Fine Art with Foundation Year

Available for September or January intakes.

Course overview: This course includes a foundation year - ideal if you need additional preparation or if you don't have sufficient grades to join Year 1. Do you dream of having your artwork presented in a gallery? Are you always making things, drawing, sculpting, printing or painting? Are you seeking a way to build a creative career?

This course is student-centred and practice-based. You learn by working on projects in the studio alongside your peers and staff. Our experienced team of artists and academics coach you to find and grow your creative voice, building on your distinct skills and motivations, and guiding you to experiment with new formats and media to develop your ideas. You collaborate with your peers to gain new perspectives, developing your voice and practice. Grow your resilience by producing a creative drawing and writing journal, capturing your challenges, milestones and reflections to see patterns in your thinking and linking reoccurring ideas. Alongside this, you learn how to thrive in the creative industries, from testing ideas and creative directions to understanding pitching etiquette and developing large-scale projects.

The course is supported by our very own international contemporary art gallery MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art), a Plus Tate Museum and gallery with a permanent art collection. The gallery supports the bridge between being a student and becoming a professional artist. Through experiencing the behind-the-scenes working of a museum, you can better understand the work of artists, producers, curators, museum education officers and marketing teams. These interactions help you take the next steps in your career. You have the opportunity to put these skills into action through staging exhibitions of your work with partner galleries, and events in Teesside and beyond.

Top reasons to study this course:

1. Industry-standard facilities: you have access to our wood, metal, print, photography and fabric workshops, providing space to explore techniques that may be new to you. Our technical team support you to realise concepts that might have seemed impossible to achieve.
2. Personal space: you have your own studio for the duration of your studies - a personal space to make, experiment and think critically about your work in a supportive environment with your peer community.
3. Expert teaching: you learn from accomplished and award-winning practising artists and curators who have presented their work nationally and internationally.
4. Opportunities: There are opportunities for fellowships and international mobility opportunities with our partners in Prague, Dubai and India.

Take advantage of our Creative UK membership and help futureproof your career, with networking events, a resource hub to support professional development, and bespoke workshops in partnership with industry leaders and mentors. Sign up for free student membership to get opportunities, events and newsletters sent directly to your inbox.

After the course: Our students graduate as confident, creative practitioners. Graduates have gone on to establish successful galleries and studio spaces such as Gloam in Sheffield, undertake major national and international commissions, and work at galleries such as the Baltic, MIMA or as art therapists in the NHS.