School of Creative Arts and Design
1 WELCOME
Welcome to the School of Creative Arts and Design! The School of Creative Arts and Design has a long standing history of design excellence, with roots dating back to the 1800s. Our courses build on this impressive heritage, and are shaped by the contemporary creative industries sector. Housed in one purpose-built building in the heart of the city of Wolverhampton, we offer a broad range of degree courses. I am confident that if you’re offered a place, studying with us will develop your skills, challenge your thinking and deepen your understanding of your chosen subject. Within the School, we have two art galleries for student and visiting artist work - The Bessant Gallery and The Long Gallery. We also collaborate with local art galleries and exhibition spaces for our annual
undergraduate and postgraduate student exhibitions, which showcase our students’ talents across all the creative disciplines. We’ll help you to develop your individual style as an artist, designer or maker, and achieving a degree from the University of Wolverhampton is a perfect preparation for the realities of the world of work. I’d like to invite you to join our creative academic community of industry professionals, expert technicians and internationally recognised researchers to start your future as a confident, capable artist.
John Pymm Dr John Pymm Dean of the Faculty of Arts
Contents 2
Contents Visual Arts - 3 Visual Arts courses Specialist facilities for extraordinary artworks
Visual Communications - 5 Visual Communications courses Specialist facilities for extraordinary images
Choices after undergraduate study - 7 Postgraduate courses Our research excellence
Supporting your career - 9 Employability
Student successes - 11 Honouring the trailblazers - 13 Join us - 14 How to apply
3 Visual Arts
Visual Arts Excellent workshop facilities, a long-established industrial heritage, and a range of exciting courses make the Department of Visual Arts your first choice for a modern, creative education. Whichever specialist option you choose you will be taught by esteemed artists and practitioners, dedicated to developing your individual potential. Applied Arts offers material practice in ceramics, glass and metals. This ideas-led, practice based course has an international reputation and long-standing links with the UK’s heritage craft industries. Fine Art allows you to establish your individual creative identity and unique approach to art practice in a stimulating, studio based environment with open access to our excellent workshops. Fashion and Textiles offers you a highly creative experience that recognises the essential relationship between textile design and product outcome. The course equips you with the aesthetic, intellectual and professional skills to develop your creative identity within the fashion and textile design industry. Our BDes (Hons) Design courses in Interiors and Product unite creative design and innovation with a practice based understanding of materials, technology, industrial practice, human factors and sustainability.
Visual Arts courses • BA (Hons) Applied Arts (ceramics, glass and metal) • BA (Hons) Fine Art • BA (Hons) Fashion and Textiles • BDes (Hons) Interior Design • BDes (Hons) Product Design
Visual Arts 4
Specialist facilities for extraordinary artworks Specialist glass, ceramic, wood, plastic and metal workshops
• Hot and cold glass facilities. • Ceramic facilities for hand building, throwing and slip casting. • Fine metal and ferrous metals. • Architectural glass and ceramics. • Laser cutting and routering. • Sculpture yard. • Foundry for casting in bronze and aluminium.
Print facilities
• Digital. • Silk-screen printing. • Large-format lithography. • Relief printing. • Etching and engraving.
Textiles and fashion
• Bespoke industrial stitch rooms. • Specialist machinery for knitting, leather and computerised embroidery. • Pattern cutting room. • Dye facilities. • Double bed heat press. • Tufting machines. • Laser cutting. • Millinery equipment. • CAD labs with software for fashion, textile and carpet design.
Technical support staff
As important as the technical facilities are, our dedicated technical staff have a key role in supporting you in taking your ideas from dreams to reality. Dedicated staff for each area provide invaluable knowledge and expertise of the knowhow required for professional practice.
5 Visual Communications
Visual Communications Whether your interest lies in the production of media, visual literacy, illustration, photography, graphics, advertising, multimedia, or web design, our Visual Communications department can support your creative goals. Explore all aspects of design for print and screen with Graphic Design: the latest software tools will give you a sound understanding of typography, layout, image making, sound and moving image. In Illustration you will explore the full range of illustrative practice, including editorial, children’s books, comic and graphic novels, as well as illustration for advertising and packaging. On our Photography course you’ll achieve an in-depth understanding of the medium, as well as essential practical skills: working with cameras of all formats, in the studio and on location, learning colour and black and white darkroom techniques, and digital technologies. The BA (Hons) Visual Communication allows you to explore all these areas as a general discipline, providing you with skills in the full range of visual communication practice.
