The Arts Foundation Year at Lincoln is year one of an integrated four-year degree programme which provides an alternative entry route on to a wide range of degree courses within the College of Arts, including Animation and Visual Effects, Architecture, Graphic Design, Creative Advertising, Illustration, Interior Architecture and Design, Design for Event, Exhibition and Performance, Fashion, Fine Art, Photography, and Product Design. Known collectively as the Arts Foundation Year, the programme adopts a dynamic interdisciplinary approach to learning, where all students follow the same curriculum and studying alongside one another, regardless of their degree specialism. It has been designed to enable students who perhaps need more time to adjust to degree-level study, are not sure which subject they want to pursue, achieved lower than expected grades, or are returning to education. Students can engage in the study of practical and theoretical subjects that are relevant to their creative disciplines. Our students can build their confidence throughout the programme by engaging with experimental ways of working, design processes, practical workshops, and critical thinking.
Fine Art focuses on the artist as a socially responsive, publicly-aware practitioner, operating within physical, intellectual, and digital networks and referencing local, national, and global artistic platforms. At Lincoln, the Fine Art programme offers the expertise and environment to nurture students' creative development and expression. It aims to enable students to extend their creative work and ideas into new areas, including publicly engaged art. Students on the course are introduced to a range of professional and transferable skills. Academic staff are often practising artists and writers with national and international reputations, such as Dr Steve Klee whose work has been shown at LAM Gallery, Los Angeles, and Ms Alice Tuppen who has collaborated on projects with Damien Hirst and Sir Peter Blake among others. A range of artists and professionals are also invited to deliver guest lectures and tutorials as part of the School's visiting artists' programme. Recent speakers include Assemble (2015 Turner Prize Winners), Mark Titchner, Jordan Baseman, Cath Keay, and Joshua Sofaer. The programme explores contemporary art that moves within and beyond the traditional gallery to embrace a range of non-traditional sites, with assessments designed to prepare students for professional life. The course emphasises individual creativity and artistic intelligence, and aims to introduce students to the fields of Live Art, installation and digital media, as well as catering for painting, sculpture, drawing, and printmaking.
