Art - Fine Art A Level
Qualification: GCE A Level in Art & Design (Fine Art)
Exam Board & Specification Code: AQA; 7242; Specification
Course Entry Requirements: 4 in Art GCSE
Please make sure that you have understood the overall entry requirements to study at BHASVIC. These are available here and outline the GCSE grades you need to take up one of the Study Programmes at the college.
Length and size of qualification: 2 year single course
Timetable hours: 4.5 hours per week
Assessment method: Practical projects supported by written work
Course charge: Our Visual Art courses include an annual fee of £95 that covers all necessary equipment and materials, including student sketchbooks and printing credits. This ensures that students have everything they need to be successful without incurring additional costs.
BHASVIC Department: Visual Arts
What will I study?
Welcome to the Visual Arts Department at BHASVIC. Fine Art is one of four subjects we offer at A-level.
The first year of Fine Art is all about discovery. We want to get to know you as quickly as possible. Initial projects are designed to encourage dialogue, a sense of play and promote curiosity. Drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media and three-dimensional pathways will be explored. Having spent a year discovering yourselves as practising artists, much of our transition work at the end of the first-year centres around you defining your artistic selves.
In the second year you are encouraged to develop your own visual language, style and ultimately become an expert in the area you have chosen to study. A longer personal body of work gives time for this refinement and focus.
You will be taught in large, light and well-equipped studios by teachers who value you as an Artist. They will work closely with you to form supportive relationships that help guide your artistic endeavours. Many of these teachers are practising Artists' themselves. We have a fantastic team of six technicians who are also there to assist your technical needs.
Enrichment opportunities include trips, life drawing, applying to become one of our assistant curators or events assistants and a program of Artist talks.
Is this course right for me?
Are you interested in looking at the world around you? Are you open minded and prepared to make mistakes? Do you have a genuine passion and interest in the Visual Arts? Did you enjoy GCSE Art but are now ready for a new challenge in exploring new ways of recording and building an authentic artistic voice. This practical course will help you to build a portfolio of work in which written analysis and research will underpin and support the skills you develop.
Frequently asked questions
During the ‘discovery’ part of the course you will be taught skills in areas of drawing, painting, and printmaking. In February you will complete a Personal Development Project which begins to define your area of expertise, and you have more choice over the direction of study. In the second year of the course during the ‘develop’ phase, you will be working on a Personal Investigation, choosing an area of special interest to explore. Your teacher will help you to decide on a project which best fits your expertise and visual language you have established in the first year of study.
No, we explore a range of methods and techniques that encourages you to find your own style. This is backed up by research and critical understanding that allows you to develop into the style that suits you best.
You will begin the first year with a series of work which enables your teachers to get to know you better. Collaborative drawing techniques are paired with more measured studies up against easels. Drawing, painting, and printmaking are also studied. Sculpture and digital media exploration are also encouraged. We pride ourselves on our students’ range of work, from large abstracts to miniature paintings in oil, from light installations to film and animation. We want to encourage you to engage as authentically as possible in your chosen area. To see the breadth of work completed by our last cohort visit www.bhasvicvisualarts.com.
No, we do ask that you have studied Art and Design or Fine Art at GCSE as the A Level requires a level of experience and rigour that needs that foundation.
You will pay a course fee (bursaries available) that will mean that you access to a whole host of consumables and sketchbooks.
We encourage students to take an authentic approach to their Art studies. One way to do this is to visit Art galleries and exhibitions that help inspire your work. We keep an up to date ‘what’s on list’ with themes highlighted to help you choose visits that will be pertinent to your work. We organise visits to local Art foundation and degree shows. The Visual Arts department has organised many residential trips to Barcelona and are visiting Berlin with first year Visual Artists in July 2024.
Where next?
We have a supportive and structured Visual Arts career progression program to help you with your next steps into HE/FE courses. Students progress onto careers in the creative industries such as architecture, illustration, product design, web design, fashion design, photo journalism and commercial photography, film and animation. Creative careers are diverse and students may not have heard of some of the roles that they can progress to after taking a Fine Art A Level. Careers can range from a Cartoonist to an Art Valuer; from a Museum Curator to an Advertising Art Director. There are routes into many of these professions via university, art foundation and through Apprenticeships. Taking a creative course can open a range of opportunities to you and the expansion of apprenticeships means that students now have wider choice of career options available to them. Useful websites to research careers and wider progression options could include the Creative Skillset, Creative Choices, All About Careers and The Apprenticeship Guide.
