Skip navigation

If you’d like to receive the latest updates from Northumbria about our courses, events, finance & funding then enter your details below.

* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

CLOSE

At Northumbria it's not about where you're from, it's about where you want to go. So, whatever your future ambitions, we make it our mission to help you achieve them.

To find out more about the range of flexible admissions options we have to support students to access study at Northumbria, take a look at our Entry Requirements.

PLEASE NOTE: The first year of entry is September 2024. For September 2023 entry, please visit: BA (Hons) Fine Art

Imagine. Learn. Create.

Art goes beyond galleries. It is felt in our city, landscapes, and buildings where we learn, live, work, and play. Art informs how we understand the world, how we reflect our individual and collective pasts and how we challenge and celebrate our present moment.

Art also informs our digital lives, enabling us to share our stories. By studying this BA (Hons) Fine Art degree at Northumbria, you will become a critical thinker and a developed maker. You will learn the power and potential of art and be provided with a platform through which to turn your practice into action alongside regional, national, and global communities.

With a broad range of modules, the course combines theory and practice to provide you with the knowledge and skills needed for employment in an extensive variety of roles. Examples include community arts, teaching, curating, arts management, assisting artists, gallery or studio management, business, marketing, and more.

Carefully constructed by Northumbria’s leading Art practitioners, theoreticians and historians, alongside local industrial partners such as The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, the BA (Hons) Fine Art unpacks all the elements of creation – how it’s made and how it’s received. Every module draws on active research which is expertly brought to life in your lectures and seminars.

This degree is dynamic, interdisciplinary, and addresses real world challenges, which you can tailor to ensure you will have the best possible foundation for future study and continued success.

 

Your Learning Experience

This course is delivered through a mix of classroom and studio-based learning, with engagement with the cultural centres in the region available to further enhance your learning.

Your modules will be taught through lectures, seminars, practical sessions, workshops, and fieldtrips. Meanwhile, you’ll be assessed using a range of methods including practice-based submissions, essays, and presentations.

Throughout your degree, you’ll be encouraged to develop your making skills – having the opportunity to develop your techniques and use equipment in intriguing ways.

In your third year, you can extend your studies, either taking an additional placement year or even taking a year to study abroad in the likes of mainland Europe or North America.

In your final year, you will embark on a Final Project which is an opportunity to focus on what interests you most while developing your portfolio and academic skills. This project becomes a cumulation of all the skills and understanding that you have received throughout your studies and establishes your style as a contemporary artist.

 

How does this course enhance my employability?

From the very start of your studies, you are supported as you begin to develop transferable skills, such as critical thinking, communication, team working, and confidence.

As your studies progress, you’ll then hone these skills to more industry-specific proficiencies. On the course, you’ll learn how to use industry-standard digital editing software, identify the key elements of art criticism, and understand the planning and production required in research, design, storytelling, presentation, curation, management, and the application of theory.

An invaluable opportunity for first-hand employability skills is the chance to work with the BALTIC Centre in your second year. Here, you will encounter live briefs where you will work in teams, as artists with different skill sets and backgrounds, alongside local employers from the cultural sector. In doing so, you will develop skills in project management and arts business that are important to employers within the creative and cultural industries.

Many modules have been specifically designed to enhance your employability and encourage you to consider how your interests align with potential future career routes after graduation. For example, during your second year, you will have the opportunity to organise and facilitate an external work placement – stepping into industry to gain professional skills and confidence in real-world settings.

Why choose Northumbria to study BA (Hons) Fine Art?

Top 25 - Northumbria University is ranked top 20 in the UK for Art & Design Studies (Times Good University Guide, Subject League Table 2023).

Taking on Tomorrow – This course is contemporary, future-facing, and critically rigorous, preparing you to make a positive impact in the world.

Research Powerhouse – Northumbria’s Art & Design department are ranked 4th in the UK for research power (REF, 2021), measured by the impact of their research.

Partnered with Industry – The fantastic opportunity to work with the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, where you will be set live briefs and can work within public and community settings.

 

PLEASE NOTE: The first year of entry is September 2024. For September 2023 entry, please visit: BA (Hons) Fine Art

Imagine. Learn. Create.

Art goes beyond galleries. It is felt in our city, landscapes, and buildings where we learn, live, work, and play. Art informs how we understand the world, how we reflect our individual and collective pasts and how we challenge and celebrate our present moment.

Art also informs our digital lives, enabling us to share our stories. By studying this BA (Hons) Fine Art degree at Northumbria, you will become a critical thinker and a developed maker. You will learn the power and potential of art and be provided with a platform through which to turn your practice into action alongside regional, national, and global communities.

With a broad range of modules, the course combines theory and practice to provide you with the knowledge and skills needed for employment in an extensive variety of roles. Examples include community arts, teaching, curating, arts management, assisting artists, gallery or studio management, business, marketing, and more.

Carefully constructed by Northumbria’s leading Art practitioners, theoreticians and historians, alongside local industrial partners such as The BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, the BA (Hons) Fine Art unpacks all the elements of creation – how it’s made and how it’s received. Every module draws on active research which is expertly brought to life in your lectures and seminars.

This degree is dynamic, interdisciplinary, and addresses real world challenges, which you can tailor to ensure you will have the best possible foundation for future study and continued success.

 

Your Learning Experience

This course is delivered through a mix of classroom and studio-based learning, with engagement with the cultural centres in the region available to further enhance your learning.

Your modules will be taught through lectures, seminars, practical sessions, workshops, and fieldtrips. Meanwhile, you’ll be assessed using a range of methods including practice-based submissions, essays, and presentations.

Throughout your degree, you’ll be encouraged to develop your making skills – having the opportunity to develop your techniques and use equipment in intriguing ways.

In your third year, you can extend your studies, either taking an additional placement year or even taking a year to study abroad in the likes of mainland Europe or North America.

In your final year, you will embark on a Final Project which is an opportunity to focus on what interests you most while developing your portfolio and academic skills. This project becomes a cumulation of all the skills and understanding that you have received throughout your studies and establishes your style as a contemporary artist.

 

How does this course enhance my employability?

From the very start of your studies, you are supported as you begin to develop transferable skills, such as critical thinking, communication, team working, and confidence.

As your studies progress, you’ll then hone these skills to more industry-specific proficiencies. On the course, you’ll learn how to use industry-standard digital editing software, identify the key elements of art criticism, and understand the planning and production required in research, design, storytelling, presentation, curation, management, and the application of theory.

An invaluable opportunity for first-hand employability skills is the chance to work with the BALTIC Centre in your second year. Here, you will encounter live briefs where you will work in teams, as artists with different skill sets and backgrounds, alongside local employers from the cultural sector. In doing so, you will develop skills in project management and arts business that are important to employers within the creative and cultural industries.

Many modules have been specifically designed to enhance your employability and encourage you to consider how your interests align with potential future career routes after graduation. For example, during your second year, you will have the opportunity to organise and facilitate an external work placement – stepping into industry to gain professional skills and confidence in real-world settings.

