VA6007 - Synthesis

Tutorials, group critiques, a seminar programme and a self-evaluation review will continue to furnish you with formative feedback to enable you to ‘feed forward’ and to realise your ambitions for your exhibition/presentation at the end of the academic year. Teaching will support you in working with greater autonomy and confidence and conversations will steer you towards interrogating the decisions you make with greater criticality and self-awareness. Tutorial discussion will focus on how you can consolidate the different material and conceptual strands of practice in the context of a public presentation of work. The specific focus and agenda for the choices of media and methods you select to work in will be self-determined and you will learn through tutorial support and independent reflection, testing and analyisis how to synthesise and prioritise your conceptual and creative decisions.

The depth of your understanding will be evidenced and reflected in an artist statement, contextual research and your participation in the full range of learning opportunities. As your production and concept become more defined and professional you are expected to be able to identify questions and issues of importance that can inform the one to one or group discussion. Your professional skills will be further enhanced through the completion of an ethics and risk assessment form. You will receive guidance on how to assess the appropriate risks and logistical considerations through a series of focused briefings in advance of the degree show.

At level six, Teaching Enhanced Learning (TEL) will continue to act as a core learning platform to support your subject knowledge, learning and creative practice via your module site on BlackBoard Ultra.

Academic support is provided through a range of scheduled contact. Work is discussed with your Studio Tutor in one to one tutorials and group critiques. One additional individual tutorial with another academic member of staff will be offered to you. These formal conversations are opportunities to receive immediate formative feedback on on-going work and to act on that feedback. You are supported academically by having your own studio space to produce work in and your regular studio attendance will also enable you to speak to tutors on a more informal basis about work you are developing. The Artistic Attitudes seminar programme addresses various approaches to research and practice and the sessions are designed to progressively support your critical understanding of what constitutes a professional and independent contemporary art practice. Formative feedback therefore occurs continually across the range of teaching contexts.

Further formal academic support is provided via information posted on, Blackboard the notice boards, e-mail and academic consultation and feedback office hours staff office hours. The Self-Evaluation Review will provide timely formative feedback and guidance on the strengths of your developing practice and areas that can be improved upon as you prepare for the Degree Show. The Library is open 24 hours a day and the Electronic Learning Portal houses all your module documents including your timetable.

Where appropriate, students may also be directed to engage with Study Skills +, or other resources offered through the University Student Support Services such as Dyslexia Support. Guidance tutorials also provide opportunities for students to discuss, in confidence, their academic progress on the programme Additional support is fostered through the Student Rep. system and the Ask4Help/Student Central Service can offer advice on academic procedural matters.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Demonstrate a synthesis of your creative and conceptual skills through a critical engagement with contemporary theory and practice.
2. Present work in an exhibition context that reveals an awareness of appropriate and professional methods of display and audience reception.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
3. Identify and resolve connections between intention, process, research and context.
4. Establish an independent fine art practice that demonstrates that material decisions have been critically considered and tested against ideas.
5. Demonstrate the capacity to pursue a sustained and independent fine art practice, including its logistics, progression and outcomes.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
6 Apply ethics processes applicable to a final project

Summative Assessment – (MLO’s 1, 2, 3, 4, & 5)
Semester 2
The weighting of this assessment is 100% and takes the form of a major, public presentation of work. It is intended to be as close to a professional exhibition as possible and will reflect the extent to which you have established an independent and critically positioned fine art practice. The submission will take the form of a professional presentation of practical work; supporting coursework, contextual research/documentation and an artist statement. The module is assessed by a team of fine art staff and moderated by an external examiner. Following the summative assessment, you will receive a hard mark in the form of a percentage grading. This will indicate your overall achievement of the module learning outcomes and will contribute to your final Degree Classification.

VA5002, VA5003, AH5009 or evidence of equivalent learning.

VA6002, AH6008

Synthesis provides you with the opportunity to capitalise on previous learning and to holistically develop an individual, contemporary art practice that is critically positioned; presenting the audience with work that synthesises your practical and contextual points of study. Your learning in this final level six module will be directly informed by your exploration, learning and progress made in semester one. Synthesis is focused on how you work towards and finally present your degree show exhibition/presentation, together with an understanding of the theoretical and contextual implications of your decision to make art in a particular way.
Tutorials, group critiques, a seminar programme and a self-evaluation review will continue to furnish you with formative feedback to enable you to ‘feed forward’ and to realise your ambitions for your exhibition/presentation at the end of the academic year. Teaching will support you in working with greater autonomy and confidence and conversations will steer you towards interrogating the decisions you make with greater criticality and self-awareness. Tutorial discussion will focus on how you can consolidate the different material and conceptual strands of practice in the context of a public presentation of work.