Home Courses Fine Art BA (Hons) Painting and Drawing
Fine art student drawing

Explore the key areas of drawing and painting and experiment with 2D media

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045H
3 years full-time / 6 years part-time
Bognor Regis Campus

1st

for student satisfaction in art and design.

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21st

in the UK for Art courses.

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Top 10

for Art, Education, and Psychology courses.

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Overview

Challenge yourself and enhance your techniques in painting and drawing

Painting and drawing encompasses a variety of skills and techniques enabling you to explore traditional, observational and experimental work to develop professional approaches to a range of making processes.

Our BA (Hons) Painting and Drawing degree is built around the key areas of drawing and painting and will encourage you to experiment with other 2D media such as printmaking. You will specialise from the outset of your degree through the development of skills in one clear discipline area.

To achieve the highest quality art production, you will be supported by specialist workshops introducing you to oil, acrylic and other paint media where you will be given demonstrations in techniques and processes.  We will encourage you to develop an intellectual curiosity and a sense of adventure, with an ability to deal with the unpredictable.

Studying at the University of Chichester, you will immerse yourself in your work by making use of our specialist studio and workshop facilities as well as having access to your very own dedicated studio space. You will study in a supportive and student focused environment enabling you to become a versatile, creative and confident artist.

A key element to provision of the Fine Art programmes is our commitment to outward-facing application and exhibition of your artwork at the degree show. You will spend your final year consolidating your work to an expert standard which will then be exhibited in public spaces. There are several hundred visitors and much of the work is sold which will provide you with a professional showcase for your work.

Main studio, workshop skills and activities include: 

  • Painting: oil, acrylic, construction, mixed media, collage.
  • Printmaking: etching, screen-printing, relief printing, mono-print and combined media, block print and photo based processes
  • Drawing: drawing is seen as an important element in the development and realization of ideas and is the basis of the initial studio work.
  • Digital: using technology such as iPads to create art

Why Study Fine Art?

Undertake a degree at the forefront of creativity and artistic vision

7 Reasons to choose the University of Chichester:

1. Chichester and Bognor Regis
A city full of Art & Culture, a busy Student Union, the dramatic landscape of the South Downs, with the seaside at Bognor Regis and West Wittering. A free inter-campus bus is available to take you back and forth between each campus.

2. The course
The structure allows you to choose which skills to develop, which aspects of Critical and Cultural Theory to focus on, and to self-determine the direction of your own practice. You will learn to create your own negotiated pattern of work as you move towards an exhibition for the degree show in your final year. The result is that you will become knowing, versatile and highly creative. Work placements and final year career advice leads to jobs.

3. Your studio space
As a full-time Fine Art student you will have personal studio space throughout the year.

4. There’s no house style
Abstract, Landscape, Figure or Conceptual – Traditional, Contemporary or Avant Garde – Painting, Textiles, Printmaking, Sculpture, Video, Photography, Installation, Performance Art etc – you decide what to do and we support you in working out how to do it with panache.

5. The facilities
Home for the Fine Art Department is the St. Michael’s building comprising studio and workshop facilities, to enable you to make the best use of your talents and potential and high-tech 3D workshops in the Tech Park, giving us access to digital technologies like 3D scanning, 3D printing, laser cutting, and a variety of creative software for still and moving image. It is open from 8.00am to 8.30pm, Monday to Saturday, with First year students having sessions programmed on 4 days out of 5.

6. Our staff
As well as supporting student development, our Fine Art staff are active practicing professional artists and researchers who regularly exhibit or publish their work; their research leads the BA programmes. On most weeks there’s a visiting professional artist. Each student has an Academic Advisor and we have an excellent Disability and Dyslexia Team to ensure that ALL students are able to pass their degrees at the appropriate level.

7. Your interview
We are inclusive and welcoming; we judge you on your folder, not your background. If you are invited for interview you will have a choice of it being face-to-face with physical folio OR online with digital folio, always friendly and non-intimidating.

Tatiana

Tatiana

BA (Hons) Painting and Drawing
"So far my time here at the University of Chichester has been unforgettable. I have managed to learn a great deal about the subject I love, gaining knowledge and skills that have benefited me greatly in my Painting and Drawing specialist practise. The academic staff know a great deal about their subjects and have been more than willing to assist me in any difficulties/ questions I have had over the few weeks. Having my own studio was also highly beneficial for me as an artist, as not many universities offer this. I cannot wait to see how I develop as an artist in the second year. I grow more and more confident that through the education that the University provides, I am one step closer to fulfilling my goal of becoming a professional artist."

The Course

This list is indicative and subject to change.