Why choose Northumbria to study BA (Hons) Fine Art?

Top 25 - Northumbria University is ranked top 20 in the UK for Art & Design Studies (Times Good University Guide, Subject League Table 2023).

Taking on Tomorrow – This course is contemporary, future-facing, and critically rigorous, preparing you to make a positive impact in the world.

Research Powerhouse – Northumbria’s Art & Design department are ranked 4th in the UK for research power (REF, 2021), measured by the impact of their research.

Partnered with Industry – The fantastic opportunity to work with the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, where you will be set live briefs and can work within public and community settings.

 

Course Information

UCAS Code
W105

Level of Study
Undergraduate

Mode of Study
3 years full-time or 4 years with a placement (sandwich)/study abroad

Department
Arts

Location
City Campus, Northumbria University

City
Newcastle

Start
September 2024

Fee Information

Module Information

Discover NU World / A virtual journey through everything Northumbria has to offer.

Explore our immersive 360 tours, informative subject videos, inspirational student profiles, ground-breaking research, and a range of life at university videos and articles.

News & Events / Arts

Find out what our Art students and staff are taking part in.

Art Department / Image Gallery

Graduate Showcase / REVEAL

The end of year showcase for our Creative Programmes.

white animated text on black background advertising the reveal degree show

Watch as Northumbria students showcase there work in 2022 Reveal show

Department / Arts

From creating fine art to conserving it; from radio to film, theatre and television, through to arts management and teaching, our Arts department is a dynamic and stimulating environment to study in.

Student Life / #IAmNorthumbria

A great social scene can be found at the heart of our campuses, featuring award-winning bars and a huge range of clubs and societies to join you'll be sure to meet people who share your enthusiasms.

a desk with a green plant

Accommodation

Discover our residences

There are many different reasons to choose to study at Northumbria but we got Alice, Reza and Jasmine to narrow it down to just three reasons each on why they wanted to come study here.

a large long train on Sage Gateshead over a body of water

Newcastle

City Life

a person posing for the camera

Student Life at Northumbria

Discover More

a group of people standing in front of a crowd

The Hub

Student Blog

a man wearing glasses

Social Wall

#IAmNorthumbria

Book an Open Day / Experience Fine Art BA (Hons)

Visit an Open Day to get an insight into what it's like to study Fine Art. Speak to staff and students from the course and get a tour of the facilities.

Entry Requirements 2024/25

Standard Entry

112 UCAS Tariff points

From a combination of acceptable Level 3 qualifications which may include: A-level, T Level, BTEC Diplomas/Extended Diplomas, Scottish and Irish Highers, Access to HE Diplomas, or the International Baccalaureate.

Find out how many points your qualifications are worth by using the UCAS Tariff calculator: www.ucas.com/ucas/tariff-calculator

Northumbria University is committed to supporting all individuals to achieve their ambitions. We have a range of schemes and alternative offers to make sure as many individuals as possible are given an opportunity to study at our University regardless of personal circumstances or background. To find out more, review our Northumbria Entry Requirement Essential Information page for further details www.northumbria.ac.uk/entryrequirementsinfo

Subject Requirements:

There are no specific subject requirements for this course.

GCSE Requirements:

Applicants will need Maths and English Language at minimum grade 4/C, or an equivalent.

Additional Requirements:

A portfolio of creative design work is required. Get advice on preparing your portfolio here: www.northumbria.ac.uk/study-at-northumbria/coming-to-northumbria/portfolios-and-auditions

International Qualifications:

We welcome applicants with a range of qualifications which may not match those shown above.

If you have qualifications from outside the UK, find out what you need by visiting www.northumbria.ac.uk/yourcountry

English Language Requirements:

International applicants should have a minimum overall IELTS (Academic) score of 6.0 with 5.5 in each component (or an approved equivalent*).

*The university accepts a large number of UK and International Qualifications in place of IELTS. You can find details of acceptable tests and the required grades in our English Language section: www.northumbria.ac.uk/englishqualifications

For further admissions guidance and requirements, please visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/admissionsguidance Please review this information before submitting your application.

Fees and Funding 2024/25 Entry

UK Fee in Year 1*: £9,250

* The maximum tuition fee that we are permitted to charge for UK students is set by government. Tuition fees may increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, these are subject to government regulations and in line with inflation.



EU Fee in Year 1: £18,250


International Fee in Year 1: £18,250


Scholarships for 24/25 are currently being announced.  Please keep checking the main Funding Pages which will be updated throughout the cycle.

 


ADDITIONAL COSTS

TBC

If you’d like to receive the latest updates from Northumbria about our courses, events, finance & funding then enter your details below.

* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

VA4012 -

Art Practice 1 (Core,20 Credits)

The field of contemporary art is vast and is informed by a range of cross-disciplinary perspectives that interrogate critical and urgent matters of our times. In addition to painting, sculpture, new media, and performance-based practices, an artist may work in a variety of collaborative and community-centric ways to address disciplinary histories, philosophical concerns, or social justice – focusing on topics of race, gender, sexuality, or climate change. Considering this open nature of the subject area, where on-going debates are taking place in a host of settings locally and internationally, the module introduces the students to inquire and engage with contemporary art contexts in a three-phased process. This includes formal inquiries in the studio, encouraging exploration and experimentation of different media, contextualization by integrating practice and theory, and staging a presentation, emphasising process-as-outcome. The seminars, presentations, exhibition visits, and learning resources through the library provide the students critical artistic strategies and creative skills to excel in a rapidly shifting world. In addition to this, the one-on-one studio meetings are an opportunity for the student to receive in-depth and formative support to develop their practice and research.

Through this process, you will learn the importance of developing artistic research methodologies by initiating speculative material and conceptual investigations, develop an analytical and critical location within the larger field, and confidently articulating and sharing your work in a range of settings. The pedagogic strategy supports students to independently explore their studio practice, fostering the ability for self-directed studies. You will develop the ability to give and receive constructive feedback on your work and that of your peers through group critiques and seminars, and an understanding of relevant discourses related to your art practice.

The presentation is an opportunity for the student to synthesize studio and conceptual processes, confidently assert individual perspectives that highlight their positionality within the broader field, while also engaging in meaningful critique, and working collaboratively with others.

More information

VA4013 -

Art Practice 2 (Core,20 Credits)

This module will introduce you to the idea of an artistic position – you will come to understand how artists map an identity for themselves through specialisation in practice and the specifics of their contextual interests. Building on the research skills developed in semester 1, you will begin your own journey in developing an artistic position by beginning to work through and identify your specific areas of practical and contextual interest.

More information

VA4014 -

Introduction to Fine Art (Core,20 Credits)

To enable the development of your own independent art-making, your learning will include practical skills in drawing, in both manual and digital forms, to help visualise and document ideas. You will learn the principles of visual and textual analysis in order to support your critical acuity and academic writing; this will include key academic skills in conducting research, sourcing and referencing. Your studio engagement will be supported by learning necessary skills in presenting, hanging, installing and documenting artworks in both 2D and 3D forms. You will also be required to complete appropriate Health and Safety inductions in order to appreciate good studio practice.

