SCHOOL OF ART www.eca.ed.ac.uk Undergraduate degree programme information ART | Architecture & Landscape Architecture | School of Art | School of Design | SCHOOL OF History of Art | Reid School of Music | CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: CONTENTS WELCOME TO THE APRIL 2020 SCHOOL OF ART Welcome to the School of Art 3 Choose to study Art and you will join a stimulating We intend to begin the 2020-21 community of students, artists and theorists. Offering Our degree programmes 4 academic year as usual in September. specialist study in intermedia, painting, photography This brochure reflects these Why choose Edinburgh? 5 and sculpture, you’ll be encouraged to demonstrate intentions. imaginative responses to the world through curiosity Introduction to your degree 6 and exploration. We will let you know of any changes, and confirm start dates in Intermedia BA (Hons) 8 Through successive projects and courses, you will our pre-arrival communications. develop your specialist practice, your professional, Painting BA (Hons) 8 technical and organisational skills, and your Photography BA (Hons) 9 knowledge and application of critical contexts. Sculpture BA (Hons) 9 We encourage you to demonstrate inventive responses to the world through curiosity and Detailed degree content 10 exploration and we prepare you to do this with depth, breadth and ambition. Example year by year degree content 14 Teaching 16 By the time you graduate, you’ll be equipped with the talent, knowledge and expertise to lead, Facilities 18 rather than simply respond to, future innovation in art practice. Careers 22 Alumni profile 24 Art reading list 26 Frequently asked questions 28 LINDA O KEEFFE HEAD OF SCHOOL OF ART, EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART 2 3 OUR DEGREE WHY CHOOSE ART AT PROGRAMMES THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH? Single honours 4-year undergraduate degree programmes BA (Hons) Art W100 Our staff include a mix of practising We offer an exceptional range BA (Hons) Intermedia Art W900 artists, visual-culture theorists and of studios and workshop spaces, 1 curators, who publish and exhibit 4 libraries and collections, and places BA (Hons) Painting W120 nationally and internationally. to perform and show your work. BA (Hons) Photography W640 In first and second year, you can You’ll benefit from weekly talks 2 select option courses from across 5 from internationally acclaimed BA (Hons) Sculpture W130 Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) visiting artists and speakers. and the wider University. Printmaking. Edinburgh is home to a vibrant and diverse contemporary art scene 3 with an excellent mixture of world- class venues showcasing the best in contemporary art. STUDYING AT ECA HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST ENJOYABLE PARTS OF MY ARTISTIC LIFE. I’VE LEARNED SOMETHING OF VALUE FROM EACH TUTOR I’VE HAD THE PLEASURE OF CHATTING WITH. Ayshia Taskin, INTERMEDIA BA (HONS) 4 5 INTRODUCTION TO YOUR DEGREE Award/s Timetables The benefits of a 4-year degree programme Your choice of electives may be based on enhancing or complementing your degree, BA (Hons) Your timetable will be available after your Edinburgh offers flexible four-year honours or you may choose something totally consultation with your Personal Tutor degree programmes. The four-year degree unrelated, based purely on interest. Location and electives selection, in the first week programme offers a range of advantages. of Semester 1. Scheduled teaching can During Welcome Week, the Academic Fair Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) take place on any day of the week, but We believe innovation within contemporary is a chance to see all the courses on offer Wednesday afternoons are typically art and craft practices will not solely and discuss them in more depth, but we Awarding body reserved for sport and cultural activity. originate within discipline-specific study, do encourage you to explore elective ideas but will develop through its relationship before joining us in September. Towards the The University of Edinburgh Contact time on all courses will appear on to other fields of study and inquiry. end of your first week, your Personal Tutor your timetable. Many of our programmes will help to check available places and enrol Duration also operate locally managed workshops Our curriculum allows for flexibility of you onto your chosen electives. and studio facilities, which may be made choice in first and second year, with specific 4 years available to you in addition to timetabled in-depth study in subsequent years. We are interested in what you bring to your instruction. programme through your broader interests Academic year Everything you need to know about electives and elective choices. You will be encouraged Some facilities will also use