AD3019 - Identity

What will I learn on this module?

“Identity’ is the final module in the Arts Foundation Year course and helps position your practice towards a BA Honours programme in one of the visual and performing arts subjects.
Through this module you will learn to demonstrate in a portfolio of work your creative practice and emerging personal philosophy moving towards a major project output and personal statement.
In building a profile as a student of the arts, your practice is informed by your skills, knowledge, experience and imagination. Across the visual and performing arts there are a wide range of delivery processes and methodologies for presenting your practice. This module enables you to be ambitious with your creative studio work and learn to make critical decisions about your identity that will influence your future direction.
Gombrich once told us that ‘there is no such thing as art, only artists.’ In completing this final study you will learn how to draw upon the creative practitioners that have influenced you and examine 2 artists/performers/directors/scriptwriters with whom you strongly identify.
In this module you will also learn to outline your personal development to date and position your practice against the cultural sector that it is most aligned (fine art, drama, live art performance, applied theatre, animation etc). A supporting document will provide a narrative of that development and will be considered alongside a final major work.
Working in a team you will further learn from each other’s practices and creative interventions through experimentation, making, discussion and evaluation. Following semester 1 and the Nature and Technologies module you will learn how to use your feedback to develop a greater understanding of your personal artistic position moving towards your final submission.

How will I learn on this module?

Tutors will work with you to outline a personal programme of study that enables you to learn to operate independently in the studio or collaborate with other students in the Foundation Year group. You will use your previous learning experiences in earlier modules to undertake a personal line of research and synergise your theoretical and practice led activities. This will be supported by lectures and seminar activity.
You will be taught how to prepare a portfolio of work that documents your visual and/or performance achievements and to prepare an associate statement that provides a reflective narrative of your work and interests.
As part of the preparation to align you onto a BA level programme you will spend time working in the subject discipline to learn more about the studio culture and working methodologies. You will also learn from BA Hons students by attending their end of year performances and exhibitions.
Your learning with be further enhanced through the allocation of a BA buddy who will share their experience and offer a student perspective guidance.
A key learning outcome will be your final project presentation which will be seen by your peer group and other academic staff and students. This provides an opportunity to learn about audience and spectator engagement and reception.

How will I be supported academically on this module?

You will be supported through guided studio and workshop activity by your academic tutors and technical support staff, especially at the final presentation stage of the Identity module.
The module handbook provides details of sessions, reading lists and assessment criteria. Teaching and learning materials are made available on the e-learning portal. The module tutors will be available in taught sessions, as well as in feedback and consultation hours and on email, to discuss any queries or concerns you have about how to excel academically on the module. Moreover, feedback on formative work and the first summative assessments will also serve as ‘feed forward’, giving guidance on how to improve during the module. You will be guided through how assessment impacts on your learning, and how the learning achieved in the associated Nature and Technologies module this semester informs and shapes your practice.
In addition, you have a designated Personal Guidance Tutor throughout the entire duration of your programme. The academic side of the Personal Guidance Tutor’s role includes:

• monitoring your ongoing academic progress
• helping you to develop self-reflection skills necessary for continuous academic development
• directing you to further available services which can help them with their academic skills (e.g. Library’s Skills Plus)

You are advised to see your Personal Guidance Tutor at least twice each semester to review your academic progress.

What will I be expected to read on this module?

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

What will I be expected to achieve?

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Be able to demonstrate the development of a personal artistic practice

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
2. To develop a philosophical position that intellectually aligns the practice in an academic subject discipline
3. To present a portfolio and project output to a professional level expected for entry onto a BA Hons Arts course

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
4. An awareness of the creative and cultural sector and its value to society

How will I be assessed?

Formative Assessment
Formative feedback is provided as an intergral part of teaching and learning sessions

Summative Assessment (LO 1-4)
Submission of a final piece of artwork with associated research and development material (MLO1) that locates your creative practice in one of the key subject disciplines of Fine Art, Animation or Performing Arts (MLO2). This portfolio will demonstrate your ability in one of the BA(Hons) programmes in these creative disciplines (MLO3). Submission to include an artists statement outlining your personal philosophy (MLO4).

Pre-requisite(s)

Art and the City AD3018
The Body AD3017

Co-requisite(s)

Nature and Technologies AD3020
Art Portfolio: Skills for University AD3021

Module abstract

The theme of Identity is the focus of the final studio based module in the Arts Foundation Year. In advance of entering one of the BA Hons Arts programmes, this module draws together both your emerging theoretical interests and your practice led activity. Research rich learning will have positioned your studio work towards one final artistic output that will be presented to tutors and your peer group at summative assessment point. You will be asked to prepare a document that summarises your achievements and includes a reflective account of two creative practitioners who have provided inspiration in your personal direction. A statement outlining your practice will help inform your work, philosophy and any entrepreneurial activity. At Foundation Year level it is recognised that professional standards of presentation in your document, statement and final artwork submission will provide you with skills and abilities that will enhance your future career ambitions.

Course info

UCAS Code W150

Credits 20

Level of Study Undergraduate

Mode of Study 4 years Full Time or 5 years with a placement (sandwich)/study abroad

Department Northumbria School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries, Arts

Location City Campus, Northumbria University

City Newcastle

Start September 2025

Fee Information

Module Information

All information is accurate at the time of sharing. 

Full time Courses are primarily delivered via on-campus face to face learning but could include elements of online learning. Most courses run as planned and as promoted on our website and via our marketing materials, but if there are any substantial changes (as determined by the Competition and Markets Authority) to a course or there is the potential that course may be withdrawn, we will notify all affected applicants as soon as possible with advice and guidance regarding their options. It is also important to be aware that optional modules listed on course pages may be subject to change depending on uptake numbers each year.  

Contact time is subject to increase or decrease in line with possible restrictions imposed by the government or the University in the interest of maintaining the health and safety and wellbeing of students, staff, and visitors if this is deemed necessary in future.

 

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