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MA Art & Design

This flexible project-based postgraduate course is open to artists and designers wishing to develop fresh assumptions for their creative practice by means of innovative, practice-based, research-driven approaches to creative enquiry. Informed by a spirit of interdisciplinary experimentation, and underpinned by conceptual understanding, MA Art & Design promotes awareness of the value-informed nature of leading-edge contemporary art and design.   

MA Art & Design is open to applications from graduates from art and design subjects, as well as graduates from subjects other than art & design with an appropriate portfolio. In all cases, the course welcomes applicants desiring a transformative experience, who are excited by the prospect of examining disciplinary approaches in an interdisciplinary environment, and who are motivated by qualities of invention, discovery and enterprise.  
 
During the intensive 12-month programme in our central Cambridge studios and workshops, you will explore and advance subject specialist approaches at the same as exploring interdisciplinary perspectives for your practice. You will develop confidence in a range of skills and forms of communication and find inspiration and fresh directions for your practice by experimenting with methods, materials, processes and ideas, driving your creative practice and fuelling your professional ambitions.  

SUBJECT SPECIALISMS

MA Art & Design gives you the flexibility to study your chosen art or design subject specialism within a single Master’s course. Whether coming from, or desiring to move towards, Fine Art Practice, Spatial Design, 3D, Product Design and Craft Practice, Photography or Moving Image, the emphasis is on the development of a leading-edge creative practice, which culminates in an Independent Major Project and a professional portfolio, which builds upon existing understanding, and which extends your knowledge of your subject area in an experimental interdisciplinary environment. 
 
The course sits alongside our specialist programmes in Fashion: Design, Fashion: Branding & Creative Communication, Visual Communication: Graphic Design, and Visual Communication: Illustration & Animation, offering you the flexibility to specialise or work across subjects. 

UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES AT THE CSVPA GRADUATE SCHOOL

This programme offers outstanding specialist tuition combined with extensive academic contact and studio access. As a Master’s student at CSVPA, you will benefit from:   
 

  • Expert tuition from industry-active professional designers, artists, visual communicators and researchers, with unrivalled understanding of contemporary art and design practices, the importance of visual intelligence and experimental approaches to learning, and a passion for sharing their knowledge and skills.  
     
  • Imaginative and contemporary project briefs, which prioritise experimental practical approaches, and which are underpinned by research-led conceptual understanding.   
     
  • Unique opportunities to engage in creative collaborations with Academic Faculty, Departments, Colleges, Doctoral Researchers and Undergraduate students at the University of Cambridge.  
     
  • Exclusive access to contemporary creative industry expertise, by means of workshops, talks and projects, as well as the opportunity to participate in a competitive internship scheme in partnership with Hearst Magazines UK, publisher of titles including Digital Spy, ELLE, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle Decoration.  
     
  • Intensive learning experiences tailored to your needs and ambitions, with high levels of personalised support and extensive 1:1 tutorial time.   
     
  • A postgraduate qualification that will help you to gain distinctiveness and further your creative and professional ambitions.  
     
  • Collaborating with a creative, interdisciplinary and global postgraduate community, developing individual skills in a sharing and collective context.  
     
  • Studio workspace, accessible every day of the week.  
     
  • Access to specialist art and design resources.  
     
  • A small, supportive and specialist creative arts college in a beautiful, historic and cultural city—a creative hotspot and home to one of the UK’s most dynamic and international student communities.   

THE AWARD

Upon successful completion of the course, you will be awarded an MA Art & Design, which is a Level 7 postgraduate award, validated by Falmouth University, and delivered in association with CSVPA.  

“While being at CSVPA I managed to get an internship at Elle magazine UK, during my 5 weeks I worked with different departments”

Lupe – MA Art & Design

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HIGHLIGHTS

OVERVIEW

Course Location 
Cambridge 

Course Length 
1 year (3 semesters)  

Course Start 
September 

Tutor Support 
Specialist tutor support available 5 days a week.  

