BA (Hons) Fine Art and Material Practice

The Conservation and Education Centre at the former Bristol Zoo Gardens site remains open to students.

You will have private access to the zoo grounds during lectures, to carry out your observations and data collection, but as more animals are moved, this will gradually be carried out at the Bristol Zoo Project. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The BA (Hons) Fine Art and Material Practice offers you the opportunity to develop and articulate your creative identity as an artist or maker at a professional level. This course equips you with the practical skills, critical understanding, and professional insight necessary to establish a sustainable creative practice—whether as an independent artist or within a broader career in the arts and related fields. Located in the cultural heart of Bristol, this degree course —awarded by the University of Gloucestershire—offers a stimulating environment in which to explore, develop and define your creative identity.

Our curriculum is rooted in a culture of curiosity, experimentation, dialogue, and critical reflection, with material engagement at its core. You will be encouraged to investigate and challenge contemporary art practices while exploring the diverse cultural contexts that shape art-making today.

We believe that through active engagement with material practice, you will cultivate a personal methodology for interpreting and responding to lived experience. The course provides opportunities to experiment with and specialise in a wide range of techniques including drawing, printmaking, painting, and 3D processes such as sculpture, ceramics, small metals, and textiles, as well as digital media including photography, moving image, and software within the Adobe Creative Suite. These diverse skills will contribute to the development of your distinctive creative voice.

At Bristol School of Art, we are proud to foster an inclusive, supportive learning environment. The degree is underpinned by a strong commitment to equity, ecological responsibility, sustainable practice, and collaborative learning. A nurturing approach to both creativity and academic development, lies at the heart of our teaching philosophy.

A key focus of the degree is employability and the development of transferable skills. Creative and critical thinking are integral to the course design, supported by technical training, collaboration, and professional practice modules. These include sector-relevant activities such as funding applications, exhibition curation, and an off-site public showcase of your work.

As you progress through the course, you will be encouraged to work with increasing independence and autonomy. Later-stage modules are designed to refine your creative and conceptual skills, and to deepen your understanding of how artists and makers contribute to wider cultural, social, and commercial environments—both historically and in the contemporary landscape.

Assessment is continuous and based on portfolio submissions, presentations of practical work, and formal critiques—there are no written examinations. Your artistic output remains the primary focus throughout the course, enhanced by opportunities that simulate real-world professional practice.

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Awarded by the University of Gloucestershire, delivered at Bristol School of Art

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Study Modules

FM4001

Context and Investigation 1: Key Concepts and Skills

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Understanding the context of an artwork or artefact. This module aims to de-mystify key theories and concepts that you will encounter as part of your journey and will help to see your own practice in relation to these contexts of practice. Drawing will be used as a practice-based methodology to investigate current themes and ideas alongside introductions to research and academic study stills.

001: Assignment (2000 words or equivalent) 50%

002: Portfolio ( 2000 words or equivalent) 50%

FM4002

Studio Practice 1: Discover your Practice

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"Discover your Practice" is a module that introduces you to a wide range of creative practices and processes which encourages you to explore new materials, techniques and concepts in your studio practice. From paper, clay and fabric to plaster, paint and wire, you will experiment, play, investigate and make work. This module is designed to equip you with practical and methodological skills to research, develop and realise ideas. This is a fun and fast-pace module that will challenge and expand your understanding of creative practices whilst preparing you for future projects.

001: Presentation (Viva), 3200 words or equivalent 80%

002: Assignment, 800 words (or equivalent) 20%

FM4003

Studio Practice 2: Develop your Practice

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Building on Studio Practice 1, this module introduces you to managing a self-directed project and related activities such as using primary and secondary research to identify a focus for a practice-led enquiry, developing a methodology that allows open-ended experimentation and risk-taking, whilst generating outcomes that push the boundaries of your thinking. Throughout the module there will be opportunities for group discussions and 1:1 tutorials to provide valuable feed back and encourage ongoing reflection and collaboration with our peers. As part of this project you will research and discuss the ecological impact of a selection of materials and processes relevant to your practice and the programme of workshop inductions continues throughout this module.

001: Portfolio, 3000 words or equivalent 75%

002: Assignment, 1000 words or equivalent 25%

FM4004

Professional Practice: Meet the Artist

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The aim of this module is to bring you in contact with artists, makers and creatives, introducing you to the wide range of professional practices within the creative sector. You will discover Bristol's artist studios, project spaces, galleries and museums, where you will discover the contexts and communities artistic work thrives and how this scene is subject to constant change renewal. This module will bring your awareness to peer support and networking and practicalities of creative practice. Your will research an artist or environment of practice and present your findings in a creative outcome. This module will inspire and encourage you to make your own connections within the Bristol (or local area) arts scene!

001: Portfolio, 2400 words or equivalent 60%

002: Group Presentation, 1,600 word or equivalent 40%

FM5004

Professional Practice: Off-site Event

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This module will lead to a collaboratively organised off-site arts event and/or exhibition. As a live project, this module will provide real-world experience in project management such as finding a space, budgeting and fundraising, marketing and project realisation. This module will challenge you to work as part of a group, share responsibilities and identify individual ways to contribute to its success. The nature of the event (which could be a conference, festival, open studio, workshop(s), exhibition showing individual or jointly made work - or a combination of these) will be a starting point for discussion in seminar sessions which will also support your planning, marketing, documentation and evaluation process.

