Fine Art with Foundation Year

Fine art is the discipline of making work that engages with ideas, experience, and culture on its own terms, independent of functional purpose. It is a practice that requires both technical skill and conceptual rigour, developing your ability to generate original ideas, to translate them into physical or digital form, and to situate your work within the wider histories and debates of contemporary art. In a world where the arts and media are changing at an extraordinary pace, the creative and critical abilities that fine art develops are more, not less, relevant.

At the University of Salford this four-year, full-time programme includes a foundation year, providing a supported entry into fine art education for students who want additional preparation before the full degree. The foundation year gives you the time to explore different media, develop your technical skills, and begin to form the artistic identity that will guide your practice throughout the degree. You will work with staff whose own practice ranges across painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and digital media, and you will have access to Salford's studio facilities and the creative environment of Greater Manchester, a region with a rich cultural life and active arts sector.

Graduates of fine art build careers as practising artists, educators, curators, gallery managers, arts administrators, and cultural producers, and many develop portfolio careers that combine their own practice with professional work in related fields. The creative thinking, resourcefulness, and communication skills fine art develops are valued in design, advertising, communications, community work, and many other sectors where creative problem-solving is an asset. Further study at postgraduate level in fine art, visual culture, curatorship, or arts education is available for those who want to develop their practice further or build towards academic or research careers.