BA (Hons) Painting and Drawing

Program Overview

The BA (Hons) Painting and Drawing at the University of Chichester emphasizes the key areas of drawing and painting, encouraging students to experiment with various 2D media and develop their artistic techniques. The program provides a supportive learning environment for students to become versatile, creative, and confident artists, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to explore traditional and experimental approaches to artistic creation. Graduates can pursue careers in the arts, including as illustrators, artists, art therapists, and museum exhibitions officers.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The BA (Hons) Painting and Drawing degree is a 3-year full-time or 6-year part-time program offered at the University of Chichester's Bognor Regis Campus. This program emphasizes the key areas of drawing and painting, encouraging students to experiment with various 2D media, including printmaking. The degree is designed to:

• Challenge and enhance students' techniques in painting and drawing.
• Equip students with the skills and knowledge to explore traditional, observational, and experimental approaches to artistic creation.
• Encourage students to develop their intellectual curiosity, sense of adventure, and ability to handle the unpredictable.
• Provide a supportive and student-focused learning environment for students to become versatile, creative, and confident artists.
• Emphasize the outward-facing application and exhibition of student artwork through the degree show, providing a professional showcase for their work.

Outline:

Year One:

• Workshop 1 – Digital Drawing & Investigation: Introduces digital skills, combining digital approaches, and providing a foundation for digital underpinning in fine art practice.
Students learn Illustrator, Photoshop, and video/sound editing, and create a digital journal documenting processes and research.
• Projects 1 – Approaches to Drawing and Investigation: Introduces Fine Art studio projects, developing a framework of working methods.
Students explore ideas through practice, develop techniques, and gain a grasp of their chosen art forms. This includes gallery visits, drawing classes, independent studio work, personal research, group critiques, and sessions with tutors and visiting artists.
• Contextual 1 – Forms Analysis Contexts: Emphasizes direct experience and analysis in understanding visual arts as cultural practice.
Students learn about forms, genres, and contexts through artwork analysis, exploring themes, methods, and examples of context and practice. Topics include identity, gender, race, the environment, politics, and global perspectives. Assessment includes a group presentation and an essay.
• Workshop 2 – Materials and Methodologies: Develops skills in paint, print, sculpture, or textiles, allowing students to specialize or combine techniques.
Students gain knowledge and understanding of traditional techniques while taking an experimental approach. Teaching methods include group teaching, process demonstrations, individual tutorials, group discussions, and technical support.
• Projects 2 – Process and Experimentation: Encourages a process-led project with an experimental approach, increasing self-direction towards a distinctive vision and practice.
Students are free to develop ideas, directions, and material practices, conducting research to deepen their understanding of the context of their work. Assessment involves self-directed studio projects, tutorials, critiques, visiting artists' lectures, exhibition trips, and demonstrations of digital media applied to traditional art studio materials and processes.
• Contextual 2 – Signs Interpretation Criticality: Builds upon Contextual 1, emphasizing direct experience and scrutiny of art.
Students are introduced to key terms, ideas, and methodologies for interpretation and reading of visual works, exploring questions about meaning and value. Topics include identity, gender, race, the environment, politics, and global perspectives. Assessment includes a written proposal and a subsequent essay.
• Materials and Evidence (Optional): Intended as a catch-up module for students short of credits in Level 4.
Students develop a self-directed approach to developing a defined art practice, establishing a working method through studio proposal and tutor-led discussions. Assessment includes a studio proposal and evidence of a self-reflective approach to their own work and the work of other artists.

Year Two:

