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Sustaining Studio Practice

  • Module code: FA6005
  • Year: 2018/9
  • Level: 6
  • Credits: 60
  • Pre-requisites: None
  • Co-requisites: None

Summary

This module is designed to be the culmination of previous studio practice modules in which you are required to synthesise the contingent parts of your prior academic experience and consolidate your learning through a comprehensive body of work, enabling you to progress to professional practice or further study.

At previous levels of study, you will have progressed your learning incrementally and as such you will have acquired the tools to engage with this module and demonstrate your achievements in an appropriate final presentation. You are encouraged to reflect on the knowledge and skills that you have acquired during your degree and, through independent, peer and group learning you will be encouraged to learn how to present them to an audience external to your immediate peer group.

Additionally, you are encouraged to continue to develop an authoritative understanding of contemporary fine art and the critical evaluation skills essential to fine art practice.

Aims

  • To enable students to achieve an authoritative level of independent thought and working practice
  • To enable students to achieve their particular practice outcomes
  • To enable students to continue to explore and consolidate ideas
  • To enable students to sustain in depth, appropriate forms of enquiry in the meeting of deadlines

Learning outcomes

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

  • Sustain their studio practice with an ability to extensively test and evaluate their thinking through making, risk-taking and problem-solving (Experimentation)
  • Critically examine relevant contemporary art practice / theory with clear links to their individual enquiry (Analysis)
  • Exhibit the ability to apply finely-tuned skills in appropriate media to develop their ideas and finalise outcomes. (Communication)
  • Combine teaching, learning and professional resources to sustain their fine art practice, working individually and as part of a group. (Personal & Professional Development)

Curriculum content

  • To be determined by the student, through discussion, in relation to individual interests, areas of enquiry, and aspirations.

Teaching and learning strategy

Individual and group sessions support students to consolidate their previous experience in order to sustain a self-led studio practice, apply practical and theoretical research and analysis and fully implement independent learning strategies. Core and elective tutorials, subject-workshops, artist/professional talks, critiques, practice seminars and gallery visits all support academic progress towards a fully independent 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.

Students are expected to continue to invest in peer learning by proactively engaging in dialogue and independent studio practice alongside one another and to keep a Research log to track their practical and theoretical enquiry, the guidelines for which can be found on the VLE.

It is expected that students will sustain their knowledge of contemporary Fine Art practice by undertaking frequent, independent gallery visits / events, on and off site.

 

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.

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 determined by your individual enquiry.
  • 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. Content is increasingly determined by students.
  • Critiques: Small groups of students explore the content and context of their work by presenting it to one another as the subject of rigorous, constructive and honest critique alongside a member of staff.
  • 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, gallery management, as collaborative approaches, education, publishing.
  • Learning Resource & Technical Workshop inductions: Individual enquiry determines necessary inductions further to those held at the beginning of the course and these are negotiated with a personal tutor.
  • Subject Workshops: Often studio-based and less frequent than on Level 4, these occasional sessions are designed to direct students' attention to particular aspects of Fine Art and provide access to practical and cognitive strategies, for example contemporary practices or visual research, which can be pursued further on an individual basis.
  • Independent Study: You 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.
  • Study trips: Timetabled visits to galleries and museums enable students to Keep abreast of current practice and cultural debates and contextualise your own practice.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Definitive UNISTATS Category Indicative Description Hours
Scheduled learning and teaching Artist/professional talks, critiques, seminars, tutorials, visits, workshops 150
Guided independent study Independent studio practice, research, exhibition visits. 450
Total (number of credits x 10) 600

Assessment strategy

Formative Assessment: Mid-year review constitutes an organized body of work, accompanied by a brief verbal presentation and documentation of practical and contextual research in the form of a Research Log. 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: A selected body of work is augmented by a research log.

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)

Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
1. Sustain their studio practice with an ability to extensively test and evaluate their thinking through making, risk-taking and-problem solving (Experimentation) Formative assessment: Mid-year review, followed by feedback tutorial where student takes notes. Summative assessment: Selected body of work, Research Log.
2. Critically examine relevant contemporary art practice / theory with clear links to their individual enquiry (Analysis) Formative assessment: Mid-year review, followed by feedback tutorial where student takes notes. Summative assessment: Selected body of work, Research Log.
3. Exhibit the ability to apply finely-tuned skills in appropriate media to develop their ideas and finalise outcomes. (Communication) Formative assessment: Mid-year review, followed by feedback tutorial where student takes notes. Summative assessment: Selected body of work, Research Log.
4. Combine teaching, learning and professional resources to sustain their fine art practice, working individually and as part of a group. (Personal & Professional Development) Formative assessment: Mid-year review, followed by feedback tutorial where student takes notes. Summative assessment: Selected body of work, Research Log.

Elements of Assessment

Description of Assessment Definitive UNISTATS Categories Percentage
Selected body of work, research log. Coursework 100%
Total (to equal 100%) 100%

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

Bourriaud, N., Schneider, C. and Herman, J. (2003) Postproduction: Culture as screenplay: How art reprograms the world. New York: Lukas & Sternberg.

Debord, G. (1984) Society of the spectacle. Detroit: Black & Red,U.S.

Hickey, D. (1993) The invisible dragon / four essays on beauty. Los Angeles: Art Issues Press, U.S.

Thompson, J. (2011) The collected writings of Jon Thompson: Jon Thompson. United Kingdom: Ridinghouse.

Ingold, T. (2009) Making: Anthropology, archaeology, art and architecture. London: Taylor & Francis.

Fisher, E.A. and Fortnum, R. (eds.) (2013) On not knowing: How artists think. London: Black Dog Publishing London UK.

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.

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