Select a year

Studio Practice One

Studio based learning is by one-to-one or group tutorial, small group discussion and cross level peer group. There are visiting lectures most weeks who do a talk about their own work and offer you tutorials. You will be set a series of experimental research and drawing based activities that will challenge your ideas about 2D and 3D art and gently drive you towards the beginnings of a self-directed material practice and greater independence.

Workshop One

You will have access to workshop areas and technical support in the key disciplines of the Fine Art programmes. The workshops reflect the range of options across the various degree programmes. You will develop skills in your specialism and in one other discipline (painting, printmaking, sculpture and/or textiles).

Critical & Cultural Theory One – Theory-lite

Integrating cultural & critical theory with research skills to support degree level study and is strongly linked to fine art studio practice. Your teaching and learning will be illustrated by lectures, small group seminars and presentations.

Studio Practice Two

Studio based learning is by one-to-one or group tutorial, small group discussion and cross level peer group. There are visiting lectures most weeks who do a talk about their own work and offer you tutorials. You will be set a series of experimental research and drawing based activities that will challenge your ideas about 2D and 3D art and gently drive you towards the beginnings of a self-directed material practice and greater independence.

Workshop Two

You will have access to workshop areas and technical support in the key disciplines of the Fine Art programmes. The workshops reflect the range of options across the various degree programmes. You will develop skills in your specialism and in one other discipline (painting, printmaking, sculpture and/or textiles).

Critical & Cultural Theory Two – Modernism

Integrating cultural & critical theory with research skills to support degree level study and is strongly linked to fine art studio practice. Your teaching and learning will be illustrated by lectures, small group seminars and presentations.

Studio Practice Three

Studio based learning is by one-to-one or group tutorial, small group discussion and cross level peer group. There are visiting lectures most weeks who do a talk about their own work and offer you tutorials.

You will build on your discoveries in year one by continuing with an experimental and materially based approach to making art that will drive your ideas and allow you to develop a clear territory for your self-directed studio practice.

You will build the skills developed in the workshop modules and/or other approaches developed by you individually such as installation, photography, video, sound and performance. ‘Material practice seminars’ offer space for a specialist focus.

Workshop Three – Skill Development

You will have access to workshop areas and technical support in the key disciplines of the Fine Art programmes. The workshops reflect the range of options across the various degree programmes. Building on the previous year, you will continue to develop skills in painting, printmaking, sculpture and/or textiles.

Critical & Cultural Theory Three – Romanticism

Integrating cultural & critical theory with research skills to support degree level study and is strongly linked to fine art studio practice. Your teaching and learning will be illustrated by lectures, small group seminars and presentations.

Studio Practice Four

Studio based learning is by one-to-one or group tutorial, small group discussion and cross level peer group. There are visiting lectures most weeks who do a talk about their own work and offer you tutorials.

You will build on your discoveries in year one by continuing with an experimental and materially based approach to making art that will drive your ideas and allow you to develop a clear territory for your self-directed studio practice.

You will build the skills developed in the workshop modules and/or other approaches developed by you individually such as installation, photography, video, sound and performance. ‘Material practice seminars’ continue to offer space for a specialist focus.

Workshop Four – External Projects (work placement)

In semester two your learning will become vocational; you will develop skills in professional practice in an external setting (of your choosing i.e. school, gallery/museum, healthcare environment or ‘public art’) in order to expand your understanding of how fine art practice can lead towards future employability.

Critical & Cultural Theory Four – Post-modernism

Integrating cultural & critical theory with research skills to support degree level study and is strongly linked to fine art studio practice. Your teaching and learning will be illustrated by lectures, small group seminars and presentations.

Essay or Vocational

In this optional 3,500 word project, you will explore and research a topic of your own choosing (academic or vocational), researching artists, artefacts and concepts in order to produce a self-directed critical text displaying coherent personal argument, analysis and expression developed through cumulative and considered individual research. Emphasis is placed on the depth rather than breadth of research, as you build on your learning from Levels 4 & 5 ‘Critical & Cultural Theory’ modules. You will be given tutorial support in the selection, evaluation, development and presentation of critical thought from a range of research resources.

Professional Practice

This is an optional module for full-time students only. You will give a short illustrated seminar presentation (artists’ talk) to selected Level 4 & 5 students, mapping the development of the critical context underpinning your own work and the development of your own material practice, relating it to relevant theory and artists who’ve inspired the work, and presenting your plans for when you graduate. You then produce a 1,000 word Self-Reflective Commentary that formalises the content of the seminar into a coherent text which articulates your own cumulative individual research and its resolution into the body of art practice presented for exhibition. You will also produce a ‘professional pack’ including CV & business card, photo documentation and a short exhibition statement.

Exhibition A – Degree Show

This module is for full-time students and it focuses on the development of practical work leading towards the final Degree Show (public exhibition), and the planning, selection and production processes involved in the Degree Show itself.

