Level: Undergraduate
Study Mode: Full-time / Part-time
Duration: 2 years full-time / 4 years part-time
Application: Via UCAS (full-time), Direct to the College (part-time)
Application Deadline: 15 Jan 2010
UCAS Course Code: W190
Institution Code: H18
Validated By: University of Wales
This Foundation Degree is a broad-based visual arts course offering a wide range of practice-based approaches with a strong focus on creativity and entrepreneurship in an environment where a wide range of media and processes are available.
Visual arts have always excelled at developing independent and open-minded thinkers who can solve problems creatively and innovatively, and this course provides you with a strong basis of practical skills in order to establish your own practice or enter employment.
The course reflects the current needs of the creative industries by focusing largely on the issues of self employment, whilst offering connections with galleries and institutions and building strong relationships with community arts and regeneration projects. The content is strongly practical, with the emphasis on investigative research, referencing and analysis together with the acquisition of practical skills which are embedded within the creative process. Emphasis is placed on the prospective employment opportunities within the creative arts sector in the local area.
Year 1
During Year 1 the development of drawing as a means of generating exploring and communicating visual ideas will be fundamental. Students will develop the ability to initiate, develop and evaluate ideas using and will work with Paint, Photo Visual, Print, or 3D whilst incorporating a growing professional awareness.
Students will be introduced to specific workshops and technical skills appropriate to the module. They will be introduced to studio practice and begin to develop a studio methodology supported by individual tutorials and regular group critiques which provide a forum for the development of critical skills through the discussion of practical work. These will be complemented by, theoretical and contextual studies and discourse programme. This will explore the ideas, philosophies and cultural issues within the subject. The use and application of I.T. will be an integral part of the course.
Year 2
Students will begin to negotiate and develop specific projects, generated by speculative enquiry arising from their own interests. As part of this learning process they will also be encouraged to experiment, explore and take risks to enable them to develop into better informed, more skilled and increasingly independent practitioners. To support this more independent approach, a range of specialist workshops will be delivered.
An important aspect of any Foundation Degree consists of “work-based learning” opportunities. In the case of Creative Art Practices there is a strong emphasis on professional awareness of work scenarios for the visual artist. In level five students will research and practice activities that provide professional experience in the visual arts sector, investigating prospective personal directions and participating in live project based learning. In this way they will gain a strong understanding of the personal qualities and practical organisational skills required by the creative industries.
The year will culminate with an exhibition of carefully curated work, which students must approach in a professional manner demonstrating good organisational and planning skills.
Graduates can enter self-employment with a strong awareness of the professional skills required to be self-motivated creative individuals with an eye for entrepreneurial opportunities, besides those professional interpersonal and subject specific skills required by employers in the creative industries. They may also go on to complete a one-year ‘top-up’ for a BA (Hons) at HCA or elsewhere.
Minimum age 18
Successful portfolio interview
160 - 200 UCAS Tariff Points
Mature Students with related experience
English as a second language: IELTS score 6.0 or equivalent on enrolment
All applications to our Full Time Higher Education courses should be made via UCAS – for more details on how to apply, click here