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Jobs where studying a Creative Art would be useful include:
- Art therapist
- Interior and spatial designer
- Stylist
- Exhibition designer
- Fine artist
- Interior and spatial designer
- Landscape architect
- Medical illustrator
- Multimedia specialist
- Photographer
- Urban designer
- Advertising art director
- Digital marketer
- Visual merchandiser
- Web content manager
Career Prospects
Many fine artists produce and market their own work. You can diversify by taking courses in art-related disciplines, such as graphics or teaching, or become a 'portfolio' worker, holding down several jobs to support your creative work. You can also apply for mainstream graduate jobs and training in a range of industries, such as banking, insurance, media and public relations.
The most common jobs are in the arts are photographers, audio-visual technicians, operators and designers, as directors, as artists and as graphic designers. Training in presenting sound and graphics is useful in other industries as well, so you can find graduates in advertising, in business management, in events management and in web design and IT. Be aware that freelancing and self-employment is common in the arts, as are what is termed 'portfolio careers' – having several part-time jobs or commissions at once. If you choose to study at university workshops are often available in business and entrepreneur skills.
The UK has a proud reputation as a centre of design excellence, and last year, design was behind only nursing in the number of graduates from UK universities with nearly 13,700. You can work for a variety of businesses, such as design consultancies and studios or branding specialists. You may be part of a team specialising in advertising design, including identity and event branding or corporate communication.
Advertising and PR agencies also employ graphic designers to create positive images of organisations, individuals and products, and deliver imaginative solutions that generate sales or an increase in business interest. You could also work for a publishing company. Many publishers have moved into interactive and online products where you can use your skills to help with the design, production and marketing of books, magazines, newspapers and journals.
Local Market
The creative sector receives government funding. In recognition of the large contribution to the UK economy, £20m government investment has been received by the UK creative industry, part of which will be used to create a Creative Careers Programme to highlight employment opportunities within the sector to schools and colleges. A new report entitled ‘Growing the UK’s Creative Industries’ from the Creative Industries Federation was published and according to the report, one in eight UK enterprises are creative enterprises, which are collectively responsible for two million jobs
Examples of apprenticeships and opportunities include:
- Graduate Art Consultant
- Junior 3D Designer
- Gallery Manager
How BHASVIC helps: We have an excellent Careers Hub and careers advisors who are available for appointments through student services. Local jobs are advertised and they will advise on skills and specialist areas such as degree apprenticeships. Students can choose an appropriate pathway for them in the second year from UCAS, Employability & Enterprise, Visual Arts, Oxbridge and Medics. Our Spring Futures Fair brings in a huge number of careers & apprenticeship visitors with workshops and information stands and departments will bring speakers in around the subject area.
Many of our students choose to take a one-year Art Foundation level 3/4 Diploma (equiv. to 2 A levels) before embarking on an arts degree often studying at Brighton GB Met or Northbrook. Joining a Visual Arts tutor group in A2 to support them in their applications helps them explore the wide variety of arts degrees available. Arts universities such as Falmouth, Bournemouth and Norwich specialise in Visual Arts courses.
Should I study Creative Arts at degree level?
Would you like the opportunity to develop your ability to express yourself creatively through drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, performance art or film? Teaching varies between lectures, groups and one-to-one help. The course teaches many things - conceptual thinking, illustrated book, advertising and editorial work, life drawing, digital skills. You can study Graphic Design or focus on Graphic illustration, Graphic Communication for Graphics for Computer Games. Photography courses include composing and taking photographs and digital or darkroom techniques to manipulate images. You will learn a mix of technical and creative skills. If you have creative ability and a wish to communicate your ideas by producing visual images or design solutions, then a degree in Creative Arts may be for you.
There is a huge range of Creative Arts related degrees.