001: Display, Show or Performance, 2500 words or equivalent 50%

002: Portfolio, 2500 words or equivalent 50%

FM5003

Studio Practice 4: Consolidating your Practice

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This is a studio practice module that allows you to focus on resolving your increasingly ambitious ideas into artefacts, objects and art works that communicate your concerns with clarity and confidence. With guided and independent studio sessions and access to relevant workshop facilities, your practice will become largely self-directed and build on ideas and skills developed as part of the previous studio practice modules.

001: Portfolio, 5,000 words or equivalent 100%

FM5002

Studio Practice 3: Understanding your Practice

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This module will help you clarify what motivates your work and provide you with opportunities to expand and deepen your understanding of your practice. In guided and independent studio and workshop sessions, you will develop a self-initiated project. Through this practice-led research, i.e. trailing, experimenting, figuring out, projecting and making, theoretical and professional themes and concerns will emerge. Regular discussion with peers and tutors and critical reflection will inform and challenge your ambitions and intentions.

001: Portfolio, 3750 words or equivalent

002: Presentation, 10 minutes or 1250 words equivalent

FM5001

Context and Investigation 2: Key Concepts and Skills

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This module continues to explain and discuss themes and theories, relevant for makers and artists with emphasis on how they relate to your own practice. The aim is to deepen your understanding of the ideas that inform current art and making practices and how artists position themselves in these contexts. In lectures, seminars and through practice-led research, you will develop your research skills and your understanding of how artists can communicate research outcomes. You will be asked to produce written and creative responses to several themes and topics, including self-initiated research linked to your studio practice. You will produce a small publication to share your work.

001: Portfolio, 2500 words or equivalent 50%

002: Assignment, 2500 words or equivalent 50%

FM6001

Context and Investigation 3: Independent Research Project

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In this module, you will develop and carry out a practice-led research project which will consist of a practical part and critical explanation of 3000 words. Building on your skills and understanding, you will identify an inquiry related to your practice that you wish to research and contextualise in more depth.

001: Presentation, 10 minutes or 1200 words equivalent 20%

002: Research Project, Practice-led research project with up to 3000 words explanation, 4800 words equivalent 80%

FM6002

Studio Practice 5: Deepen your Practice

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The final two studio practice modules of your degree, are leading up to our degree show. The aim of this first module is to develop ambitious and exciting ideas, as well as relevant processes and techniques in your chosen discipline towards a body of work for the degree show. Building on your knowledge and experience, your project will take you deeper into an inquiry related to the themes and ideas that motivate your work. Through making and ongoing critical thinking, engagement in discussion with peers and tutors, and relevant theoretical and practical research you will be able to synthesise ideas in works that represent them.

001: Portfolio, 4800 words or equivalent 80%

002: Presentation, 10 minutes, 1200 words equivalence 20%

FM6003

Studio Practice 6: Final Project

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This module will lead to the production of a body of work that reflects your ideas to a professional standard. You will revisit your proposal, discussing and updating, aiming at a valance between ambitious ideas and realistic planning. You will plan how to address any gaps in knowledge and theory whilst considering was to increase sustainability of your practice. At this stage you will work largely independently in the studio and workshops, re-evaluating work in progress and refining your ideas through ongoing reflection, research, discussion and feedback. You will be expected to play an active role in preparing and installing your Degree Show.

001: Portfolio, 6000 words or equivalent 100%

FM6004

Professional Practice: Next Steps

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In this module you will research and prepare your next steps as a professional practitioner. You will research appropriate opportunities for your chosen discipline and prepare a mock (or live) application, including a digital portfolio of work and artist CV. In seminars and lectures you will discuss practical and theoretical questions relating to professional practice.

001: Assignment, 3000 words or equivalent 50%

002: Portfolio, 3000 words or equivalent 50%

Course Video

Vera Boele-Keimer

Subject Area Lead, Art & Design/ BA (Hons) Fine Art Programme Lead

*This programme is subject to validation and delivery approval by the University of Gloucestershire.

APPLICATIONS FOR SEPT 2025 ENTRY ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS COURSE.APPLY VIA UCAS FOR FULL-TIME STUDY_(FULL-TIME)APPLY ONLINE FOR FULL-TIME STUDY_(FULL-TIME)APPLY ONLINE FOR PART-TIME STUDY_{(PART-TIME ONLY)}

Campus:

Queens Road Campus

Level:

Bachelors Degree

Full-time Duration:

3 Years

Full-time Fee (Per Year):

£9,000

Part-time Duration:

6 Years

Part-time Fee (Per Year):

£4,500

UCAS Application Code:

FM01

UCAS Entry Tariff:

Entry Requirements

A minimum of 64 UCAS points derived from a variety of Level 3 qualifications. Successful applicants will be expected to have Maths and English Language GCSE's at grade 4/5 or above (or equivalent), a functional skill Level 2 qualification will also be considered in some cases. If English is not your first language you will need an IELTS 7.) with no less than 6.5 in any band (or equivalent). Mature students (those aged over 21 years of age) will be considered on an individual basis.

CONTACT ADMISSIONS

Awarded by the University of Gloucestershire Awarded by the University of Arts London

Course info last updated:

June 27, 2025

Full-Time

Part-Time

Delivery Format

The delivery format for your degree-level programs is primarily face-to-face and in-person sessions. However, there may be some hybrid sessions offered occasionally, mainly for flexibility purposes, such as tutorials or for larger events like visiting lecturers. Additionally, it's mentioned that all degree programs are well-supported by Virtual Learning Environments, which include Teams or Google Classroom.

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