An honours degree (2:2 or above) in a field relevant to the award you want to study. If you do not have a degree, you will need to show you have appropriate professional experience and skills to benefit from the course. We may also be able to take into account accredited prior learning (APL) or accredited prior experiential learning (APEL). If your degree is in a different field, you will need appropriate knowledge, skills or experience in the field you wish to study, or be able to show that you are prepared for intensive new learning. In all cases you will need to demonstrate through a portfolio or interview your preparedness for study at postgraduate level. If English is not your first language, you will need a minimum IELTS score of 6.5 or equivalent.
- Employability
Careers
Contemporary Crafts is designed to enable you to operate successfully as a professional practitioner in your area of specialism. Graduates have gone on to establish studios, exhibit professionally, work as curators, PhD study, teaching, work towards site specific commissions.
About the course
- Each student on the programme has their own studio space within the shared PG Art studio area. You will be able to work alongside fellow students in Photography, Fine Art, Contemporary Textiles and Contemporary Crafts, as well as students across the School.
- The School has excellent facilities accessible to all students – darkrooms, print and textiles studio, 3d workshops (including glass, ceramics, jewellery, 3d printing), equipment loan store, and computer suites.
- All the teaching staff are creative practitioners/artists who have national or international standing and expertise. Invited speakers, artists/creatives, curators and theorists, also add to the creative mix. The teaching staff are passionate about the work we make and the work you make!
Why choose this course?
MA Contemporary Crafts is an award that sits within the PG Art Programme at the School of Creative Arts. Within this masters programme there is strong emphasis on professional practice and the real-world applications of art and design. You will develop key research skills and gain a good understanding of the work of other practitioners in your field.
The aim of the programme is to equip you with the skills, knowledge and understanding required to practice at an advanced level, to foster your creativity and enhance your employment opportunities. You will work alongside artists and designers who are involved with a wide variety of media and forms. Induction, seminars and social events for students and staff mean that you will be part of a friendly and supportive postgraduate community, which also includes film makers, musicians and professionals working in new media. Senior research staff and internationally renowned artists work with postgraduate students, helping you to develop original and challenging work.
Contemporary Crafts is an area of creative practice that has a growing reputation through the recent heightened public exposure via the media. On this course, you will explore and challenge the boundaries of your practice and, through discussion and debate with other students, explore some of the key ideas and concepts that inform contemporary applied arts practice.
We focus on helping you develop the entrepreneurial skills you need to further your career and explore funding opportunities and employment in the creative and cultural spheres. You may develop and exploit your talent across a wide range of activities and develop a practice as a maker of individual objects, a designer of batch-produced products, an artist working to commission or establish a mixed portfolio career.
You are encouraged to challenge the materials you use through practical research and sampling and refine your professional practice through the application of process, development of technical skill, material understanding and conceptual underpinning. You have the opportunity to specialize in one area or work across a wide range of disciplines and materials – jewellery, textiles, ceramics, glass, printmaking – and be actively involved in sharing ideas and taking part in critical debate.
Through working alongside artists and designers on other postgraduate courses you will explore the possibilities for the applied artist today, questioning conventions and refining your practice and design capabilities by working with and understanding materials. Our staff are experienced in research and professional practice, and you will also benefit from contributions from visiting artists, designers, makers and other arts and design professionals, as well as from involvement with our international exhibitions programme and gallery environment.
What will I study?
The programme is centred on individual practice and encourages critical dialogue between traditions, disciplines and media. The practice modules develop individual practice through a combination of work-in-progress seminars, tutorials and gallery visits and discussions. A sustained body of creative work forms the basis of assessment, supported by written documentation and assignments. The course is also designed to help you acquire research skills and understand what is going on now in fine and applied arts.
At the University of Hertfordshire, we want to make sure your time studying with us is as stress-free and rewarding as possible. We offer a range of support services including; student wellbeing, academic support, accommodation and childcare to ensure that you make the most of your time at Herts and can focus on studying and having fun.
Fees 2022
UK Students
Full time
- £9750 for the 2022/2023 academic year
Part time
- £810 per 15 credits for the 2022/2023 academic year
EU Students
Full time
- £14750 for the 2022/2023 academic year
Part time
- £1230 per 15 credits for the 2022/2023 academic year
International Students
Full time
- £14750 for the 2022/2023 academic year
Part time
- £1230 per 15 credits for the 2022/2023 academic year
*Tuition fees are charged annually. The fees quoted above are for the specified year(s) only. Fees may be higher in future years, for both new and continuing students. Please see the University’s Fees and Finance Policy (and in particular the section headed “When tuition fees change”), for further information about when and by how much the University may increase its fees for future years.
Deadlines
15 January
