ACADEMIC STAFF
Admissions
We admit three Fine Art students each year. Details of the course and of the admissions procedure are available at the Ruskin School of Art website. The mode of entry will normally be post A-level for those who have taken a foundation course and who have already had experience of full-time practical Fine Art. It is rare to be offered a place straight from school.
The Course
The BFA Course is studio-based and involves three years of practical study in any media. Students are required to pass the Preliminary Examination in practice and Art History, which requires two essays and a written paper, and Human Anatomy, where there is one afternoon's drawing a week through the three terms and a drawing examination.
In the second and third year, students work under tutorial guidance towards the final exhibition - work can be presented in any media. The course is small and flexible and encourages interaction between all areas. The Art History component of the Final Examination is normally an extended essay on a topic related to the student's studio work and one written paper.
Dr Ian Kiaer is the tutor for Fine Art at Brasenose College. He has exhibited internationally since 2000, and previously taught at the Royal College of Art. His research concerns include painting post-medium, painting as a minor form and notions of the fragment, model and aphorism in contemporary art. All teaching is given at the Ruskin School. Students have their own tutors there who see them and discuss their work on a regular basis. Visiting artists and specialists in all the areas contribute an important part of the teaching and there is a weekly special lecture series given by scholars and practising artists.
Read more about Fine Art at Oxford.
Careers
Careers of those with Fine Art degrees are varied, but as a creative subject it gives graduates a real sense of their potential as artists and of the importance of art to them as a career. Each year several manage to continue their practical work, with a third of graduates going on to post-graduate degrees. Others go into teaching, art history, curating and other art-related areas.
Artwork by Johnny Izatt-Lowry – former Brasenose Fine Art undergraduate student