You will build on your discoveries from Year Two studio and workshop and a growing understanding of your ‘artistic territory’. You will continue with an experimental and materially based approach to making art work in a self-directed manner, displaying intellectual curiosity, a sense of adventure, an ability to deal with the unpredictable and significant independence.

‘Material practice seminars’ continue to offer a specialist focus.

Visual Contextual Research and Development

This module is for students on the part-time route only. You will critically engage in the development of processes, choice of materials and methods of production as well as the imagination and ambition in the progression of ideas and the investigation of creative solutions which effectively manifest those ideas. You will develop a clear awareness of the location of their working practice in relation to contemporary artists and relevant discourse. This will include visual evidence of the development of ideas and the application of materials through the production of samples, maquettes, documentation of visual experiments and written notes on the accumulation of ideas and outcomes. Material practice seminars’ continue to offer a specialist focus.

Portfolio and Display

This module is an optional module for part-time students. You will be required to produce and present a substantial and coherent body of work. You will focus on the concentrated development of specialist practice which may, as appropriate, be of an inter or multi-disciplinary nature. You will engage in self-initiated projects to build a body of work for the display. This should reflect a personal artistic vision as well as an informed understanding of the historic and contemporary critical context of the work.

Exhibition B

This module is for part-time students only and it requires the production and presentation of a sustained body of work leading towards the final Degree Show (public exhibition), and the planning, selection and production processes involved in the Degree Show itself. You will build on your discoveries from previous modules. The module focuses on the concentrated development in specialist, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary practices. You will engage on self-initiated projects to build a body of work for the final exhibition. The exhibition should reflect a personal, distinctive artistic vision as well as an understanding of critical approaches and historical and contemporary practices in the Visual Arts. You will be required to develop codes of professional practice including the photographic documentation of their, promotional material and a coherent written overview of their work. . ‘Material practice seminars’ continue to offer a specialist focus.

Teaching and Assessment

Learn in a student-centred environment and thrive as an artist

You will be taught through small lectures and seminars along with peer group critiques in the studio which will support your independent, self-directed work. You will learn to create your own negotiated pattern of work as you move towards an exhibition for your degree show in your final year.

You will experience a wide variety of approaches to learning through core and optional modules that build to form an incremental approach to fine art practice. The development of knowledge and skills is encompassed through the use of a wide range of materials, media and processes in studio and workshop activity to develop your practical skills and subject knowledge. The integration of the cultural, critical and theoretical debate and inquiry provides you with the ability to contextualise your work within academic frameworks.

You will experience a combination of practical assessment (including a public degree show at the end of year three), report writing, essays and presentations, using clear assessment criteria that reflect achievement.

Facilities

Dynamic learning spaces enabling you to develop your skills, talent and potential

St Michaels’ House

Based on the Bognor Regis campus, the Fine Art department is situated in the beautiful St. Michaels’ House, a building comprising specialist studio and workshop facilities. It is an exciting place to study, providing a dynamic and supportive learning environment for the production of original new art work. Here you’ll be dedicated your own personal studio space so you have the freedom to explore a range of contemporary media whilst developing your personal style.

Tech Park

You will also have access to the £35 million Tech Park which houses new specialist & digital equipment and incredible open-plan workshop spaces which will provide you with environments where you can create experimental, inventive and ambitious work. The workshops reflect the range of options across the key disciplines of the Fine Art programmes.

Workshops

As a painting and drawing student, you will have access to the life room which doubles as a large painting workshop space and to the wood workshop for making stretchers for canvas.

If you want to develop large scale installations, there is a large teaching space for video, light and sound projections.

Learning Resource Centre (LRC)

In addition, you can access the LRC, which is the hub of the learning environment. It provides a wealth of resources that you can take advantage of:

  • A modern library service with areas for quiet and silent study on both floors
  • A range of study areas for group study
  • Over 80 open access PC and Mac stations
  • Wi-Fi areas for laptop use
  • Substantial collection of books, journals and other materials to help you further your research
  • Online library resources you can access from anywhere at any time
  • Costa Coffee
  • Also situated in the Learning Resource Centre is the Support and Information Zone (SIZ) to help with any enquiries while at university
  • At SIZ, there’s an equipment loans centre offerings laptops, tablets and other electronic devices for short and long-term loans.

Placements

We are committed to ensuring our students are prepared for entering the art industry with confidence once graduating. In your second and third year, you will be enrolled on a specialist programme that focuses on aspects of professional practice and vocational experience. This experience is invaluable in terms of working to time and budgetary constraints, and in working with the public.