Entry Requirements
A-levels (or equivalent) usually required
- No Specific Requirements
Useful to have
- A Creative Arts subject
- You may well need a portfolio & interview
Top Universities for Creative Arts
Oxford, Newcastle, Loughborough, UCL, Lancaster, Bournemouth
Bristol, UWE, Aberystwyth, De Montfort, Lincoln – all very high student satisfaction scores
Kent, Bournemouth Arts, Falmouth - all with top graduate prospects
Many of our students choose a combined degree - applications from our students have included:
- History of Art and English Literature
- Interior Design
- Interior Architecture and Design
- Illustration
Example entry requirements (please check):
A-Level/BTEC equivalents:
Reading Graphic Communication B,B,B
AU Bournemouth Fashion UCAS Points: 112-120
Southampton Fine Art BBB
AU Bournemouth Photography UCAS Points: 112-120
Falmouth Photography (Foundation) UCAS Points: 80-120
Newcastle Fine Art B,B,B-A,A,B
Falmouth Fine Art (Foundation) UCAS Points: 80 -120
Solent Fashion Design UCAS Points: 104-120
Nottingham Trent Fashion Management UCAS Points: 104-112
Royal Holloway Video Games Art & Design A,B,B-B,B,B
Plymouth Graphic Design (Foundation) UCAS Points: 32-48
Some examples of Creative Arts-related degrees that our BHASVIC students have gone onto study in the past few years are:
- 3D Animation & Visual Effects
- Architecture (with placement year)
- Artist Designer: Maker
- Arts Management
- Ceramic Design
- Comic and Concept Art
- Commercial Photography
- Computer Animation and Visual Effects (with Foundation Year)
- Computer Games Art
- Contour Fashion
- Costume Design and Construction
- Costume for Performance
- Creative Advertising
- Creative and Cultural Industries: Art Direction
- Creative and Cultural Industries: Design Marketing
- Creative and Cultural Industries: Fashion Promotion and Communication
- Design for Branded Spaces
- Design for Stage and Screen (Costume Design and Construction)
- Digital Arts Computing
- Documentary Photography
- Fashion and Textile Design
- Fashion Business and Management
- Fashion Buying and Merchandising
- Fashion Design Innovation
- Fashion Journalism and Content Creation
- Fashion Marketing and Consumer Behaviour
- Fashion Pattern Cutting
- Fashion Photography
- Fine Art and Art History
- Furniture: Design and Make (Activate Learning - City of Oxford College)
- Game Design
- Graphic Branding and Identity
- Graphic Communication
- Illustration for Communication
- Industrial Design and Technology
- Interior Architecture
- Landscape Architecture (with Foundation)
- Marine and Natural History Photography
- Model Design (Model Effects)
- Photojournalism and Documentary Photography
- Product Design Engineering
- Prop Making and Special Effects
- Textiles Design with Business Studies
How BHASVIC helps: We have a wide range of information and resources to support students applying for university including subject area guides, personal statement and UCAS resources, super-curricular activity guides, open day and bursary information. We also cover university research, careers, art foundation and all other destinations in depth in tutorial and students can choose an appropriate pathway for them in the second year from UCAS, Employability & Enterprise, Visual Arts, Oxbridge and Medics. Our Spring Futures Fair brings in a huge number of university visitors with workshops and information stands and departments will bring speakers in wherever possible.
You will gain many transferable skills studying Creative Arts that will be valued in the workplace including:
Researching, problem solving, project management, presentation skills, working to a brief, creativity, communication, IT skills, critiquing, teamwork, emotional intelligence
Local Skills
The Local Skills agenda considers job prospects and employment in our local area of Sussex. Many of our students will contribute to the National Skills agenda and go onto find a career in a wide range of sectors. For students in Sussex our local skills are identified as the following sectors:
- Construction
- Creative & Cultural
- Digital (includes IT and Technology)
- Engineering & Manufacturing
- Healthcare (includes Bio Life Sciences and Pharmaceutical)
- Visitor & Hospitality
- Land-based (includes Agriculture and Viticulture)
- Green Skills
Degree choices that match the Local Skills agenda our BHASVIC students went onto study and work in Creative & Cultural include:
- Ceramic Design
- Comic and Concept Art
- Fashion Design and Marketing
- Graphic Communication Design
- Promotional Media: PR, Advertising and Branding
Career choices that match the Local Skills agenda our BHASVIC students went onto study and work in Creative & Cultural industries include:
- Web designer
- Graphic designer
- Printmaker
- Product designer
- Secondary school teacher
- Visual merchandiser
How BHASVIC helps: Skills Week in A1 helps students build skills in the workplace and a focus on developing skills through tutorial in A1 and A2 supports students in writing outstanding Personal Statements and CVs. We know our students have already gained a wide variety of skills at home and with extra-curricular activities and will increasingly take up jobs. Our focus is on supporting them to evidence skills already gained, identify gaps and ensure that they transfer that to CVs and applications. This is in partnership with every curriculum area.