Fine Art and Creative Writing (Placement Year) BA Hons - 2020 Entry

Course Overview

Lancaster's degree in Fine Art and Creative Writing is taught jointly by the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) and the Department of English and Creative Writing. This course is ideal for anyone with strong academic and creative abilities who wants to study fine art alongside creative writing. 
Your Creative Writing courses are taught by a team of widely published authors through a combination of lectures, readings, practice and discussion in regular tutor-led workshops. Your degree includes an Introduction to Creative Writing in your first year, and in your second and third years of study you will choose additional genre-specific units such as Short Fiction, Poetry Writing or Creative Non-fiction.

Fine Art at Lancaster gives you the opportunity to integrate Art Practice with Art History/Theory at a high level.  From the first through to the final year of your degree you will develop creative and technical skills in painting, drawing, sculpture, digital art and their hybrids.  While we have no ‘house style’ the emphasis is on Fine Art practice and Fine Art ‘thinking’ rather than illustration.  Our aim is for you to develop the practice and ideas that best reflect your aims and values as a young Fine Artist.  Your tutors will be professional artists and publishing historians and the mix of academic and creative skills gained at Lancaster makes you highly attractive for postgraduate study and employers.

You will begin your degree with core courses including Modernism in the Arts, Fine Art Practice and Creative Writing. In your second year you’ll move on to subjects such as Studio Practice, Short Fiction: Genre and Practice and our LICA interdisciplinary module Critical Reflections.  You will then complete your degree by choosing from a selection of Fine Art and Creative Writing modules on offer such as Expanded Drawing, Longer Fiction and Writing/Reading Poetry.

You will have the opportunity to spend Year 3 on placement with a public, private or voluntary organisation in the UK or overseas.  This experience will boost your employment prospects and will help you to decide on your career direction and the kind of organisation in which you want to work once you graduate. You will be doing a real, responsible job – with all the satisfaction that brings.  Our Placements Team will support you in finding and applying for a suitable placement that will support your professional development. Applying for a placement is a competitive process and the preparatory modules you will complete in years one and two are designed to give you the best chance of success in your placement applications.  You will also be provided with dedicated workshops, 1:1 appointments with careers professionals as well as opportunities to speak with employers here on campus.

During the placement year you will remain a Lancaster University student which means that you will still be eligible for a student loan, have access to facilities such as the library and receive discounts on transport and council tax.  Your tuition fee will be reduced to 20% during the placement year. 

The placement will enhance your understanding of the connections between theory and practice and this will benefit your final year of study.  This is an exciting opportunity to build up experience and transferable skills, as well as to make contacts with potential employers which will place you a step ahead in the graduate recruitment market.

Entry Requirements

Grade Requirements

A Level ABB

Required Subjects A level in one of the following subjects: Creative Writing, English language, English Literature or A level English Language and Literature.

IELTS 6.5 overall with at least 5.5 in each component. For other English language qualifications we accept, please see our English language requirements webpages.

Portfolio Applicants will typically be required to submit a portfolio before being made an offer. The department will contact applicants to request the portfolio. The portfolio should include imaginative, expressive and analytical work as well as objective drawing.

Other Qualifications

International Baccalaureate 32 points overall with 16 points from the best 3 Higher Level subjects including a HL Literature or HL Language and Literature subject

BTEC Distinction, Distinction, Merit considered alongside A level Creative Writing, English language, English Literature or A level English Language and Literature

Foundation Courses Art Foundation Courses are not an essential requirement for this degree. Please note Foundation Courses are considered but not accepted in lieu of our academic entry requirements.

We welcome applications from students with a range of alternative UK and international qualifications, including combinations of qualification. Further guidance on admission to the University, including other qualifications that we accept, frequently asked questions and information on applying, can be found on our general admissions webpages.

Contact Admissions Team + 44 (0) 1524 592028 or via ugadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk

Course Structure

Many of Lancaster's degree programmes are flexible, offering students the opportunity to cover a wide selection of subject areas to complement their main specialism. You will be able to study a range of modules, some examples of which are listed below.

Year 1

Core

• Fine Art Practice

  This module seeks to establish fundamental Fine Art practices and principles and initiate development of critical understanding of basic concepts, approaches, possibilities and ways of working. The module enables students to engage with the practical disciplines of Painting, Sculpture, Digital Art, Drawing and inter-media practices that combine two or more disciplines. This creative work alongside academic work in LICA100 initiates training as an 'informed practitioner'.

