Fine Art

Fine art at degree level is an invitation to develop a serious, sustained and increasingly independent artistic practice. It is not a technical training in a single medium, though you will develop technical skills. It is a space to discover what drives your work, to test ideas through experimentation and critical reflection, and to build the conceptual and practical foundations from which a life as an artist can grow.

The discipline demands that you develop your own point of view and learn to articulate it, to yourself and to others, through both your work and your critical writing.

At York St John University, you will become an artist with ideas generated through critical thinking and experimentation. You will discover what drives your practice and learn how to exhibit your work, developing both the studio skills and the critical vocabulary that contemporary art practice requires. The programme is part time, which allows you to develop your practice at a pace that suits other commitments, and it includes a sandwich year, a year abroad and integrated work placement opportunities, giving you a rich set of structural experiences that extend beyond the studio.

The year abroad in particular offers the chance to engage with art cultures and educational approaches in another country, which can be genuinely transformative for artistic development.

You will explore a range of media and approaches, building the technical competence to execute your ideas alongside the conceptual rigour to understand and interrogate what you are making. Critical studies in art history and contemporary theory provide the intellectual context that informs good artistic practice.

Graduates from fine art programmes pursue careers as practicing artists, arts educators, community arts workers, curators, arts administrators and cultural organisers. The creative, critical and communication skills developed during the degree also translate into a wide range of roles in the wider creative and cultural industries, from design and publishing to film, digital media and heritage work. Many graduates continue to postgraduate study in fine art, curatorial practice or related disciplines.