Studio Access 
Students have access to our studios 7 days a week, from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, Monday to Friday, and 9:00 am to 5:00 pm at weekends. 

Awarding Body 
Falmouth University 

How your Work is Assessed 
Visual and written assignments and projects.   Guest Lecturers   Visiting Lecturers, drawn from a variety of relevant industry and academic contexts, deliver a series of presentations that help you to situate your own hopes and ambitions for the future.

How we Teach
Throughout this course, students will be taught through specialist workshops, guest lecturers, project briefings, regular 1:1 and group tutorials.  

English Language 
Up to 5 hours per week if required

Progression 
Fine Artist, Product Designer, Spatial Designer, Craft Artist, Installation Artist, Sculptor, Curator, Art Lecturer, Design Lecturer, Art Technician, PhD  

Careers  
Previous students have gone on to work at Pentland Brands, Esquire Magazine, Vivienne Westwood, Fashion Crossover, Wyre, Gorilla TV, and many other companies within the creative industries   

ENTRY

Age  
20 years +  

Educational Level  
Successful completion of an Undergraduate Degree in an art & design, or related subject, and/or professional relevant experience. Students who do not meet these entry requirements will still be considered on their own individual potential to succeed, as well as any evidence of prior experiential learning.  

English Level for International Students  
IELTS 6.5+ (no element under 5.5)   

Portfolio & Personal Statment
See below for more details.

STRUCTURE

STUDY BLOCK 1 / AUTUMN TERM

Study Block 1 helps you build your knowledge of the essential skills in your chosen area of art or design, establishing the confidence to try out new ways of thinking through new ways of making. 

In your first term, you will be assigned a series of imaginative briefs designed to stimulate your creativity and help you develop the ingenuity and resilience that professional art and design practices require. You will deepen your understanding of research methods for creative inquiry, and examine the values that motivate you, as well as participate in a series of technical and conceptual Labs, designed to help drive your creativity. There will be additional opportunities to exhibit your work, engage cross-course collaborations and external live briefs. An understanding of the concept of Artistic Transfer will assist you in engaging in creative collaborations with researchers at the University of Cambridge. You will also begin to outline a self-directed project proposal, which will ultimately develop into your Independent Major Project. 

This module promotes experimental approaches to creative practice. We will begin by working together during a diagnostic phase to assess your skills, experience and ambitions, and create a personalised approach to your learning. You will build your knowledge of essential skills and core knowledges relevant to the practice and discourse of your chosen specialism.   

You will think about concept generation, where ideas come from, and how our physical engagement with materials and methods informs both our knowledge and the direction of the creative process.   

You will undertake a series of individual and collaborative projects that help you strengthen your understanding, develop your own creative and visual language, and explore new methods and materials, both traditional and contemporary. Group and individual project briefs will provide the supportive structure for practical activities that interrogate the ideas and influences at play in creative problem-solving.   

In this module you will learn alongside artists, designers and visual communicators from across our MA programmes. You will develop advanced research skills and methods, understand the importance of primary and secondary research, analysis of objects, images and texts, develop your critical thinking, and build confidence with academic study skills and conventions needed for successful study at postgraduate level.   

You will go on to apply these skills to research projects that explore the theoretical landscape of contemporary creative practice, underpinning your work with an understanding of the values that motivate your work. You will examine case studies from a variety of different disciplines that make use of current critical methodologies, which may include archives and collections, design activism, institutional critique, collaboration, participation and co-design, material and object studies, culture jamming, hacking and disruptive design, and identity, ethnography and auto-ethnography, as the dynamic research tools through which concepts are created, analysed and critiqued.   

STUDY BLOCK 2 / SPRING TERM

Study Block 2 looks to the future, and helps you develop a focus for your practice.   