  This practical course combines technical skills with different approaches to the disciplines as appropriate to developing individual interests as a practitioner of fine art. The teaching and learning systems for this course are designed to expose the student to ways of working and thinking as a practitioner; to thinking visually.

• Introduction to Creative Writing

  This module develops the skills, knowledge and confidence of apprentice writers and their command and enjoyment of the craft. It approaches literature as something made by individuals out of their experience, imagination and knowledge, rather than as finished artefacts encountered as commodities. The module encourages you to experiment with different forms and approaches, to discover your individual strengths as a writer, whether of poetry, prose or drama.

  Lectures provide insight into a syllabus of key skills, techniques and approaches to writing poetry, prose fiction and drama. Workshops are tailored to reflect on the content of the weekly lectures and put these skills, techniques and approaches into practice. You will discuss in detail each others’ works-in-progress, developing critical and editorial skills and insight into the writing process. These skills and insight are then applied to your own, as well as peers' work. The 'Reading for Technique' element of the module allows you to develop skills to read as a writer, rather than as a critic or general reader.

• Placement Preparation

  Your placement year is a terrific opportunity to gain experience in the workplace and to develop your skills and knowledge. This short module has been designed to help you find a suitable placement position and make sure that you get the most benefit from your placement year.

  With the help of our expert tutors, you’ll find out about the graduate job market, including what employers expect from the graduates they employ, as well as the specifics of Lancaster’s placement year scheme and how this can support your career development.

  Using a range of tools, you will sharpen your job seeking skills such as researching job opportunities, and professional CVs, application forms and cover letters that are tailored for specific employers and sectors.

  An understanding and experience of the application and interview process is essential to successful job-seeking. The module includes an introduction to psychometric testing as well as practice for face-to-face and video interviews, and assessment centres. You will develop a greater awareness of your personal attributes, set up a LinkedIn profile, and consider how to present yourself effectively to employers.

  The skills and practice gained during this module, and the professional feedback and support you receive, will prepare you for your second year when you will start applying for placement positions.

  While this module is not credit-bearing, you will need to pass the two assignments in order to continue on the Placement Year scheme. The first assignment is designed to develop your skills in answering application form questions. For the second assignment you will develop a graduate standard CV and covering letter, and take part in a practice interview and mock assessment centre.

• The Arts and Culture in Modernity

  Introduction to the Contemporary Arts, part 1

  This module introduces students to university study of the arts and design, and their contexts and interrelations. Taking place in the first term only, students on the Art, Design, Film and Theatre programmes will work together to explore the different ways in which creative practitioners respond to the world around them. They will be introduced to the key critical concepts used by academics to write about the creative work produced by practitioners in these fields.

  Introduction to the Contemporary Arts, part 2 – Art/ Design/ Film/ Theatre

  In the second term, students take a specialised module in either Art, Design, Film or Theatre to supplement the essential knowledge and skills covered in Part 1.

Year 2

Core

• Critical Reflections

  This course provides an introduction to critical theory in the arts and its application to aesthetics and art. The first term concentrates on 'structures' in artworks and the second on 'identities'. The structure of the course is six three-week blocks: (1) Form and Structure, (2) Semiotics and Authorship, (3) Phenomenology and Spectatorship, (4) Sex/uality and Gender, (5) Race and Ethnicity, and (6) Class and Society. Weekly plenary lectures make connections across the arts, and weekly two hour seminar/workshops allow students to work in their subject groups (art, film, theatre, design) on ideas and examples specifically tailored towards these disciplines.

• Intermediate Creative Writing Workshop

  Course Outline: Students will develop the key skills introduced at Part I level with an emphasis on writing as process, exploring creative voice, identifying point of view, the implied author and authorial guises whilst considering the creative and interactive nature of reading. Course Lectures will deepen your engagement with, and understanding of, literary forms. Weekly workshops will enable the development of specific aesthetic and technical skills through participation in constructive criticism relating to fellow students’ work-in-progress. Through this process, you will gain a deeper understanding of many important concepts such as structure, linguistic texture and resonance, point-of-view, form, pace, characterisation, the mediation of tone, and reader awareness. While the learning environment will usually be in the form of workshops, certain weeks will be designated for focussed and practical set tasks. You will be expected to read widely from modern and contemporary creative works and to explore the work of ‘writers on writing’. The aim of the course is to develop a closely edited creative and peer-critiqued body of work that displays your own form of expression alongside skills and insights developed through the course.

