Postgraduate courses

Postgraduate courses

Wolverhampton School of Art offers postgraduate programmes to further enhance, broaden and deepen your experience of art and design theory and practice. Inter and cross-disciplinary practice is encouraged, or you can study at a highly specialist level if this suits your needs.

Housed in the distinctive, purpose-built George Wallis Building with outstanding facilities, including purpose-built workshops, specialist equipment and dedicated studio spaces. Our vibrant studio-based community provides the physical, supportive and creative space for you to become the artist or designer you want to be. 

We offer a range of courses from across the broad spectrum of art, design and media. All taught by our team of specialist academics and industry professionals and supported by our expert technicians and internationally recognised researchers.

What’s more, we provide unrivalled support for you to establish your creative career through our links with industry including placements, competitions, live briefs and study trips. As evidenced by the number of our graduates who go on to enjoy unparalleled success in their chosen fields.

In addition, we have a comprehensive year-long, programme of events, including Artsfest one of the region’s leading platforms for arts engagement. Along with numerous cultural highlights including our annual degree shows and British Art Show. Furthermore, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity through our programme of events for Black History Month and LGBT+ History Month.

We also have a rather fabulous vegetarian and vegan café – the social hub and beating heart of our school.

Wolverhampton School of Art MA Show 2021

Friday 17^th September – Sunday 3^rd October: Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Lichfield St, Wolverhampton WV1 1DU
MA Design and Applied Arts / MA Digital And Visual Communications

Friday 1^st – Sunday 31^st October: The New Art Gallery Walsall, Gallery Sq, Walsall WS2 8LG
MA Fine Art And / MA Art and Design by Research

it is a great pleasure that we are once again partnering with Wolverhampton Art Gallery and the New Art Gallery Walsall in hosting our MA Degree Shows. 

Read More 

Employability is core to the ethos of the School of Art’s learning and teaching

• Our students have access to a wide range of services to support them in the development of their creative careers. Including jobs, opportunities, careers advice, online resources, mentoring and business start-up support for creative enterprises.
• We provide opportunities for our students to experience professional practice and work on subject-specific live briefs led by external clients/organisations through our links with industry.
• We also have an enviable record of success in national and international competitions.
• Our series of online Creative Futures Careers Talks are led by professionals working in the creative industries, many of them are our graduates. 
• In addition, we provide opportunities to undertake professional placements and engage with interdisciplinary collaborative practice – alongside numerous other creative opportunities.

Enabling students to build experience and to enhance their confidence, forming a solid foundation on which to begin their creative journey. Towards a dynamic, exciting and successful career in the creative industries.

Chris Day, MA Design and Applied Arts student

MA Design and Applied Arts student Chris Day has sold his work to high profile galleries across the UK and in America – including the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum in London. Chris’ 2020 solo exhibition at the Vessel Gallery: ‘Blown, Bound and Bold’ was featured as part of London Craft Week. Chris’ work has also been featured on BBC Midlands Today. 

Read More 

Creative Futures Careers Talks

The Careers Team have been working together with the School of Art and ArtsFest to create a brand new series of online Creative Futures Careers Talks. The talks are led by professionals working in the creative industries, many of them are our graduates. They will share their career journeys so far, the challenges they have faced and how they made it happen. We will get the chance to hear from people from a wide range of backgrounds, from self-employed designers/ artists to those working in large organisations. There will also be a Q&A which is a great opportunity to have any queries answered by those working in the field.

Read More 

Two University of Wolverhampton graduates: Harriet Rogers (Fashion and Textiles) and Aneesa Suleman (Business Management with Marketing), have a appeared in a recent episode of the ‘The Student Sessions’ podcast series. In this episode, Harriet and Aneesa talk about their experiences of university life and, in particular, the challenges of preparing for the world of employment during a global pandemic.

Graduate Success

Elliot Walker has claimed the top prize in the second series of Blown Away, a global glassblowing reality show which is currently being livestreamed on Netflix. Elliot studied for a master’s degree in Applied Arts in the Wolverhampton School of Art and graduated in 2012.

He secured a place in the reality show and took part with ten other glass artists from around the world. The artists competed in North America’s largest hot shop to push themselves to creative extremes in the quest to be named Best in Glass.

In each episode, the glassblowers must impress a panel of art experts or risk being eliminated in pursuit of a life-changing prize that will enhance their career prospects.

As winner of the show, Elliot has been awarded a residency at the Corning Museum and the Pittsburgh glass centre.

Read more

There are many more testimonies, from successful graduates, in our Student Case Studies page. 

Research

The Centre for Art, Design, Research & Experimentation accommodates researchers within the Wolverhampton School of Art. It was established in 2006 to explore and develop the beneficial effect of art and design upon society. The Centre is clustered into three focused areas of research interests: Art, Society and Social Practice; Digital Technology Theory and Practice; Material and Theoretical Practice.

Read More

FEINART Lecture Series

The FEINART LECTURE SERIES will discuss the role, impact, and theoretical implications of socially engaged art. This series of public talks is organized by the Innovative Training Network FEINART (The Future of European Independent Art Spaces in a Period of Socially Engaged Art) jointly led by the Universities of Wolverhampton (coordinator), Zeppelin University (direction of the training programme) University Iceland, and University of Edinburgh.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 860306 

Read More

Wolverhampton School of Art Graduate Showcase 2021

We are delighted to announce our end of year graduate showcase highlighting the work of our final year students in Art, Design and Screen based subjects.

Over the last few weeks we have had a film crew on site in the School of Art recording student experiences and their work. The last year, has undoubtedly been a huge challenge to students and staff in the School of Art. We have found ourselves working at home in make-shift spaces and often with limited materials and kit. Our staff and students have been hugely inventive in finding opportunities and outlets to keep learning live  - and this, in itself, is a testament to our creativity and resilience as a sector.

Read More 

British Art Show 9

22 January - 10 April 2022

We are delighted to announce that the Wolverhampton School of Art has been selected as one of the venues for the prestigious British Art Show 9! In what is a major boost and sign of recognition for arts and culture in Wolverhampton, we are proud to be hosting this prestigious touring exhibition in January 2022.

Read More 

Artsfest 2021

This year marks the seventh year of Artsfest hosted by the university. Traditionally we join with cultural venues across the region to programme a variety of events including live performances, workshops, theatre shows, music, poetry, art exhibitions, and lots more to get involved with. 

We invite an eclectic range of new and established artists both locally and further afield, to use Artsfest as a platform to enhance their careers. This is something that we are proud to support and will endeavour to do in the future, using Artsfest as a vehicle to continue to bring you the very best this region has to offer.

Read More

The Gallery Café

In need of a quick pick-me-up from a delicious cup of freshly made coffee, a guilt free snack or perhaps something more substantial in a relaxed and comfortable environment? Then indulge your senses and taste buds with the abundance of choice on offer in our vegetarian and vegan café. Serving fresh sandwiches, freshly made salads, soups and a wide variety of drinks – and coffee of course. It’s ethical, healthy and environmentally friendly!

It’s also the place to meet friends, network, generate and share ideas – the perfect conduit to creativity. As play can also be serious and the best ideas flow when you create space for them to flourish.