As you continue to develop your own creative practice, exhibiting your work in a work-in-progress showcase, you will also begin to address how artists and designers need to be engaged in forging the future of their respective fields, as well as integrating enterprise as part of your practice. You will explore your own ideas through interactions with students on other MA courses and receive support in developing and writing a professional context report, tailored to helping you to further your professional ambitions. A partnership with Hearst UK affords unique insights into working in the creative industries, as well as the chance to compete for further work-based opportunities in the organisation, by means of developing a response to a creative brief assigned by a department at Hearst. Visiting practitioners bring their own expertise and unique perspectives into the Graduate School. You are encouraged to develop the ability to communicate your creative intentions and critical understanding by a variety of contemporary methods and approaches, as you move towards the final stages of the course. 

This module gives you the opportunity to put into practice what you learned last term, focusing your ideas and ambitions and pursue an individual direction.   
Interdisciplinary dialogues set up in Semester 1 are continued through regular crits and project reviews with tutors and peers, engaging all students in critical discussion and sharing of knowledge.   

To build your portfolio, you have the opportunity to take part in live and industry projects, and you are encouraged to build a public profile for your practice or brand. These briefs will help you build an autonomous approach to independent enquiry-based projects that form the heart of the module. Through self-initiated projects you will develop your independent thinking, problem-solving and problem-setting skills, enabling you to show real engagement with current issues and critical or theoretical contexts that shape your field of practice. You will apply your subject knowledge, research skills and critical enquiry to propose an original inquiry-led project that responds to, or challenges, contemporary issues, situations and problems encountered on the course, engaging appropriate critical methodologies to identify a contemporary question or issue, in-so-doing focusing on a defined area of art or design practice as a ‘testing ground’ for your Independent Major Project next term.

 

Your position as an emerging artist and/or designer will be strengthened through Creative Futures, in which you will work with other MA students to explore art and design in a social context, exploring the critical, technological, environmental, geopolitical and ethical issues that impact on contemporary creative practice—and the ways in which artists and designers today are responding to the challenges we face today, while speculating about what tomorrow may bring.  

As part of this module, you will have the opportunity apply for a period of work experience (including a competitive opportunity offered by our partner Hearst Magazines UK). Alternatively, you will identify a professional context relevant to your ambitions, designing a professional or industry-facing project around your own emerging creative practice. By building on your engagement with the contemporary professional practice of your discipline and the exploratory projects you have completed, you will have the confidence to finalise the development of a proposal for your final Master’s project, to be realised in Study Block

STUDY BLOCK 3 / SUMMER TERM

During this semester, all your attentions turn to the research, development, and production of your Independent Major Project. A student-led symposium helps you to underpin your creative activity with conceptual understanding, resulting in the writing of a critical rationale, which reflects upon the implications, consequences and impacts of your project. The year ends with an exhibition showcase of your projects and the co-creation of an exhibition catalogue, both of which celebrate the end of an intensive period of creative, conceptual, critical, and professional development.

This module gives you the opportunity to put into practice what you learned last term, focusing your ideas and ambitions and pursue an individual direction.   
Interdisciplinary dialogues set up in Semester 1 are continued through regular crits and project reviews with tutors and peers, engaging all students in critical discussion and sharing of knowledge.   

To build your portfolio, you have the opportunity to take part in live and industry projects, and you are encouraged to build a public profile for your practice or brand. These briefs will help you build an autonomous approach to independent enquiry-based projects that form the heart of the module. Through self-initiated projects you will develop your independent thinking, problem-solving and problem-setting skills, enabling you to show real engagement with current issues and critical or theoretical contexts that shape your field of practice. You will apply your subject knowledge, research skills and critical enquiry to propose an original inquiry-led project that responds to, or challenges, contemporary issues, situations and problems encountered on the course, engaging appropriate critical methodologies to identify a contemporary question or issue, in-so-doing focusing on a defined area of art or design practice as a ‘testing ground’ for your Independent Major Project next term.