Our experienced team will arrange placements tailored to your long term aims. Previous placement projects include:

  • Teaching
  • Community arts projects
  • Site-specific commissions
  • Working in local galleries and museums (admin, marketing and gallery education)
  • Residencies in schools
  • Creating their own virtual gallery
  • Art sales
  • Exhibition and event development
  • Business plans for self-employment

Interviews and Portfolio Advice

Everything you need to know

You will have a choice of having a face-to-face interview with a physical folio or an online interview with a digital folio. We try to make your interview experience as pleasant as possible. We want you to be relaxed since this is when we are most likely to see the ‘real you’.

We want to find out about your art practice, your artistic preferences and your opinions about art but we will not be trying to catch you out with obscure questions. Be prepared, but don’t panic!

In preparing your portfolio you should try to reflect your potential as a visual maker and thinker suitable for a Fine Art Honours Degree. Here’s a list of what you may want to include:

  • Drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture and installation, art textiles, digital media, video art, and/or photography
  • An exciting and varied range of work that shows your potential and individual interests
  • Evidence of your creativity; this is the key to your success
  • Evidence of an experimental attitude; a willingness to test ideas and to find unexpected solutions – to think ‘out of the box’
  • Evidence of your artistic skills
  • Evidence of a knowledge of key artists
  • Sketchbooks

 

Read our Fine Art Interview and Portfolio guide for more information.

Degree Shows

Degree shows are organised each year and provide all Fine Art students with the opportunity to professionally exhibit their work to the public. With over several hundred visitors and much of the work sold, the overall atmosphere is second to none!

Visit our Fine Art Degree Shows and Events page for more information on previous and upcoming events.

Study Abroad

Explore the opportunity to study part of your course abroad

As a student at the University of Chichester, you can explore opportunities to study abroad during your studies as you enrich and broaden your educational experiences.

Students who have undertaken this in the past have found it to be an amazing experience to broaden their horizons, a great opportunity to meet new people, undertake further travelling and to immerse themselves within a new culture.

You will be fully supported throughout the process to help find the right destination institution for you and your course. We can take you through everything that you will need to consider, from visas to financial support, to help ensure that you can get the best out of your time studying abroad.

Careers

Turn your passion for art into a career

As a Painting and Drawing student, you will undertake external projects and receive careers advice so you are prepared to pursue your desired career or to undertake postgraduate study. This course prides itself in embedding creativity (in all it’s components) and communication skills centrally within the degree programme. The course offers students further key skills that are both useful for artists but, more importantly, are life-skills that will help them in varied employment situations.

This course will provide you with the opportunity to develop skills across a broad range of areas and become resourceful, reflective learners, finding creative solutions to new problems with the ability to be self-disciplined and able to work independently. Creativity, thinking ‘out of the box’ and good communication skills (visual, verbal, and written) are all key skills that employers are seeking, and these are fundamental skills developed by Painting and Drawing.

  • Illustrator
  • Painter
  • Art therapist
  • Arts administrator
  • Animator
  • Commercial art gallery manager
  • Museum/gallery exhibitions officer
  • Art teacher or art technician
  • Artist
  • Design, photography, marketing and communications
  • Community based artist
  • Graphic designer

You may decide to continue your study at the University of Chichester and undertake a postgraduate degree. Our postgraduate courses offer you the opportunity to deepen your knowledge and greatly improve your career prospects. Postgraduate study options available at Chichester include PGCE and PhD:

  • PGCE Primary
  • Postgraduate Research (PhD)

Partnerships

The University of Chichester is surrounded by an abundance of local partners including galleries, charities and schools. These partners help to support initiatives such as work placements, guest speakers, and providing students with excellent industry contacts and networking opportunities.

Course Costs

Course Fees 2024/25

UK fee
£9,250
International Fee
£15,840

For further details about fees, please see our Tuition Fees page.

For further details about international scholarships, please see our Scholarships page.

To find out about any additional costs on this course, please see our Additional Costs page.

Additional Costs

UK gallery trips and additional materials vary by individual but can be in the region of £1,200 in total across the whole degree programme.

Entry Requirements

Typical Offer (individual offers may vary)

UCAS
96 -120
tariff points
A Levels*
BBB - CCC
with Fine Art or Photography or Textiles at B
IB
28 points
to include a 5 in Visual Arts at Higher level.
Foundation Diploma
in Art
BTEC / Cambridge Technical
DDM - DMM
Access to HE Diploma (Fine Art)
Pass
with 15 level 3 Merits.
IELTS
6.0 overall
with no element lower than 5.5

*or combination with AS / EPQ / BTEC / Cambridge Technical

Interviews

You will be required to bring your portfolio and to discuss the development of your work and your interests and inspirations in Fine Art.

 

Want to find out more about our Fine Art courses?

Our Chichester on Demand website is filled with content, videos and downloadable documents that will provide you with more information on studying Fine Art at the University of Chichester.

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