MFA in Fine Art

Why choose this course?

The new MFA in Fine Art at Kingston School of Art offers a unique blend of studio and theoretical training. On the programme, you will develop your practice as an artist while critically reflecting on and locating that practice within a changing social, political and cultural context. You will have the opportunity to take one art theory module with the world-renowned Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP), and work across a range of media, taking advantage of the School's new cutting-edge workshops.

This course is studio-based and research-centred. Developing your personal vision and understanding of collaborative practice, you will create clear and meaningful work to consolidate and strengthen your position as an artist and creative practitioner.

You will produce self-initiated work from the outset. Individual tutorials, seminar presentations and practical workshops will support your studies.

You will be able to develop a major body of practical work that engages with the context of a critical understanding of contemporary fine art practice.

Through a student-centred approach to teaching and learning, you will be encouraged to work on individual projects as well as experiment with collaborative modes of production and exhibition, developing relevant artistic and curatorial strategies both within the field of contemporary art and across broader cultural contexts. A programme of lectures, studio seminars and personal tutorials will connect you to a network of artists, curators, writers and gallerists as you explore what it means to make art in the 21st century.

Current faculty members include Jo Addison, Dan Kidner, Mike Nelson, Peter Osborne, Elizabeth Price, Morgan Quaintance, Alexis Teplin and Roman Vasseur.

Recent guest lecturers and speakers include Ed Atkins, Helen Cammock, Mandy El-Sayegh, N. Katherine Hayles, Mark Leckey, Every Ocean Hughes, Amalia Pica, Prem Sahib, Patrick Staff, Leslie Thornton, Zoé Whitley, Issy Wood and Abbas Zahedi.

Kingston School of Art is an internationally recognised art school with a reputation for excellence and innovation in research across disciplines. The school is located a 20-minute train journey from the heart of London on a campus that includes the Stanley Picker Gallery and the newly rebuilt extension designed by architects Haworth Tompkins.

The School of Art includes departments of architecture, film, photography, fashion and product design. The School is part of Kingston University whose neighbouring sites include the Town House, a building designed by the RIBA Gold Medal-winning, Grafton Architects and the Visconti Music Studios at Kingston Hill. The School works closely with galleries, museums and institutions in London including the ICA, BFI, LUX, and Chisenhale Gallery.

Reasons to choose Kingston University

• You will be part of a small cohort based in dedicated studios in the Fine Art Department within a thriving and diverse community of undergraduates, post-graduates and researchers.
• This course offers a unique blend of studio and theoretical training. You will develop your practice as an artist while critically reflecting on and locating that practice within a changing social, political and cultural context. Tutorials and lectures by artists, curators and thinkers of international standing support your development.
• You will have the opportunity to take one art theory module with the world-renowned Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP).
• You will work across a range of media, taking advantage of the School's new cutting-edge workshops located next to the dedicated MFA Fine Art studios.
• The MFA studios are situated directly adjacent to the newly refurbished, world-class technical facilities, the Stanley Picker public gallery with its events programme and a campus shared by artists, designers and theorists.
• This course is taught by practising artists, curators, writers and other invited professionals, offering a broad range of cultural, intellectual and practical experience. Regular lectures are enhanced by a programme of public talks at the ICA London.
• You can opt to select one option module delivered by Kingston University's Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy (CRMEP).

What you will study

This course will help you to enhance your research and analytical skills as an integral aspect of your studio practice.

Your own research is augmented by collaborative work, seminars and talks. Within a diverse cohort of students, you'll challenge one another's world views, towards an in-depth understanding of cultural production.

You will amass a substantial body of work, develop and apply highly attuned analytical skills, practice innovative exhibition strategies and hone your confidence as an artist.

Typically students must complete 120 credits at each level, totalling 240 credits by the end of the degree.

Year 1 modules

The teaching in the first year supports students in establishing their studio practice and critical skills. Sessions with key professionals in contemporary art then go on to assist students in developing the research and professional skills they need to sustain a career. This is then followed by a period in which students (in dialogue with their peers) explore their strengthened individual practice and research through making and reflecting on modes for disseminating art.

Core module (plus the modules in option 1 OR option 2)

• Practice and Critique

Option 1

• Extended Research and Professional Skills

Option 2

• Research and Professional Skills
• Art Theory: Modernist, Avant-Garde, Contemporary

Final year modules

In the second year of the MFA, you are given the time, teaching, support and discursive framework to consolidate your independent practice and research. You will work towards the completion of a final major exposition of work that signals a critical engagement with notions of dissemination and publication in the field of contemporary art. The final major exposition is the culmination of the technical, critical, professional and organisational skills learnt earlier in the course.

Core modules

• Extended Practice
• Final Major Exposition

Please note

Optional modules only run if there is enough demand. If we have an insufficient number of students interested in an optional module, that module will not be offered for this course.

After you graduate

Our graduates have progressed to careers in curation, arts administration, project management, arts education and PhD study, and have established arts collectives internationally.

Whilst the course does not offer progression onto the Fine Art PhD at Kingston School of Art it is understood that the programme supports those interested in developing a practice-based PhD proposal in the future with which they can apply to PhD programmes nationally and internationally as well as at Kingston School of Art.