Visual Communications 6
Visual Communications courses • BA (Hons) Visual Communication • BA (Hons) Visual Communication (Graphic Design) • BA (Hons) Visual Communication (Illustration) • BA (Hons) Photography
Specialist facilities for extraordinary images Design facilities
• Apple Mac computers with dual screens. • Wacom drawing tablets. • Our digital media store provides free access to state-of-the-art digital and photographic equipment.
Print facilities
• Digital. • Silk-screen printing. • Large-format lithography. • Relief printing. • Etching and engraving.
Photography facilities
• Double height photography studio with industry-standard equipment. • Fully-equipped darkrooms. • Comprehensive processing and printing facilities • Dedicated Mac scanning/IT suite.
7 Choices after undergraduate study
Choices after undergraduate study Postgraduate study
We have three postgraduate programmes offered at MA and PG Dip level, available in full or part-time mode: • MA Fine Art • MA Digital and Visual Communications • MA Design and Applied Arts Each programme offers opportunities to further enhance, broaden and deepen your experience of art and design theory and practice. Inter and cross-disciplinary practice is encouraged, or you can study at a highly specialist level if this suits your needs. To explore your postgraduate options, visit: wlv.ac.uk/postgrad
Choices after undergraduate study 8
Our research excellence Our research is the life-blood of our teaching, and you’ll have the opportunity to study with some of the foremost authorities in the country. We have a range of PhD opportunities available through the Centre for Art, Design, Research and Experimentation. Established in 2006, the Research Centre comprises readers, research professors, associates, research active staff and PhD students. For the Research Excellence Framework 2014, the Faculty of Arts has submitted the largest number of researchers in the University. Previously, in the Research Assessment Exercise 2008, 10% of research by CADRE was rated as worldleading, 25% as internationally excellent and 50% as internationally recognised. CADRE comprises five research clusters: • Art, Critique and Social Practice • Communication and Pedagogy • Creative Processes in the Performing Arts • Digital Theory, Technology and Practice • Material and Theoretical Practice
Art, Critique and Social Practice
This research group is noted for its wideranging and internationally renowned analysis and engagement with models of sociability and performativity in contemporary art. These approaches encompass critical environmental and public art practices, photography and representation, philosophical aesthetics, popular culture and the ‘everyday’.
Communication and Pedagogy
The cluster team has a wide range of experience and interests in various aspects of teaching and learning, technology supported learning, equality and diversity, creativity, visual cultural history, interactive and multimedia, sound and areas of visual communication such as typography and visual hierarchies.
Creative Processes in the Performing Arts
This research group pursues creative inquiry and critical analysis at the intersection of theory and performance practice. The cluster comprises three subject areas – music, dance, and drama – within the School of Performing Arts.
Digital Theory, Technology and Practice
This research group has a depth of knowledge and expertise in digital creativity and audio visual technology. With explorations into both narrative and non-narrative forms in conceptual, immersive and performance spaces, practitioners and theorists engage with both traditional and digital media.
Material and Theoretical Practice
This cluster brings together researchers rooted in studio-based, creative and professional practices with the aim to explore and advance different methodological and conceptual approaches through the manipulation of material in fine art, applied arts and design. For further information visit: wlv.ac.uk/cadre
9 Supporting your career
Supporting your career At the School of Creative Arts and Design, we have many years’ experience in supporting our students in pursuing their career ambitions. We believe our formula for success is working: with increasing student satisfaction; increased graduate employment rates; and more graduates than ever pursuing successful careers in the arts. Here’s how:
Live briefs and commissions
+ Business start-up opportunities
+ Work experience & placements
+
Your creativity & ambition
=
A highly employable graduate
Supporting your career 10
All creative disciplines work on live briefs and commissions, providing you with valuable realworld experience. You’ll get to meet clients and present your ideas – excellent practice for life after graduation. Student interaction with clients has led to work experience, commissions and even jobs! Why not be your own boss? Enterprise and entrepreneurship are hugely important to the creative disciplines and the University’s SPEED programme assists students and graduates to set up a new business and begin trading – with great success. We offer a Professional Experience module that embeds a work experience placement within your course, to be undertaken within study time, making work experience more accessible than ever.
2012: Fashion & Textiles students work with NEXT design studio. 2013: Visual Art student’s winning sculpture installed at Keltruck UK Ltd HQ. 2014: Textile Design students’ designs go into production at Hill & Co Rug Company.
11 Student successes
Student successes Bagging a winning design
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They won a prestigious competition to redesign Summer 2014 and 2015 reusable bags for Poundland, with thousands of bags due to be snapped up by shoppers. Working with Poundland’s in-house design team is an added boost for the competition winners, seeing their ideas go from the page to production and gaining amazing experience working in industry.