 

The course provides you with a dedicated context to develop a bespoke strategy for your professional development, including applying for opportunities such as work experience, finding mentorships, residencies, or internships, helping you to develop industry contacts, build your CV, develop your creative portfolio, and to prepare you for work in a variety of roles in the cultural and creative industries, as well as establishing an independent art or design practice.   

Our collaboration with industry partner, Hearst UK, is a distinctive feature of the second term of the course. Through an initial series of industry-related talks, curated by Hearst, and open to all students, Hearst employees provide invaluable perspectives on employment in the post-pandemic creative industries. Then, each year sees a different department at Hearst setting a competitive creative brief, resulting in an invitation to our MA students to pitch their creative responses to the brief in one of the boardrooms at House of Hearst, in Central London. A panel of Hearst creatives selects their favourite responses, and the shortlisted students then progress to a second stage of scheme, during which they spend some time at Hearst. The final stage is the opportunity to apply for a paid internship at Hearst. Whilst the scheme is not a guarantee of further engagement with Hearst, previous students have gone on to further work experiences with Hearst across departments at Esquire, ELLE, Red, and ELLE Ukraine, Digital Spy, the Hearst Accreditation teams, as well as other departments. These experiences, and the perspectives arising from them, have helped previous students develop lasting professional contacts.  

Students may additionally identify their own limited period of work experience whilst on the course, during Study Block 2, which then forms the basis for the writing of a professional context report. This is also a means of developing working relationships with potential industry partners. For example, an MA student who recently developed a Professional Context report on the subject of NFTs and cryptocurrency used the experience to obtain a graphic design job at Wyre, a company providing crypto infrastructure for the New Economy.  

In addition, you will gain insight into industry through competitions, external projects and opportunity to engage in live briefs. Our art & design collaborations with the University of Cambridge provide unique opportunities for our students to engage with a range of opportunities to add this prestigious educational context to their CVs. Successful application to the Cambridge Creative Encounters scheme sees MA students receiving funding for developing art and design collaborations with University of Cambridge researchers. Our programme of Visiting Lecturers has included innovative professionals working across art and design, including Professor Timotheus Vermeulen; Futurologist Anne-Lise Kjaer; Inter-disciplinary fine artist, Alison Gibb; Elana Jeeaoo, Senior Visual Designer at Zoe; and Rifke Sadleir and Dan Baragwanath of DXR Zone, to name but a few. 

The course provides students with the experience and expertise to pursue career possibilities in the expanding creative industries and cultural sector in the UK and worldwide.  

Graduates of MA Art & Design have gone on to careers in magazine design and publishing; the Fine Art sector; freelance and in-house design positions; teaching and art and design education; fashion business and retail. 

Career advice is embedded throughout the programme. Teaching is provided by a team of experienced and industry-active staff and supported by Visiting Lecturers in practice and/or industry, working in the fields of art and design practice and education, fashion design, graphic design, digital media and communications, photography, illustration, fine art, curating and criticism, craft and product design and design research.  

FACULTY

Rain Wu
Associate Lecturer, Graduate School Spatial Design Lab

PORTFOLIO & PERSONAL STATMENT

Portfolio 
A portfolio of work showing personal work, schoolwork, finished and prepared is required for this course. Your portfolio is the chance to show us your skills and your passion. Download our guide to see what we look for in a portfolio. 

Personal Statement 
Please submit a short statement (300-400 words), telling us about yourself, your previous experience and your approach to creative practice. Please include:   

  • Reasons for applying to our MA course.   
  • Experience and skills. What were you doing before? What are you doing now?   
  • Your approach to art/design practice. What inspires, informs, and influences what you do—and why? What values underpin your creative desires?   
  • What you hope to get out of the experience of studying for a Master’s.    
  • Your long-term ambitions. How do you think the postgraduate study will help you develop a career in the creative industries?   

PORTFOLIO GUIDE

What We Look for in an Portfolio guide, to prepare fully for your audition at CSVPA.

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