To complement your practical and professional skills, you will receive an introduction to the emergence of modern art and its expansion in the contemporary context. To map the historic development of Western artistic practice, examples will be used from three main periods:

• The growth of the modern city, visualised through 19th Century Impressionism
• The development of ideas of society through 20th century Modernism
• The questioning of society through resistant contemporary art practices. Particularly those associated with Feminism.

These examples will be used to investigate fundamental considerations about representation, intercultural processes, decolonisation strategies, materiality, process, display, accessibility, networks and viewership, and to help you reflect upon your own creative practice. By studying, analysing and discussing these examples, you will learn key skills in researching, analysing and writing about art, which will give you the core foundational skills for study through your programme.

More information

VA4015 -

Material Culture 1 (Core,20 Credits)

Material Culture I will encourage you to build a focused and experimental approach to materials and making. The module brings together studio workshops, technical workshops and artist and art-historian led seminars to create an in-depth engagement with material, thinking through the potential of selected materials in practice, as well as in contemporary art and art history. The module will be taught in weekly studio workshops, supported by specialist technical workshops that will build new skills and approaches to working with selected materials. The module will introduce some contemporary critical issues around making and materials, particularly concerning ecological and environmental impacts.

For the first half of this module, you will work with found paper and card. You will explore the potential of the material; it can be made, recycled, drawn on, painted on, sculpted, turned to clay, ripped, layered, printed or cut. It can be naturally derived or man-made. It can be new, recycled or salvaged. It can have volume or it can be a surface.

For the second half of this module, you will work with clay. Clay too can be manmade or naturally occurring. It can be slabbed, coiled, imprinted, moulded, carved, cut, hollowed and polished. It can be returned to a soft, liquid state. It can be fired and given fixed form. You will learn about some of these processes while also conducting your own experiments within your studio.

At the end of the module, you will submit your two projects, alongside a folder that contains your notes, sketchbooks and research materials.

The seminars (led on alternate weeks by artists and art historians) will have two themes:
The first group will support the theoretical investigation of materials from the standpoint of sustainability and environment, including themes such as the use of found materials/ready-mades in art history, anthropological ideas of bricolage and using what's ready to hand and looking recycling and upcycling. The second group of seminars will think through theories of materiality, craft and value, including appropriation, emotional design and ecologies of materials.

More information

VA4016 -

Material Culture 2 (Core,20 Credits)

Material Cultures 2 provides you with an introduction to the lens-based media area, giving you a strong foundation in photography and supporting all aspects of practice in Fine Art.

Northumbria’s darkroom facilities provide a rare opportunity to work with B&W printing. Analogue and digital share the same fundamental relationships of understanding and manipulating light through the reciprocal relationship of shutter speed, aperture, ISO and lenses. However, the slower nature of working with analogue engenders a more thorough learning experience. In addition, you have full control of process as opposed to assisted AI of smartphone cameras.

All artists require strong documentation skills, so there is a clear progression from teaching you the basics through analogue photography and progressing through to digital. Not only is this of value in photography but practice is often integral to performance and sculpture.

The module brings together studio workshops, technical workshops and artist and art-historian led seminars to create an in-depth engagement with lens-based media. The module will be taught in weekly studio workshops, supported by specialist technical workshops that will build new skills and approaches to working with selected materials.

The work produced will reflect your individual thematic interests, resulting from your personal research and development, seminar series, group crits and one-to-one tutorials.

More information

VA4017 -

Understanding Engagement (Core,20 Credits)

The Understanding Engagement module involves work with an external institutional partner to extend your network as artists and practitioners with a live brief co-produced with that partner. It supports the development of your technical and creative skills and combines reflections on studio practice with a sustained analysis of the worlds of contemporary art. Working in peer groups, you will develop a sustained, innovative practice, and this will be within the context of an understanding of contemporary artists, some of whom you will meet during the module. You will learn about the role of studios which will feed into your level 5 studio practice, as well as questions of networking, marketing, branding, audience-building, project management, ethics, and creative skills. This is situated in the wider context of these issues in the creative sector. Working to a live brief with your institution/organisation, you will work within them on creative sites and spaces, on pitching and on networking. These relationships will develop all kinds of soft skills and activities which mutually support the artist and the organisation, and you will be assessed on how you respond to the live brief in creative ways. Understanding the relationship of place to community will enhance your pathways through your degree and beyond.

More information

YA5001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

AD5003 -

Arts Study Abroad (60 credit) (Optional,60 Credits)

The Study Abroad module is a semester based 60 credit module which is available on degree courses which facilitate study abroad within the programme. You will undertake a semester abroad at a partner university equivalent to 60 UK credits. This gives you access to modules from your discipline taught in a different learning culture and so broadens your overall experience of learning. The course of study abroad will be constructed to meet the learning outcomes for the programme for the semester in question, dependent on suitable modules from the partner and will be recorded for an individual student on the learning agreement signed by the host University, the student, and the home University (Northumbria). The module will be assessed by conversion of graded marks from the host University.

Learning outcomes on the year-long modules on which the student is unable to attend the home institution must be met at the host institution, and marks from the host are incorporated into the modules as part of the overall assessment.

More information

VA5007 -

Art Practice 3: Thinking Through Making (Core,20 Credits)

To support the development of your practice there will be a series of lecture and seminar sessions investigating how historical and contemporary artists have questioned society and its cultures. Focusing on key examples in their historical context, artists’ manifestos and writings, theoretical texts and creative strategies, we will investigate what constitutes a “critical art practice” through two key questions: what are artists critical of; and how is that criticality expressed? Examining historical and contemporary examples, we will focus upon four main areas:

• Questioning the institutions and spaces of the artworld
• Critique of society and its structures
• Questioning cultural conventions and traditional methods of representation
• Questioning humans’ relationship with the environment.

More information

VA5008 -

Art Practice 4: Understanding Research (Core,20 Credits)

You will learn about key themes related to historical, theoretical, and critical developments in and influences on contemporary art practice relevant to an understanding of recent debates and developments, allowing you to contextualise your own studio practice within the terms of history and theory in preparation for Level 6. This will allow you to develop a deeper critical understanding of the relationship between form and content in your own art making and you will learn how to develop a professional understanding of appropriate technical and conceptual strategies for the production and presentation of your artworks.

You will develop the ability to reflect critically on the historical and contemporary relationship of artists to society at local, national and global levels, and develop competence in skills enabling you to undertake critical visual analysis, independent research, and present findings through the medium of discursive writing.

This module enables you to learn through the work of your peers and position your evolving practice against contemporary frameworks and theoretical ideas in current art practice. Through the learning you will develop the intellectual and practical skills required to start to assess your own work and studio position allowing you to take responsibility for the development of your visual enquiry. All of your learning underpins your studio practice with a strong subject specific knowledge base and the range of strategies aims to engender your confidence in identifying and understanding new knowledge in relation to your practice.

