Program Overview
The BA Art program offers a unique four-year curriculum that combines practical skills with art history and cultural context. Students explore their creativity through studio work, guided projects, and the study of contemporary art. The program emphasizes independent learning, critical thinking, and professional development, with opportunities for international study, work-based placements, and internships. Graduates are well-equipped for careers in the art world and creative industries.
Program Outline
Degree Overview:
BA Art brings together creative practical skills with knowledge of art history and wider cultural contexts. This unique four-year program begins with a foundational year, giving you the time, focus, and resources to explore ideas, take risks, and develop expertise in your subject. You also have the opportunity to sample other subjects and spend time abroad. The course provides you with the tools to develop, make, and present your artwork. It fosters your investigative, critically reflective, and independent learning through the study and discussion of contemporary art and its histories. Making and critical reflection come together to enable you to develop and articulate your own creative position.
Outline:
Year 1
- Explore the processes and practicalities of an artist's studio through guided practical group projects, lectures, skills training, and receiving feedback on your work.
- Start to develop an independent project leading to an exhibition.
- Be introduced to the field of art history and its study, as well as wider contexts in which contemporary art practices operate.
- Have the option of studying one of our university-wide modules offered by departments outside of Art such as climate change, classics, philosophy, politics, printmaking, modern languages, or management.
Year 2
- Expand your interests through independent studio work.
- Your learning is informed by relevant historical and contemporary precedents, seminars, lectures, and extensive specialist skills training.
- Optional international study visits.
Year 3
- Additional time, space, and support to further develop, refine, and establish your intellectual and technical skills.
- Carry out increasingly independent studio work in preparation for your final year and beyond.
- Greater scope for experimentation and risk-taking.
- Diverse and inclusive learning.
- Opportunity for work-based placements.
- Option to study abroad (subject to availability).
Year 4
- Focused studio work with an emphasis on production and presentation skills.
- Consolidate your interests into independent research and inquiry.
Careers:
Overall, 89% of our graduates are in work or further study within 15 months of graduating. Our courses will equip you with the knowledge, intellectual ability, and practice-led skills you need to make an imaginative and effective contribution to the art world – or the wider creative industries. As well as producing world-famous artists, Turner prize nominees, and representatives for Britain at the Venice Biennale (Cornelia Parker, Mike Nelson, Bob and Roberta Smith), at Reading School of Art, we equip students to be highly employable in a wide range of fields. Recent employers include Manolo Blahnik, the London Metropolitan Police, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the BBC, and University College London.
Other:
- Flexible studios open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Specialist workshops in wood, ceramics, metal, and printmaking.
- Darkrooms for photography.
- Digital workshops and facilities for film and video editing, imaging, sound, virtual reality, and web building tools.
- Dedicated audio-visual recording room.
- Encouraged to take advantage of placement opportunities that can develop your professional skills and prepare you for a range of careers.
- Study art abroad through links with other universities in countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Hungary, the Czech Republic, France, and Switzerland.
- Study for two weeks or a semester abroad, or participate in a summer school abroad.
- Past students have participated in week-long international study trips to Madrid and Berlin, while others have participated in an exchange partnership scheme, organizing exhibitions with universities in China and Japan.
- New UK/Republic of Ireland students: £9,250
- New international students: £22,350 With effect from 1 August 2021, new EU students will pay international tuition fees.
