module specification

Focusing on the student’s own evolving fine art or photographic practice, the FA4P01 Project Work 1 module provides an opportunity for students to develop projects, responding to cross-module art or photography briefs, using technical skills developed within those projects and relating to research and methods of enquiry undertaken for those projects within other modules during the year. The module considers the relationship between method, medium and meaning, with reference to relevant theory, as well as traditional and contemporary practices.

The module FA4P01 Project Work 1 is shared by, serves and sustains the awards in the BA Fine Art, BA Fashion Photography, BA Painting and BA Photography courses, delivered in a seamless and integral relationship with the work of other core modules in the level, including the Critical and Contextual Studies modules.

Students are encouraged to develop as autonomous learners, taking increasing responsibility for the progress of their project work. All project briefs relate to themes in CP4013 Critical & Contextual Studies 1 (Art). Students will be expected to consider and construct critical connections between Level 4 modules.

This module aims to enable students to develop key skills of interpretation and knowledge in the development of individual art or photographic practice. Through assigned briefs and projects, the module aims to provide a framework to develop concepts and principles in visual practice relevant to contemporary debates in art or photography. Building upon skills acquired in the other studio practice module and the subject-specific module on this level, the module aims to facilitate learning in the selection, testing and informed use of materials, equipment, facilities, research and processes relevant to their enquiry into and interpretation of the theme of a given project. One key objective of the module is to give the students opportunities to present their project work to an audience of peers. The module also aims to put students at the centre of the formulation of group ethics in the studio - defining under supervision their own rules about how practitioners are to conduct themselves and help each other in their work and study, mutual respect and self-regulation of codes of practice. Finally, the module aims via guided independent study to be the vehicle for regular trips in which the students will experience how professional practitioners choose to address different audiences.

At the beginning of the module, its aims and key concepts will be outlined to all students. Students will also be invited at the outset to set out, agree as a group and sign up to a basic code of ethics for conduct in the studio (LO2), including the establishment of a rota in which students will volunteer to help another student as a model, producer or technical assistant (LO4).

In three blocks over the year, students will be asked to interpret commissions and briefs for the demonstration of different art or photographic principles (LO1).

At the end of each of the three blocks students will present their art or photography project work in front of an audience of their peers at a time appointed by tutors (LO5).

Tasks will be set for guided independent study in which student will be asked to visit specific events, talks and shows and report on these online (LO3).

Scheduled teaching ensures that independent study is effective and addresses the learning outcomes and assessment tasks. Students are expected to (and to have the opportunity to) continue with their studies outside of scheduled classes. There will be a range of learning strategies deployed and individual learning styles will be accommodated. The module’s learning outcomes, its contents and delivery, have been scrutinised and will be regularly reviewed to ensure an inclusive approach to pedagogic practice.

The module and course utilise the University’s blended learning platform to support and reinforce learning, to foster peer-to-peer communication and to facilitate tutorial support for students. Reflective learning is promoted through assessment items and interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

On completing the module, students will be able to:

1. interpret commissions and briefs for art or photographic concepts and principles;
2. list out a basic code of group ethics for studio practice in a shared setting;
3. experience and consider the views of art or photography spectators in different settings to analyse how contemporary practitioners address those views;
4. volunteer to help others in their art or photography work, in the studio and at events;
5. communicate clearly and dynamically in an illustrated talk with a notes handout, presenting own art or photography project work.

The FA4P01 Project Work module’s single assessment item is a Project Work coursework, in which the finished project work elements of 3 studio practice projects undertaken and handed-in at 3 hand-in points over the year are collated and assembled in one project work folder for summative assessment in May. At the end of each project each student will present their project work to an audience of peers for a formative assessment, later to be grouped in one collected, summative assessment in May.

