MA Fine Art

Institution Nottingham Trent University
Method At the institution
Location Nottingham
Type Masters
Course fee By request

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MA Fine Art

Objectives MA Fine Art sits within a portfolio of courses created at a crucial time in art and design education. Traditional boundaries are blurred or dissolving, thus leading the way for courses which encourage research, collaborations and synergies across disciplines. The portfolio of courses covers the many riches at Nottingham Trent University including fashion and textiles, graphic design and performance/live art, all of which value the reflective practitioner approach and the mix of theory and practice. The School of Art and Design is one of the largest and most respected of its kind, both nationally and internationally. Its traditions go back to 150 years of art and design education and it is recognised as a School of excellence. All students attend School MA lectures and undertake work on research methods and critical analysis as a whole group, thus encouraging debate and ideas.
Entry requirements This course will be relevant to graduates of most art and design degrees. Primarily, it is anticipated that the majority of applicants will have specialised in fine art. However, all applicants will be considered on the basis of the quality of their practice and research. What is distinctive to the course is that students will work in an open minded research environment that will reflect on all of these disciplines and as such suggest prospective developments in this light. Applicants to the course require an enthusiasm for this potential breadth of debate. Prospective applicants should be (or about to become) graduates of a British university or equivalent institute of Higher Education. Preference will be given to good honours graduates although exceptional applicants from a non-academic background will also be considered. Applicants are also required to show a professional portfolio of work.
Academic title MA Fine Art
Course description Resources and facilities
The following facilities are available for students on this course:

    * traditional daylight studios
    * blackout studios
    * installation spaces (a variety of shapes and sizes with differing lighting conditions)
    * wood and metalwork spaces
    * casting facilities
    * photographic darkroom (black and white only)
    * the Hub - the School's new visual and sound technology centre (an extensive computer suite with advanced programmes available).
    * digital video editing facilities
    * performance studios
    * super 8 and 16 mm filmmaking facilities
    * printmaking
    * animation studios
    * sound studios.

Course content
Studying for a Masters degree in Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University School of Art and Design is an exciting opportunity to join an international community of advanced practitioners. The course actively explores the full diversity of possibilities in contemporary fine art and develops an open and enquiring approach to thinking and making.

The course covers all media practices including painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, printmaking, photography, film and performance. New technologies are actively encouraged, as are interdisciplinary practices. The course functions as a community that embraces the interaction between different ways of thinking about and making art.

Informed by a course of lectures, seminars, workshops and tutorials, students re-evaluate and review their existing mode of studio practice during the earlier phases of the course. The emphasis is focused on both raising the level of conceptual and practical skills, on a greater coherence between these two skills, and upon the implications of practice at a professional level. A key element of the course is the regular peer review presentations. These academic, professional and cultural exchanges will offer important new horizons for the potential of your work. Visiting artists and other experts will enrich your knowledge and experience.

The course fosters a high level of critical debate exploring existing issues and practices and responding to new ideas as they emerge. You will be encouraged to develop your individual work within this broader context. The course maintains a supportive and challenging momentum within which to pursue a sustained personal and professional enquiry towards the final phase of the course, a contextually explicit and visually resolved major body of work.

As well as providing a sound basis for professional practice within the field of fine arts, the course will also provide a good platform for students who wish to progress their work for study at MPhil and PhD level.