Course summary

The Department of Painting and Printmaking is the largest specialist department within the School of Fine Art and the programme of study provides an increase the breadth of experience and learning opportunities for students. The programme aims to equip students with the necessary skills and expertise to realise their full creative potential and to pursue a career in the visual arts or other chosen professions. Each year is designed to ensure that it builds upon the previous year in terms of content, skill development and individual research. Students are provided with a sound knowledge of the theory and practice of their subject before developing personal study paths and self-motivated programmes of work in the final year. Staff will help students to acquire the theoretical and practical skills needed as a practising artist and all students will be exposed to a wide range of views from both staff and visiting artists. Painting Painting is a very long-standing human activity, and is as much the outcome of thought and reflection as writing a novel or a theoretical scientific paper. An awareness of the history and traditions of painting are fundamental to our programme of study. The Painting programme reflects the complex and changing conditions of art today, responding to new ideas and encouraging innovation. Painting in Glasgow is understood as a vehicle of thought and an intellectual discipline capable of great expressive powers. The Department encompasses a wide range of approaches to the subject and students have the opportunity to extend their work, in addition to printmaking, into areas such as electronic media and photography. Printmaking Print exists as a vital force in our everyday lives, providing an effective means for communicating ideas and disseminating information. Printmaking at The Glasgow School of Art is based on an exploration of visual representation allied to the materials, processes and formats of established and developing technologies. For the student, an understanding of the continuing relationship between reproduction and expression, the original and the copy, fine art and printed information, will engender an awareness of the print as a primary form of visual art, whilst supporting the creation of work informed by critical debate. The Printmaking programme is structured around two principal areas of activity, the studio and the workshop. The three main areas of technical provision in the workshops are etching, lithography and silkscreen. There are also extensive facilities for relief printing, photo-mechanical and reprographic processing and a comprehensive print-specific digital imaging suite.