MArt Creative Art Practice
Four years full-time
UCAS code • W901
Location • City Campus
Subject area • Art and design
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Find out about Creative Spark, our annual graduate showcase of final year students' work, and Brightest Spark, an exhibition featuring projects completed by our elite students.
View the Creative Spark image gallery, taken from the 2010 graduate showcase of final year students' work.
Find out about the Sheffield Institute of Arts (SIA) and view a 360 degree tour of the SIA gallery, where our students exhibit their work.
View a 360 degree tour of our print making studio.
View a 360 degree tour of our print making studio.
Our Digital Design Centre can print medium to large format high quality outputs on a range of different media. The laboratories have software supporting 2D and 3D engineering and creative design applications. Find out more.
Our Printmaking Centre supports a range of processes including silk screen printing, etching, relief, cyanotype, bookmaking and letterpress. Find out more.
All new students on this course undergo a comprehensive induction program to learn how to make the most from our workshop facilities. Find out more.
One of the most valuable resources available for you to access is our highly experienced technical support team. Find out how they can help support your development.
View profiles of the staff who teach in this subject area.
At a glance
Prepare for a career as an artist or practitioner in the creative industries on a course led by professional artists. You have access to well-equipped facilities that allow you to experiment with everything from printmaking to digital technologies. And there are opportunities to gain work experience through placements and public exhibitions.
Key points
• Benefit from the advice of professional artists.
• Experiment with a range of media using our well-equipped workshops.
• Develop your professional knowledge alongside theory and studio time.
• Develop a professional portfolio of completed and exhibited work.
What is creative art practice?
Art is a subject that forms relationships with many different areas of knowledge such as making technologies and media (for example painting, sculpture, photography, video and performance), research practices and the showcasing of work (for example exhibiting).
Critically engaged with the world, fine art asks questions without a need to provide answers.
This course
Engage with all aspects of making and contemporary debate on this rich and demanding course. You explore traditional methods of making visual arts and are supported and encouraged to engage with new ideas and theories.
This course is ideal for you if you have an independent mind, a deep interest in skills-based art-making, and you’re working to develop a strong identity in your own art practice.
Exploring traditional and contemporary art making processes, you’ll gain skills in 2D and 3D art forms ranging from painting and illustration to casting.
One of the key aspects of the course is the creative freedom you have to work in a range of practice areas. You can take advantage of a range of modern and well-equipped facilities including those for • woodworking • metalworking • printmaking • photography • the latest digital technologies.
You develop your understanding of the relationship between the process of making and the context of showing by exhibiting your work.
The course has a simple structure with three modules a year. These are developed at each level, offering increasing levels of challenge as the course progresses.
The studio module asks that you spend the majority of your time devoted to making and developing work in our dedicated studios, in specific locations or in the workshops.
The art context module focuses on art context and theory, culminating in a short dissertation, seminar or placement report in the third year.
The professional art practice module supports and develops your professional skills to help you operate within the cultural industries.
You learn from a teaching team who are artists that exhibit nationally and internationally. They support you as you develop the confidence and skills to express yourself and to communicate your ideas.
We run a guest speaker programme and give you opportunities to exhibit your work. You also have the chance to gain professional experience in the wider cultural arts sector through internships, professional practice and mentoring schemes in galleries, such as S1 Artspace and Site Gallery. We also have strong links with regional and international arts organisations, such as the Venice Biennale and Tate.
About the MArt
This course runs parallel to the BA (Honours) Creative Art Practice. The main difference begins in year three. The pace of work increases as you complete your undergraduate studies and begin your postgraduate studies.
You further develop the professional skills required for your future career, and in year four complete a three month work placement experiencing professional practice at a high level. After returning, self-directed study forms the main part of your learning in the run up to a final public exhibition.
Key areas of study
Study focuses around the three areas of • studio • art context • professional art practice.
We work closely with our neighbours in Sheffield’s Cultural Quarter including Site Gallery, S1 Gallery, Yorkshire Art space, The Showroom and BLOCspace, leading to interesting possibilities and opportunities for students.
Find out more about MArt Creative Art Practice
Related courses
You apply for this course through UCAS.
The course fee may be subject to annual inflationary increase. For further information on fees and funding see www.shu.ac.uk/study/ug/fees-and-funding
2013/14 academic year
Typically £10,680 a year
2014/15 academic year
Typically £11,250 a year
The course fee may be subject to annual inflationary increase. For further information on fees, scholarships and bursaries see www.shu.ac.uk/international/fees
• exhibition • portfolio • essay • visual and verbal presentation • research report
Key Information Set 
Spark - be creative
Subjects included are • animation • architecture • computers • creative writing • digital media production • engineering • fashion design • film and visual effects • film and media production • fine art • furniture and product design • games design • graphic design • interior design • jewellery and metalwork • performing arts • photography • product design.
