By this stage of your degree, you will have developed a clear sense of the creative or professional direction you want to pursue.
You will have growing confidence in the methods and processes that support your practice.
The module helps you advance this understanding through a self-directed project that reflects your creative identity, showcases your specialist skills, and aligns with contemporary Creative Industries expectations.
Building on prior learning, the module requires a strong commitment to independent study.
You will undertake extensive research, concept development, and iterative testing as you move through the full cycle of creative practice.
You will begin by negotiating a project proposal or set of research questions with staff, outlining:
- your intentions
- contextual framing
- a realistic timeline
- any technical and/or material needs
You will then complete a sustained period of development, addressing creative and practical challenges while refining your work to a professional standard.
Throughout the module, you will use appropriate visual /audio, material, digital, or theoretical methods.
You will consider how your work communicates to relevant audiences or industry contexts.
Effective time management, communication, and reflective practice will be crucial for evaluating your progress and identifying areas for improvement.

The module concludes with the presentation of a coherent, well-resolved body of work demonstrating your readiness for professional practice or further creative development and participation in a large scale exhibition.

Assessment 1: Work in Progress Report

This will consist of a presentation or document that outlines the development of your practice during the first semester of the module.

Option 1: A digital file (PowerPoint, PDF) showing documentation of work produced during the first semester of the module and that outlines research questions that have guided your approach, with a word count of approx. 500 words.
Option 2: A 5-minute verbal presentation covering the same territory, delivered as part of a studio crit group.

Assessment 2: Coursework

A resolved body of practical work appropriate to the student’s discipline, demonstrating creativity, technical competence, professional standards, and critical engagement with sustainability, leading towards a large scale public exhibition.

This may include:
- 2D artworks, such as painting, drawing, digital works and photography
- 3D artworks, such as sculpture, assemblages, artefacts
- Performance, participatory works and other durational events
- Installation
- Video, sound and other time-based work
- Any other works produced within a fine art context
- Supporting work such as sketchbooks, proposals, material tests, or other forms of practical experimentation as appropriate to your own practice

Assessment 3: Reflective Journal

A curated and reflective body of evidence documenting the development of the project from conception to resolution, submitted either in written or verbal form.

This assessment emphasises critical reflection, decision-making, and engagement with sustainability throughout the creative process.

This should demonstrate:
- conceptual development and evolving intentions
- contextual and disciplinary research
- awareness of sustainability considerations relevant to the project
- methodologies and production approaches
- experimentation, iterations, and testing
- material, digital, or technical development
- problem-solving and adaptation
- reflective documentation of key decisions
- sustainability engagement (materials, processes, context, ethics)

Option 1: Written reflection with supporting visuals – word count 2400
Option 2: Audio recording with image folder – 10-12 mins
Option 3: Video reflection with supporting visuals – 10-12 mins

Formative Assessment:

Midway formative feedback will be embedded within practical sessions, providing structured opportunities for feedback on work-in-progress to support student development and progression.

- Lectures
- Specialist workshops
- Seminar discussions
- Tutorials
- Drop-in support sessions
- Group work
- Independent and self-directed learning
- Reflective practice

1. Demonstrate a methodical and specialist understanding of theories, concepts, practical methodologies and exhibition literacy to support your continued professional development in Fine Art.

Knowledge & Understanding
Personal Development & Entrepreneurship

2. Undertake in-depth contextual research that informs your work. Use experimentation, material inquiry to develop, test, and refine original creative ideas in response to contextual research.

Research Skills
Application & Problem Solving

3. Produce a resolved professional-standard exhibition.

Digital Literacy
Application & Problem Solving

4. Critically evaluate and develop your creative practice in response to real-world professional and societal challenges within Fine Art and where appropriate, in collaboration with others.

Knowledge & Understanding
Critical Reasoning & Collaboration

- Student Life https://www.youtube.com/@uniofstaffsstudentlife/videos
- University Careers https://staffs.careercentre.me/Members
- University Library https://libguides.staffs.ac.uk/library
- Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment will support this module where relevant
- Specialist Spaces
- Smart Zone
- CAD Labs
- Print Bureau
- Betty Smithers Design Collection

Crouch, C. and Pearce, J. (2020) Doing research in design. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Ferguson, B. W., Greenberg, R. and Nairne, S. (1996) Thinking about exhibitions. London: Routledge.

Leonard, N. and Ambrose, G. (2020) Design research: Investigation for successful creative solutions. Lausanne: AVA Publishing.

Neill, P. (2012) The culture of curating and the curating of culture(s). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

O’Doherty, B. (2000) Inside the white cube: The ideology of the gallery space. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Obrist, H. U. (2015) Ways of curating. London: Penguin.

Tharp, T. (2006) The creative habit: Learn it and use it for life. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Tracy, B. (2014) Time management. 1st edn. New York: American Management Association.

Whitechapel Gallery (2008–2022) Documents of contemporary art (series). London: Whitechapel Gallery; Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Williams, K., Woolliams, M. and Spiro, J. (2020) Reflective writing. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Magazines and online sources to be regularly consulted:
Art Monthly
Art Forum
Art in America
Flash Art
Frieze: Contemporary Art & Culture

Where older texts are included, they are retained as foundational texts within the discipline, remaining relevant where no more recent equivalent texts are available. Further appropriate texts and references will be suggested by staff and students, directly relating to individual projects.

In this self-directed module, you’ll develop a major project that reflects your specialist skills, creative ambitions, and professional direction. Through independent research, concept development, and creative outputs, you’ll work through the full cycle of creative practice, from proposal to resolved outcome. You’ll consider audience, context, and industry relevance while refining your work to a professional standard, preparing you for future creative practice or progression within the Creative Industries.