Created by Sam Machell BA Hons Fine Art

Paul Hillon BA Hons Fine Art

Homepage

Our Courses

Undergraduate

BA (Hons) Fine Art

Breadcrumbs

Howells—Studio

Arts University Plymouth is an independent specialist university run by artists and designers for artists and designers, widely regarded as a dynamic catalyst for creative learning and social justice.

Arts University Plymouth

Our BA (Hons) Fine Art programme promotes contemporary art practice in its broadest sense, we encourage an ambitious, self-directed and critically engaged approach to creative practice.

Fine Art Degree Course BA (Hons)

Our BA (Hons) Fine Art programme promotes contemporary art practice in its broadest sense, we encourage an ambitious, self-directed and critically engaged…

description

practice, contemporary, broadest, creative, programme, promotes, sense, encourage, ambitious, self-directed, critically, engaged, approach, fine, hons

keywords

https://pca.objects.frb.io/production/images/courses/2020/08/_1200x630_crop_center-center_82_none/Paul-Hillon-BA-Hons-Fine-Art.png?mtime=1709554997

Arts University Plymouth is an independent art university established in 1856, offering extended diplomas, BA degrees, masters and more in art, design and digital subjects.

https://www.youtube.com/c/ArtsUniversityPlymouth

https://www.linkedin.com/school/artsuniplym/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_University_Plymouth

https://www.aup.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-hons-fine-art

referrer

robots

twitter:card

twitter:creator

twitter:description

https://pca.objects.frb.io/production/images/courses/2020/08/_800x418_crop_center-center_82_none/Paul-Hillon-BA-Hons-Fine-Art.png?mtime=1709554997

twitter:image

twitter:image:alt

twitter:image:height

twitter:image:width

twitter:site

twitter:title

{"title":{"title":"Fine Art Degree Course BA (Hons) | Arts University Plymouth"}}

Full Time

Part Time

Fine Art

Develop and extend your existing knowledge of processes and technologies associated with your field of study, through the exploration of associated methods and materials. You will be introduced to a range of practical methods, processes and techniques, and encouraged to think critically about your subject.
This unit will use studio workshops, seminars, group discussions and interdisciplinary activities that will allow you to experiment with using your body as a tool to capture movement and energy through performative painting, explore alternative mark making methods with experimental drawing, and look at the possibilities of three dimensional practice through assemblage workshops. 
You will test appropriate methods of professional presentation, combining your outcomes in an installation or exhibition environment.

Focusing on the geographical offerings and potential of a site specific location (e.g. Plymouth or other location), and its surroundings, you will orientate your practice through considering immediate geographies and the relationship of the local to the global. You will develop ways for generating creative ideas in response to a brief, with a primary focus on creative problem solving, methods and materials.
Where does an artists studio exist, and who is your audience? 
From the church to the museum, from wilderness to social media, artists have occupied a multitude of places to make and share their work. 
This unit requires you to think about the site of an artwork through research and practice. Exploring the potential of a place as subject, you will use the city as material, as studio, and as gallery. 
Engaging with the city virtually and physically, you will develop an understanding of the role of memory and memorial, history, fiction, storytelling, architecture, community, inclusion and exclusion, private and public.

Engage with subject-specific ideas and applications, encouraging critical reflection on your individual creative practice and subject within the larger creative arts domain. You will be supported to undertake an imaginative approach to your subject that challenges historical and cultural assumptions.
This unit will help you to hone your skills as an independent practitioner, communicator, researcher, curator and creative producer. 
You will write your own brief, and develop a clear management plan to carry out your practical and theoretical research, showing how you can refine your ideas and deepening your knowledge of professional tools including writing proposals, networking, and managing complex project workflows.

Focus on collaboration as a practice, way of working and experience. Share your skills in pursuit of creative problem solving through mutual interest and cooperative approaches, while being introduced to methodologies from other disciplines.
The unit serves as a platform for the exchange of critical thinking and practical exploration, and as such is designed to extend the possibilities for interdisciplinary discourse and approaches to your practice. You will be encouraged to work with other courses as a way to understand creative problem solving, and to develop your capability of working in groups to understand collaborative approaches to your discipline.
Through the introduction of issue-based learning and methodologies for team working and group work, you will engage in School-wide interdisciplinary approaches to thematic enquiry, providing opportunities for collaboration, emergent thinking and cross-pollination to establish through mutual objectives. 
The project will respond to a contemporary theme or real world issue, devised in advance by the teaching team.

Enhance your awareness of research-informed practice, the role of risk and failure, and the adoption of new or unfamiliar methodologies in developing creative practice. You will focus on the critical and practical processes used for idea generation, propositional and hypothetical creative outputs, rather than finished outcomes.
Initially working in small collaborative research groups, you will respond to selected themes informed by current global events, deconstructing preconceived ideas and work patterns in order to allow new creative ideas to emerge through calculated risk taking, and critical reflection. 
You will then work independently to focus on a particular area of interest highlighted from the collaborative projects, developing an understanding of the role of research and experimentation in your development as a practitioner.

Think deeper about how creative solutions might help solve real-world challenges. Draw on expertise and ideas from the arts and sciences to provide alternative propositions for solution-focussed practical enquiry.
Dealing with obstacles and challenges is a regular part of creative engagement and this unit introduces you the tools to overcome and transform these challenges. In order to be fully expressive in your process, you will identify methods of creative thinking and discipline that lead to innovative solutions that work. By encouraging "divergent" and "convergent" thinking to find real-world solutions, you will be taught how to use your own creative practice to engage with wider issues linked to art practice.
Through this engagement with wider culture, you will realise the potential reach of your work and begin to identify the creative influences that exist in the world around you. 
This unit will have a unique thematic brief that will be shared by all courses, which will give it an urgency around notions such as climate change, social equity, migration, automation, and other timely topics that will be shared by your peers in other subjects.

