at Masters level. Lectures and seminars will introduce you to methodology, ethics and exemplars of research methods from a broad range of art and design disciplines. The specifics of designing a research project, such as dealing with failure and evaluating success, will be considered as fundamental aspects of research design. Lectures and seminars will be delivered on a cross-school platform and you will begin to consider alternative paradigms of practice and engage with ideas from outside your own discipline. Using the initial lectures as a starting point, you will be asked to design and undertake a practice-based, self-contained pilot project which tests the scope and limits of a specific research method or methods. Through the research design process you will write a proposal, identify milestones, deliver an outcome and evaluate your pilot project. In group critiques and tutorials within a specialist subject area, you will discuss and support the ongoing progress of each other’s pilot projects.

• Master's Dissertation Art and Design

  This module forms the major written element of the MA programme. On it, you will be invited to choose a topic related to your area of study, as the basis for a research essay of up to 6,000 words. The essay should demonstrate an awareness of current critical debate in the subject, through appropriate reference to relevant examples both from visual practice and critical writing. Your subjects may be thematic and issue-based, or may focus upon the critical analysis of a particular body of work. It is expected that you will use the module to investigate the use of critical writing as an aspect of your own creative development, by investigating issues and preoccupations for which you feel a particular affinity or concern, and that you will use the dissertation as an instrument of enquiry into the debates, conventions and values which define your own field of practice. In group tutorials you will explore the use of different modes of critical method and conventions of art and design research, and the production of critical writing as an aspect of an individual's creative and professional practice.

• Acts and Discourses

  You will develop a body of self-directed Fine Art research that reflects a clear awareness and engagement with curatorial issues. A seminar series within the module will introduce you to various areas in curatorial and exhibition practices on both a theoretical and practical level, with a strong emphasis on the contemporary scene in relation to developments that have taken place over the last three decades. Themes will include: 1) Exhibiting Practices, an introduction; 2) Frames; 3) Neutrality: the "white cube" and its legacy; 4) "Alternative" spaces; 5) Environmental approaches; and 6) The politics of cultural representation. You will record and reflect on your aims, methodologies and achievements through the Personal Development Plan (PDP), which will give you a transparent mechanism by which to map the progress of your individual research. You will critically and theoretically analyse your studio research, supported through supervisory tutorials, peer presentations and seminars.

• Master's Project: Art and Design

  The Masters Project represents the culmination of your learning on the programme, giving you the opportunity to develop and resolve a major area of enquiry. This is a self-directed visual project negotiated with the staff team and peers. You'll need to negotiate, manage, co-ordinate and bring to successful conclusion a complex, practice-based project within your field of art, media or design. You'll start by formally presenting your research proposal to staff and peers, and will be expected to build on your previous modules to identify a complex area for investigation and enquiry, as well as research methods appropriate to the project. Following negotiation with staff, peers and, where appropriate, outside agencies, you'll then submit a written research proposal. Your project may involve external engagement alongside a personal exploration of themes and concepts in your specialist field. You'll need to show your ability to innovate, think strategically and be sensitive to changing cultural and social climates. You'll be assessed by portfolio (a body of work comprising a written project proposal, and developmental and final visual work) and a 1200-word reflective commentary. This commentary will specifically outline the methodological and ethical considerations relevant to your portfolio work, and evaluate your final visual work.