Fine Art with a Foundation Year – BA (Hons)

This four-year degree course has been specifically designed to allow you to undertake an additional year of study which will build stronger creative footings to ensure successful progression through your chosen degree.

Working in a lively and energetic environment, you will be given the freedom to expand your knowledge of practical skills, creative exploration and conceptual development, underpinned by broad critical understanding, academic writing and emerging theoretical principles.

There will be a range of opportunities to work on collaborative projects aimed to develop employability partnerships and to identify the role of developing practitioner. Teaching staff from across both schools will work closely with you throughout the course to prepare you for progression.

The course concludes in a public professional exhibition of your practical work supported by individual websites.

After successful completion of the foundation year, you will have the flexibility to change direction onto a related undergraduate degree programme within Birmingham School of Art or the School of Visual Communication.

BA (Hons) Fine Art

Our Fine Art degree course gives you the support of professionals to choose your own creative journey and flourish as an artist, curator, teacher or working in other creative fields. Situated in our historic Grade I-listed art school, based in Margaret Street, you’ll enjoy the freedom, space and support needed to establish your own artistic voice.

There are no set pathways to learning and this means you’ll have genuine freedom to experiment in any media appropriate to your ideas.

What’s covered in the course?

This course encourages you to experiment in or across painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, photography, installation, film and video.

You’ll be supported throughout your studies by our experienced and talented tutors and technical staff – all professional artists in their own right.

As well as learning important skills for your future career development from our practical and professional practice modules, you’ll also be introduced to the context and curation of art.

You will enjoy our close links to the Ikon Gallery, Ort Gallery, New Art Gallery Walsall and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and be inspired by the studios and galleries set up by former students, such as The Lombard Method, Grand Union, Stryx and Ort Gallery.

The course concludes in a public professional exhibition of your practical work supported by individual websites.

Why Choose Us?

• Birmingham School of Art is celebrating 130 years of art at Margaret Street – its Grade I-listed building has been the inspiration for countless artists and practitioners of international reputation over the years. There has also been a multi-million pound investment in facilities for photography, casting, woodwork, metalwork, silk screen, etching, 3D printing, laser cutting, and printed and constructed textiles.
• You’ll instantly become part of the Faculty of Arts, Design and Media’s 6,000-strong student community, and you will  be supported by our highly experienced staff, who are all nationally and internationally active artists.
• You will curate exhibitions, have the opportunity take part in work placements and exchanges, and go on national and international study visits.
• Each year the onsite project space, the International Project Space (IPS), will be the hub for a series of residencies, exhibitions and events, and we will work with a number of local, national and international partners to deliver a range of projects with our students.