More information

VA5009 -

Identities (Optional,20 Credits)

Through a studio-based approach supplemented with intersectional theory, the students learn about diverse topics, such as race, gender, sexuality, and class in a global context. The module will enable students to establish a deeper understanding of practice by examining how their own and others’ cultural backgrounds affect creative expression. Tutors conduct the teaching and extend their pluralistic artistic and academic positions into pedagogy. The design of the seminars and learning resources instigate dialogue and debate, prompting students to recognise the politics of visual representation and its social implications in different cultural contexts and publics. In addition to encouraging collective and collaborative artistic processes, the students receive support to investigate questions of identity within their studio practice through one-on-one tutorials, where they receive direction for individual artistic and research interests.

More information

VA5010 -

Place and Community: Artists Groups and Networks (Optional,20 Credits)

This module blends history, theory, and practice through a series of lectures, seminars, workshops, and briefs. Throughout these you will be encouraged to consider the methods/forms by which artists have engaged directly with art institutions and communities. Since at least the 1990s there has been an explosion of art production that aims to organise and engage with other people – whether it’s referred to as community arts, participatory practice, social engagement, new institutionalism, new genre public art, or useful art. In these practices artists no longer make objects but organise and engage people, and these projects can take place in galleries and museums or outside in community spaces. At times these practices are politically utopian, at others ethically transgressive.

To start, this module will introduce you to theoretical and contextual ideas about this shift in contemporary art production through a series of lectures. Alongside, seminars will introduce an essential ‘toolkit’ for facilitation and for staging interactive or educational activities: these will include risk assessments, funding applications, reports, the nuts and bolts of building a participatory art practice. To support your ongoing professional practice, you will learn about exhibition and outreach processes, and explore broader questions relating to audience, ethics, professional skills, and safe working. You will devise creative responses and activities in response to a brief and be supported in the development of your independent practice. For assessment you will be required to reflect upon your personal experience, learning and development.

More information

VA5011 -

Public Engagement (Core,20 Credits)

The learning within the module centres on bringing your studio-centred artmaking and contextual contemporary art knowledge into live work projects within professional artworld work environments through a placement and supporting workshops.

The central topics of the learning are:
• Preparing for effective live working within a professional artworld project.
• Establishing applied knowledge and understanding of the North East regional artworld, its organisations, intuitions and grass-roots ecologies.
• Applying independent artmaking and arts knowledge (developed through the programme) into live work projects within professional artworld contexts.
• Learning (externally to the teaching) through a live work within a professional artworld work context.
• Evaluating and reporting on the learning and knowledge development from a live work within a professional artworld work context.
• Building career and employment knowledge through live working within a professional artworld work context.
• Establishing networks through live working within a professional artworld work context.


Keywords and critical frameworks are:
Live project placement
Contemporary art practice
Collaboration and collective working
Mentorship and professional learning
Networking and careers enhancement
Art Education, Art Research, Contemporary Art Projects
Enhancing cultural capital
Enhancing social capital


In this module you will learn how to engage responsibly and effectively within professional working contexts. You will learn how to contribute through a small peer-group into a collective and collaborative work environment, and you will learn how to evaluate and reflect-on the range of skills and learning you are developing through that process. You will learn how to apply learning to focus-on and expand post University work opportunities and your onward careers ambitions. You will learn to evaluate and report objectively on your work and outputs within live working contexts. You will learn how to meet professional work standards, and mobilise your artmaking in ways open and enhance future work and career opportunities.

More information

VA5012 -

Studio and Gallery (Core,20 Credits)

On this module you will learn how to develop an exhibition proposal in a way that considers the development of your studio work in relation to its audience and the audience experience. In doing so you will learn to establish a wider independent appreciation, knowledge and understanding of the external professional contexts that frame and position the activities and production of your work in an exhibition beyond the studio. In doing so you will extend your understanding of the research-led enquiries that professional artists undertake to develop exhibition proposals, including the research methodologies that artists and gallery professionals use to understand and respond to the diverse social and geographic contexts of any exhibition’s production and presentation. You will learn about methodologies, mediums and materials that artists use to present their ideas in the proposal. You will also learn to enhance your understanding of professional contexts within the contemporary artworld in relation to career pathways and professional opportunities. You will develop transferable professional skills in areas presentation, communication, project management, problem solving and the ability to reflect critically on your actions and achievements.

More information

VA5013 -

Technologies (Optional,20 Credits)

This module is an opportunity to think through the place of technology in art practice, in relation to theories of technology in society and culture. You will be supported in developing your studio practice through the application of, or engagement with, current and past technologies. We will take an experimental approach to working with machines, computers and other forms of technology, taken broadly. The module supports the theoretical development of your studio practice, through a series of focused workshops, seminars and other events.

The module will support you in working towards a group exhibition which will focus on interactivity and responsivity through the employment of, or exploration of, technologies of communication. This will be supported in studio and through seminars, tutorials and visits.

The module draws in contemporary theory with a focus on technology as an extension of human values. A seminar series will introduce themes of power, control and agency in technology, giving space for discussion of technology and communication in the digital age. We will approach these questions from a global perspective, drawing in Yuk Hui’s theory of cosmotechnics, in order to understand that there is no single definition for technology.

More information

VA5014 -

Worldbuilding (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will learn about how worldbuilding has been used as a strategy within contemporary art, and you will have the opportunity to develop worldbuilding possibilities in your own developing critical practice. We will look at relevant examples of such worldbuilding practice and consider the aesthetic, political and ethical worlds they put forward. You will also be introduced to practices and thinkers that consider the plurality of worlds that already exist all around us, and how these might be foregrounded in artistic work.

More information

YA5001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

AD5001 -

Arts Work Placement Year (Optional,120 Credits)

The Work Placement Year module is a 120 credit year-long module available on degree courses which include a work placement year, taken as an additional year of study at level 5 and before level 6 (the length of the placement(s) will be determined by your programme but it can be no less than 30 weeks). You will undertake a guided work placement at a host organisation. This is a Pass/Fail module and so does not contribute to classification. When taken and passed, however, the Placement Year is recognised in your transcript as a 120 credit Work Placement Module and on your degree certificate in the format – “Degree title (with Work Placement Year)”. The learning and teaching on your placement will be recorded in the work placement agreement signed by the placement provider, the student, and the University.

Specific learning will depend on the nature of the employer and the placement secured. In general terms, this module is an opportunity to gain significant experience of industry practice, and to learn professional, role-specific skills ‘on the job’. It’s also a great opportunity to improve transferable skills such as communication, interpersonal skills, personal organisation, time management, presentation, commercial awareness, entrepreneurial skills, branding, and professional conduct generally; and to enhance your CV and personal portfolio. Students who have carried out placements in previous years often describe it as a transformative experience; they report greatly increased personal confidence both in terms of launching their future careers, and in returning to their final year of study. Your employer will agree in advance what your learning is likely to include, and will help you reflect on this learning at the end of your placement.

