Art and Design (Fine Art)
WQE and Regent College Group - Leicester
01162471147
University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RJ
Course summary

The Art course at WQE is a traditional painting and drawing course. It’s important that you enjoy drawing and are prepared to develop your abilities by practice and experimentation, as good drawing is the single most important thing you can learn at this stage. You will learn how to build up a painting from the initial idea to a finished product. Relating our work to that of other artists is an important part of our study and time is spent analyzing and writing about pictures that are relevant to what we are doing. By finding out what sorts of things artists paint, we can make our own work belong to a long tradition of painting, and yet be up to date at the same time. Students are encouraged to work towards producing ambitious final pieces which are mounted for display. It’s really important to learn the basic language of drawing and painting, and we spend a lot of time learning how to get things in the right places when we draw, how to use shading effectively, how to use a variety of materials, and what we can do with color. As we go along, we encourage you to use each new thing that you learn in a piece of your own, so that you are developing your own artistic personality. The most important thing to realize is that success in the course is directly dependent on the amount of time you spend on your work. Drawing and painting are difficult and must be practiced if you are to develop the confidence to make your own valid artistic statements. Students build a portfolio as they record their ideas and explore new drawing approaches. Most lessons are practical, where you are drawing or painting, but there are critical studies lessons and ‘crits’, where you show your work to the rest of the group. We are keen to make connections between the paintings of the past and contemporary work, especially in the second year. Component One, in the second year, contains a written study, where students explore a topic that has interested them in their own work by researching the work of artists with similar ideas.

Entry requirements

Six GCSEs grade 9–4 including English Language (must include at least two GCSEs at 5 or above for A-Level courses). This course normally requires a student to have achieved Grade 4 or above in a GCSE Art and Design course or Grade 4 in GCSE Design and Technology (Graphic Products or Resistant Materials). For those who have not had the opportunity to study these subjects at GCSE, we will ask you to do a short drawing task as part of the enrolment procedure. This is to ensure you can successfully meet the rigors of the course. It would also be helpful for students to bring with them examples of their creative work on enrolment day.

How you'll be assessed

Over two years the student will develop their course work portfolio. This will comprise of two major components, a personal investigation and an assignment set by the examining body, culminating in a 15-hour controlled test. Each component is marked as coursework.

School Info

About Education Provider

RegionEast Midlands
Local AuthorityLeicester
Ofsted RatingGood
Gender TypeCo-Educational
AddressUniversity Road, Leicester, LE1 7RJ