Module Information

Module Identifier
AR30620
Module Title
Research and Process in Practice
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Semester 2 (Taught over 2 semesters)
Reading List
Other Staff

Course Delivery

 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment Presentation  (Semester 1)  25%
Semester Assessment Essay  (Semester 2) 3500 Words  75%
Supplementary Assessment Presentation  (Semester 1)  25%
Supplementary Assessment Essay  (Semester 2) 3500 Words  75%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Research and compose an extended piece of writing that clearly demonstrates an ability contextualize, reflect upon, and critically appraise your fine art practice (Aims: A, B, C, D, F, G)

Communicate to an audience a distillation of the Dissertation, orally and visually, in a professional manner (Aims: H)

Formulate ideas and opinions in a substantiated and orderly manner (Aims: A, E, F, H, I)

Formulate defined and realistic Outcomes and a plan of action for implementation in Exhibition 1 (Aims: A, B, D, J)
Visual Diary to (see next)

Demonstrate through written and visual material a line of enquiry that gives expression to personal concerns and ideas within the context of historical and contemporary traditions

Brief description

The purpose of this module is to help deepen your comprehension of the work that you will produce for the Portfolio and Exhibition 1 modules. Research and Process in Practice is predicated on the belief (fundamental to the School's philosophy) that innovation and a mature awareness regarding the nature of one's own practice can only be achieved by examining past achievements and contemporary practice in art. In undertaking this module you will be expected to develop an understanding of the historical, theoretical, and artistic background appropriate to your own fine art practice. In this context you will be encouraged to identify, measure, and comprehend your own intent and achievements in relation to past and present precedents. As a consequence, you should develop a greater intellectual grasp both of your own work and of the ideas and artists that bear upon it. The module will, in effect, enable you undertake research using your own work as a starting point. While the dissertation will emerge from a consideration of your own work, it is important to stress that this is a scholarly endeavour rather than either a biographical, journalistic, or diaristic form of writing. For this reason, you are expected to observe the same conventions for writing and publication as if this were a dissertation in Art History. You will also deliver an illustrated presentation based upon the dissertation at the end of the module. The implication, therefore, is that you should write with the clear Outcome of communicating to an audience.

In addressing past and present practices appropriate to your work, you will concentrate on a number of topics. Your supervisor will help you decide which of the following suggestions are appropriate to your own work. Understanding:

  • movements, artists, ideas, and processes are currently most relevant to you
  • the creative and cognitive processes that shape the evolution of an artwork.
  • how to formulate and implement ideas, hypotheses, a framework, and a programme of work
  • the interactive relationship between concept and form
  • how other artists locate themselves in a historical and contemporary context, and use past art to comprehend their own
  • how to rationalise and evaluate your achievements in relation to the work of other artists.
  • how past and contemporary culture outside art influences your work and ideas
  • how artists successfully communicate their ideas to an audience
  • how your work should develop in the context of Exhibition 1, in the light of your findings
  • Bibliography Michael Compton, Art as Thought Process, London: Arts Council, 1974. Teresa Newman, Naum Gabo: The Constructive Process, London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1976. Harold Morick, The Challenge to Empiricism, Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1972. Lois Swan Jones, Art Research Methods and Resources: A Guide to Finding Art Information, Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1978. Paula A. Baxter, Implementing Database Services for Art Research, Art Documentation, Spring 1987, pp. 16-18. Ursula Meyer, Conceptual Art, New York: Dutton, 1972. Norman Bryson (ed.), Visual Theory: Painting and Interpretation, London: Polity Press, 1991. Sandy Nairne, State of the Art: Ideas and Images in the 1980s, London: Chatto and Windus/Channel 4, 1987. E. H. Gombrich, Topics of Our Time: Twentieth Century Issues in Learning and Art, London: Phaidon, 1991. Isaiah Berlin, Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas, London: Hogarth Press, 1979. Harold Borko, Abstracting Concepts and Methods, New York: Academy Books, 1975.

Aims

The module should enable you to:
A. develop a specific program of research and a research methodology
B. develop a self-reflective approach to creativity
C. locate your work within an historical and contemporary discourse.
D. create an interface between the practice, theory, and history of Art.
E. undertake a systematic inquiry within a prescribed framework
F. form and test hypotheses
G. apply methods and techniques appropriate to the subject in rigorous, proficient, self-critical, and self-reflective ways
H. describe your practice in a way that is communicable to peers
I. justify and evaluate actions and decisions
J. prepare you for Exhibition 1

Content

Syllabus

This structure is given for guidance only:

Stage 1 (Summer Vacation) Self-evaluation, composing a proposal and scheme of action

Stage 2 (Weeks 1-2) Defining your current and projected practice and developing a bibliography of primary and secondary sources appropriate to it (includes picture/literature research), and a programme of research development in consultation with your tutor

Stage 3 (Weeks 3-4) Implementing the programme and writing-up preliminary findings

Stage 4 (Weeks 5-7) Re-evaluating or refining the programme and writing-up findings

Stage 5 (Weeks 8-11) Implementing the programme in relation to practical work projected for Exhibition 1, and writing-up findings

Stage 6 (Christmas Vacation) Recording material, finalising the written element, and preparing for the Presentation

Stage 7 (Semester 1 Examination Period) Submission / Delivery of Oral Presentation

Stage 8 (Semester 2 Examination Period) Submission of Essay

Module Skills

Skills Type Skills details
Improving own Learning and Performance you will be expected to construct a realistic timetable for the completion of discrete phases of research and writing in consultation with their supervisors. Through the production of the Dissertation and Presentation paper
Information Technology you will be expected to word-process the Dissertation and Presentation paper. Where appropriate, supporting work may be generated using computer-graphic software in consultation with individual tutors and subject to the availability of existing resources
Personal Development and Career planning you will be made aware of the relevance of the knowledge and skills acquired through this module to postgraduate study in Art Practice at MA and Ph.D. level. This will be achieved through an opportunity to exchange ideas with the School'r contingent of Postgraduate students
Research skills These will be developed in the context of one-to-one tutorials and the Presentation
Subject Specific Skills The Dissertation and Presentation will be composed in accordance with academic conventions

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 6