Fine Art (including foundation year)

Our Fine Art BA (including foundation year) BA (Hons) is a four-year degree with an in-built foundation year that will give you the chance to explore a range of artistic directions before going on to specialise specifically in areas of fine art during your subsequent years of study.

Our foundation year course is a great route into a fine art degree, especially if you don’t meet the necessary requirements to enter a three-year undergraduate degree in fine art or painting.

The School of Art, Architecture and Design, where our Fine Art (including foundation year) BA degree is taught, has an excellent reputation for its courses. We’re ranked seventh in the UK for art in the Guardian’s university league tables 2020.

More about this course

In your foundation year you'll undertake intensive studio workshops that will allow you to develop a range of skills and techniques that you will be able to take with you into the following years of your fine art degree.

During these workshops you’ll have the opportunity to explore observational drawing, creative drawing, painting, conceptual modelling, practical making, performance, colour, materials, process, collage, composition curating, exhibiting and more. You’ll also work on interpretative projects that will enable you to establish your own artistic style and forge a clear direction.

Your tutors will introduce you to the skills and work ethic you’ll need to study fine art at undergraduate level and also encourage you to be experimental in your approach to fine art projects.

Towards the end of your foundation year, you’ll work on subject-specific projects that will strengthen your independence as an artist and allow you to further show off your creativity. You’ll also attend a series of lectures and seminars that frame creative practice within historical, contemporary, conceptual and cultural contexts.

As part of the course, you’ll have regular opportunities to present your work – both as works in progress and finished projects – to your peers and tutors. This will allow you to gain feedback on your work, hone in on your individual objectives and develop your own creative style as you progress through the course.

After your foundation year (year 0), you will study the same modules and content as students on our Fine Art BA (Hons) degree.

Fine art is a hugely broad and popular area of the arts but should you decide you want to specialise in a more specific subject following your foundation year, we will be able to facilitate this.