Fine Art

Our Fine Arts BA (Hons) degree offers an exciting way for you to investigate, participate in and contribute ideas to the field of contemporary art.

It uses both practical and theoretical classes to develop your unique and individual artistic abilities, and fosters your creative skills by developing your critical and analytical insight.

The Fine Arts degree emphasises the relationship between practice and theory, enabling cognitive skills to be intrinsic to studio based practice, where exceptional facilities and expertise supports a range of fine art practices, ranging from drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, moving image, photography, to temporal performance.

With particular focus on the connections between art, culture and politics, in relation to the public sphere, sustainability, environmental aesthetics, and identity in a global community, a degree in Fine Arts provides you with a wide array of transferable skills and employment opportunities within a wide sphere of the creative industries.

Alongside the freedom to express your imaginative ideas using a variety of media, the Fine Arts degree is fully supported by practising artists and research intensive staff who help develop your thinking, respond to your work and challenge you to understand the wider cultural and critical fields within which it resides. We have strong connections with LU Arts, Loughborough University’s arts programme, who work closely with the Fine Art course, offering opportunities to participate in events, artists’ talks and exhibitions. 

Why you should study this course

Students on our Fine Arts degree are encouraged to gain recognition and experience by entering industry renowned competitions. Awards recently won include; BP National Portrait Gallery, Bloomberg New Contemporaries and Fresh Art Best National Student Award, among others.

You'll have access to a range of exhibition opportunities, creative and culture events to enable you to develop your professional skills.

As a final year undergraduate, you will organise and manage an exhibition showcasing your outstanding final projects and other work. Many pieces are purchased over the course of the exhibition, as well as students being head-hunted by industry attendees. 

What you'll study

Our BA Fine Arts degree aims to provide a supportive and intellectually stimulating environment through which to facilitate your acquisition of advanced practical and critical skills in contemporary fine art practice.

This is achieved by embedding the development of core practical skills – ranging across traditional and new media, 2D and 3D forms, analogue and digital processes – within an innovative and conceptually challenging curriculum.

This is supported by a core art history and visual culture lecture series, which facilitates an understanding of diverse contexts for art production and consumption (within the studio and beyond) and fosters a critical engagement with art’s historical, theoretical, cultural, political, social and ethical dimensions.

Year 1 is introductory and experimental, allowing students to explore and develop a range of skills with drawing as a central core of activity. Students are also introduced to the range of workshop practices in the School, to explore different approaches to contemporary Fine Art practice. This is underpinned by a rigorous introduction to contemporary art practice, art history, theory and research skills. Year 2 is developmental, allowing you to build upon your skills and experiment with the techniques of your choice. In combination with this experimentation, you are introduced to key contemporary concepts, historical practices and art theories to enable you to locate and develop critical discourses on your practice. The final year is focused on using your accumulated skills and experience to develop your independent practice as you work towards the degree show exhibition. You will also have the opportunity to extend your academic portfolio through a dissertation or research report.

Applicants are selected on the basis of their UCAS application, and also a portfolio submission and interview in order to assess academic potential beyond that provided as part of the application. An interview also gives applicants the opportunity to visit the School, meet staff and students, see facilities and get an insight into what it is like to be a student at Loughborough.  Loughborough accepts a wide range of qualifications for entry.

What are the English language requirements to study here?

The standard University IELTS English language requirements is 6.5 overall with 6.0 in each individual element (reading, writing, listening and speaking). Some Schools/Departments may require higher levels of English language than those specified. The requirements needed, will be sent to you in your offer communication.

For Research Degrees, some Schools/Departments may ask for a higher standard of English language qualifications due to the nature of the research work involved. Details will be included in your offer letter if this applies.

For Undergraduate Degree courses, some Schools/Departments may require higher levels than those specified.  These higher levels are detailed, where relevant and more information can be found here.

Generally the English Language test should have been taken within the previous two years, but where the test is older, evidence of continuing use of English, whether in the workplace or elsewhere, in the intervening period may be required.

Future career

A degree in Fine Art can open up a variety of potential career paths and postgraduate study opportunities.

These include as an artist, art therapist, teacher, curator, art buyer and art editor, as well as other careers in marketing, branding, performing arts, public relations, gallery management and advertising.

Industry links

We are regularly contacted by industry professionals requesting that our students gain experience by working on projects with, or for, them.

Companies that our students have previously worked with include QuArt China, Reebok, Swarovski, Ford, H&M, Radio Times, Abercrombie & Fitch, Shell and Mercedes Benz. Students also have the opportunity to apply for a one-year, paid placement at The Manufacturing Technology Centre Ltd in Coventry.