• Studio Practice

  This module requires students to direct their own research and to develop, through negotiation, a self-reliant and independent approach to studio practice. Students are also expected to take increasing responsibility for the creative and conceptual direction of their work. To support the creative development of the individual student the appropriate teaching and learning mechanisms are one-to-one tutorials, group tutorials technical workshops and peer-feedback.

• Work Based Learning Preparation

  A placement year provides a valuable and safe opportunity to find out more about yourself and the type of career that is right for you. The aim of this module is to prepare you to maximise the opportunities for learning and development that your placement will provide, including formal elements such as Professional Development Reviews (PDR) and options for informal learning.

  You’ll consider your individual strengths and preferences through completion of a personality type assessment. This will be useful when we move on to looking at your aspirations for the placement. Working with others in the group and your tutors, you will be asked to develop strategies for achieving your goals and to record these in an action plan.

  You’ll be encouraged to think about challenges that you may encounter during your placement, such as management structures, working relationships, time management, work/life balance, and ethical considerations. You’ll also consider your role and responsibilities during the placement, as well as that of your employer and the University, and this awareness should help you to navigate any issues that arise once the placement has started.

  During your placement year you will be expected to create a Professional Placement Portfolio and your tutors will provide guidance on how to do this.

  There are two assessed elements to this module, the first is preparing an action plan for your placement year and the second is to complete the personality assessment exercise. You will need to successfully complete both elements in order to continue on the Placement Year scheme.

  This module provides 10 credits towards the 30 credits which successful completion of your placement year provides. These 30 credits are on top of the 360 credits of a standard degree, meaning that you will graduate with 390 credits; 30 more than if you took the same degree without a placement year. The additional credits recognise and reward the additional skills and experience that you will develop during your placement year.

Optional

• Beyond the Studio: Interaction and Situation in Contemporary Art

  Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries artists have expanded their practice outside the studio through interactions with people, places, and technologies. Current fine art practitioners employ a wide range of strategies for such interaction including technologies, performance and dialogical approaches.

  This practical fine art focused module will introduce the skills and sensitivities needed to work in this way through practical projects and critical reflection. The course will begin with an art historical grounding for this area of practice. Students will then experiment and test out new ways of working in a variety of locations and situations such as: in the rural or urban landscape, in the virtual online world, or in a social space such as a cafe. We will explore a range of processes such as conversation, performance, video, movement and digital interaction and students will consider the potential of these approached in relation to their individual studio practices.

  Students will propose and produce creative works in response to themes such as: Proximity & Distance, Intimacy, Walking/Travelling/Journeys, Landscape, Site-specific Art, The City, Networks, Documentary Interactions, Participation, Art as Social Practice, Performative Interactions, Feminist Interactions.

  Throughout the module students will build a range of skills and knowledge of technologies, for example: practical considerations in working ‘off-site’ (responding to and researching a place, collaborating with the public, gaining permission to work in specific sites); digital tools for working with networks and strategies and sensitivities for working with people (ethics, interviews, collaborations etc).

• Documentary Drawing

  This module will enable students to develop a range of graphic skills to allow them to approach and represent ideas, issues and experiences in a documentary manner. The module is designed to be relevant to creative practice in Theatre, Film and Fine Art. It will enable students with a specific interest in drawing to expand their knowledge and experience of observational and on-site drawing, and develop their learning and experience by engaging in further technical training and by introduction to drawing beyond the studio and 'in the field'. On completion of this module it is expected students will have significantly developed their drawing skills and ability to select a meaningful topic, demonstrate ability to engage in independent study and develop a substantial personal project for assessment.

• Expanded Painting Practice

  The module provides training and experience in visual communication through painting in the broadest sense and aims to provide students with:

  • an understanding of ‘expanded’ and interdisciplinary painting and

  • the ability to develop an independent project that extends the language of painting beyond conventional bounds.

  • an understanding of the scope of contemporary painting and experience some of its methods and approaches

  • the development of skills through experimentation with a range of traditional and contemporary painting methods, approaches, ideas and equipment

• Media & Performance

  This module aims to introduce key issues and practical skills in the production of video for media, performance, new media art and documentary film. The module will introduce the historical and practical applications of media technologies in art, theatre and performance by presenting the key practitioners in the areas of installation, multi­media performance, video, and new media art.

  A group practical project will introduce the use of video cameras, filming and editing, project planning, team work and the practical use of installation technologies. The module offers students the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams to produce a short film, performance, installation or documentary, including video and other media where appropriate.