simple sign-up to make connections between areas of study, Comprises two semesters: sheets to manage technical support time or For most of our degrees, because of the creating your own unique creative practice September to December inductions. Details of these processes will be four-year degree structure, electives allow and influencing the future of your specialist January to May communicated with you by your programme for a breadth of study both within ECA and discipline. director on a regular basis through the across the College of Arts, Humanities and virtual learning environment ‘Learn’. Social Sciences. Studying abroad 1st year Fairground Project. Photo: Elly White. We offer undergraduate students the opportunity to undertake a wide range of international experiences. Living and studying abroad can broaden your horizons, enhance your academic perspective and help you make the most of your time as an undergraduate student. There are a range of Go Abroad options available: www.ed.ac.uk/global/go-abroad ECA Store. Photo: Lydia Francis. 6 7 INTERMEDIA ART BA (HONS) PAINTING BA (HONS) PHOTOGRAPHY BA (HONS) SCULPTURE BA (HONS) Programme Director: Susan Mowatt Programme Director: Charlie Stiven Programme Directors: Programme Director: David Moore Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Sophia Lycouris and Torsten Lauschmann Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] You will be encouraged to consider This programme is centred on the studio, Sculpture adopts an ethos that is based contemporary artistic practice in its broadest where you will identify, reflect on and on developing a broad spatial, material sense and validate many approaches develop your personal, visual vocabulary Our programme takes a broad-based view and critical awareness through a range of to working and practising as an artist. through the languages of painting. You of the medium and encompasses a wide approaches pertinent to the expanded field. will be able to research and articulate your range of practice including fine art, editorial, Our purpose-built studios are adaptable, Our programme challenges you to test practice, and question your position, and documentary and video installation. serving as both working studios and boundaries and introduce new vocabularies that of painting, within the wider context exhibition spaces. into the artistic conversation. You can work of contemporary visual culture. This degree prepares you for a career in across a number of different and overlapping photography by encouraging you to develop Our workshops and foundry provide areas central to intermedia art study. These We put emphasis on drawing and research a personal and contextualised vision of the excellent accommodation for working in include sound, object making, installation, through visual thinking at all levels, world, and by developing your knowledge wood, metal, mould-making, casting and performance, publications and moving encouraging synergies between ideas, of equipment and technical facilities. You carving. We also have facilities for working image. methods & processes as you identify the will develop a broad visual vocabulary and with sound, digital imaging and video means to personally respond to aspects explore a range of fine art practices, using editing. In Sculpture, we believe in the For more information: of the world. traditional photographic equipment and value of working within a community that www.eca.ed.ac.uk/intermedia-ba processes as well as the latest computer has a strong, dynamic and creative energy For more information: technology. and our programme thrives on this exciting www.eca.ed.ac.uk/painting-ba atmosphere. For more information: www.eca.ed.ac.uk/photography-ba For more information: www.eca.ed.ac.uk/sculpture-ba Intermedia students. Photo: Ben Shmulevitch. Photography Degree Show. Photo: Gareth Easton. Painting studio. Photo: Federica Mentasti. Sculpture students. 8 9 DETAILED DEGREE CONTENT Our undergraduate programmes provide Year 1 In semester two you will study Art Studio Year 3 a scholarly framework for students who 1B and Introduction to Visual Culture as wish to develop their art practice. We First year students from across the School of compulsory courses but you may also The emphasis shifts from structured projects provide a broad-based environment, with Art work together on the same studio-based select another art course such as Drawn to a self-generated programme of study. enough rigour and focus to enable you projects in semester one. In semester two, from the City or, from the wider University, You will have opportunities to participate in to engage with the challenges of study you’ll move into your chosen degree and Ethnography, Theory and Practice. live, external projects, commissions, events, in intermedia, painting, photography choose from projects in