BA ART AND CREATIVE WRITING

Develop as an artist, curator and writer with our BA Art and Creative Writing programme.

This four-year, joint honours course reflects recent developments in art and culture. For example, you will:

• learn about new digital art and publishing platforms
• expand your understanding of contemporary literature and art theories
• develop your skills in art writing.

Art and creative writing are a stimulating combination at degree level – they enhance and inform one another. Additionally, studying theories and practitioners across the art and literature disciplines will inspire and influence your own art and writing as you hone your technique and form.

Art

Studying at the Reading School of Art allows you to explore a vast range of media and experiment with emerging art forms.

Over the course of your four years of study, you will:

• work with academics who include artists, curators and researchers
• be encouraged to participate in exhibitions, public art commissions and events
• receive dedicated studio space, accessible 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, and a studio tutor to help develop your individual and professional practice.

You will complement your practical art with modules in contemporary art theory and the history of art. Through the lectures, seminars and studio teaching – as well as weekly visiting artist talks – you will be exposed to the language, vocabulary and debates that have emerged historically and evolved to forge contemporary art.

Creative writing

Explore literature creatively as you develop characters, shape poems, and draw on your imagination.

You will learn from prize-winning authors and academics who have published research on everything from medieval poetry to contemporary Caribbean fiction.

We are committed to teaching through the workshop model. These small group sessions are the heart of Reading’s writing community: guided by one of our lecturers, you and your fellow students will gain confidence as your share your writing and help each other improve.

You will also have the opportunity to publish your work – and gain experience in editing and publishing – by participating in our annual Creative Writing Anthology.

Find out more about our creative writing studies, including information about our academics, on our Department of English Literature’s creative writing webpage.

Your learning environment

You will learn through a mixture of:

• seminars
• lectures
• studio teaching
• group workshops
• technical inductions
• one-to-one tutorials
• museum and gallery visits.

You will also receive academic guidance through oral and written feedback.

Your creative writing modules will place a strong emphasis on small-group learning within a friendly and supportive environment, and you will have access to our resident professional writer who advises our students individually.

For your art modules, you will have access to our range of facilities. These include:

• studios for construction, printing and casting
• darkrooms for photography
• digital tools for film and video editing, imaging, sound and web building
• a dedicated audio-visual room and sound-recording booth.

Placement

You will be encouraged to undertake academic placements during your studies.

The Department of English Literature has an innovative placement scheme, and previous art students have:

• interned at Studio Voltaire and the Frieze Art Fair
• performed at the Institute of Contemporary Arts
• taken part in an Arts Council-supported film project at the Museum of Rural Life
• participated in an international exhibition at the Seoul Institute of Arts in South Korea.

Study abroad

In your second year, you can spend a term studying abroad at one of our partner institutions in the USA, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, France, Switzerland or Finland.

To find out more, visit our Study Abroad site.