BA (Hons)

Visual Arts

3 good reasons to study Visual Arts at Salford:

Study contemporary fine art with new media
International links and exchange projects in Europe
Large dedicated studio space

You are the next generation of contemporary artists and creative thinkers. This practical fine arts course will encourage you to combine different media from painting, sculpture and print making, with new media such as computer generated imaging, video, sound performance and installation, to develop your own specialism. This is supported by relevant theory and art practice and is designed to promote individual ideas, creativity and reflective practice.

Watch our Video: BA (Hons) Visual Arts, Metanoia Event

Watch our Video: BA (Hons) Visual Arts

Course details

This is a distinctive, contemporary, fine art course promoting an informed reflective practice where theory integrates with practice. It is media independent – you are free to specialise in any medium or move between and/or combine media of your choice.

You will have a unique experience of the course as you are encouraged to take responsibility for personal learning within a supportive environment.

All arts practice is strongly driven by the philosophical, environmental and social contexts that surround its making and emphasis is placed on the acquisition of a broad range of skills. These enable the visual artist to respond to, and interact with, the complexity of these contexts.

Our students will be the next generation of contemporary artists and creative thinkers. Our graduates have proved their relevance and expertise in the arts; many of them are populating artists' studios throughout the North West and the UK, while others progress into teaching or arts administration.

Course Structure

Year One

Aims to introduce and extend a range of visual art practices and ideas. It introduces you to the range and fundamentals of the discipline, provides a foundation of knowledge, skills and understanding, places individual practice within a broader context and encourages the exploration of individual paths of study.

Year Two

Aims to develop an understanding of the professional, social, cultural and European contexts that affect visual arts practice. You continue to be free to experiment and extend the skills acquired in year 1. Year 2 encourages the contextualisation of practice, preparing you to work more independently in year 3. It also encourages you to debate your future practice in anticipation of a professional life. You have the opportunity to undertake external live projects or participate in one of a range of study exchanges with institutions in Europe. We also run a European study trip during this year.

Year Three

Aims to develop an individual, reflective and informed approach to visual arts through the establishment of personal practice that is supported by appropriate theoretical discourse.

The overriding emphasis of year 3 is on self-direction and the maturing of a personal practice which will be sustainable beyond the course. Preparing for professional life is high on the agenda.

The theory element of the course progresses strategically from survey modules on the History of Ideas and Modernism in year 1 through Postmodernism in year 2 and to more open student-led debates on the nature and content of contemporary practices in year 3.

Year One

Methods and Materials A

This module will introduce you to a breadth of technical methods and materials to explore and expand upon within your developing studio practice. The module focuses on technical skills acquisition through instructional workshops which offer diversity for exploration and experimentation, a further premise is that of igniting interest in new territories for investigation.

Visual Research

This module runs concurrently with 'Methods and Materials A' and aims to promote visual research and artistic enquiry in all forms as a creative, dynamic and integral aspect of art making.

Introduction to History of Ideas

This module introduces you to key intellectual movements (such as Christianity, the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Modernism and post-modernism) and scholarly personalities (such as Aquinas, Darwin, Freud and Marx) that have shaped the cultural history we have inherited and produced the context for the making and appreciation of art.

Professional Frameworks

This module seeks to involve you in a broader sense of studio culture through the general study of studio environments and by engagement with the idea of the peer group as an artistic community, it is envisaged that you will begin to critique each others' work as communication begins to flourish.

Methods and Materials B

During this module you will develop your own individuality within studio practice, through a greater understanding of the precepts and conventions associated with a range of visual arts disciplines. There is the opportunity to contextualise your practice and extend your knowledge base of the expanded fields within arts practice.

Introduction to Modernism

Modernity – the rapid industrialisation and urbanism of the late 19th century – and Modernism – the dominant cultural condition of the late 19th and early 20th centuries - establish the key contexts by which we understand contemporary culture and aesthetics. It is important that you have a broad understanding of the period, the dominant ideas, visual strategies and key figures associated with the modern movement.

Year Two

Meaning Representation and Image

The purpose of this module is to develop individual and self-directed studio practice, addressing and exploring how the construction of meaning, the exploitation of systems of representation, and the processes of image making play a crucial role in the development of contemporary art practice.

Visual Analysis

The module aims to provide an introduction to some of the key 'critical historians of art' in the Western canon and their methodologies, and an introduction to other key disciplines that provide a range of interpretive tools to examine art works/cultural products and contextualise them within broader fields of enquiry.

Studio Practice

This module will further develop a focussed personal and self-directed studio practice, resulting in the production of a body of studio work through appropriate media/discipline areas, underpinned by an ongoing visual research project.

Postmodernism

The purpose of the module is to introduce postmodernism, a cultural condition that impacts upon and shapes almost every facet of our culture. Postmodernism exerts a tremendous influence in the visual arts and necessitates that you can locate its emergence, its key ideas and its visual characteristics and strategies.

Professional Practice

This module will provide you with the opportunity to experience and critically examine the ways in which visual arts practice is affected by notions of professionalism and allied contextual frameworks.

Contextual Frameworks

This module will extend independent practice via critical reflection on your own course of study in order to create synergies between theory practice and the testing of external values and contexts.

Year Three

Self Directed A

This module offers you the opportunity to pursue an extended programme of individual study enabling you to synthesise your previous learning and to continue to explore and experiment to forge a new body of work that displays a growing maturity.

Self Directed B

The purpose of this module is to provide a synthesis of all your previous learning and to offer an opportunity to bring your studio work to a point of professional resolution/consolidation prior to your first major showcase to the general public and the creative industries.

Dissertation

This module offers a coherent programme of research, reflection, structured learning and writing that helps you develop and understand better the critical and contextual framework that underpins your practice, and articulate more effectively the relationship between theory and practice.

Presentational Strategies

The aim of this module will make you aware of key critical/analytical issues arising from the presentation of works of art and prepare you to be able to successfully present your work in three key media platforms; public, professional and electronic.

Course Enquiries

For course enquiries please call us on:

T: +44 (0) 161 295 4545

Or Email us at:

Home/EU students
E: enquiries@salford.ac.uk

International students
E: international@salford.ac.uk