Fine Art
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    Fine Art

    University of Oxford
    University of Oxford
    United Kingdom
    United Kingdom, Oxford
    University Rank:#3
    Go to Official Website
    Duration3 year(s)
    Tuition Fee
    GBP 58,638 / year(s)
    Next IntakeSeptember 1, 2026

    Fine Art

    About

    Fine Art is the making and study of visual art. It educates and prepares students to become artists and to follow other practices that are aligned with the making of art. The curriculum is centred on the individual student’s potential and imagination.

    The Ruskin School of Art offers a three-year studio-based BFA course in which students work alongside each other in collaboratively-organised studios. Whereas many fine art courses run in an environment devoted exclusively to art and design, Ruskin students, as members of a collegiate university, have the advantage of contact with their contemporaries on all of Oxford’s other courses.

    Requirements

    Entry Requirements

    A typical week

    A week will typically consist of several of the following:

    • a one-to-one studio-based tutorial focusing on the individual student’s art work
    • a tutor-led group critique or other bespoke teaching session
    • a skills-based workshop
    • a history and theory lecture and/or seminar or essay tutorial
    • a talk by a visiting speaker.

    Students spend much of their time working in their own studio spaces, where they are supported by specialists in the art-making techniques available at the Ruskin.

    Tutorials are usually one-to-one with a tutor. Typically there are 6-12 students in a group critique (in which students present their work, and discussion is guided by one or two tutors). There are usually no more than 12 students in any workshop or seminar, around 30 for lectures, and 90 for the all-school visiting speakers’ talks.

    Teaching is delivered by staff who are dedicated tutors in their subject. Many are leading artists and writers with years of experience in teaching and research. Some teaching may be delivered by postgraduate students who are studying at doctoral level.

    To find out more about how our teaching year is structured, visit our Academic Year page.

    English Requirements

    • IELTSMin 7
    • TOEFLMin 100

    English Program Requirements

    Courses

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    Assessment

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    Students develop their studio work in discussion with the school’s faculty, tutors and visiting staff. They are allocated a studio tutor each term, who monitors progress, sets targets and directs them in their studies.

    Work is regularly presented and discussed at group critiques involving staff and students from across the school. Alongside this, workshops and projects are offered throughout the year to introduce a range of techniques and approaches to the making and curating of artwork.

    In addition, students attend weekly anatomy classes (including visits to the Anatomy Suite at the Medical Sciences Teaching Centre), in which they explore, and produce work relating to, the human body.

    Submission of portfolios of studio-based work, including human anatomy, and an exhibition; three submitted essays in the history and theory of visual culture.

    Career

    After graduation, most students go on to work in the arts sector, as practising artists, teachers, curators, fabricators and technicians, in public and private museums and galleries, community arts organisations and for culture and heritage councils and institutions - recent alumni have taken up educational and curatorial roles in major art institutions such at Tate, the Baltic Gateshead, the Hepworth Wakefield and Modern Art Oxford. Many also pursue careers in architecture, music and theatre, communications, and the film and digital media industries. Others continue in academia and art writing: Dan Fox (BFA 1998) was for a long time the Chief Editor (New York) of Frieze Magazine, and numerous Ruskin alumni contribute regularly to other leading publications. Recent graduates have gained scholarships on highly regarded post-graduate programmes including at the Whitney Independent Studies Program, and the Carnegie Mellon School of Art. Ruskin alumni also teach and research in art schools/departments across the country and internationally. Many Ruskin graduates have won or been shortlisted for prestigious awards and prizes across many media:

  • Tom Woolner (BFA 2001, and now a Ruskin Senior Tutor) was nominated for the John Moores Painting Prize 2023.
  • Emma D'Arcy (BFA 2015) was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2022.
  • In 2019, Nazia Khan (BFA 1990) represented Pakistan at the Venice Biennale.
  • The works of Khushna Sulaman-Butt and Alvin Ong (both BFA 2018) were included in the BP Portrait Award at the National Portrait Gallery, London in 2018.
  • Nathaniel Mellors (BFA 1999) represented Finland in Venice in 2017.
  • In 2016, Helen Marten (BFA 2008) won the Turner Prize and the Hepworth Prize for Sculpture.
  • Paul Franklin (BFA 1989) was awarded the Oscar for Visual Effects for his work on the science fiction film Interstellar in 2015.
  • Conrad Shawcross (BFA 1999) won the Jack Goldhill Award for Sculpture in 2014.
  • Elizabeth Price (BFA 1988) won the Turner Prize in 2012.
    • Ruskin graduates have been long-listed for the annual Platform Prize, with accompanying solo exhibitions at Modern Art Oxford:
  • Sarah Catterall, 2023
  • Eliza Owen, 2022
  • Beth Simcott, 2021
  • Mihaela Man, and James Scott, 2020
  • Grace Robertson 2019
  • Luke Dawes - shortlisted, 2018
  • Nathan Caldecott – shortlisted 2017.
    • Ruskin Alumni have regularly been included in Bloomberg New Contemporaries, and the 5-yearly British Art Show. 

    Fee Information

    Tuition Fee
    58,638 / year(s)

    Fine Art

    University of Oxford

    University of Oxford

    United Kingdom

    United Kingdom, Oxford

    Go to Official Website