The assessment strategy includes formative assessments throughout the Level, with tutorial feedback designed to encourage and help students to develop and improve their work. These will inform the student of their progress through the course. Written feedback in an interim review halfway through the year offers an opportunity to reflect on the work in relation to the module’s learning outcomes and this together with finished project work and supporting material will inform the assessment panel at the summative assessment at the end of the Level.

Students will evaluate their own learning on the module using the criteria given and write a short critical appraisal (summary statement) of their work. This will provide the basis for discussion at the assessment feedback session after the formal coursework assessment has taken place.

Summative assessment takes place at the end of the module. Written feedback addresses the strengths and weaknesses of individual presentations in relation to the grading criteria.

Work will be assessed against the learning outcomes in relation to the following criteria:

• Appropriate use of research methods and enquiry
• Quality of analysis and interpretation
• Knowledge of and relevance to Fine Art or Photography
• Quality of communication and presentation
• Appropriate use of problem solving, testing and experimentation
• Management of own learning and personal professional development

Core Textbooks:
Fine Art and Painting:
Howells, R. (2011) Visual Culture, Cambridge: Polity Press
Schneider A L (2009) The Methodologies of Art: An Introduction, Westview Press

Photography:
Jeffrey, I. (2009) How to Read a Photograph, London: Thames and Hudson
Warner Marien, M. (2014) Photography: A Cultural History, London: Laurence King Publishing
Wells, L. (Ed.) (2015) Photography: A Critical Introduction, Abingdon: Routledge.

Fashion Photography:
Blanks, T. (2013) New Fashion Photography, Munich: Prestel
Jansen, C. (2017) Girls on Girls: Art and Photography in the Age of the Female Gaze, London: Laurence King
Keaney, M. (2014) Fashion Photography Next, London: Thames & Hudson.
Remy, P. (2014) The Art of Fashion Photography, Munich: Prestel
Shinkle, E. (Ed.) (2012) Fashion as Photograph: Viewing and Reviewing Images of Fashion, London: I.B.Tauris

Additional Textbooks
Barthes, R. (1993) Camera Lucida, London: Vintage
Berger, J. (1973) Ways of Seeing, London: Penguin
Bray, S. and Stern, J. (2014) Photography and Psychoanalysis: The Development of Emotional Persuasion in Image Making, Rhodes: Photography and Consciousness
Bright, S. (2011) Art Photography Now, London: Thames and Hudson
Bull, S. (2009) Photography, London: Routledge
Hack, J. and Furniss, J.A. (2011) Making It Up as We Go Along – The Dazed & Confused Book, London: Dazed & Confused
Howells, R. (2011) Visual Culture, Cambridge: Polity Press
Jaeger, A. (2010) Image Makers, Image Takers, London: Thames and Hudson
Jansen, C. (2017) Girls on Girls: Art and Photography in the Age of the Female Gaze, London: Laurence King
Rose, G. (2XXX) Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Material, Thousand Oaks: Sage
Sigurjonsdottir, A. and Langkjaer, M.A. (2011) Images in Time: Flashing Forward, Backward, in Front and Behind. Photography in Fashion, Advertising and the Press, Copenhagen: University of Copenhagen
Sontag, S. (1979) On Photography, London: Penguin
Sullivan, G. (2010) Art Practice as Research: Inquiry in the Visual Arts, Thousand Oaks: Sage
Wells, L. (2XXX) The Photography Reader, Abingdon: Routledge
Wells, L. (Ed.) (2015) Photography: A Critical Introduction, London & New York: Routledge

Journals:
Camera Austria http://camera-austria.at
European Photography Magazine http://www.european-photography.com
Aesthetica Magazine http://www.aestheticamagazine.com
Aperture, New York: Aperture Foundation  https://aperture.org

Websites:
International Center of Photography, https://www.icp.org/collections
Association of Photographers http://www.the-aop.org 
Royal Photographic Society www.rps.org
Magnum Photography https://www.magnumphotos.com
Show Studio http://www.showstudio.com

Social Media Sources
@thecassphoto
@thecassart