Art Degrees Online

This course offers the opportunity to explore and become proficient in the skills of Traditional Photography. You will have the opportunity to learn use of the camera, studio photography, portraiture, urban landscapes, film processing and photographic printing. You will be required to produce your own work at all times, both at college and in your own time. You will research contemporary artists and photographers and relate that to your work. During the course there will be an option to look at some elements of digital photography. The course is suitable for both novices and students with more subject experience.
Entry Requirements

No formal entry requirements but you should be motivated and demonstrate an interest in the subject you wish to pursue. Whilst largely for adults of all ages with some experience, there are a few opportunities for beginners.
How is my work assessed?

These classes focus on the joy of creative practice in the visual arts and there is no formal assessment. You will be guided by your tutor in continuously evaluating what you create as a natural part of development through learning.
Can I study further?

Whilst these classes are not intended as preparatory, they may help you progress to one of our undergraduate programmes.
What are my employability prospects?

Again, these classes are intended as learning experiences in their own right but they may enhance your employability by developing new or existing skills

This course is an opportunity for you to establish an individual critical and creative practice in photography. You develop technical and professional skills in analogue and digital image-making, film based technologies, digital video and web authoring. You have access to our Digital Imaging Centre, which offers an extensive range of digital authoring and publishing options. Our lecturers are practising photographers and we offer a stimulating programme of lectures by visiting artists, writers, curators and commissioners.

Areas of study are:
Reflections On Realism
Representation & The Construction Of Identity
Contextualisation
Reality & Representation
Images Of Cultural Convention
Visual Strategy & Dialogues Of Dissent
Time Space & The Definition Of Experience
New Worlds – The Creation Of Metaphoric Space

In the first year you will work on a set building project which will include a website that features an archive of previous projects and live online
production diaries for the year. In the Spring the project will be based in the studio where there will be live web cams. This project is fairly high profile and is supported
companies such as Arri Lighting GB, DRS Construction, Hasselblad UK, CirroLite.

hotography & Imaging Curriculum
The curriculum is built around two principal areas: creative practice and critical studies. More
Spring 2009 Course Offerings (pdf)
This course pack includes course descriptions for Photography & Imaging majors and instructions for non majors who wish to take courses in Photography & Imaging. More
Spring 2009 Semester Schedule (pdf)
More
Critical Studies Minor
An internal minor within the BFA Curriculum of Photography and Imaging More
Studio and Critical Studies Courses
Students are required to take classes in the department in studio and critical studies, and in the College of Arts and Science (CAS) in the liberal arts. More

The Photography Department at Edinburgh College of Art has a strong international reputation, with students achieving at the very highest level. Recent major awards won by students include the John Kobal Prize, The Jerwood Prize, Fuji Student Photographer of the Year, the Audi Award for Contemporary Photography and the ICI/Olmec Student Digital Photographer of the Year.

The MA and MFA programmes provide graduates of photography, or graduates from another discipline with some demonstrable skill in photography, to use the medium to examine and explore a theme of their own choosing and to produce a resolved body of practical work allied to rigorous research and professional practice.

At Edinburgh College of Art, photography is viewed as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. It is a path to self-expression through the production of considered and resolved work. The range of practice within the Department is as wide as we can make it and includes advanced level documentary, landscape, portraiture, constructed imagery, installation and video.

These programmes are primarily designed as a means of developing and extending creative practice and are intellectually and critically underpinned by theoretical study. Students who wish to concentrate on theory will find the programmes offered by the Centre for Visual & Cultural Studies more appropriate; Contemporary Art Theory, Visual Culture and Visual and Material Culture.

Year one modules
• introduction to technologies and equipment • animation techniques • development and delivery of digital content • cultural and ethical impact of digital technologies • contemporary animation and media practice • animation and moving image • specialism

Year two modules
• theories of creative practice • new media • film/video theory • critical methods • drawing, rendering and creative realisation

Year three modules
• creative practice • dissertation • professional placement (subject to availability) • animation/film making workshops • collaborative projects

The six fine art degree awards reflect the expansion of media that is a hallmark of contemporary fine art practice. All six awards share a common structure, providing the core skills and knowledge required to be a successful practitioner in the ever-broadening sphere of fine art. The courses are dedicated to the development of studio practice and offer a dynamic curriculum that embraces creativity, encourages ambition and cultivates talent and skill. Practical training is combined with stimulating intellectual discussions of key theoretical debates in the visual arts. In addition, there is a programme featuring national and international visiting artists and visits to major national and international exhibitions.

What you do

At Level 1 you are provided with the opportunity to sample a wide range of media that relate to the various pathways. In addition, you will explore critical, theoretical perspectives. At Level 2 you will pursue your chosen pathway at a more advanced stage together with theoretical studies.

At Level 3 you will work towards your final degree exhibition. In addition, you will follow common professional practice modules to equip you with appropriate knowledge and skills for careers in the creative industries.

Taking a fine art orientation, the animation pathway will facilitate creative practice in areas such as digital and traditional animation,claymation, stop-motion and computer game design. There is a long history of animation as fine art practice. This degree enables fine artists to enter what has become a rapidly expanding field of practice. The demand for this area has increased three-fold over the past year and reflects the increased demand for on and offline animation-based art practice. The degree will also provide valuable digital media skills, enhancing employment options.

Where next

A fine art degree equips students with many of the essential transferable skills needed to be both employable and entrepreneurial in a wide range of creative industries. Production skills, new media skills (photography, video, animation, digital media), communication skills, team-working skills, initiative and an innovative approach to problem solving, are all desirable attributes
to employers.

The variety of awards offered provides a solid foundation for a broad range of arts-related occupations in the public and commercial sectors. Notable fine art graduates from Staffordshire University hold positions that are indicative of this diversity, such as: Senior Pictures Editor of the Independent on Sunday magazine; Director, Goldsworthy gallery, New York; and Model Designer for Hogwart’s Castle on the Harry Potter films. In addition, many UK museums and galleries have our graduates working at the very highest levels, and artists such as Alan Currall and Richard Hughes have won many prestigious contemporary art awards and have been represented in national and international exhibitions.