Creative Spark
Creative Spark is an annual showcase of student work and celebrates the innovation, creativity and imagination of our most talented graduates. Creative Spark is hosted across four university venues • Owen • Cantor • Sheaf • Arundel Gate Court and S1 in the city centre.
For further information visit the Creative Spark website.
Brightest Spark
Brightest Spark is an exhibition housed in the SIA Gallery and Cantor building. This exhibition features the elite students in each Sheffield of Institute of Arts course as chosen by industry professionals.
For further information visit the Brightest Spark website.
Project Spark
Sheffield Hallam students have the opportunity to play a key role in the promotion of the Creative Spark and Brightest Spark exhibitions by submitting entries for Project Spark. The 2012 competitions included • concept design • branding and wayfinding • creative writing • image • brightest spark logo and branding.
For further information visit the Project Spark website.
Students' work on display at the Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery.
BA (Hons) photography students exhibited their work in the Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery.
An example of a contemporary fine art project.
Laura Hayes final year project for BA (Hons) Contemporary Fine Art.
An example of an animation modelling project.
BA (Hons) Animation modelling work on display for Thomas Lloyd's final year project entitled The Window Pianist.
An example of a metalwork and jewellery piece.
Emma Middleton's jewellery piece for BA (Hons) Metalwork and Jewellery.
The concept behind Emma's work is based on the idea of sentimental jewellery and the burden this can become on the wearer.
An example of an animation modelling project.
BA (Hons) Animation modelling work by Luke Adams for his final year project entitled Uneasy Rider.
Part of the Creative Spark exhibition.
Graphic students work on display.
Part of the Creative Spark exhibition.
Work displayed by engineering students.
Four students' workbooks on display.
BA (Hons) Interior Design student workbooks (Shamila Hussain, Faiza Khan, Naomi Nunn and Helen Genia Austin).
A collaboration between fashion and engineering students.
A collaboration between fashion and engineering students creating a wedding dress that could be dissolved after the wedding to transform it into five new fashion pieces.
This went on to achieve international acclaim.
Part of the Creative Spark exhibition.
Work displayed by interior design students.
Part of the Creative Spark exhibition.
BA (Hons) Metalwork and Jewellery students work on display.
Part of the Creative Spark exhibition.
BA (Hons) Product Design work.
Students' workbooks on display.
A visitor to Creative Spark looking at students' workbooks for BA (Hons) Product Design.
Part of the Creative Spark exhibition.
Work on display from the Extended degree in Design.
An example of a final year metalwork and jewellery project.
Final year project for BA (Hons) Metalwork and Jewellery.
Gallery
Sheffield Institute of Arts
Sheffield Institute of Arts at Sheffield Hallam University is one of the oldest and most well-established centres of creative learning in Britain. Since 1843, we’ve built an excellent reputation and nurtured generations of students in a culture where anything is possible and with the resources to make it happen. To find out more about the Sheffield Institute of Art and its creative community visit the website.
Sheffield Institute of Arts gallery
The gallery offers and exciting programme of changing exhibitions of the best in art, design and creative practice. Located in the Cantor building, it hosts exhibitions throughout the year.
Print making studio
Our print making studio supports a wide range of print activities including etching, drypoint, cyanotype, lithography and screen printing.
Art and design print making studio 1
Our print making studio supports a wide range of print activities including etching, drypoint, cyanotype, lithography and screen printing.
The Digital Design Centre
The Digital Design Centre comprises a suite of 6 IT laboratories (4 PC and 2 MAC) together with the Print Output room, an area for printing medium to large format high quality output on a range of different media. The laboratories have a wide range of software supporting 2D and 3D engineering and creative design applications.
The Digital Design Centre runs a high quality computer printing facility and has the ability to print sizes between A4 and A0 and wide format banners. A3, A2, A1, A0 and Banner photo quality printing is available on a range of papers, as well as AutoCAD type plans ( B & W ) on standard paper.
The Printmaking Centre
The Printmaking Centre supports the following processes
• silk screen printing
• etching
• relief
• cyanotype (an early photo graphic process)
• bookmaking
• letterpress
The printmaking workshop is divided into process lead areas which are outlined below.
Screen print area
In this area there is everything the student needs to get a good grounding in every aspect of silk screen,
with facilities for printing onto to paper, fabric and MDF.
Resources include
• four screen beds
• large exposure unit
• wash-out and development area
• in house photo positive facilities
Intaglio and relief area
We have all the facilities on hand to give you a broad experience of traditional printmaking techniques. We offer support in dry-point and etching as well as photo etching, relief and linocut.
• large etching press (max plate size- 1060 X 715 mm)*
• medium etching press (max plate size – 770 X 935 mm)*
• medium relief press (max plate size – 565 X 820 mm)*
• small relief press (max plate size – 285 X 410 mm)*
• horizontal etching tank (for copper only/max plate size – 300 X 600 mm)
• small exposing unit for photo-etching
Letterpress area
This area includes a printing press, cases of select fonts and smaller support equipment.
Bookbinding
Facilities for making and binding books are provided within the studio and some specialised equipment is available for students to use within the department.