Note: Subject to placement clearance; this is a competitive process and a place on the module cannot be guaranteed.

More information

AD5002 -

Arts Study Abroad Year (Optional,120 Credits)

The Study Abroad Year module is a full year 120 credit module which is available on degree courses which include a study abroad year which is taken as an additional year of study at level 5 and before level 6. You will undertake a year abroad at a partner university equivalent to 120 UK credits. This gives you access to modules from your discipline taught in a different learning culture and so broadens your overall experience of learning. The course of study abroad will be dependent on the partner and will be recorded for an individual student on the learning agreement signed by the host University, the student, and the home University (Northumbria). Your study abroad year will be assessed on a pass/fail basis. It will not count towards your final degree classification but, if you pass, it is recognised in your transcript as a 120 credit Study Abroad Module and on your degree certificate in the format – “Degree title (with Study Abroad Year)”.

Note: Subject to placement clearance; this is a competitive process and a place on the module cannot be guaranteed.

More information

VA6008 -

Final Project (Core,40 Credits)

The learning within the module centres on bringing your studio-centred artmaking (production) into public-reaching sites of presentation through informed strategies of exhibition-making.



The central topics of the learning are:

Bringing independent artmaking to public and artworld audiences.

Identifying and progressing (testing and evaluating) individually appropriate sites of presentation (where and on what terms artmaking meets publics).

Extending and progressing (developing, testing and evaluating) the artmaking (its production) through individually appropriate forms of exhibition-making (how and on what terms artmaking meets publics).

Addressing and negotiating collective and group-centred forms of public exhibition and presentation.

Delivering independent technically resolved artmaking to public audiences through presentation and exhibition.

Delivering an effective and appropriate public-reaching distribution (dissemination) of independent artmaking (practice).

Establishing an effective and appropriate public-reaching representation of independent artmaking (practice).



Keywords and critical frameworks are:

Contemporary art practice.

Critical and contextual artmaking (independent artmaking).

Public-reaching presentation.

Extended forms of exhibition-making.

Group Exhibition (as an expanded term).



Terms:

Exhibition is used both in its artworld context and as a term inclusive of distributed and diverse sites of presentation - not bound exclusively by the gallery.

Exhibition-making is used to signal the continuing production of artmaking within exhibition delivery. And its extended forms within contemporary art practice, including online, digital, virtual, social, workshop, event, publishing forms.

More information

VA6009 -

Independent Research Project (Core,20 Credits)

This module is your opportunity to undertake some extended research into a topic that interests you, in the broad field of art history, theory and material culture. The outcome will be an essay of 3000 words, building on your experience in prior modules. It is sensible to choose an area that has some relevance to your studio practice as the research you undertake will inform your practice and may help you develop your ideas.



While the focus of this module is upon independent research, it will be supported by three workshop-seminars in planning, bibliography building and editing. You will also be assigned an academic supervisor who will offer 90 minutes of 1-2-1 tutorials, usually delivered as three separate tutorials in semester 1.



The main object of this module is to develop a good understanding of building an argument through research. Your essay must engage with scholarly sources, and you will use these sources to develop a critically engaged essay.

More information

VA6010 -

Professional and Self-Organising Practice (Core,20 Credits)

The module is delivered in three-hour seminar sessions that blend lectures, discussions, readings and group exercises. After an introduction to contemporary cultural production and self-organising, every two weeks a new topic will be introduced with a practice-led and theory-led seminar on each. These subjects may include: ways to make your work public, ways to write professionally about your work, how to organise artist-led culture, different aspects of professional production, what independent and institutional curators do, how to cultivate a supportive network, and how to integrate care-led perspectives to your professional practice. Woven throughout these themes is a consideration of regional institutions and culture in the North East, budgeting and writing for diverse audiences, and your use of both physical and digital platforms. In addition to equipping you with practical knowledge and professional skills, the module’s intellectual enquiry is underpinned by a engaged understanding of self-organising, entrepreneurialism, and exploitation in the contemporary cultural sector.

More information

VA6011 -

Sites of Production / Sites of Presentation (Core,40 Credits)

The module supports you in situating and articulating your art-making and artworks to others and in bringing them into public contexts through diverse and distributed spaces of presentation such as exhibition-making, performance, digital interfaces, social and situation-based strategies.



In this module you will continue building on your studio practice you have been developing in Leves 4 and 5, whilst learning more about how audiences might engage with the work you are making. This will help you develop a critical practice that engages with different places where your work might be made visible as well as the different publics that might engage with its new visibility.



We will look at relevant examples of private and public making, as well as the implications these have for exhibition-making in different kinds of visited public and private space. You will also be introduced to practices, sites and interventions that address some of the structures of making work public that may have traditionally benefited particular kinds of work or groups of people whilst disadvantaging others. For example, we will consider how different sites attract different publics or support particular media, and give you the opportunity to imagine how your own work might benefit from or contest these structures.

More information

YA6001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

Modules

Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.

VA4012 -

Art Practice 1 (Core,20 Credits)

The field of contemporary art is vast and is informed by a range of cross-disciplinary perspectives that interrogate critical and urgent matters of our times. In addition to painting, sculpture, new media, and performance-based practices, an artist may work in a variety of collaborative and community-centric ways to address disciplinary histories, philosophical concerns, or social justice – focusing on topics of race, gender, sexuality, or climate change. Considering this open nature of the subject area, where on-going debates are taking place in a host of settings locally and internationally, the module introduces the students to inquire and engage with contemporary art contexts in a three-phased process. This includes formal inquiries in the studio, encouraging exploration and experimentation of different media, contextualization by integrating practice and theory, and staging a presentation, emphasising process-as-outcome. The seminars, presentations, exhibition visits, and learning resources through the library provide the students critical artistic strategies and creative skills to excel in a rapidly shifting world. In addition to this, the one-on-one studio meetings are an opportunity for the student to receive in-depth and formative support to develop their practice and research.

Through this process, you will learn the importance of developing artistic research methodologies by initiating speculative material and conceptual investigations, develop an analytical and critical location within the larger field, and confidently articulating and sharing your work in a range of settings. The pedagogic strategy supports students to independently explore their studio practice, fostering the ability for self-directed studies. You will develop the ability to give and receive constructive feedback on your work and that of your peers through group critiques and seminars, and an understanding of relevant discourses related to your art practice.

The presentation is an opportunity for the student to synthesize studio and conceptual processes, confidently assert individual perspectives that highlight their positionality within the broader field, while also engaging in meaningful critique, and working collaboratively with others.

More information

VA4013 -

Art Practice 2 (Core,20 Credits)

This module will introduce you to the idea of an artistic position – you will come to understand how artists map an identity for themselves through specialisation in practice and the specifics of their contextual interests. Building on the research skills developed in semester 1, you will begin your own journey in developing an artistic position by beginning to work through and identify your specific areas of practical and contextual interest.

