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• Undergraduate study:
• Courses
• Order a prospectus
• How to apply
• Information for applicants
• Why choose Kingston University
• Disability and mental health support
• Accommodation
• Undergraduate fees
• Fees, funding and payments
• Access, participation and inclusion

Professional Skills II

• Module code: FA5007
• Year: 2018/9
• Level: 5
• Credits: 30
• Pre-requisites: None
• Co-requisites: None

Summary

Designed to help develop the skills that will equip you for a professional life in work, this module supports you to enlarge upon your knowledge of a broad professional context for Fine Art practice.

You will develop upon and enhance relevant strategies for planning, curating, exhibiting, and documenting work in a variety of ways, including publication and exhibition via analogue, digital and online media. By testing and determining increasingly relevant strategies for rendering and displaying practical work to peers, teaching staff and external audiences, you will develop further awareness of the importance of editing, evaluating and adapting the work you have made in plural contexts.

Assisting Level 6 students with the mounting of a final show further develops your exhibition and project planning skills.

Aims

• To encourage confidence in the communication of ideas
• To enable the development of individual and group skills to initiate and complete exhibitions
• To enable students to construct a publication of documentation that accurately reflects their progress.
• To enable students to identify potential fine art and related creative career opportunities such as curating, arts administration, post graduate careers and other areas of cultural production
• To enable students to develop the ability to plan and manage a fine art practice with awareness of professional context.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate that they have applied a range of methods for disseminating fine art practice, and extensively test their thinking. (Experimentation)
• Assimilate knowledge of a contemporary practical and theoretical context in order to disseminate their fine art practice in the public realm. (Analysis)
• Develop their ability to communicate their practice in a variety of contexts by employing relevant skills in appropriate media. (Communication)
• Make use of teaching and learning resources to identify relevant methods for disseminating their fine art practice, working individually and as part of a group. (Personal & Professional Development)

Curriculum content

• Awareness of diversity of roles in the creative industries.
• Project-management skills
• Team-working skills
• Research in to appropriate platforms for disseminating work
• Arts funding and fundraising skills
• Professional networking skills
• Creating a digital identity
• CV writing
• Presentation and Interview skills

Teaching and learning strategy

Tutor-led, individual and group sessions support students to develop independent learning strategies and skills in practical and theoretical research and analysis. Tutorials, subject-workshops, artist/professional talks, practice seminars, critiques and gallery visits all support academic progress towards the dissemination of Fine Art practice. The module will make use of the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Canvas for communication and dissemination of information between students and staff as well as making online learning materials available to all.

Practical sessions and subject specific talks provide them with the tools to develop their chosen fine art concerns in the context of professional practice, in digital and analogue formats. Students are expected to enhance their collaboration and communication skills by engaging in an intensive peer project, working in small groups to conceive of and realise a shared outcome.

All courses based in the Kingston School of Art offer students free access to the online video tutorial platform Lynda.com. This provides a wide range of subjects to choose from, many with downloadable exercise files, including software tutorials covering photography, graphics, web design, audio and music, CAD and Microsoft Office software, as well as courses on Business and Management skills. Some of these are embedded in the curriculum and offer additional self-paced learning, others may be taken at will by students wishing to broaden their employability skills in other areas.  Students will be encouraged to use Lynda.com and other digital platforms to inform their learning, and to attend events arranged by the Employability Co-ordinator.

It is expected that students develop their knowledge of contemporary Fine Art practice by undertaking frequent, independent gallery visits / events, on and off site. Assisting Level 6 BA students with the mounting of a final show will further develop their collaborative and exhibition skills and experience.

Learning activities will include:

• Module & Assessment briefings: Short, year group meetings where key teaching, learning and assessment processes are outlined and explained.
• Individual & Group tutorials: Timetabled meetings with staff held at intervals throughout the module, the content of which is negotiated with respect to individual enquiry. These tutorials support critical appraisal and writing skills.
• Practice Seminars: Relevant subject material such as recently published texts, artworks or current events are discussed in small groups of students, accompanied by a member of staff.
• Critiques: Small groups of students explore the content and context of their work by presenting it to one another as the subject of constructive and honest critical evaluation and peer review alongside a member of staff. Presentation skills are taught through these critiques.
• Artist / Professional talks: Visitors from a broad range of disciplines are invited to give talks and lectures, on subjects such as artist practice, curation, writing, galleries.
• Learning Resource & Technical Workshop inductions: Held at the beginning of the course inductions ensure safe practice when using generic faculty resources. Further inductions can be negotiated on request and with relevance to particular modes of enquiry.
• Subject Workshops: Often delivered in digital media workshops, these are designed to direct students' attention to particular aspects of disseminating Fine Art and provide access to practical and cognitive skills, for example digital creative suites.
• Independent Study: Students are required to make use of self-directed study time to build upon the ongoing dialogue with tutors and peers. Independent study may involve working in the studio, workshops, library or off-site at individually relevant locations, by negotiation with staff.
• Group projects / presentations: Working with year-group peers, students are required to collaborate to explore affinities or differences in modes of practice, and plan and execute an exhibition.
• Study trips: Timetabled visits to galleries and museums enable students to Keep abreast of current practice and cultural debates and contextualize your own practice.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Assessment strategy

Formative Assessment: Mid module review constitutes a display of work, accompanied by a brief verbal presentation and a digital / analogue publication. Notes will be recorded by staff and students and consolidated on a feedback form, to be filled in by students during feedback tutorial. Formative assessment is further augmented by regular feed forward tutorials.

Summative Assessment: An exhibition of work is accompanied by a publication (ie. blog or website and hard copy) and a critical statement (600 words) in a pro forma provided on the VLE.

Group work will not be assessed. It is a method through which students learn, the results of which are integrated back in to individual practice. However, the student's reflection on this process may well be included in the work which is submitted for assessment.

Achievement of Module Learning Outcomes are assessed using the following Assessment Criteria:

Experimentation: Testing of thinking through making, risk-taking and problem-solving.

Analysis: Critical examination of context and interpretation of individual and related work.

Communication: Realisation of intentions and skill in appropriate media

Personal & Professional Development: Planning, time-management, commitment and subject engagement.

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Elements of Assessment

Achieving a pass

It IS a requirement that the element of assessment is passed in order to achieve an overall pass for the module.

Bibliography core texts

Stiles, K. and Selz, P. (2012) Theories and documents of contemporary art: A Sourcebook of artists' writings (Second edition, revised and expanded by Kristine Stiles) - 2nd edition. 2nd edn. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Fox, D. (2016) Pretentiousness: Why it matters. United States: Coffee House Press. Kravagna, C. and Bregenz, K. (eds.) (1999) The Museum as an arena: institution-critical statements by artists. Germany: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Konig. Kravanga, C. (1999) The Museum as an Arena: Institution Critical Statements by Artists, Walther

Staniszewski, M.A. (1999) The power of display: A history of exhibition installations at the museum of modern art. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Hale, M., Noble, P., Owen, P., Burgess, J. and Keith, C. (2002) City racing: The life and times of an artist-run gallery, 1988-1998. London: Black Dog Publishing.

 Recommended magazines and journals:

AN magazine, Artforum, Art Monthly, Flash Art, Frieze, Mousse, Parkett, Third Text, Afterall, Paper Monument

Additional material may be recommended during taught sessions.