Digital area
We provide a small digital suite within the printmaking workshop enabling students to make their own positives and negatives for the processes supported in the department such as silk screen, photo-etching and cyanotype. Our print facilities enable us to output a variety of different types of photographic positives in house creating an immediate bridge between digital and traditional processes. This enables you to design and make exciting print works to a high standard within one location. Resources include Two AppleMac computers with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign (CS5.5) A3 scanner, large format A0 inkjet printer, A3 b/w laser printer.
Workshop skills induction
These are specifically designed for all first year students that will require access to the workshop facilities as part of their course. The core essential techniques are covered and include both theory and practice.
Core techniques covered include
• using hand held power tools
• using a bandsaw and scroll saw – wood, foam and plastic
• using a pedestal drill – wood, metal and plastic
• sanding techniques – wood, plastic and foam
• metalworking techniques – cutting, shaping and grinding
• plastics manipulation – use of strip heater and vacuum forming
Technical support team
While you will find excellent facilities throughout, the most valuable resource you will have at your disposal is access to our extremely dedicated, highly experienced technical staff.
All the staff are there to support you during your time in the workshops. The technical team with its professionally qualified staff and practicing professionals, has a wealth of knowledge and expertise across all areas of our provision and comprises engineers, designers, silversmiths and jewellers, fine artists, media arts specialists and IT experts.
The team are committed to using their diverse range of skills and knowledge to support practical aspects of your
course work, whether solving a simple software problem, producing a complex engineering project or creating design work for an international exhibition. There are currently 50 technical staff directly supporting the Technical Resource Centres and the research institutes of the faculty.
Gary Simmonds
Senior lecturer, Creative Art Practice and Fine Art
'I am a senior lecturer working across the creative art practice and fine art degree courses, from undergraduate to postgraduate level. I am level and module leader for the first year of the creative art practice degree course. I teach on both studio and theory modules across the fine art subject area, including supervising PhD research student. I have had a number of roles including course leadership of the Extended Degree in Art and BA (Honours) Creative Art Practice. I am currently the link-tutor to Hillsborough College in creative art practice and level and module leader for the first year of the creative art practice degree course.
'My own research is in painting. My practice is concerned with abstract painting’s relationship to geometry, design and ornamentation. I make paintings that flirt with: formal abstraction, beauty decoration and disorder. I have exhibited my work both nationally and internationally including solo shows in London and Milan and group shows at the South London Gallery, London and LoBe projects in Berlin. I have a forthcoming exhibition at the Westlane Gallery South Gallery, London in June 2013.'
Andrew Sneddon
Senior lecturer, Creative Art Practice and Fine Art
'I am a Scottish artist and senior lecturer in fine art and creative art practice at Sheffield Hallam University and also lecturer at Edinburgh College of Art. I have an MA and a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Glasgow School of Art and studied at the British School at Rome. I have exhibited nationally and internationally, and currently engaged in a practice-led PhD at the University of Edinburgh. My practice and PhD are concerned with exploring our complex relations with place and the decision-making process of the artist in response to context and situation.
'I have also contributed to three chap-book publications that feature Alec Finlay, Jeremy Millar and Roddy Buchanan. I have recently contributed to a number of conferences with papers entitled ‘Two naked men and an open fire’, ‘I don’t know what I’m looking for but I’ll know it when I see it’ and ‘The act of improvisation in the work of Tacita Dean’. I also co-organise an interdisciplinary project called ‘GRAVITY’ that was launched in 2010 as a forum for debates about the visual as a critical domain within the creative industries. This research project examines the myriad ways the art world deals with its ambivalent and yet enduring relationship with the artefact.'
Becky Shaw
Course leader, Creative Art Practice
As course leader for creative art practice, I lead an energetic and committed team. Recent focus has included devising a new display language for graduating third year students, and I lead a second year theory option called art and materiality. Two colleagues and I run Gravity - this research project and lecture series invites internationally respected artists to present their work to our students.
My research focuses on the relationship between people and the material world, and how ideas of objectivity and subjectivity dwell in objects. As a result my art practice involves making artworks that respond to places where people and objects interact - in large social environments including hospitals and factories.
Many of my works have involved collaborations with diverse people, including engineers, performers, hospital residents and scientists. I was awarded a PhD in 1998, following a three year study that explored making sculpture with palliative care patients. In 201 I won the Amstelveen Art Incentive prize for new art. My work has been included in books such as - ‘Situations’ by Claire Doherty- a key reference text for art in the public realm, in a Routledge reader on ‘Community Performance', and in a new book on collaboration called ‘Speculative Strategies’. From 2000-2006, I was co-director of Static, an experimental art and architecture gallery in Liverpool.
Profiles
Gary Simmonds
Senior lecturer, Creative Art Practice and Fine Art
Andrew Sneddon
Senior lecturer, Creative Art Practice and Fine Art
Becky Shaw
Course leader, Creative Art Practice
