Masters degrees in Sculpture equip postgraduates with the skills to represents both realistic and abstract objects through three-dimensional such as clay, stone, wood and metal.
Taught MA degrees are typical for this subject, though research oriented MRes and MPhil programmes may also be available at some institutions. Entry requirements normally include an appropriate undergraduate degree such as Art, Ceramic or Design Technology.
Led by Reader in Time-based Media Jordan Baseman, the Sculpture programme establishes a framework that encompasses the material, historical and theoretical conditions of sculpture where students are supported to develop their own practice.
Sculpture includes object-making, public art and social practices, site and space, performance, sound, film and video: but rather than consider the specific manifestations of sculpture we prefer to think of our position as a methodology from which to progress the production of art.
The Sculpture programme provides a structure that incorporates both individual and group tutorials, as well as a dedicated seminar programme. Critical reviews of student work are conducted consistently throughout the year, at the end of each term and we invite external visitors to contribute to these discussions when they become School-wide. Our students are eager, determined, inquisitive, ambitious – actively defining their own terms in regards to the ideas and actualities of Sculpture.
Sculpture occupies a purpose-built studio space at the RCA’s Battersea campus, alongside the other School of Fine Art programmes. Students have access to all specialist workshops across the College, including wood and metal workshops, spray rooms and our celebrated foundry, in which we facilitate casting with bronze, aluminum and iron. There are project spaces in which students can experiment with larger-scale production and display, as well as the practicalities of documentation. We have high-end computer suites with full 3D modeling facilities, alongside a number of still and moving image workstations.
The programme offers:
The MA Fine Art is a broad, studio-based programme with an open and inclusive approach to fine art practice. The programme encourages both specialist and cross-disciplinary approaches enabling students to extend and deepen their knowledge and application of fine art practice.
The curriculum is structured on Practice as Research, through which specialist studio disciplines are developed within cultural, aesthetic and socio-political contexts supporting the creative exploration of ideas through practical skills, research methodologies, theoretical and analytical frameworks. This places individual practice at the centre of the programme. Studio-based modules run throughout the programme and maintain the dynamic interrelation between visual research, concepts and theory. Studio research can be developed within: painting, textiles, sculpture (including ceramics), printmaking and digital media.
Over the past few years, we’ve redeveloped both of our campuses so that you have the best facilities available for your degree. We pride ourselves on the quality of the learning environment we can offer our students.
The Art department are situated in the dedicated artOne building comprising outstanding 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.
The well-equipped workshops and studios provide environments for you to create experimental, inventive and ambitious work. The main studio space in the purpose built artOne building provides individual studio spaces for all students as well as bookable spaces for installation, performance and projection work. If you are doing studio practice modules, you will be allocated a personal studio base in which you can carry out your self-directed projects and art work.
All students also 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. A distinctive aspect of the department is that of individualized working areas in the studio space.
You will become part of a network of artists that will offer support and a challenging context in which to develop your work. Key to this community are fine art staff who, as practising artists, bring their knowledge and experience of a range of professional arts environments to the programme.
The staff team are linked to local, regional and national networks including galleries, museums, regional funding agencies and community based projects. Undergraduate and Postgraduate programmes have strong connections with Pallant House Gallery, Chichester Festival Theatre, Goodwood Sculpture Park and galleries in Portsmouth, Southampton, Brighton and London.
The wider arts community at the University of Chichester includes postgraduate and research students in MA Dance, Performance and Music and you will be able to experience the breadth of these practice based disciplines, and other academic research through research seminar programmes, presentations, theatre events and visiting speakers.
The course provides the opportunity to concentrate on a specific area of research.
Potential Careers
Recent students have worked on site-specific commissions, community arts projects, and work placements with local galleries and museums, residencies in schools, and even creating their own virtual gallery. The experience is invaluable in terms of working to time and budgetary constraints, and in dealing with the public.
Distinctive features of the course:
Optional modules:
To gain an MA students need to complete four out of five modules plus the Independent Exhibition. This is an independent research project, and is largely practical, culminating in a professional context exhibition.
All sessions are held at the University of Chichester’s Bishop Otter Campus. Full time students are given a studio space, and full and part time students have access to workshop facilities. All students benefit from access to large studio spaces during the summer months. Study contact sessions take place on Wednesday’s and Thursday’s across Semester 1 and 2 and the summer period.
Full time – 12 months (September to September).
Part time – 24 months (September to September)
The Course aims to:
This course draws on the School’s considerable research reputation and professional expertise in the areas of painting, photography, performance, film and video, sculpture, installations, public art and print-making. This fascinating programme provides highly focused teaching, alongside a critical lecture series within an intellectually supportive environment.
You will be supported by some of the most dynamic artists and researchers in the School. You get the chance to benefit from field trips and gallery visits. Alongside the development of your creative studio work you will gain an understanding of key aspects of art history and theory, as well as an awareness of the social and institutional context within which artworks exist. On completion of the course, your practical work will be exhibited and publicised in a group MA exhibition.
Take a look at some examples of work produced by students for MA Fine Art.
Typical modules include:
The Fine Art Course provides a studio intensive programme supported through theoretical and contextual lecture series, studio based seminar critique and individual tutorials. The ethos of the course is to provide students with the time and space to develop ideas and practice towards the final off-site MA exhibition; this includes the structure of personal research and the development of the critical and/or theoretical emphasis behind your work in order to understand the methodological framework of your working practice.
You will have time to reappraise and analyse previous work, develop new ideas in relation to your practice and it’s theoretical underpinning then consolidate those ideas practically. Finally you will bring those ideas and your work to resolution and focus towards the MA exhibition. The course provides students with the knowledge, ambition and structure in order to proceed towards their future career ambitions. Within the programme you will have the opportunity to develop your awareness of exhibition and the display of your work as well as the audiences for that work. The MA Fine Art course will support you in structuring an advanced independent practice, underpinned by sustained critical engagement.
Matthew Evans MA Fine Art
Matthew Evans completed his MA Fine Art with distinction and has since received several commissions for his innovative new approach; creating bespoke modern-day coat of arms, including a £10k commission for the The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital in Birmingham. He has also been selectedfor the New Art West Midlands 2013 Exhibition at Birmingham Art Gallery Museum which showcases the best of West Midland’s graduates.
"As a result of studying the MA course I have grown professionally as an artist. By adopting a ‘take a risk’ attitude I have been able to further refine my artistic practice and anchor it within the most critically interesting areas. By embracing the challenge of diversification, and enjoying the critical dialogue embedded within the course, I have resolved a number of sticking points, and identified areas for future development.
I chose to study my MA at the University of Wolverhampton as I felt I needed to breathe new life into my practise and relished the challenge of experiencing a new exciting creative environment. The artistic facilities on offer to students and the glowing reputations of the SAD staff and support technicians also played a key role in my decision.
What particularly impressed me about the course was not only the availability and approachability of the lecturers but the general sense of cohesion felt as a student. As well as extensive access to lecturers, and the intensively taught aspects of the course, there are many MA excursions that are incredibly beneficial.
As a positive side note, my affinity with the University has continued this September, with me becoming the Fine Art Artist in Residence for this year."
Other student comments:
“The MA has greatly expanded my knowledge of Fine Art.”
“I feel that I’m being supported in my work and that the best of my talent is being encouraged.”
“The lecturers are knowledgeable and enthusiastic and I’m grateful for both their input and the input of the other students”.
“I’m confident it’s setting me up with the right skills and knowledge to succeed in a career within the arts”.
“I’m glad that I made the decision to do the MA; it’s been a positive turning point in my life”.
The Contemporary Art MA programme at Estonian Academy of Arts gives students and teaching staff ample time and opportunities to socialise and focus on creating art. The study format is very open, in constant dialogue with both the contemporary art world and society, while at the same providing time and space for inner reflection.
- Author-focussed tutoring for contemporary artists;
- Local and visiting artists, curators, philosophers, theorists and gallerists working with students;
- Individual freedom to design one’s own curriculum, within a diverse programme that offers theoretical tools and practical trainings;
- The option to develop one’s art practice through the studios of sound art, lens-based art, installation and sculpture, graphic art and painting;
- Individual and group tutorials, cross-faculty group critique sessions;
- Commitment to developing and profounding conceptual and social ideas in an individual art practice;
- A critical discursive environment for discussions about making, displaying and thinking about contemporary art and contemporary society;
- Flexible studio spaces and workshops in a new building of the Academy;
- Access to technical workshops across the Academy, with specialists to assist all students projects: virtual prototyping and 3D printing studios, traditional and digital print workshops, analogue and digital darkrooms, photo studio, sound recording and filming studios, wood and metal workshops, modern black box, and the monumental sculpture studio;
- A continuous programme of off-site events, study trips, exhibitions;
- Opportunities for exhibitions in galleries, museums, study trips and collaboration with different art institutions and universities and exchange programs (KUNO, DAMA, ERASMUS).
EKA offers a well-rounded and multifaceted approach to learning. Contemporary art, criticism and theory, author-based architecture, innovative and skill-based design, animation and stage art, curatorial practices are combined for thorough interdisciplinary studies. Here, you can be part of making something that really matters. Your artistic impact would be noticed and would make an impact.
Estonia is small; all important connections and resources are within arm’s length. We cooperate closely with Tallinn Technical University, Tallinn University, and the Estonian Music Academy. We arrange art events and exhibitions with the Estonian Contemporary Art Museum, Kumu Art Museum, Tallinn Art Hall and the Artists’ Association’s Galleries in the city centre. It is easy to access the different political, commercial, social, educational institutions.
The development of your individual artistic practice is important for you. If the processes in society matter to you and you are passionate about your surroundings. If you like to think, imagine, create and dream. If you are motivated and ambitious, dedicated and enthusiastic, have creative confidence and critical thinking.
More information: https://www.artun.ee/masters/contemporary-art/
The Master of Fine Art in Fine Art (MFA) provides postgraduate studio-based arts practice, critical theory in fine arts and access to the professional skills and knowledge to succeed in a career in the fine arts. The programme will appeal to independent artists wanting to extend their practice within a critical research framework supported by practicing tutors. Artists looking to extend their career path into curatorial practice in the contemporary arts, collaborative projects with arts organisations, arts in socially engaged practices and/or further research will find support for this trajectory in this broad-based programme. Teaching involves lectures, seminars, and group and individual tutorials from active artists with research profiles. The programme will equip you with creative, interpretive, critical and analytical skills to develop an advanced understanding of contemporary art and its social, cultural and historical contexts.
The image above shows a close up of the work Nova by Saad Querishi, a former student of Fine Art at Oxford Brookes. Saad has been commissioned to produce a piece of work for the new areas of the campus and will be acting as a resource for the students on the programme.
Your artistic practice – An independent studio environment enables you to further your work within a supported critical framework. Through group and individual tutorials, staff/peer critique and presentations, an incremental approach is applied whereby you will confidently develop your work towards public exhibition/dissemination. There are two formal exhibitions during the MFA programme.
Flexible studio options – Students may select to locate their studio either at Oxford Brookes or elsewhere. Students working from their own studios will be eligible for a reduced tuition fee.
Technical resources – The School of Arts’ workshops offer supported working environments in a range of specialist areas including: sculpture, photography, video, sound, printmaking and book-works. All our workshops are staffed by highly skilled and creative Technical Specialists.
Extra-curricular activities – You will gain exposure to a range of contemporary artistic practice through the thriving creative student community in the School of Arts at Oxford Brookes. You will participate in the lectures and film screenings set up by the Fine Art Research (FAR) Group. These include visiting contemporary artists, critics, curators and notable alumni. Free life drawing classes extend your drawing skills and optional local, regional and international field trips provide further stimulus.
Theoretical framework – Your ability to articulate your own creative position is enabled through a critical engagement with a range of scholarship informed by diverse practices by nationally and internationally recognised artists, collectives and movements. An early theoretical module explores contemporary art discourse through seminars informed by selected readings and in a later module you develop a more intense involvement with theory related to your individual research interests.
Professional development – The programme enables you to identify a professional focus which is likely to inform your subsequent career trajectory. This might involve research preparation, a placement, a collaborative project or exhibition management/curatorial practice. With the guided experience in this module our graduates are better prepared for a successful career as a professional artist.
Careers and professional development
In addition to the support, teaching and development opportunities afforded by the curriculum, as a student you will be immersed in the active arts environment of the School. During your studies with us you will have access to the visiting speakers arranged for this and for other arts programmes, for the seminars and conferences in diverse fields, including publishing, film, music and digital production in the School. The field trips, visiting artists, PhD students and opportunities in the programme’s Professional Experience module offer a rich network of individuals and organisations that enable you to make useful contacts for your future career.
Careers
Graduates from this programme will be well equipped to pursue their practice as independent artists who have a well-developed understanding of the theoretical and professional contexts of the current and contemporary landscape of the arts and creative industries.
This programme is delivered within the School of Arts, which offers a vibrant environment for the creative industries including film, photography, music and publishing. Through the modules, which address practice, theory and professional experience, students are provided with links to engage with employment and further study opportunities, either as independent practitioners, facilitators or participants within a range of group and collaborative practices and contexts.
Free language courses for students - the Open Module
Free language courses are available to full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students on many of our courses, and can be taken as a credit on some courses.
Please note that the free language courses are not available if you are:
The MFA program in photography and related media emphasizes a broad interpretation of photography as a conceptual art form, with the intention of inspiring and nurturing the individuality of each student as a creative, productive artist. The program encourages graduate study in photography and related media as a means to personal, aesthetic, intellectual, and career development.
The curriculum provides a focus of study that is continually sensitive to the needs of each student, building upon the strengths each individual brings to the program. Successful completion of the program enables students to seek careers in fields including education, museum or gallery work, or as self-employed visual artists.
The program provides students with the opportunity to use the still and moving image as a means to:
Distribution of work within these guidelines is subject to modification based upon the candidate’s background, abilities, and interests. An individualized course of study is prepared with the advice of the graduate faculty and made a matter of record. Modifications in this prescribed program thereafter must be approved and recorded.
Elective courses are available in areas such as, but not limited to, video, printmaking, painting, sculpture, communication design, crafts, bookmaking, graphic design, new media, computer graphics, art history, and archival preservation and conservation. A complete list of graduate electives is available through the student's adviser. There are also graduate electives offered throughout the university. Students also have opportunities to enhance their studies through independent studies and internships.
Matriculation from the MFA program is obtained when the student has completed and mounted their graduate thesis exhibition, successfully passed their thesis defense, and submitted their thesis publication. The thesis must be an original body of work appropriate to the major commitment of the degree. The thesis publication is a professional, published presentation of the thesis project, which must be submitted, in both print and digital form. It must contain an extended artist statement and a presentation of the majority of thesis artwork. It is prepared for inclusion in the Wallace Library, the School's Archive, and the Graduate Annex Space. The verbal defense requires a public address by the student, discussion of the thesis project, and exhibition in a digital presentation format.
The MFA program in photography and related media and the BFA program in photographic and imaging arts are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
MA Fine Art is an opportunity to look at the familiar with a fresh, perhaps oblique perspective in order to explore how “detour” permits “access”(Jullien 2004) to more subtle yet more complex interpretations. What constitutes a meaningful and useful research methodology in one culture may be considered unknown, unnecessary or redundant in another. These differences are at the very fabric of the Fine Art course; establishing deliberate cross-cultural dialogues with students from International and UK backgrounds and providing a vehicle for highlighting differences in working practices and methodologies.
Recognising the individual and their aspirations, and celebrating ideas and risk-taking, our approach and experience of encouraging inter-disciplinary and collaborative activity lies with the provision of a meaningful journey for our students beyond the obvious.
They meet the fresh, often unpredictable and certainly challenging possibilities that are offered as they test, develop, progress, interrogate, ‘make’ and confidently reflect on their practice.
Our guiding principle is to offer distinctive and exciting opportunities for students to engage in their respective subject discipline in order to redefine their particular individual approach to their practice and position it within their chosen external creative economic and cultural environment.
Crucial to the course is that each student demonstrates a passion for their practice within their chosen medium and subject discipline.
See our online student gallery for examples of our student's work.
Want to develop your artistic practice to a higher level? Building on your previous studies, our Fine Art Master’s degree aims to develop and broaden your knowledge and skills using new and alternative media. External partners and arts-based agencies provide opportunities to engage directly with the world of contemporary fine art.
Our MA in Fine Art offers an exciting opportunity to explore, develop and create. This course gives you the freedom to enhance your practical and creative skills, underpinned by a contextual research-based programme of critical studies. You’ll have a personal supervisor and work in the studio alongside your fellow MA Fine Art students. In addition, sessions focusing on entrepreneurial and contemporary exhibition/curatorial skills will help to extend your understanding of current practice and business management.
During your studies, you’ll develop a body of work for exhibition in the purpose-built fine art studio/exhibition area, to be held at the end of the course. You’ll have the chance to apply for commissions and work for external agencies, and be encouraged to make external links through exhibition or artist-in-residency opportunities.
Former Fine Art students were instrumental in founding Neo:artists Studios, a Bolton-based internationally-recognised contemporary art group with a dynamic exhibition programme. As an MA student you’ll have opportunities to access the facilities and mentoring at Neo:artists, in addition to the tuition and guidance you receive at the University.
For more information please visit http://www.bolton.ac.uk/postgrad
Do you want to know more about your roots in terms of ancestry, history, influences and reasons why you or others moved? Are you interested in Scottish heritage from the point of view of arts, music, history, literature, architecture and major enlightenment periods, the clans through to civil wars and battles and effects on migration of people?
Scottish Heritage is known far and wide for its richness in terms of cultural identify, the way it has travelled to other countries where Scottish people settled and how this rich past of people moving in and out of Scotland has influenced major heritage of today, innovations, ancestry and roots of a great many people in the UK, Europe and internationally. This programme brings together many elements of Scottish History to provide you with a rich tapestry of cultural knowledge, historical knowledge and the changes which affected emigration and movement of Scottish people to many communities in the UK and internationally. You discover the European influences, the different periods of major change culturally and in terms of people, and you explore visual history and researching archives.
You are taught by the School of Divinity, History, Philosophy, History, History of Art to conduct research, read and explore the vast areas of Scottish Heritage. Experts will guide you through literature, poetry, art, cultural traditions, history and context and much more. This is a unique degree which takes full advantage of the wealth of cultural, historical and art history knowledge in University of Aberdeen and allows you to work at your own pace in finding out more about this fascinating area.
Careers in this area can be within teaching at local or community level, work in heritage attractions. International work can include re-invention of cultural areas overseas to explore identity, museums, research, publishing and more. You may wish to take your studies further to explore a specific area of interest to you. University of Aberdeen was founded in 1495 by Bishop Elphinstone to provide learning and study in specific historical areas which would influence social and business life of people in the North East of Scotland. The campus dates from the Middle Ages with tours being provided on site around the stunning buildings and streets.. Students come from Scotland and internationally to the campus or choose to study online. From Aberdeen nearby attractions include Orkney and Shetland - from the ferry in the city centre, the Highlands and Inverness, the wild Cairngorms National Park, the birthplace of J.M Barrie in Angus, and much more.
Courses listed for the programme
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Find out more detail by visiting the programme web page
£1300 per module
Find out about international fees:
Find out more about fees on the programme page
*Please be advised that some programmes also have additional costs.
View all funding options on our funding database via the programme page and the latest postgraduate opportunities
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