• Perception and the Arts

  This module explores the relationships between the arts and how we see and hear. Artists are aware, consciously or unconsciously, of the processes and limitations of perception. They often play with our perceptions in their works to make something which draws our attention, makes us see something in a different way, or gives us a kind of perceptual puzzle or challenge. The module also explores recent scientific research on perceiving art and how that relates to ordinary perception.

  Assessment is by an essay and an exam.

Year 3

Core

• Work Based Learning Placement

  A Lancaster University placement year is very different from any work experience you may have done at school or college. It is an exciting opportunity to be employed in a graduate level position for nine-twelve months, working in the type of environment and role you might be considering for after you graduate. You will develop a range of skills and experience both through doing the job and through accessing formal and informal development opportunities, as well as making industry contacts, and these should put you in a strong position when you enter the competitive graduate job market.

  During your placement year, although you will be working away from the University campus, you will be in regular contact with other students via our online learning platform and with your Lancaster University tutors. If your placement is in the UK, one of the placement team will visit you to discuss your progress towards your placement goals.

  As well as developing skills and experience that are specific to your placement position and industry, your placement year will also provide the opportunity to gain broader experience and professional skills in several areas:

  • analytical thinking, problem solving and decision making;
  • planning and negotiation;
  • prioritisation and time management;
  • critical engagement with theories and frameworks through applying them to real situations.

  There are two assessed elements to this module, the first is to develop a Learning Agreement during your first few weeks in the job, and the second is to evaluate and reflect on the development of your skills and knowledge through keeping a personal learning log during the placement.

  You will also collate materials for your Professional Placement Portfolio on an ongoing basis as a record of your learning and development, and this will form your final assessment that is handed in during your final year at Lancaster.

  Your tutors will provide guidance, support and templates for all of these elements.

  This module provides 10 credits towards the 30 credits which successful completion of your placement year provides. These 30 credits are on top of the 360 credits of a standard degree, meaning that you will graduate with 390 credits; 30 more than if you took the same degree without a placement year. The additional credits recognise and reward the additional skills and experience that you will develop during your placement year.

Year 4

Core

• Advanced Creative Writing Workshop

  Course Outline: Students will further develop key skills introduced in the first year of Part II, with an emphasis on writing as professional practice and process, exploring creative voice, identifying point of view, the implied author and authorial guises whilst considering the creative and interactive nature of reading. Course lectures will focus on professional practice, publishing, and the career opportunities available to graduates. A proactive workshop environment will enable the development of specific aesthetic and technical skills through participation in constructive criticism relating to fellow students’ work-in-progress. Through this process, you will gain a deeper understanding of many important concepts such as structure, linguistic texture and resonance, point-of-view, form, pace, characterisation, the mediation of tone, and reader awareness. While the learning environment will usually be in the form of workshops, certain weeks will be designated for focussed and practical set tasks. You will be expected to read widely from modern and contemporary creative works, to explore the work of ‘writers on writing’ and to draw on relevant literary theory where appropriate. The aim of the course is to develop a closely edited creative and peer-critiqued body of work that displays your own form of expression alongside skills and insights developed through the course.

• Advanced Studio Practice (single weighted]

  This module is a student centred course, which requires students to direct their own research and to develop a self-reliant approach and an increasing responsibility for the creative and conceptual direction of their studio practice; leading to independence. To support the creative development of the individual student the appropriate teaching and learning mechanisms are one-to-one tutorials, group tutorials, and peer feedback

• Dissertation

  This core module is directed towards completion of an independent research project on a topic of the student’s choice, presented in the form of a dissertation. The course is taught through lecture/seminars focused on research skills and one-to-one supervision.

• Work Based Learning Reflection

  In your final year you’ll return to Lancaster to complete your degree. Feedback from previous students is that their final year studies are enhanced by the real-world experience they can now draw on.

  Whatever your career path, having the skills to critically evaluate your own learning and development will considerably enhance your effectiveness in the workplace. During your final year, you will be asked to reflect on your experience of work based learning. Did you take part in any formal training relating during your placement? How did this benefit your work? What kinds of informal learning opportunities arose? What did you learn about your own preferences for professional development? How do your experiences compare to those of other placement students?

  You will be asked to consider your future career aims and identify areas for further development using models of learning to analyse strategies. Finally, you will develop a personal action plan for continuing your personal and professional development in your final year and beyond.

  There is one assessed element to this module, which is completion of the Professional Placement Portfolio that you started during your placement year. The portfolio should reflect on your placement and highlight your key successes, challenges and development points.

