BA en Beaux-Arts (Hons)

BA (Hons) Fine Art

The BA in Fine Art aims to equip you with creative, interpretive, critical and analytical skills, so that you can participate in and contribute to the expanding field of contemporary art .

The main purpose of the degree is to teach you how to make art and to evaluate different critical approaches to your own practice, through integrated Studio Practice and Critical Studies courses. The programme aims to support your development and creativity and to help you acquire independent learning skills. This approach requires you to be committed, to thrive on constructive criticism exchanged between staff and students, and to participate in discussing your own work and that of others.

What you study

All the staff on the programme are practising artists , curators and writers, here to respond to the work that you make and to help you understand how it contributes to, and challenges, the critical debates that exist in the study area and beyond. Our aim is to help you develop the necessary self-motivation and confidence in your work to continue successfully and independently in your chosen career. The degree structure enables you to develop your work through exploring selected media and approaches, including: drawing, painting, constructed textiles, film, installation, performance, photography, printed textiles, printmaking, sculpture, stitch, fabric and video. You can specialise in one or more media throughout the degree. Studio teaching is enhanced by technical support, which introduces you to techniques relevant to the development of your work.

The first year is the beginning of three years of intensive studio and research laboratory practice. Each year you are allocated a studio space which forms the focal point of your activities. In the final year you mount an exhibition of your Studio Practice for assessment, which is then open to the public. Throughout the programme you will be taught through individual tutorials in your studio, group tutorials, and mixed year studio practice presentations. The parallel Critical Studies course is designed to support your practical work in the studios. The lectures and seminars introduce and develop key issues which inform diverse art practices and encourage you to extend your critical faculties and develop your ability to discuss, write about, analyse and judge contemporary art. In the third year you demonstrate your research skills and ability to pursue an argument of your own choice in a dissertation.

Assessment

Continuous assessment of studio practice coursework is evidenced through individual tutorials and group seminars alongside studio presentations (year one), viva voce (year two), and final exhibition (year three). Critical Studies is assessed through essays (years one and two) and a dissertation (year three).

Why study at Goldsmiths?

• Our students come from over 140 countries
• Our London zone 2 campus is a great base for exploring the city – you’ll have world-class shops, restaurants, bars, theatres, cinemas, galleries and museums on your doorstep
• We have plenty of support on offer for international students, from English language preparation to help to find work experience
• We’ve been part of the world-renowned University of London since 1904. That means that when you graduate from Goldsmiths, you’ll also graduate from the University of London

About Goldsmiths, University of London

An incubator for ideas

Creativity has always been the hallmark of Goldsmiths. Academic excellence and imaginative course content combine to make a place where creative minds can thrive and ideas are allowed to grow.

Our courses and research activities span the arts, humanities, social sciences, cultural studies, computing, business and management across 20 academic departments.

A world leader in new knowledge

Our academics cooperate across disciplines to create exciting new courses and develop novel approaches to research issues. Our interdisciplinary ethos has helped us to become a national leader in many subject areas.

The QS World Rankings place us in the top five UK Universities for Art & Design and Communication & Media Studies. In 2014 the Research Excellence Framework rated us in the UK’s top 25 Universities for the quality of our research.

From Creative and Social Technologies to Anomalistic Psychology our teaching and research staff are combining their specialist knowledge to fashion new insights into 21st-century challenges.

Whatever discipline you choose, you’ll find your old ideas challenged and your new ideas embraced. Goldsmiths is a place where together we are creating the knowledge of the future.

A place where your career can grow

At Goldsmiths, we don’t put you in a box. We are a fluid and energetic community where staff and students work in partnership to bring learning to life. You’ll have the opportunity to work in flexible ways and across departments. You’ll collaborate with people from different backgrounds and with different specialities to create solutions that are unique and exciting.

After graduating from Goldsmiths, many of our alumni have played leading roles in shaping contemporary British culture. Wherever you are on your career path, you’ll find the doors are always open for you at Goldsmiths.

The perfect partner for business and industry

Because many of our tutors are practising professionals in their field, we understand how business and industry works, what it wants and how it constantly changes and evolves. Students have the opportunity to get work experience so they can graduate equipped with the skills and experience they need when they enter the workforce.

We have comprehensive and long-established links with regional, national and international employers who know from experience when they hire a Goldsmiths graduate they’re hiring a graduate of the highest calibre.

A caring community

At Goldsmiths we’re a close-knit community that sees everyone as an individual with their own strengths and needs. Because we’re a single-campus university, you’ll never feel isolated or overlooked.

We have teams dedicated to helping disabled students or offering financial advice. You can count on our trained counsellors to help you cope at stressful times, or turn to our chaplain for confidential support. We’ll give you the space to be yourself but there’ll always be someone to talk to when you have a question or need someone to listen.

Embracing the global citizen

Because we’re just 10 minutes from the centre of London; because we have students from 114 different countries; because many of our courses offer the opportunity to spend time studying abroad, Goldsmiths truly embraces the global citizen.

Students coming from other countries will find a thriving international community and enjoy the experience of studying in one of the world’s major cities. UK students can expand their horizons through the opportunities to travel and make friends from around the world.

Our alumni have gone on to build lives and careers on every continent and to become our ambassadors across the globe.

Our partnerships

Goldsmiths is pleased to be the University Sponsor for Mulberry University Technical College (UTC). The UTC is a new 14-19 co-educational school with a unique employer-led curriculum in Creative, Health and Digital Technologies. Goldsmiths has been an active participant from the conception of the UTC and involved in many aspects of its development. Liz Bromley, Registrar and Secretary is a founding member of the Board of Governors and Lucinda Parr is the Project manager. The UTC will open in September 2017. For more information, visit the UTC website.

At Goldsmiths you’ll find a fusion of culture, creativity, heritage, excitement and academic rigour. Every one of our students, staff, partners and friends will show you a different face of Goldsmiths.

Goldsmiths is the sum of all our people, whose endeavour and imagination has crafted us into a world-leader in education and research.

• We are an institute rooted in tradition, with our face turned resolutely towards the future
• We are a close-knit community with a reputation that spans the globe
• We offer academic excellence combined with innovative thinking
• We challenge you to discover your potential and support you in fulfilling it.
• We are investing in our services, our spaces, our surroundings, committed to improving the Goldsmiths experience for every one of our extended family.