More information

VA4014 -

Introduction to Fine Art (Core,20 Credits)

To enable the development of your own independent art-making, your learning will include practical skills in drawing, in both manual and digital forms, to help visualise and document ideas. You will learn the principles of visual and textual analysis in order to support your critical acuity and academic writing; this will include key academic skills in conducting research, sourcing and referencing. Your studio engagement will be supported by learning necessary skills in presenting, hanging, installing and documenting artworks in both 2D and 3D forms. You will also be required to complete appropriate Health and Safety inductions in order to appreciate good studio practice.

To complement your practical and professional skills, you will receive an introduction to the emergence of modern art and its expansion in the contemporary context. To map the historic development of Western artistic practice, examples will be used from three main periods:

• The growth of the modern city, visualised through 19th Century Impressionism
• The development of ideas of society through 20th century Modernism
• The questioning of society through resistant contemporary art practices. Particularly those associated with Feminism.

These examples will be used to investigate fundamental considerations about representation, intercultural processes, decolonisation strategies, materiality, process, display, accessibility, networks and viewership, and to help you reflect upon your own creative practice. By studying, analysing and discussing these examples, you will learn key skills in researching, analysing and writing about art, which will give you the core foundational skills for study through your programme.

More information

VA4015 -

Material Culture 1 (Core,20 Credits)

Material Culture I will encourage you to build a focused and experimental approach to materials and making. The module brings together studio workshops, technical workshops and artist and art-historian led seminars to create an in-depth engagement with material, thinking through the potential of selected materials in practice, as well as in contemporary art and art history. The module will be taught in weekly studio workshops, supported by specialist technical workshops that will build new skills and approaches to working with selected materials. The module will introduce some contemporary critical issues around making and materials, particularly concerning ecological and environmental impacts.

For the first half of this module, you will work with found paper and card. You will explore the potential of the material; it can be made, recycled, drawn on, painted on, sculpted, turned to clay, ripped, layered, printed or cut. It can be naturally derived or man-made. It can be new, recycled or salvaged. It can have volume or it can be a surface.

For the second half of this module, you will work with clay. Clay too can be manmade or naturally occurring. It can be slabbed, coiled, imprinted, moulded, carved, cut, hollowed and polished. It can be returned to a soft, liquid state. It can be fired and given fixed form. You will learn about some of these processes while also conducting your own experiments within your studio.

At the end of the module, you will submit your two projects, alongside a folder that contains your notes, sketchbooks and research materials.

The seminars (led on alternate weeks by artists and art historians) will have two themes:
The first group will support the theoretical investigation of materials from the standpoint of sustainability and environment, including themes such as the use of found materials/ready-mades in art history, anthropological ideas of bricolage and using what's ready to hand and looking recycling and upcycling. The second group of seminars will think through theories of materiality, craft and value, including appropriation, emotional design and ecologies of materials.

More information

VA4016 -

Material Culture 2 (Core,20 Credits)

Material Cultures 2 provides you with an introduction to the lens-based media area, giving you a strong foundation in photography and supporting all aspects of practice in Fine Art.

Northumbria’s darkroom facilities provide a rare opportunity to work with B&W printing. Analogue and digital share the same fundamental relationships of understanding and manipulating light through the reciprocal relationship of shutter speed, aperture, ISO and lenses. However, the slower nature of working with analogue engenders a more thorough learning experience. In addition, you have full control of process as opposed to assisted AI of smartphone cameras.

All artists require strong documentation skills, so there is a clear progression from teaching you the basics through analogue photography and progressing through to digital. Not only is this of value in photography but practice is often integral to performance and sculpture.

The module brings together studio workshops, technical workshops and artist and art-historian led seminars to create an in-depth engagement with lens-based media. The module will be taught in weekly studio workshops, supported by specialist technical workshops that will build new skills and approaches to working with selected materials.

The work produced will reflect your individual thematic interests, resulting from your personal research and development, seminar series, group crits and one-to-one tutorials.

More information

VA4017 -

Understanding Engagement (Core,20 Credits)

The Understanding Engagement module involves work with an external institutional partner to extend your network as artists and practitioners with a live brief co-produced with that partner. It supports the development of your technical and creative skills and combines reflections on studio practice with a sustained analysis of the worlds of contemporary art. Working in peer groups, you will develop a sustained, innovative practice, and this will be within the context of an understanding of contemporary artists, some of whom you will meet during the module. You will learn about the role of studios which will feed into your level 5 studio practice, as well as questions of networking, marketing, branding, audience-building, project management, ethics, and creative skills. This is situated in the wider context of these issues in the creative sector. Working to a live brief with your institution/organisation, you will work within them on creative sites and spaces, on pitching and on networking. These relationships will develop all kinds of soft skills and activities which mutually support the artist and the organisation, and you will be assessed on how you respond to the live brief in creative ways. Understanding the relationship of place to community will enhance your pathways through your degree and beyond.

More information

YA5001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

AD5003 -

Arts Study Abroad (60 credit) (Optional,60 Credits)

The Study Abroad module is a semester based 60 credit module which is available on degree courses which facilitate study abroad within the programme. You will undertake a semester abroad at a partner university equivalent to 60 UK credits. This gives you access to modules from your discipline taught in a different learning culture and so broadens your overall experience of learning. The course of study abroad will be constructed to meet the learning outcomes for the programme for the semester in question, dependent on suitable modules from the partner and will be recorded for an individual student on the learning agreement signed by the host University, the student, and the home University (Northumbria). The module will be assessed by conversion of graded marks from the host University.

Learning outcomes on the year-long modules on which the student is unable to attend the home institution must be met at the host institution, and marks from the host are incorporated into the modules as part of the overall assessment.

More information

VA5007 -

Art Practice 3: Thinking Through Making (Core,20 Credits)

To support the development of your practice there will be a series of lecture and seminar sessions investigating how historical and contemporary artists have questioned society and its cultures. Focusing on key examples in their historical context, artists’ manifestos and writings, theoretical texts and creative strategies, we will investigate what constitutes a “critical art practice” through two key questions: what are artists critical of; and how is that criticality expressed? Examining historical and contemporary examples, we will focus upon four main areas:

• Questioning the institutions and spaces of the artworld
• Critique of society and its structures
• Questioning cultural conventions and traditional methods of representation
• Questioning humans’ relationship with the environment.

More information

VA5008 -

Art Practice 4: Understanding Research (Core,20 Credits)

You will learn about key themes related to historical, theoretical, and critical developments in and influences on contemporary art practice relevant to an understanding of recent debates and developments, allowing you to contextualise your own studio practice within the terms of history and theory in preparation for Level 6. This will allow you to develop a deeper critical understanding of the relationship between form and content in your own art making and you will learn how to develop a professional understanding of appropriate technical and conceptual strategies for the production and presentation of your artworks.

You will develop the ability to reflect critically on the historical and contemporary relationship of artists to society at local, national and global levels, and develop competence in skills enabling you to undertake critical visual analysis, independent research, and present findings through the medium of discursive writing.

