FINE ART - BA (HONS)

Our BA (Hons) Fine Art course embraces important traditional making skills such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, installation, digital media and performance, and places an emphasis on the fusion with new developments in creative practice framed within a professional working context to improve employability. This hybrid approach, coupled with discipline-specific studios and specialist workshops, will equip you to navigate the growing and changing face of the Creative Industries into the future.

WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS COURSE?

Our BA (Hons) Fine Art course is based on four key principles;

 

Making Skills, Making Public, Making Communities

 

and

 

Making a Living.

Making Skills

 

are developed through our purpose-built studio spaces where you can explore the materials and processes of painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, digital media and performance. The acquisition and application of technical skills are also developed in our workshops and by working with fabricators from across the vibrant city of Birmingham and beyond. These skills will act as the means through which to test, interrogate, and transform art practice both conceptually and aesthetically.

Making Public

 

is focused on exploring art practice in the public realm. This involves expanded ideas of exhibiting and sharing outcomes that generate participation with broad audiences. You will benefit from live projects and our close links to high-profile establishments including: Eastside Projects, Grand Union, Ikon Gallery and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. These opportunities will develop your thinking around the process of making your work public.

Making with Communities

 

asks you to consider ways of building and sustaining meaningful relationships between your art practice and society. You will form

 

Communities of Practice

 

through studio groups before engaging with local, national and international organisations, gaining cultural and global experiences, perspectives and knowledge. This valuable experience will help you to define the kind of future practice you may wish to pursue.

Making a Living

 

places an important focus on your own personal development and the multiple ways of building and growing a successful creative career. This involves establishing a professional context for your work through a situated knowledge of the art sector. The advancement of the digital world has afforded artists a wide variety of ways to thrive in a creative environment. You will be taught a whole set of new skills and behaviours necessary for you to be ready for the exciting challenges that await you in the world of employment beyond your studies.

Essential requirements: 

• 112 UCAS tariff points from A/AS Level with a minimum of 2 A Levels.

IELTS: 

• 6.0 overall with no less than 5.5 in each band.

With an increased focus on the importance of visible and viable career routes, the BA (Hons) Fine Art course at Birmingham City University explicitly deals with the importance of employability by embedding professional practice skills needed to allow graduates to ‘make a living’ in all modules. Digital competencies, project management, communication, and problem-solving skills are a few of the key attributes the course develops.

Specifically, you will:

• Develop a range of technical making, professional and personal skills, transferable to a range of careers within the creative industries; from artists to directors, educators, curators, arts administrators, and project managers.
• Develop your practice and the ability to relate this to future employment options.
• Negotiate, plan exhibit, and present work to a professional standard.
• Work independently and collaboratively.
• Be a self-motivated, organized, and effective learner.
• Establish meaningful networks and connections in the city with individuals, organizations, and communities.
• Understand how to promote yourself through a CV, statement, the use of social media, LinkedIn, and individual professional websites.
• Be able to respond to the rapidly evolving creative industries, to be ready for immediate employment and future evolutions within the industries through the long-term, future-fit skills you will acquire.