Newcastle University

Fine Art BA Honours
UCAS Code: W150 (4 Years)

• Course Overview
• Modules
• Entry Requirements
• Careers
• Finance

The Fine Art BA is a practice-based course in creative visual arts aimed at ambitious, motivated, imaginative individuals.

Throughout the carefully structured programme, you will develop and exhibit an exciting body of studio practice and acquire the professional, practical, intellectual and theoretical skills necessary to establish yourself as an artist, for a career in a related field or for postgraduate study. 

Our four-year programme allows you the time and space to experiment, to fully develop ambitious ideas, to deepen your knowledge of art history and contemporary art, and to undertake a period of study at one of our partner universities abroad.

Over the course, you will explore, experiment and expand your knowledge and abilities through both study and practical experience in the studio. You will have the opportunity to develop your work across a broad range of media:

• painting
• sculpture
• print
• photography
• digital media
• film
• video
• sound
• performance
• installation

Career development is supported through our LifeWorkArt programme, with opportunities to exhibit your work and undertake live projects and placements that will help you gain the professional skills you need to thrive in the contemporary art world. 

You may also gain an international perspective on your subject through opportunities to study abroad.

Quality and ranking

The quality of the fine art study experience at Newcastle is recognised with an overall student satisfaction score of 90% in the 2013 National Student Survey. 

We are also ranked in the top five UK universities for fine art in:

• The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2014
• The Guardian University Guide 2014
• The Complete University Guide 2014

Teaching and assessment

Studio practice modules are taught through regular individual tutorials, small group studio critiques, seminars and workshops. Art history modules have lectures, seminars, and individual tutorials.

Practice-based modules are assessed largely by the presentation of practical work, and art history modules are assessed through examinations, essays and seminar presentations.

You also complete a dissertation in Stage 3 that contributes 25 per cent towards your final degree mark.

In Stage 4 your studio practice is assessed through a final degree show at the end of the year.

Teaching and assessment methods may vary from module to module; more information can be found in our individual module listings.

Your study experience

Your studio will be in the beautiful Fine Art Building in the University’s historic Quadrangle. Working in our superb studios and workshops and with our excellent student-staff ratio, you will be taught by artists, art historians and arts professionals of international standing working at the cutting edge of contemporary art.

Your studio practice will be supported and underpinned by a stimulating selection of art historical and theoretical modules, which run alongside the studio modules in Stages 1–3, with a lively programme of lectures, seminars and study trips.

In your final year (Stage 4) you can continue to study art history or focus exclusively on your studio work. You will attend a weekly programme of talks by visiting artists, critics and curators, and participate in practical workshops. 

At Newcastle, you will benefit from:

• outstanding facilities: purpose-built studios, exhibition spaces and fully staffed printmaking, metalwork, woodwork and digital media workshops ensure that you have the space and facilities to study, create and exhibit your work, from painting and sculpture to video, to large-scale work and installations
• dynamic programme of workshops, weekly lectures and seminars featuring some of the most interesting artists, critics, curators, historians and art professionals working today ensures that you develop a broad perspective on art

The Fine Art Building also houses a student-run café, and the Fine Art Shop, which stocks a wide range of art materials at competitive prices. The Students' Union and award-winning Robinson Library are a few moments walk away. 

The Fine Art Building is housed in the same building as one of the region’s leading public art galleries, the outstanding Hatton Gallery, showing permanent and touring collections.

You will also benefit from the city’s vibrant arts culture, fuelled by the world-class art galleries on your doorstep, including BALTIC, the largest art gallery of its kind in the world.

Professional development

Research and practice-informed teaching plays an important role at Newcastle. You will benefit from tuition from a very wide range of experienced practitioners, who exhibit and publish both nationally and internationally.

Our professional development programme, LifeWorkArt is integrated at each Stage. This is run in collaboration with many local and national arts organisations and galleries and prepares you for professional art practice through projects such as:

• organising exhibitions
• attending field trips
• undertaking a gallery placement
• preparing a public art project

Study abroad

There are regular study abroad trips, supporting both the art history and studio components of the degree. These are optional and must be self-funded. Recent trips have been to New York, the Venice Biennale, Madrid, Florence and Berlin. There is a competitive fund to support individual research trips abroad.

UK and EU students may also spend a semester in their third year on a study exchange in Europe through Erasmus or further afield through our Non-EU Exchange Programme. We currently have exchange partners in:

• Bergen
• Bratislava
• Bremen
• Ghent
• Istanbul
• Krakow
• Melbourne
• Munich
• Rotterdam
• Tromso 
• Vienna
• Zurich

School of Arts and Cultures

As a fine art student, you will be based in our School of Arts and Cultures, which is home to a great variety of creative practice and research including music, media and museum and gallery studies.

The University’s Schools of Architecture and English Literature, Language and Linguistics are housed nearby, and you will have the opportunity to meet and make friends with students working across a range of creative subjects. There are also opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration.