BA Visual Art

About this course

Visual art as an academic and studio discipline is grounded in the belief that making images, objects and environments is a serious form of human inquiry, not merely a skilled craft or a professional service. Artists engage with questions about perception, identity, culture, politics and the material world, and the processes of making, whether through painting, sculpture, photography, video, installation or performance, are the means by which those questions are pursued. A degree in visual art develops your creative voice, your critical intelligence and your ability to situate your practice within the broader history and theory of art. At the University of Suffolk this three-year full-time programme is described as broad-based and interdisciplinary, aiming to equip you with the technical, reflective and entrepreneurial skills to develop your creative voice and progress into economically sustainable creative careers. Suffolk's approach to the degree reflects an understanding that artists today need to be resourceful practitioners who can work across media, engage critically with their own work and the work of others, and navigate the professional landscape of galleries, residencies, commissions and independent practice. You will work in studios and workshops, experimenting with a range of materials and approaches, and you will engage with critical and theoretical writing that helps you contextualise your practice within wider cultural and artistic conversations. The entrepreneurial emphasis means you will also think about how artists sustain careers: how to write about your work, how to approach applications for funding and residencies, and how to build the professional networks that support a long creative life. Graduates pursue careers as practising artists, arts educators, community arts workers, curators, arts administrators, gallery assistants and creative freelancers across a wide range of roles. Many go on to postgraduate study in fine art or related disciplines. The degree is well suited to anyone with a serious commitment to developing a personal artistic practice and the intellectual curiosity to understand what that practice is and why it matters.

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