Fine Art

Newcastle continues to be one of the best cities in the UK in which to study contemporary visual art. Its diverse and lively arts scene goes hand in hand with the University’s long and distinguished history in the practice of Fine Art.

Choosing fine art at Newcastle enables you to work alongside staff who are not only researchers but also active practitioners and artists, creating leading-edge exhibitions, events, installations, videos, films and publications. It also means you will have access to some of the best-resourced and most spacious studio, workshop and gallery facilities in Britain.

We offer two types of postgraduate degrees in fine art. The taught MFA, is a two-year, studio-based programme that enables you to establish or extend your position as a practitioner in the contemporary art world. The research degrees of MPhil and PhD can be practice-led or theoretical and your final submission can be a research-based thesis or a combination of studio practice and thesis. For 2012 entry we will have AHRC studentships available for both the MFA and PhD studies. This funding will cover UK/EU tuition fees and provide an annual stipend (living allowance).

Whether your practice involves painting, sculpture, digital media, drawing, performance, photography, printmaking, installation or video art, we offer the facilities and expertise to ensure that you can pursue professionalism and excellence in your work. You will have 24-hour access to excellent purpose-built studio spaces and our sculpture, printmaking and IT workshops are all supported by full-time technicians.

Our staff have international profiles, earned through excellence in practice and in academic exploration of practice. Our research excellence was confirmed by the (RAE) 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, which classed 85 per cent of our research in art and design as ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’, placing us in the top five universities in the UK for research quality. Many of our staff have their studios on campus, which means that you will have the opportunity to work alongside a range of leading artists. Staff are very accessible and there is an excellent staff–student ratio.

The weekly Visiting Artist programme enables you to meet and engage with a range of invited national and international artists, curators and art theorists. We also support your professional practice through ‘Life Work Art’, a specialist professional training scheme for artists, and there are opportunities for you to study abroad through our expanding programme of international exchanges.

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