MA Painting Welcome Guide

Preparing for your course

We're delighted that you've chosen to join our creative community at Arts University Bournemouth. We can't wait to see what you'll create.

Welcome to the MA Painting course

This welcome pack is designed to give you an idea of what to expect during the first weeks of your course. Please take the time to read it carefully and take particular note of the pre-course preparation. We hope that you will enjoy a happy and productive time with us, and we look forward to meeting you.

A message from your Course Leader

Congratulations on your place. I would like to welcome you as a postgraduate student studying here at Arts University Bournemouth.

We hope that you are excited by the prospect of the challenges that this period of advanced study will bring. The nature of the course offers significant opportunities for you to investigate new insights beyond your chosen discipline that will feed a focused enquiry into painting. It's this richness and sharing of ideas, fused with an immersion in your studio practice that realises, in our experience, meaningful, imaginative, intelligent and visually rewarding outcomes.

We want to offer you the best support while you are with us.

- Dominic Shepherd, Course Leader

Before you join us

There is no Pre-course Project but consider reflecting on your interests and practice to date. Visit as many exhibitions as you can and get into the habit of making notes/drawing about what you see and think. Consider the methods of making, be a critic.

Recommended reading in preparation for your period of Postgraduate study and as a means of introducing you to approaches for study at this level, we recommend that you read/ look at the following. These are all available in the AUB library but you may wish to look at them beforehand:

Myers, T.R. (2011). Painting: Documents of Contemporary Art. London: The Whitechapel Gallery.
Hudson, S.P. (2015). Painting Now. London. Thames and Hudson.
Seed, J. (2019). Disrupted Realism: Paintings for a Distracted World. Schiffer Publishing.

Turps Banana: Painting
Art Monthly
a-n magazine
re-title

Visualising Research: A guide to the research process in art and design.

Listen/Watch Tate archival material: Artist Talks, Lectures and Conferences. It is possible to access most from this page – just search for ‘Artist Talks’ etc.

What to bring on your first day

Notepad
Pens
Calendar (phone, paper or laptop)

Studios and Materials

Materials for workshops are frequently provided.

A range of hand tools and digital equipment are available to loan, there is an extremely well-stocked painting workshop where all tools are available for use within the studio.

A limited selection of 2D (canvas) and 3D (wood) materials may be purchased from the Fine Art store. These are available at approximately 50% less than high street prices. Paint, Painting tools and mediums can be purchased locally, London has extensive art retail outlets or online.