Fine Art - BA (Hons)

By taking this option, you benefit from increased confidence and experience when entering the working world. A year in industry also gives you the opportunity to increase your contacts and network so that you can hit the ground running when you graduate. It is taken in addition to your undergraduate programme and normally falls between your second and final year. If taken, the year itself is assessed on a pass/fail basis through employer feedback and a written report that you submit.

Students usually work on placement for the entire calendar year. Salary and holiday entitlements vary according to your employer. However, many students find that they earn enough to be able to save some income, and this often helps them in returning to study.

A work placement provides practical experience that can be put to good use in your study. It gives you a sense of how the theory works in practice and improves your skills in many areas. It also allows you to evaluate a particular career path, and gain knowledge of the working environment.

It is possible to extend your full-time degree programme to four years by spending your third year studying abroad (this option is not available if you are studying on a part-time basis).

The School of Music and Fine Art currently has arrangements for exchanges with universities across Europe, America, Asia and other destinations overseas. Our close proximity to Ebbsfleet International train station makes it easy to access continental Europe as well as London.

If you would rather keep your degree to three years, but are still interested in spending some time studying abroad you have the opportunity to take a term abroad at one of our partner institutions in Europe, or further afield, during the spring term of Stage 2.

For more details on taking an overseas experience as a student Kent, see www.kent.ac.uk/goabroad.

Knowledge and understanding

You gain knowledge and understanding of:

• a wide range of fine art works and practices (especially painting, installation, photography and video, but including a range of intermedial work) and their interpretation 
• the historical evolution of visual and performative traditions, artistic movements, media and genres
• the works of a range of significant artists, with particular emphasis on the period from the 19th century to the present day
• the cultural and historical contexts in which contemporary artists work
• the significance of documentation and display to the understanding of contemporary art practice
• modes, formal conventions and styles of representation in the contemporary arts
• critical and theoretical tools and concepts that have evolved for interpreting contemporary arts
• methodologies and approaches to the study of contemporary arts
• substantive areas of current research in fine art
• aesthetic and associated art theories and their impact on the production of the arts
• the materials, processes and conceptual frameworks that predominate in contemporary practice.

Intellectual skills

You develop intellectual skills in how to:

• engage critically and in an independently minded way with the major thinkers, artists, intellectual and creative paradigms, scholarly literature and issues and debates within the subject 
• understand the historical emergence of the various forms of contemporary visual culture
• generate ideas, concepts, proposals and solutions independently or collectively in response to a brief
• select, test and make appropriate use of materials, processes and environments
• develop ideas through to material outcomes
• analyse the historical and cultural context in which the arts are produced and disseminated
• be resourceful and entrepreneurial 
• apply knowledge and experience to address problems with both the interpretation and production of contemporary art
• critically evaluate contemporary arts 
• critically reflect upon your own and other's work 
• conduct various forms of research for essays, projects, seminar assignments and dissertations involving independent enquiry
• informatively document the stages of development of a creative project 
• critically and reflectively connect art theory and practice both verbally and in the products of creative activity.

Subject-specific skills

You develop the following subject-specific skills:

• effective deployment of terms and concepts relevant to understanding art in a contemporary context 
• the ability to locate evidence from a wide range of primary and secondary sources, and interpret it in relation to the aims and conceptual framework of fine art practice
• the ability to present, explain and defend a visual art project, in both its developmental and final states, employing argument and interpretative skills relevant to professional practice
• the ability to draw upon understanding of the materials and processes central to a variety of fine art media, as well as the technical skills necessary to produce practical work in these contexts
• the ability to critically evaluate a range of different conceptual and practical methodologies and approaches to both understanding and making art in a contemporary context
• the ability to competently perform the tasks necessary for contemporary professional artistic practice, including skills of display and dissemination of work, fundraising and gallery negotiation
• the ability to manage a fine art studio and studio project, including time management, budgetary control, space management and the acquisition and maintenance of equipment
• the ability to place art works produced by the learner or others into a historical, and conceptual context, employing analysis and critical interpretation to forge connections between practices that elucidate the process of creation.

Transferable skills

You gain transferable skills in the following:

• communication: articulate ideas and information comprehensibly in visual, oral and written forms; organise information effectively respond to written sources; adapt style for different audiences; use of images as a communication tool
• information technology: source, navigate, select, retrieve, evaluate, manipulate and manage information from a variety of sources; select and employ communication and information technologies; produce written documents; employ advanced software for module projects and tasks
• working with others: interact effectively with others, for example through collaboration, collective endeavour and negotiation; accurately define and review the work of others; skills of negotiation and persuasion in relation to the planning and execution of a project or the dissemination of its outcomes
• improving own learning: study independently, set goals, manage workloads and meet deadlines; explore personal strengths and weaknesses; develop autonomy in learning; ability to listen effectively and so to learn from and participate constructively in discussion; update knowledge and skills, seek and use feedback, critically reflect on and improve performance
• problem solving: identify and define intellectual and practical problems; explore alternative solutions and discriminate between them; creative experimentation; focus and apply attention to detail; gather, organise and deploy ideas in order to formulate arguments cogently and to express them effectively both orally and in written form; make subtle and discriminating comparisons of texts and visual artefacts; research and evaluate sources in the process of carrying out independent study.