This module enables you to learn through the work of your peers and position your evolving practice against contemporary frameworks and theoretical ideas in current art practice. Through the learning you will develop the intellectual and practical skills required to start to assess your own work and studio position allowing you to take responsibility for the development of your visual enquiry. All of your learning underpins your studio practice with a strong subject specific knowledge base and the range of strategies aims to engender your confidence in identifying and understanding new knowledge in relation to your practice.

More information

VA5009 -

Identities (Optional,20 Credits)

Through a studio-based approach supplemented with intersectional theory, the students learn about diverse topics, such as race, gender, sexuality, and class in a global context. The module will enable students to establish a deeper understanding of practice by examining how their own and others’ cultural backgrounds affect creative expression. Tutors conduct the teaching and extend their pluralistic artistic and academic positions into pedagogy. The design of the seminars and learning resources instigate dialogue and debate, prompting students to recognise the politics of visual representation and its social implications in different cultural contexts and publics. In addition to encouraging collective and collaborative artistic processes, the students receive support to investigate questions of identity within their studio practice through one-on-one tutorials, where they receive direction for individual artistic and research interests.

More information

VA5010 -

Place and Community: Artists Groups and Networks (Optional,20 Credits)

This module blends history, theory, and practice through a series of lectures, seminars, workshops, and briefs. Throughout these you will be encouraged to consider the methods/forms by which artists have engaged directly with art institutions and communities. Since at least the 1990s there has been an explosion of art production that aims to organise and engage with other people – whether it’s referred to as community arts, participatory practice, social engagement, new institutionalism, new genre public art, or useful art. In these practices artists no longer make objects but organise and engage people, and these projects can take place in galleries and museums or outside in community spaces. At times these practices are politically utopian, at others ethically transgressive.

To start, this module will introduce you to theoretical and contextual ideas about this shift in contemporary art production through a series of lectures. Alongside, seminars will introduce an essential ‘toolkit’ for facilitation and for staging interactive or educational activities: these will include risk assessments, funding applications, reports, the nuts and bolts of building a participatory art practice. To support your ongoing professional practice, you will learn about exhibition and outreach processes, and explore broader questions relating to audience, ethics, professional skills, and safe working. You will devise creative responses and activities in response to a brief and be supported in the development of your independent practice. For assessment you will be required to reflect upon your personal experience, learning and development.

More information

VA5011 -

Public Engagement (Core,20 Credits)

The learning within the module centres on bringing your studio-centred artmaking and contextual contemporary art knowledge into live work projects within professional artworld work environments through a placement and supporting workshops.

The central topics of the learning are:
• Preparing for effective live working within a professional artworld project.
• Establishing applied knowledge and understanding of the North East regional artworld, its organisations, intuitions and grass-roots ecologies.
• Applying independent artmaking and arts knowledge (developed through the programme) into live work projects within professional artworld contexts.
• Learning (externally to the teaching) through a live work within a professional artworld work context.
• Evaluating and reporting on the learning and knowledge development from a live work within a professional artworld work context.
• Building career and employment knowledge through live working within a professional artworld work context.
• Establishing networks through live working within a professional artworld work context.


Keywords and critical frameworks are:
Live project placement
Contemporary art practice
Collaboration and collective working
Mentorship and professional learning
Networking and careers enhancement
Art Education, Art Research, Contemporary Art Projects
Enhancing cultural capital
Enhancing social capital


In this module you will learn how to engage responsibly and effectively within professional working contexts. You will learn how to contribute through a small peer-group into a collective and collaborative work environment, and you will learn how to evaluate and reflect-on the range of skills and learning you are developing through that process. You will learn how to apply learning to focus-on and expand post University work opportunities and your onward careers ambitions. You will learn to evaluate and report objectively on your work and outputs within live working contexts. You will learn how to meet professional work standards, and mobilise your artmaking in ways open and enhance future work and career opportunities.

More information

VA5012 -

Studio and Gallery (Core,20 Credits)

On this module you will learn how to develop an exhibition proposal in a way that considers the development of your studio work in relation to its audience and the audience experience. In doing so you will learn to establish a wider independent appreciation, knowledge and understanding of the external professional contexts that frame and position the activities and production of your work in an exhibition beyond the studio. In doing so you will extend your understanding of the research-led enquiries that professional artists undertake to develop exhibition proposals, including the research methodologies that artists and gallery professionals use to understand and respond to the diverse social and geographic contexts of any exhibition’s production and presentation. You will learn about methodologies, mediums and materials that artists use to present their ideas in the proposal. You will also learn to enhance your understanding of professional contexts within the contemporary artworld in relation to career pathways and professional opportunities. You will develop transferable professional skills in areas presentation, communication, project management, problem solving and the ability to reflect critically on your actions and achievements.

More information

VA5013 -

Technologies (Optional,20 Credits)

This module is an opportunity to think through the place of technology in art practice, in relation to theories of technology in society and culture. You will be supported in developing your studio practice through the application of, or engagement with, current and past technologies. We will take an experimental approach to working with machines, computers and other forms of technology, taken broadly. The module supports the theoretical development of your studio practice, through a series of focused workshops, seminars and other events.

The module will support you in working towards a group exhibition which will focus on interactivity and responsivity through the employment of, or exploration of, technologies of communication. This will be supported in studio and through seminars, tutorials and visits.

The module draws in contemporary theory with a focus on technology as an extension of human values. A seminar series will introduce themes of power, control and agency in technology, giving space for discussion of technology and communication in the digital age. We will approach these questions from a global perspective, drawing in Yuk Hui’s theory of cosmotechnics, in order to understand that there is no single definition for technology.

More information

VA5014 -

Worldbuilding (Optional,20 Credits)

In this module you will learn about how worldbuilding has been used as a strategy within contemporary art, and you will have the opportunity to develop worldbuilding possibilities in your own developing critical practice. We will look at relevant examples of such worldbuilding practice and consider the aesthetic, political and ethical worlds they put forward. You will also be introduced to practices and thinkers that consider the plurality of worlds that already exist all around us, and how these might be foregrounded in artistic work.

More information

YA5001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

AD5001 -

Arts Work Placement Year (Optional,120 Credits)

The Work Placement Year module is a 120 credit year-long module available on degree courses which include a work placement year, taken as an additional year of study at level 5 and before level 6 (the length of the placement(s) will be determined by your programme but it can be no less than 30 weeks). You will undertake a guided work placement at a host organisation. This is a Pass/Fail module and so does not contribute to classification. When taken and passed, however, the Placement Year is recognised in your transcript as a 120 credit Work Placement Module and on your degree certificate in the format – “Degree title (with Work Placement Year)”. The learning and teaching on your placement will be recorded in the work placement agreement signed by the placement provider, the student, and the University.

Specific learning will depend on the nature of the employer and the placement secured. In general terms, this module is an opportunity to gain significant experience of industry practice, and to learn professional, role-specific skills ‘on the job’. It’s also a great opportunity to improve transferable skills such as communication, interpersonal skills, personal organisation, time management, presentation, commercial awareness, entrepreneurial skills, branding, and professional conduct generally; and to enhance your CV and personal portfolio. Students who have carried out placements in previous years often describe it as a transformative experience; they report greatly increased personal confidence both in terms of launching their future careers, and in returning to their final year of study. Your employer will agree in advance what your learning is likely to include, and will help you reflect on this learning at the end of your placement.