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Dream job is no fiction Matt Jones secured a full-time job as cover designer for Puffin Fiction Books just months after completing his MA Graphic Communication. ‘‘This is my dream job; designing and illustrating book covers for one of the largest, most recognisable publishing companies in the world, from an office that overlooks the London Eye and the Thames River! I was offered the job after twice being shortlisted for the Penguin Design Awards in 2010 and 2013 for my Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Wind in the Willows book covers.” Matt Jones, BA (Hons) and MA Graphic Communication 2013
Student successes 12
Bright spark’s soaring career Sarah has been taken on by The Bright Agency, a creative agency that specialises in illustration for picture books, fiction, novelty and educational and children’s publishing. “I’m thoroughly enjoying working with Bright – illustrating for children is something I have always wanted to do and the illustration course at University gave me the confidence to pursue this as a career. It helped me to develop my style and explore all aspects of illustration. All the tutors were really knowledgeable and supportive; this gave me the encouragement to do well. I also gained a good understanding of the illustration industry.” Sarah Jennings, BA (Hons) Illustration, 2013
Student showcase success MA Fine Art students Caroline Ali and Anna Smith have been chosen by New Arts West Midlands to showcase their work. Caroline graduated in MA Fine Art and her work is being showcased at the Barber Institute of Fine Art. Anna Smith, currently studying MA Fine Art, was selected by judges to win a residency at The Library of Birmingham, Airspace at Stoke on Trent, The New Art Gallery Walsall and MAC Birmingham, and also won a cash prize of £1,000.
13 Honouring the trailblazers
Honouring the trailblazers
Each year the University awards honorary degrees to a select number of people who have demonstrated outstanding achievement or distinction in their field.
Goldie Honorary Degree of Doctor of Design Pioneer, graffiti artist, drum ‘n’ bass icon, DJ, actor, producer and conductor. Against all odds, and despite a traumatic childhood, Goldie succeeded in unleashing his boundless creativity from a very young age, having transformed an underground British sound into a mainstream international movement, whilst collaborating with major pop icons along the way. Goldie earned his name as a graffiti artist in the West Midlands in the early 80s. His artwork around Birmingham and Wolverhampton was featured heavily in Afrikaa Bambaataa’s 1985 feature film documentary Bombing. A move to London and visit to the Rage Club in 1991 changed things: Goldie launched the Sunday Sessions and growth of Drum and Bass label Metalheadz that created his album Timeless. He has appeared in Snatch, The World Is Not Enough, Eastenders and BBC’s Maestro. Following this he was asked to score a piece of music for the Proms entitled Sine Tempore. A two-part BBC documentary, Classic Goldie followed.
How to apply 14
Join us
How to apply Undergraduate applications
Applications for full-time undergraduate BA (Hons), FdA and HND programmes are usually made through UCAS – the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. Visit: ucas.com
Undergraduate entry requirements • 200 UCAS points, including a minimum of 160 points from A-level subjects or equivalent. Or successful completion of a Foundation Course in Art and Design. Visit: ucas.com/students/ucas_tariff to find out how to convert your grades into points. • Entry is based on academic qualifications, experience, portfolio and referee comment. • Offers are subject to interview. • Applications from mature candidates (over 21) are welcome, subject to the same conditions.
Postgraduate and part-time applications You can apply online for all postgraduate courses and part-time undergraduate courses. Simply find the course you wish to apply for via our course finder at: wlv.ac.uk and follow the link to ‘apply directly’.
Postgraduate entry requirements Quisque pretium, arcu id congue condimentum, lorem urna pellentesque sapien, et pharetra ipsum enim eu purus. Suspendisse tincidunt porta dictum. Donec congue dictum accumsan. Vivamus in nibh nibh.
International students International students can apply either through UCAS or the International Centre. For further information or an application form please tel: +44 (0)1902 322 735, or email: international@wlv.ac.uk
Finance For information regarding financing your studies, contact our Higher Education Advisors, tel: 01902 321 032 or email: gateway@wlv.ac.uk
Fees For the most up-to-date information on our tuition fees please visit: wlv.ac.uk/fees
Scholarships
The University of Wolverhampton offers a range of scholarships to help support you with your studies. To see if you could qualify, please visit: wlv.ac.uk/scholarships
School of Creative Arts and Design University of Wolverhampton MK Building, City Campus Molineux Molineux Street Wolverhampton WV1 1DT Tel: 01902 322 058 Email: art-design@wlv.ac.uk Visit: wlv.ac.uk/creativearts Follow us: Twitter: @WLV_Arts Facebook: /WLVArts MAC2112