Entry requirementsStandard Entry Applicants should possess an honours degree in fine art or its equivalent and a teaching qualification. Exceptionally, candidates with other qualifications coupled with appropriate experience may be considered for entry; for instance, a student with a teaching qualification and experience of art practice or an honours degree in Fine Art and experience of teaching would be considered. Applicants should possess their own studio/workplace, which should include suitable technical facilities within reasonable access of the School. We welcome applications from across the broad remit of contemporary fine art practice and/or across the broad remit of education. It should be noted that BALTIC and Northumbria are able to offer technical and resource support, availability permitting. Additional Notes Applicants should also provide a portfolio and/or slides of their previous work. All applicants will be interviewed.
Academic titleFine Art and Education (MA)
Course descriptionCOURSE INFORMATION
This MA in Fine Art and Education is offered as a flexible part-time programme for working teachers and educationalists that wish to establish or enhance their combined practices as artist and teacher at masters' level. Some elements of the programme will be pursued alongside teachers wishing to undergo innovative professional development; other parts will submerge the student in the creatively charged environment of an art school. The crucial relationship between a personal creative practice and methods of teaching art will be extended using the learning potential of artist-led projects and museum and gallery education programmes as well as the more individualistic traditions of a studio practice. This programme is a unique collaboration between the Division of Pre and School Learning and Fine Art and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art who have worked in partnership with the University to plan and deliver a distinctive postgraduate experience.
The programme may be entered via a 'taster' element (Element 1) that is offered as a 5-day conference workshop for teacher/practitioners in fine art practice and is supported by NSEAD and a further opportunity (Element 2) can be accessed as a series of 1-day workshops in contemporary art in education. Both Element 1 and Element 2 are credited as equivalent learning in Element 3, which is the programme itself.
The aims of the programme are:
- To develop the teacher/practitioner's strategic engagement with the production and interpretation of artworks in relation to the communication of those processes and meanings as art education.
- To promote sustainable and systematic approaches for the teacher/practitioner in relation to their engagement with the complex interaction of creative exploration and pedagogic method.
- To cultivate individualistic and co-operative activities for the teacher/practitioner that arise directly from the contemporary experience of making, exhibiting and interpreting art.
- To expand the teacher/practitioner's understanding and use of intellectual property in order to increase the scope of each student to contribute in a creative and progressive manner to the field of art education.
The aim is to clarify and focus each student's declared definition of artistic and educational development within the initial two-semester period of the programme. Later, through the vehicle of a learning contract, the goal shifts to the student's ability to sustain the balance of personal creative exploration and pedagogic method necessary to the progressive teacher/practitioner. The consummation of this final stage offers each student the opportunity to share their knowledge of individualistic and co-operative approaches to the production of fine art objects, installations or events with a conference audience in the museum and gallery education context. Help is offered through support and guidance sessions and models of practice offered at Northumbria and BALTIC.
Through this unique combination of postgraduate fine art and educational modules, students will experience a self-focusing, practice-led development that will refine and advance their career prospects and give greater definition to the notion of a teacher/practitioner. The programme will offer students an expanded network of professional and academic resources by which their role in the field of art education may be advanced.
MODULE INFORMATION
Year 1 Modules
TE0391 Art in Educational Context (CORE, 30 Credits)
VP0634 Exhibition Practice - Interim Project/Presentation (CORE, 30 Credits)
VP0635 Studio Practice Fine Art 1 (CORE, 30 Credits)
Year 2 Modules
VP0633 Exhibition Practice - Final Project/Presentation (CORE, 30 Credits)
VP0636 Studio Practice Fine Art 2 (CORE, 30 Credits)
COURSEWORK AND ASSESSMENT
In addition to a process of continual assessment, there are two-stage assessment points during the programme, at the end of Years 1 and 2. These are also exit points, with a Postgraduate Certificate available after successful completion of two part-time semesters, and a Postgraduate Diploma after five part-time semesters.
The MA is awarded after 2 years (six semesters) of part-time study.
Final assessments in the September of the second year of the programme include individual presentations of student projects in conference at BALTIC.
The students are required to evidence all assessment outcomes at the end of each year. At the end of Year 1 the student may exit with 60 credits and achieve a Postgraduate Certificate in Fine Art and Education. At the end of Year 2 the student may exit with 120 credits and achieve a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Art and Education or exit with 180 credits and achieve an MA in Fine Art and Education.
ACCREDITATION
As above the Elements 1 and 2 offer accredited equivalent learning.
CAREERS
This degree is specifically designed to support a career in education and the visual arts. Graduates can develop their practice in professional studies and/or work in art education, arts administration or public art within the community.