COURSE CURRICULUM

The MA Fine Art (Painting) program at Bath Spa University is a one-year, three-trimester course designed to develop advanced creative, technical, and professional skills in painting. In the first trimester, students are encouraged to interrogate their existing knowledge and take creative risks, experimenting freely in specialist facilities, open studio spaces, and technical workshops, with expert support available. This stage emphasizes exploration and artistic playfulness, helping students build foundational skills and refine their creative processes. In the second trimester, students maintain an experimental approach while beginning to focus their practice more narrowly. Support from academic staff helps students reflect on studio developments, refine working strategies, and pay closer attention to the presentation of their practice, considering how individual works relate to one another and to the spatial contexts of exhibitions. The final trimester is dedicated to the Master’s Project, where students work independently to produce a cohesive body of work that demonstrates advanced technical expertise, conceptual understanding, and professional practice, culminating in the final Degree Show. Core modules, including Research Methods, Theory and Professional Context, Practice 1 and 2, Research Practice, and Theory and Professional Practices, integrate theoretical and practical learning. Graduates leave with a strong artistic identity, professional confidence, and the skills necessary to succeed in contemporary painting practice, exhibitions, and the wider creative industries.