University of Newcastle Australia

Course Details

Art Degrees

Course Description

Are you passionate about studying art at university? Interested in learning more about the ‘great masters’, or comparing artistic movements from different historic periods and cultures? Or perhaps you’re a budding artist yourself, keen to develop your own skills and artistic vision under the guidance of expert teachers. Roughly speaking, this sums up the two main types of art degree available. There are those, often titled History of Art or Art History, which seek to nurture students’ ability to understand and analyse artistic artefacts from different perspectives – cultural, historical, philosophical and so on. And then there are those, usually called Fine Art or Applied Art, in which the focus is on developing the students’ own artistic skills. Again, this usually involves cultivating students’ awareness and understanding of different artistic trends and techniques, but much more practical work is involved. In addition to these two traditional pathways, a range of much younger art courses have also sprung up, in response to changes in society which mean new media and new types of artistic creativity in demand. Examples include degrees dedicated entirely to subjects such as photography, illustration, animation and computer or digital arts.

Course Duration

NumberDuration
3year

Career outcomes

As with most arts and humanities subjects, careers for art graduates are wide and varied. Not all graduates of arts degrees go on to roles that are obviously related to what they’ve studied, instead entering one of the many graduate jobs that are open to students from multiple academic backgrounds. However, for those determined to pursue an arts career, there are lots of options. Those with an art history background may pursue careers within arts curation, valuation, management and conservation. Employers could include museums, art galleries and collections, and auction houses. Those who enjoy one-on-one contact with people may consider roles within art education, either within schools or working for organizations such as museums or community arts projects. Other common paths include events organization, administration, research and journalism. Many of these career paths are also popular among fine arts graduates – who also, of course, will probably be keen to find roles in which they can practice their own artistic skills. While some will manage to carve out a career as a freelance artist, others find different ways to put their creativity to use, within industries such as advertising, publishing and media, fashion, web design or interior design.




Art Degrees University of Newcastle Australia