About the course

This popular course offers you the opportunity to develop the skills you need to become an Art and Design professional in a supportive community environment. You will work with live briefs, public projects and industry partners including Luton Culture, Departure Lounge Gallery, The Hat Factory and MK Gallery.

Offering a balance of theory and practice, our BA (Hons) Art and Design ensures you develop a range of visual and creative skills while you gain insights into critical theory, the importance of context and contemporary professional practice. If you are unsure of your specialist field, it gives you the opportunity to experience several creative pathways including Art and Design practices; community arts; curating; arts management; arts advocacy; and further study towards a career working in art and design education.

You develop essential skills and knowledge in a variety of 2D, 3D, digital and time-based practices, and engage in critical aesthetic and conceptual debates. You explore visual, social, cultural, environmental and political diversity, expressed through your developing Art and Design practice.

You will become proficient in presenting work to professional standards, including project production, and will develop the skills needed to build relationships in the creative community including networking, exhibiting, and marketing.

Why choose this course?

• All course tutors are practising, internationally exhibiting artists
• You study both traditional disciplines such as drawing, painting and printmaking along with the latest techniques in photography, video and digital media
• You learn through practical workshop sessions, sustained practice in the studio and one-to-one tutorials as well as work-related opportunities
• You work independently, developing your ideas through to outcomes, showing you can select and use materials, processes and environments; research and analyse those ideas and outcomes; and make connections to wider contexts
• Learning is linked to ‘real world’ experience to prepare you for a career across a number of fields
• You are able to consider issues arising from the creative practitioner's relationship with audiences, clients, markets, environments, users, consumers, and/or participants
• Develop personal and practice-based skills such as management, communication and multi-agency working
• You can take the degree over four years with a placement year in industry (see below), which allows you to sample a field of practice, build your CV and make future contacts
• If you are returning to learning or need a launchpad into a degree course, you can opt for Art and Design with a Foundation Year (see below)
• You gain a qualification that will enhance your prospects of a fulfilling and exciting career in a wide range of creative industries. Our graduates have become practising artists and designers, teachers, arts administrators and art managers; they have also continued their studies, both locally and internationally

Course Leader - Nigel Grimmer

I am a mixed media artist researching the language of the photographic portrait. Historically my investigation focused on domestic photography, specifically the family album. Recently I have begun to study the self-portraits produced for use within social media, particularly dating apps and Instagram stories.