Through the use of real-world scenarios (live or simulated), you will be encouraged to use the methods, knowledge and understanding gained in previous study to place your work in relevant professional and creative contexts in order to facilitate knowledge transfer into the public domain.
Curators, educators, producers, publishers, and freelancers - the professional roles of artists can take on many different forms. 
You will develop an understanding of the relationship between the practical and professional potential of creative practice, gaining first-hand work experience of relevant roles and opportunities within the art world. 
The unit is informed by the following five frameworks for Fine Art as a professional proposition: artist as freelancer, artist as educator, artist as curator, artist as producer, and artist as publisher. To understand these contexts of art practice, you will engage in a work experience, placement or internship in a relevant industry, creative environment, gallery, museum or institution (including voluntary schemes, talent development programmes or other roles), in conjunction with Arts University partnerships and initiatives.

Develop individual authorship in your creative practice, and ownership of your learning through a self-initiated project. You will be introduced to methods for managing and producing an independent creative project, developing skills in project articulation and management to include consideration for project scope, time and resources management.
Emergent Practice allows for a thorough exploration of what constitutes Fine Art practice. 
You will focus on an independent, self-initiated research project building on previous knowledge, whilst testing and expanding your practice in new and innovative directions. 
You will be introduced to methods for managing and producing an independent creative project, developing skills in project articulation and management. Increased interaction with peers, staff and resources will strengthen and build existing and emerging skills in communication, material experimentation, reflection, and criticality of your studio (non studio) practice to create a sustained body of work/s.

Arts University Plymouth offers a year long sandwich year option. Framed within the institution’s innovative Common Unit Framework, the sandwich year experience is offered as a unit that contributes to your BA (Hons) Degree.
The sandwich year can take the form of an internship or work placement, and can take place in the UK or abroad. It is intended to give you the possibility of gaining experience in art and design practice in a ‘real life’ industry setting, before you return to complete the final year of your degree. You will be able to build your CV and, if you choose to take on your sandwich year outside of the UK, enhance your experience of international creative practice.
Sandwich year placements will be selected by each student who wishes to take one, assisted by Course staff within AUP. Opportunities may also come through corporate approaches to AUP or through links built by your course tutors. Each placement opportunity will be reviewed by the University before being approved to ensure its suitability to be part of your course. During the Sandwich Year you remain enrolled at AUP with access to IT and your email accounts, online library and learning support.
Once approved, the sandwich year will count towards your overall degree and completion of it will be acknowledged on your degree certificate.
<a href="https://www.aup.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/sandwich-year" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Click here to read more about the Sandwich Year at Arts University Plymouth.</a>
Queries regarding the Arts University Plymouth Sandwich Year placement or internship option can be sent to <a href="mailto:registry@aup.ac.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">registry@aup.ac.uk</a>.

You will be encouraged to further refine your aims and ambitions for your final year of study, by formulating and testing out ideas for your Final Project. You will present a creative pitch that outlines the key concepts and methods behind your project and demonstrates knowledge and understanding of appropriate contextual and professional frameworks.

You will produce a research-informed critical text that contextualises your research interests and demonstrates sustained critical engagement with your subject. This could be an extended critical essay or industry report; or an original publication (text &amp; image) and accompanying critical essay.

This unit will extend your understanding and consideration of appropriate audiences, end-users and markets for your work, and raise your awareness of industry-relevant technologies, techniques and innovations. Your learning will support the articulation of your personal career ambitions, informed by an awareness of professional contexts and graduate opportunities for creative practice.

The culmination of your undergraduate study providing a focussed period of consolidation and creativity, you will have the opportunity to realise a final major project to demonstrate your specialist knowledge and skills. At the end of the unit, you will have the opportunity to present this project to the public within the context of the annual AUP Summer Shows.
Please note unit details listed above are correct at time of publication and indicative content only. If you have any questions about course content and structure please email<a href="mailto:liaison@aup.ac.uk"> liaison@aup.ac.uk</a>.

Our unit structure applies to all of our undergraduate courses and creates a culture that promotes curiosity and creative thinking that extends beyond subject boundaries. Thematic approaches encourage an environment of free-flowing creative learning and opportunities for collaboration. Each unit will be contextualised by the subject specialism, and delivery will manifest uniquely through the specialist lens of each course.
Browse through the Year One, Two and Three headings to see what you'll cover during the course of this degree. For more detailed information, including the content of each unit, assessment criteria and reading lists, take a look at the full course information within our <a href="https://pca.objects.frb.io/production/files/courses/2023/UG-Course-Specification-Forms-and-Unit-Specification-Forms-2324/BA-Hons-Fine-Art-Unit-Specification-Forms.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Unit Specification Form</a> and our <a href="https://pca.objects.frb.io/production/files/courses/2023/UG-Course-Specification-Forms-and-Unit-Specification-Forms-2324/BA-Hons-Fine-Art-Course-Specification-Form-2023-24.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Course Specification Form</a> documents. To request alternative formats of the full Unit Specification Form, please email <a href="mailto:admissions@aup.ac.uk">admissions@aup.ac.uk</a>.

BA (Hons) Fine Art

Proudly Supporting

Awards & Rankings