Fine Art

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.

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.

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.

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: