front page MA Fine Art

Birmingham City University United Kingdom, Birmingham

Prospectus

Overview

The MA Fine Art course is one of the longest standing master’s courses in the field and as such has a significant regional, national and international reputation.

The course is located in the School of Art which is a QAA* and RAE** recognised centre of excellence for art-based learning and research. It was one of the first (1884) purpose-built Municipal Art Schools to be built in the country. It is Grade 1 listed and provides you with a fantastic 21^stcentury studio based and technologically supported resource in the heart of the living city.

As part of the integrated Art-Based Masters Programme, MA Fine Art offers you the opportunity to develop your art work in relationship to a wide range of historical and contemporary theories and contexts.

The course is committed to enabling you to develop within the context of both specific disciplines (including: collaborative practice, digital media, drawing, film and video, installation, interventions, painting, performance, photography, print, sculpture) and interdisciplinary practices.

MA Fine Art course is in receipt of Arts and Humanities Research Council Block Grant support.

*Quality Assurance Agency

**Research Assessment Exercise

A Selection of Student Projects

Lisa Metherell - Project: ‘Queer Encounters with Art’ (AHRC funded at Birmingham City University)

"I started the MA Fine Art course concerned with how my cultural studies background would fit with the more usual fine art routes. This background turned out to be a strength as the MA supports and encourages inter and cross-disciplinary work and I was able to do some interesting collaborations. I found that I received valuable input right the way through the course in both my studio-based practice and my extended essay. Tutors are good at both playing to your strengths (it is your project after all; your MA), and challenging you to take your work in interesting directions. For me the biggest strength of the MA was its commitment to the dialogue between practice and theory. That combined with the opportunity to really go to town on my final MA show. Strong support from the staff was given to the development of my PhD application and I am now just beginning this AHRC funded research."

Dr James Preston - Project:  'Development Programming for Participatory Art'

"Beginning the MA was daunting and having been accepted through an alternative route (not the usual BA Fine Art route) I did find that keeping up was hard work – but then I am quite good at hard work. I was also funding myself through the year so juggling work and study and shows was a new skill that I acquired quickly. The great benefit for me was that I was being questioned all the time by the staff and other students and the process was very much one of self-appraisal, examination of practice and production. As my year progressed I became interested in participation and that became a major part of my final presentation. The enabled me to develop my interest in participatory practices and the philosophy of colour which has become the subject of my PhD research. The MA is a stepping stone and you get out of it what you put into it." 

Chris Poolman- Project: ‘Stupidity and the Artist as a Performative Construct’

The MA Fine Art provided Chris with the foundation from which to develop his PhD proposal which is AHRC funded at the University. Chris is currently investigating the way that performed idiocy and stupidity call attention to the performativity of being an artist. He is exploring the ways idiocy and stupidity can be employed as a 'tactic' within art practice to question and critique the 'strategies' of intelligibility inherent in art. Indeed, can idiocy and stupidity in art generate alternative models of art practice?

Keir Williams- Project: ‘Digital Stories: Interventions for Performing Digital Media’

The MA Fine Art provided Keir with the foundation from which to develop his professional practice and his PhD proposal.Kier is an artist and researcher now based in London and he is working on hisEPRSC sponsored PhD@ Queen Mary University London. His individual arts practice is concerned with how creative digital tools effect and can be enacted using the performing body. As part of his practice he works with young people in creating video and performance pieces.

Jacqueline Taylor- Project: ‘Writing/Painting;l’écriture feminineand difference in the making. (AHRC funded at Birmingham City University)

“I am currently undertaking a PhD having completed my MA in Fine Art which helped me to identify my current research concerns. My research aims to explore the interrelation of painting//writing processes utilisingl'écriture féminineas a theoretical framework. The research aims to destabilising the masculine/feminine binary relations and create an alternative space for feminine/non-phallocentric subjectivities. This includes investigating the implications of painting as a performative practice and hybrid writing//painting methodologies which are to be developed as part of the research.