Master of Fine Art (MFA)
2 years full-time.
The website for the MFA 2012 exhibition is here: http://ncl-mfa.co.uk/
Overview
The MFA at Newcastle University is a two-year studio-based programme in Fine Art and is designed to enable students to develop careers as professional artists . It is designed for graduates in Fine Art and for those with other backgrounds who wish to establish or extend their position as leading practitioners in the contemporary art world. The programme also offers a grounding for those hoping to progress to PhD degree study.
The course is based in excellent purpose-built studio space and combines intensive personal studio practice with critical scrutiny. You will be taught by a wide range of distinguished and internationally celebrated practicing artists and you will be working in an exciting, well-equipped and expanding practice-led research environment. Whether your practice involves painting, sculpture, digital media, drawing, performance, photography, printmaking, installation or video art, the course at Newcastle enables the student/artist to pursue professionalism and excellence in their practice. We encourage and support the practice and study of art through thoughtful and informed investigation, experimentation and speculation.
You are expected to pursue your practice and research with a high level of independence but are supported in this throughout by a supervisor who regularly meets with you to discuss your work and by a programme of cross-disciplinary seminars, group studio discussions and lectures by distinguished visiting artists. Our weekly Visiting Lecturer programme enables some of the most interesting and original artists, critics, curators, historians and art professionals working today to present and discuss their projects.
You will have 24hr access to your studio and towards the end of June, when the undergraduate students are no longer in the building, the MFA students have access and the use of all the studios in the building in which to work over the summer and to subsequently exhibit.
Course Structure
The course is based around six modules, with approximately 80% of your time based in the studio pursuing your self-directed creative practice. All the seminars and lectures related to the course take place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Course Aims
• To foster creative imagination, intellectual rigour and innovative thinking through active engagement with practice and relevant artistic and academic debates.
• To provide a supportive and responsive learning environment in which students can acquire such advanced practical and theoretical skills as will enable them to establish themselves as practitioners in fine art or in other careers in the visual arts field, either nationally or internationally.
• To provide a varied learning experience that encourages the development of individual potential and abilities through self-directed and independent practice-led research.
• To provide students with a learning environment where the relationship between theory and practice is constantly interrogated and critiqued.
• To provide a framework within which students can acquire an advanced knowledge of a range of intellectual and practical approaches to their subject such that they are prepared for further academic or practice-led research.
• To improve graduate's knowledge and use of appropriate key skills. These key skills include the ability to manage projects with regard to time and resources, the ability to work as part of a group and independently, the ability to solve problems creatively, the ability to communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
Study Trips Abroad
There are regular study trips abroad, usually one each semester for four to seven days. These are organised by the department and are optional but must be self-funded. Recent trips have been to New York, the Venice Biennale, Madrid, Florence and Berlin. Students can also apply for funding for individual research trips from the Bartlett Scholarships scheme, a fund of approximately £4,000 a year. Application is through a written submission that is assessed by a panel of Fine Art Tutors.
We are also establishing projects for MFA students with partners in Europe through the Erasmus Intensive Programme. The most recent one was 'Creating a Context', and was conducted in Bologna with architecture and fine art students from Munich, Milan, Newcastle and Amsterdam.
Fine Art - Student Exchanges
MFA students can take advantage of a period of international study through our exchange scheme which is run in conjunction with several institutions around the world. This usually takes place in Semester 1 of Year 2. Fine Art has established links through the Erasmus scheme and independently with a number of institutions and artists' groups world-wide. Annual student exchanges take place with art schools in Munich, Bremen, Bratislava, Crakow, Ghent, Melbourne and Istanbul. Students have also arranged periods of study themselves in art departments in the USA, Switzerland, Germany, Finland and Holland.
Find out more
For course content, entry requirements, fees, funding and visa information please see our degree description. There's also detailed information about how to apply for this degree and possible sources of funding.