Note: Subject to placement clearance; this is a competitive process and a place on the module cannot be guaranteed.

More information

AD5002 -

Arts Study Abroad Year (Optional,120 Credits)

The Study Abroad Year module is a full year 120 credit module which is available on degree courses which include a study abroad year which is taken as an additional year of study at level 5 and before level 6. You will undertake a year abroad at a partner university equivalent to 120 UK credits. This gives you access to modules from your discipline taught in a different learning culture and so broadens your overall experience of learning. The course of study abroad will be dependent on the partner and will be recorded for an individual student on the learning agreement signed by the host University, the student, and the home University (Northumbria). Your study abroad year will be assessed on a pass/fail basis. It will not count towards your final degree classification but, if you pass, it is recognised in your transcript as a 120 credit Study Abroad Module and on your degree certificate in the format – “Degree title (with Study Abroad Year)”.

Note: Subject to placement clearance; this is a competitive process and a place on the module cannot be guaranteed.

More information

VA6008 -

Final Project (Core,40 Credits)

The learning within the module centres on bringing your studio-centred artmaking (production) into public-reaching sites of presentation through informed strategies of exhibition-making.



The central topics of the learning are:

Bringing independent artmaking to public and artworld audiences.

Identifying and progressing (testing and evaluating) individually appropriate sites of presentation (where and on what terms artmaking meets publics).

Extending and progressing (developing, testing and evaluating) the artmaking (its production) through individually appropriate forms of exhibition-making (how and on what terms artmaking meets publics).

Addressing and negotiating collective and group-centred forms of public exhibition and presentation.

Delivering independent technically resolved artmaking to public audiences through presentation and exhibition.

Delivering an effective and appropriate public-reaching distribution (dissemination) of independent artmaking (practice).

Establishing an effective and appropriate public-reaching representation of independent artmaking (practice).



Keywords and critical frameworks are:

Contemporary art practice.

Critical and contextual artmaking (independent artmaking).

Public-reaching presentation.

Extended forms of exhibition-making.

Group Exhibition (as an expanded term).



Terms:

Exhibition is used both in its artworld context and as a term inclusive of distributed and diverse sites of presentation - not bound exclusively by the gallery.

Exhibition-making is used to signal the continuing production of artmaking within exhibition delivery. And its extended forms within contemporary art practice, including online, digital, virtual, social, workshop, event, publishing forms.

More information

VA6009 -

Independent Research Project (Core,20 Credits)

This module is your opportunity to undertake some extended research into a topic that interests you, in the broad field of art history, theory and material culture. The outcome will be an essay of 3000 words, building on your experience in prior modules. It is sensible to choose an area that has some relevance to your studio practice as the research you undertake will inform your practice and may help you develop your ideas.



While the focus of this module is upon independent research, it will be supported by three workshop-seminars in planning, bibliography building and editing. You will also be assigned an academic supervisor who will offer 90 minutes of 1-2-1 tutorials, usually delivered as three separate tutorials in semester 1.



The main object of this module is to develop a good understanding of building an argument through research. Your essay must engage with scholarly sources, and you will use these sources to develop a critically engaged essay.

More information

VA6010 -

Professional and Self-Organising Practice (Core,20 Credits)

The module is delivered in three-hour seminar sessions that blend lectures, discussions, readings and group exercises. After an introduction to contemporary cultural production and self-organising, every two weeks a new topic will be introduced with a practice-led and theory-led seminar on each. These subjects may include: ways to make your work public, ways to write professionally about your work, how to organise artist-led culture, different aspects of professional production, what independent and institutional curators do, how to cultivate a supportive network, and how to integrate care-led perspectives to your professional practice. Woven throughout these themes is a consideration of regional institutions and culture in the North East, budgeting and writing for diverse audiences, and your use of both physical and digital platforms. In addition to equipping you with practical knowledge and professional skills, the module’s intellectual enquiry is underpinned by a engaged understanding of self-organising, entrepreneurialism, and exploitation in the contemporary cultural sector.

More information

VA6011 -

Sites of Production / Sites of Presentation (Core,40 Credits)

The module supports you in situating and articulating your art-making and artworks to others and in bringing them into public contexts through diverse and distributed spaces of presentation such as exhibition-making, performance, digital interfaces, social and situation-based strategies.



In this module you will continue building on your studio practice you have been developing in Leves 4 and 5, whilst learning more about how audiences might engage with the work you are making. This will help you develop a critical practice that engages with different places where your work might be made visible as well as the different publics that might engage with its new visibility.



We will look at relevant examples of private and public making, as well as the implications these have for exhibition-making in different kinds of visited public and private space. You will also be introduced to practices, sites and interventions that address some of the structures of making work public that may have traditionally benefited particular kinds of work or groups of people whilst disadvantaging others. For example, we will consider how different sites attract different publics or support particular media, and give you the opportunity to imagine how your own work might benefit from or contest these structures.

More information

YA6001 -

Academic Language Skills for Arts (Core – for International and EU students only,0 Credits)

Academic skills when studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Presenting your ideas
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

More information

Any Questions?

Our Applicant Services team will be happy to help.  They can be contacted on 0191 406 0901 or by using our Contact Form.


All information is accurate at the time of sharing.

Full time Courses starting in 2023 are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but may include elements of online learning. We continue to monitor government and local authority guidance in relation to Covid-19 and we are ready and able to flex accordingly to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff.

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with additional restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors, potentially to a full online offer, should further restrictions be deemed necessary in future. Our online activity will be delivered through Blackboard Ultra, enabling collaboration, connection and engagement with materials and people.

 

Current, Relevant and Inspiring

We continuously review and improve course content in consultation with our students and employers. To make sure we can inform you of any changes to your course register for updates on the course page.


Your Learning Experience

Find out about our distinctive approach at 
www.northumbria.ac.uk/exp

Admissions Terms and Conditions
northumbria.ac.uk/terms

Fees and Funding
northumbria.ac.uk/fees

Admissions Policy
northumbria.ac.uk/adpolicy

Admissions Complaints Policy
northumbria.ac.uk/complaints

If you’d like to receive the latest updates from Northumbria about our courses, events, finance & funding then enter your details below.

* At Northumbria we are strongly committed to protecting the privacy of personal data. To view the University’s Privacy Notice please click here

a sign in front of a crowd
+

Northumbria Open Days

Open Days are a great way for you to get a feel of the University, the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the course(s) you are interested in.

a person sitting at a table using a laptop
+
NU World Virtual Tours
+

Virtual Tour

Get an insight into life at Northumbria at the click of a button! Come and explore our videos and 360 panoramas to immerse yourself in our campuses and get a feel for what it is like studying here using our interactive virtual tour.

Back to top