School of Arts - Art and Design | Blackpool and The Fylde College

Studying Art and Design at Blackpool and The Fylde College

Our courses – with degree validation by Lancaster University, one of the UK’s top universities – are specifically designed to match up to the vocational needs of students and industry. This is perhaps Blackpool’s biggest attraction: while our courses provide vast scope for experimentation and development, and are a superb launching pad for further study, they are primarily designed to prepare you for that all important first job and set you on course for a great career.

Work placements continued to feature as an important element of the curriculum and for the first time this year, students on our Fine Art programme successfully negotiated their way into a number of commercial and community posts. Eighty per cent of graduates entered paid employment during the period.

Our involvement with industry is integral to our work, as evidenced by regular lectures from industry professionals, live briefs and commissions from business and stimulating work placements. As a result, we offer a wealth of opportunities for students to enhance their skills and develop a greater knowledge of their chosen vocation. Blackpool Council has also appointed one of our Photography graduates (over and above many worthy contenders) to take publicity images of the town and recently, we were delighted to learn that former illustration graduates had contributed images to the BBC television series, Britain from Above..

Finally, we urge our students to target success from day one. We’ll encourage you to continue the achievements of your predecessors in a host of regional, national and international competitions. You’ll also have the chance to showcase your work at graduate exhibitions staged throughout the UK, which could lead to any number of exciting career opportunities. Our competition success is legendary, at the Business Calendar Awards, Graphic Design students took the honours in every category, a remarkable achievement and a first in the competition’s 40-year history. Photography students also won the Nikon Discovery Award and a Young Blood Award at the prestigious D&AD (Design and Art Direction) Awards.

If you’re talented with a strong sense of self, passionate about your subject and determined to succeed, inquisitive, full of ideas and willing to go that little bit further, Blackpool is where you should be.

Industry-standard facilities, practices, aspirations...

The UK creative industries are at the centre of global innovation for art direction, TV advertising, print and screen graphics and imagery. Blackpool and The Fylde College offers a unique microcosm of this world, where hi-tech equipment and top-of-the-range facilities underpin traditional working methods to prepare you for success in your chosen field.

Courses

Fine Art and Professional Practice, BA (Honours)
Photography, BA (Honours)
Illustration, BA (Honours)
Graphic Design, BA (Honours)
Wildlife and Environmental Photography, BA (Honours)
Photography and Digital Design, Foundation Degree
Photography and Digital Design, BA (Honours)
BA (Hons) Fashion and Costume for Performance (subject to validation)
Foundation Degree in Spatial Disciplines (subject to validation)

Student Opinion

Toni Hargreaves - Art and Design

Toni Hargreaves was born in Burnley, but moved around the country as her father served in the RAF. They settled in Blackpool and Toni studied Technical Illustration and Scientific Illustration at the School of Art and Design. She is now an internationally acclaimed artist, famous for her wildlife paintings.

“I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left school. I thought about being a police officer, but I didn’t grow tall enough. I was always interested in drawing, so I thought about being an illustrator.

I guess leaving home and working at 16 made me grow up quickly and be independent. When I first arrived, I looked at the students’ work on the walls and I thought: ‘I’ll never be able to draw like that!’ I suppose everybody thinks that.

The life of an artist can be rewarding and frustrating by turns. It’s flexible in the extreme and when it goes well it’s a really good day! I’m painting ‘live’ at the Edinburgh Fringe one week and delivering to a gallery in Cambridge the next. And I have to finish painting some highland cow horns before tomorrow…”