  This module provides 10 credits towards the 30 credits which successful completion of your placement year provides. These 30 credits are on top of the 360 credits of a standard degree, meaning that you will graduate with 390 credits; 30 more than if you took the same degree without a placement year. The additional credits recognise and reward the additional skills and experience that you have developed during your placement year.

Optional

• Advanced Short Story: Form and Practice

  Course Outline:

  This unit will provide an opportunity for students to develop their knowledge and skills of the short story form, history and practice with a more advanced course. Each week you will have the opportunity to discuss, in detail, one or two specimen short stories and workshop their own creative work. Topics covered will include:

  • plot, narrative and 'the twist in the tale';
  • the epiphany and other ways of ending;
  • writing extreme experiences
  • rewriting fairy tales, folk tales and myth
  • flash and sudden fiction;
  • voice and place
  • genre (the ghost story)
  • short stories in the literary world - the web, festivals, journals and competitions.
• Advanced Studio Practice

  This module is a student centred course, which requires students to direct their own research and to develop a self-reliant approach and an increasing responsibility for the creative and conceptual direction of their studio practice; leading to independence. To support the creative development of the individual student the appropriate teaching and learning mechanisms are one-to-one tutorials, group tutorials, and peer feedback

• Contemporary Dance and the Visual Arts

  The module has two purposes. Firstly, it explores methods of improvising or choreographing movement from the practice and study of drawing, and, reciprocally, approaches to drawing that emerge from the experience of movement and the analysis of motion. This is assessed through either a staff-supervised, student-led group choreographic project with documentation or, alternatively, a portfolio of drawings presented at the end of the module. Secondly, the module examines exemplary twentieth and twenty-first century works in which choreographers have collaborated with visual artists. This part of the module is assessed through an essay. Teaching is through lecture, seminar and practical compositional exercises in movement and drawing.

• Expanded Drawing

  The module will be taught through workshops which examine the methods, process and approaches in drawing that are at the cutting edge of contemporary fine art drawing practice and at the boundaries of other disciplines. The workshops provide knowledge, skills, and opportunities to test and try approaches. This learning will be developed through independently researched work. This independent work is documented in a sketchbook and extended at the end of the syllabus to provide a final major project.

Lancaster University offers a range of programmes, some of which follow a structured study programme, and others which offer the chance for you to devise a more flexible programme. We divide academic study into two sections - Part 1 (Year 1) and Part 2 (Year 2, 3 and sometimes 4). For most programmes Part 1 requires you to study 120 credits spread over at least three modules which, depending upon your programme, will be drawn from one, two or three different academic subjects. A higher degree of specialisation then develops in subsequent years. For more information about our teaching methods at Lancaster visit our Teaching and Learning section.

Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, but changes may be necessary, for example as a result of student feedback, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes, and new research.

Careers

A LICA combined degree gives graduates the confidence and capability to produce work for themselves. Our graduates have become professional artists, while others have chosen to work as community artists and designers, arts administrators and managers.

The transferable skills gained through studying a LICA combined degree at Lancaster make our graduates extremely attractive to a wide range of employers within different creative industries, including the media.

Many of our graduates also go on to further study often becoming academics, lecturers and teachers.

Lancaster University is dedicated to ensuring you not only gain a highly reputable degree, but that you also graduate with relevant life and work based skills. We are unique in that every student is eligible to participate in The Lancaster Award which offers you the opportunity to complete key activities such as work experience, employability/career development, campus community and social development. Visit our Employability section for full details.

Fees and Funding

Fees

We set our fees on an annual basis and the 2020/21 entry fees have not yet been set.

Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

Some science and medicine courses have higher fees for students from the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. You can find more details here: Island Students.

Funding

For full details of the University's financial support packages including eligibility criteria, please visit our fees and funding page

Students will require the following basic items:

• A digital camera with removable memory card – not with internal memory.
• A pen drive with at least 1gb memory
• A Stanley knife or scalpel
• General purpose scissors
• A box of pencils, 2H to 6B inclusive
• A variety of brushes
• A padlock (we supply you with a steel locker)
• A hardback student quality sketchbook (A3 or A4)

Students will also need student grade acrylic and oil paints as well as specialist tools and materials as they begin to specialise. Please refer to the Department for more detailed information.

Students also need to consider further costs which may include books, stationery, photocopying, printing, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation it may be necessary to take out subscriptions to professional bodies and to buy business attire for job interviews.