Art and Design with a Foundation Year - BA (Hons)

To reinforce your understanding of the creative industry in context you will be introduced to a number of opportunities across the city and will engage with event partners, such as Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery [BMAG], Ikon, Hippodrome, Eastside Galleries, Type-Talks and further afield. 

Throughout this module you will be introduced to range of study techniques that build competencies with research and discussion, while analyzing appropriate contexts for your work.

You will be continually encouraged to question the relationship between Visual Arts and Communication and will begin to establish the direction of your work in context.

Artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world.

Their art is a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects that challenge traditional boundaries and defy easy definition.

This module will look at experimental approaches to drawing to identify radical new solutions from the perspective of the contemporary world we live in.

During this module you will meet lecturers, researchers and partners from across BCU, the city and further afield to open your understanding of practiced based creative work.

Through lectures and workshops, you will be introduced to the versatility of subject areas in terms of ideas, development, research, materials, techniques and contexts.

Figuring out how the universe works might be a bit more than we need to do each day but paying attention to the future of the world we live in, is worth exploring.

Creative realisation is not just about the practice of producing creative responses, it is about identifying the factors that generate creative thinking and facilitating the process.

For this module you will draw on your own creative strategies to facilitate the development of a project that is appropriate for progression onto your chosen BA (Hons) course.

To identify the focus for your project you must research ‘Future Horizons’ from the rapidly changing world around you - anything that reflects new innovations, e.g. seismic changes, space travel, war, social conflict, internationalisation, environment, technology, architecture, bio-art etc. – whether great or small.

Undergraduate Staff from both Schools will offer guidance on developing a constructive portfolio that affirms your potential for a rewarding creative future.

This module introduces students to Art and Design methodologies, and a range of specialist workshops and the technical skills, media and processes associated with these. It also enables the student to begin to investigate personal source material to apply to various practical process areas.

It sets into context the possibilities and potential of various mediums/ processes in order for students to begin to develop a fluent practice with knowledge of more than one material/ process and begin to investigate interdisciplinary opportunities.

The module provides opportunities for students to form an understanding of interdisciplinary practice, introducing students to some of the approaches, methodologies and strategies for making work in a studio context. It emphasises the importance of ‘making’ through appropriate mediums in order to resolve creative problems. It also requires the student to consider the effect of medium and materials on the communication of ideas and information.

This module provides students with an opportunity to consolidate learning throughout Level 4; making skills, research skills, creative problem solving, self-organisation and management, communication skills, analysis and evaluation, decision-making and refinement.

The module focuses on further developing individual methodologies, and intertwining of research and practice. An understanding of context beyond the studio is a key factor in understanding diverse cultural contexts for practice and developing a global outlook in relation to art and design practice. It also, along with ‘Introduction to Art and Design Practice 2: The Studio’, forms part of a developing understanding as to how creative practitioners operate and engage with the professional world.

The purpose of this module is to facilitate students to acquire and extend knowledge of art and design practice in contemporary and historical contexts. The module content will introduce students to current debate affecting the interdisciplinary creative practitioner, examined through various lenses, examples and case studies. The module introduces students to a range of concepts, themes, approaches and methodologies and requires them to develop the skills to confidently articulate an informed point of view in verbal and/or written forms.

The module focuses on further developing and extending individual knowledge and understanding of interdisciplinary art and design practice, through appropriate research methodologies. It is also emphasised at this stage in the course that contextual understanding is fundamental to practice, and that marshalled effectively, will improve and extend ideas and making.

The ability to work collaboratively in a team is a vital employability skill within the Creative Industries. This module is an opportunity to learn and critically reflect on the skills of collaboration by enabling you to create a group project with students from complementary disciplines.

The content of this module is designed to extend the students individual and collective practice in response to local and/or global issues, environments, text and/or other contexts to further develop an understanding interdisciplinary modes of enquiry. It will encourage responses to themes from broad disciplinary boundaries, human experiences and values with students developing work for exhibition, performance, demonstration or dissemination of innovative artistic and design work appropriate to the professional context of the project outcomes.

The purpose of this module is to facilitate students’ enquiries into contemporary and historical art and design practices. The area of study, while set by the module tutor, should also allow students to reflect on their own personal practice and evaluate and communicate this in a written and/or verbal form. The outcome will be a written or verbal response and be relevant in both form and content to the focus of the module investigation.

The purpose of this module is to enable you to develop professional attributes and subject skills through experience in the work place, and to critically reflect upon your learning in that context. You will normally be expected to arrange your own placement, with support from academic staff and ADM Careers+.

The module is an opportunity to learn and critically reflect on the skills of collaboration by enabling you to create an interdisciplinary project with students from complementary disciplines, or with academic staff. Collaboration is a vital employability skill within the Creative Industries and this module allows you to develop these skills, making use of University facilities and with the support of academic staff. Within this module framework, several kinds of collaborative opportunities are available.

The content of this module is designed to extend the students individual response to environments, text and/or other contexts to further develop an understanding of their individual responses to interdisciplinary modes of enquiry. It will encourage students to situate their own practice in response to broad disciplinary boundaries, human experiences and values with students developing work for exhibition, performance, demonstration or dissemination of innovative artistic and design work appropriate to the professional context of the project outcomes.

The content of this module is designed to extend the students individual response to environments, text and/or other contexts to further develop an understanding of their individual responses to interdisciplinary modes of enquiry. It will encourage students to situate their own practice in response to broad disciplinary boundaries, human experiences and values with students developing work for exhibition, performance, demonstration or dissemination of innovative artistic and design work appropriate to the professional context of the project outcomes.

This module provides an opportunity for you to apply your knowledge and skills to an external, professional brief. The brief will be set by an external client/ agency, in consultation with your supervisor, and it could be a ‘real life’ problem to be solved, or a simulation. It is an opportunity for you to engage in a professional manner with an aspect of your subject area, which contributes to the development of employability skills within the supportive infrastructure of the University. Where appropriate, the project may involve interdisciplinary collaboration with students from other courses. In this way, it reflects the collaborative, flexible nature of employment within the Creative Industries.

The purpose of the module is to enable you to undertake a sustained, in-depth and theoretically informed research project exploring an area that is of personal interest to you. It is important that we can support you appropriately, so you will be guided towards choosing a research topic which is relevant to your discipline and in which your lecturers have expertise. The outcome may take the form of a written dissertation or a practice-based portfolio.

The purpose of the module is to enable the student to undertake a sustained, in-depth and theoretically informed research project exploring an area of personal interest. The research outcome is individually negotiated with the supervisor and can take the form of a written dissertation or alternate written format. The area of study must be relevant to the programme and students are actively encouraged to choose a topic relevant to their practice and future academic or professional development.

This module offers you the opportunity to develop your study towards further research and/ or professional practice and engagement in the workplace and builds on the range of research methodologies identified earlier in the course.

This module allows students to work with staff in self-evaluation and research to source appropriate career possibilities beyond their degree. This personal research will be supplemented by regular talks and workshops from visiting experts from a range of backgrounds – such as artists, designers, curators, craftspeople, entrepreneurs, educators and project managers alongside representatives from regional and national support agencies for the creative industries.