• Workshop 3 – Process & Development (Optional): Allows students to develop practical manual skills within their chosen specialism, with an emphasis on making skills, use of processes, and a personal approach to materials.
Teaching methods include group teaching, process demonstrations, individual tutorials, group discussions, and technical support.
• Digital Photography (Optional): Introduces the principles of capturing and manipulating digital images through lectures and workshops.
Students develop basic skills in using photo-editing software and critically evaluate their own work and the work of others. Lectures cover file formats, aperture, shutter speed, editing images, and critiquing influential photographers.
• Studio 1 – Territories and Defining Practice: Encourages students to work on an individual project, experimenting with materials, digital media, techniques, and ideas to develop a personal and inventive approach.
Students begin to define their material practice, with a more self-directed approach and freedom to choose mediums, processes, genres, themes, and imagery.
• Contextual 3 – Sites Discourses Rhetoric: Builds upon Contextual 1 and 2, emphasizing direct experience and scrutiny for critical discussion of contemporary art.
Students are introduced to key terms, ideas, and methodologies for contextualization, interpretation, and evaluation of visual works, exploring meaning, value, agency, display, and relevant theoretical perspectives. Assessment includes lectures, texts, study visits, seminar discussions, and a critical analysis of an artwork.
• Studio 2 – Site, Externality and Display: Explores issues related to the location and placement of art, as well as broader ideas of society.
Students explore the theme of "site" in relation to their material practice, considering critical, conceptual, physical, and social contexts, display, scale, and location.
• External Placement 1 – Digital Review (Optional): Engages students with external cultural agencies and the larger community, providing insight into career paths in the arts.
Students develop skills in critical reflection, independent study, and working with others in a "real world" context.
• Production Design (Optional): Provides a foundation for Production Design, covering concept initiation, realization, art direction, set design, building techniques, mood boards, and props.
Students learn about design metaphor, color scheming, spatial awareness, and aesthetic, narrative, and technical facets of the craft.
• Research and Process (Optional): Allows students to review and re-contextualize their understanding of Fine Art, developing a critical approach to their studio work and the work of other artists.
Students develop research skills to support more self-directed working methods and a sustainable studio practice.

Year Three:

• Degree Show – Recognition & Consolidation – Studio 3a – Digital Photography: Encourages full-time Single Honours students to engage with a substantial self-initiated project, developing visual and contextual research into a significant body of works for public exhibition (the Degree Show).
This module runs over both semesters 1&2.
• Manifesto 1 (Optional): Encourages students to critically engage with key artists, influences, theories, and ideas that manifest in their studio work.
Students produce an essay developing their academic research and supporting their studio practice. Assessment includes a proposal presentation and an essay.
• External Placement 2 – Digital Review (Optional): Provides students with an opportunity to further develop their making, critical, and organizational skills, contextual knowledge, and understanding of career outcomes in the arts.
Students develop a placement proposal and negotiate with a project partner.
• Advanced Digital Photography (Optional): Develops a high-level understanding of digital image capture, construction, and image processing and manipulation within professional digital photography.
Students enhance their production skills from theoretical, practical, and creative perspectives.
• Manifesto 2 – Dissertation (Optional): Encourages students to produce a dissertation that supports and strengthens their studio practice, with critically engaged study of key artists, influences, theories, and ideas that manifest in their work.
The emphasis is on depth of inquiry and research, achieving high levels of critical thought, intellectual rigor, and scholarly skill.

Assessment:

Students are assessed through a combination of practical work, report writing, essays, and presentations, with clear criteria reflecting achievement. Assessment methods include:

• Public degree show at the end of Year Three
• Individual studio projects
• Group critiques
• Presentations
• Essays
• Written proposals

Teaching:

The program utilizes a variety of teaching methods, including:

• Small lectures and seminars
• Studio-based peer group critiques
• Tutorials
• Demonstrations
• Workshops
• Guest speakers
• Visiting artists
• Study trips to art galleries
• Individual and group feedback sessions

Careers:

The BA (Hons) Painting and Drawing degree prepares graduates for a variety of career paths, including:

• Illustrator
• Painter
• Art therapist
• Arts administrator
• Animator
• Commercial art gallery manager
• Museum/gallery exhibitions officer
• Art teacher or art technician
• Artist
• Design, photography, marketing, and communications
• Community based artist
• Graphic designer

Other:

• The University of Chichester is located in a city full of art and culture, with a busy Student Union, the dramatic landscape of the South Downs, and the seaside at Bognor Regis and West Wittering.
• As a full-time Fine Art student, you will have personal studio space throughout the year.
• The university has a £35 million Tech Park with new specialist and digital equipment, providing students with environments to create experimental, inventive, and ambitious work.
• Students have access to the Learning Resource Centre (LRC), which is the hub of the learning environment, providing a variety of resources that students can take advantage of.
• Students can explore opportunities to study abroad during their studies, enriching and broadening their educational experiences.
• The university is surrounded by local partners, including galleries, charities, and schools, who help to support initiatives such as work placements, guest speakers, and providing students with industry contacts and networking opportunities.
• The university offers a range of postgraduate courses, including PGCE and PhD, for students who wish to continue their studies.