Why do an MA in Fine Art?

I'm currently doing a part time Masters degree in Fine Art at the University of Gloucestershire.  Those of you who know me know that I always like learning new things- whether it is welding or meteorology or how to mange a kite buggy.

Those of you who know me will also know that I rarely leave the house these days for more than a couple of hours because I have health problems.  I keep myself interested with working/playing in my studio.  However, gaining some input from other people about art and ideas is wonderful, and my local university has a part time art option which commits me to only a half day a week at seminars, and the campus is only a couple of miles from the house so I can get home quickly if I need to.

I think I might have an 'O'level in art from when I was sixteen, but that was so long ago and the classes were so marginal to the goal of the school that I am not even sure about that. It might seem strange to jump to the higher degree level, especially when the local college a two minute walk from my house has just started doing a Foundation Art course.  However, that course is full time, and not only full time but surrounded by bouncy teenagers I suspect.  The undergraduate degree is three years full time.  So, having no idea what 'Art' really is when it comes to discussing it with academics, I enrolled on this postgraduate course.

I should have written about term one, but it was full of chaos, with multiple staffing issues and no clarity of expectation.  I enjoyed the company of my fellow students, and made use of the opportunities to get the technicians to help me with some casting, wrote my essay and submitted my portfolio, but didn't feel much closer to getting to grips with this weird thing of professional 'art-speak'.

This term we are working on a module called 'professional development' and it requires a collaborative project.  I've been working on animations, both stop-motion and 2d computer animation, and have started work with a second year animation student, Keira Marshall, who fortunately has agreed to do her required 'work- experience' with me to try to get an animation of bone modelling made this semester.

First character studies of the 'Equipoise' character, who controls the flow of work /calcium in the bones.  These will be draw in in the computer to allow the beginning of the storytelling.  I've been learning how to use TV Paint Animation software, but unfortunately using the drawing tablet tears my shoulder rotator cuff in the same way using a paint brush at an easel does.

I am also going to write a case study of an artist, exploring the issues in achieving success in this profession.  I have chosen Colin Reid, whose work I admire, is renowned, is local, and with whom I did a glass casting class a couple of decades ago. I still have the strange test pieces I did on that course, though I didn't carry on and do glass casting as controlling a pottery kiln to fire glass was complex and difficult in those pre-computer controlled kiln days.

Blogging about the processes required for these two pieces of work will help me explore the issues around this kind of work.  When I was trying to decide whether to apply for this course I looked for information and opinion on what it was like to do an MA Fine Art but found very little.  It is just possible that this blog will be useful for others trying to decide whether an MA would suit them.