Fine art with humanities degree - does it exist

[Xxcxxccxx]

My child loves painting and drawing and is very good at it but also loves history, RE, English, Spanish and I expect they would love politics etc.

they are so torn between a fine art degree and a humanities degree but would I’ve to combine both. I feel that should be possible and thought Liberal Arts might be the answer but actually liberal arts degrees don’t seem to include fine art.

can anyone point me to opportunities to study both?

I was like this, did humanities for job prospects etc and continued art as a hobby.

I went to Bath Spa University and several of my friends did a degree in Creative Arts. It allowed them to mix fine art with other disciplines like creative writing, ceramics, etc. It might be something to look into! Other unis may also offer this degree so dig around. My friends have jobs they enjoy from it too, one as a graphic design lead at a gaming company and the other as museum staff.

Sorry, out of my field but I do know some unis offer Joint degrees with very different subject combinations possible, at one point my youngest daughter wanted to do Biology and History, my eldest looked at Economics and Mandarin

• I think Exeter and St Andrews had interesting combinations. Definitely worth seeking out Joint degrees if you haven't already

My DS is doing a Fine Art degree. He also did science A levels and we looked hard for the sort of course you describe. It doesn't really exist.
Fine Art is mostly offered at Art schools or old polys. They have the specialist workshops etc (because old polys were often founded on old Art schools) so they often don't offer 'traditional' degrees. There are some Art courses at trad Unis but the ones we went to couldn't match the polys for space and workshops/ equipment.
In ant event there is no way my DS could fit in anything else to his degree. Fine Art is very time consuming.
It's also about a whole heap more than enjoying painting and drawing.
And I don't really believe doing humanities 'for a job' gives you many advantages over Fine Art.
DS has a paid summer internship this summer (end of 2nd year) and he had no issue with Fine Art as his degree.

Brilliant for people who love and are great at art to take it further, and of course many of those people get good jobs in other sectors, a senior manager at my work did art degree, but it remains the case that on average arts degrees ‘don’t pay’ relative to some others. Depends what the individual wants to spend time on and priorities etc.

Quick google search:
Leeds do Fine Art and History of Art, and Fine Art with Contemporary Cultural Theory
Lancaster do some Fine Art + programmes too

What are they doing for GCSE and/or A Level? What does "very good" mean? Do they want to be a painter as a career?

Any kind of creative practice is taught in broadly two kinds of ways in the UK

1. in a conservatoire (for say, music or drama/acting, such as RADA), or school of the arts setting. The focus is vocational, they are generally taught by practising artists in whichever genre/medium they're learning. These are hard to get into. Fine Art will generally involve a Foundation Year. Application is by portfolio. Examples would be particular colleges of the University of the Arts, London. There'll be modules in theory or "contextual studies" these will require essays & research, but that's not the focus of the degree or diploma. There'll be little leeway in terns of using the degree as a way into a more professional career ie not as a painter, or a ceramicist, or sculptor or whatever. However, a really top notch vocational university/college should be able to offer the best students excellent professional networks within the art world.
2. The other way creative arts are taught is in a standard university degree which offers a degree of practice, but also requires standard Humanities and Arts modules eg. a degree in Drama or a degree in Music. At the higher level universities, the emphasis will be 50/50 on practice and theory.

So it's really about thinking of the balance between an applicant's skills & abilities, their future ambitions, and their levels of achievement as an applicant.

Edinburgh Uni has Fine Art degrees ( five years long!) in combination with Edinburgh College of Art that combine uni modules in humanities with studio art. I believe studio art modules at ECA can be selected by students at Edinburgh Uni at least in first and second year though places are limited. I'm not very up to date though so you'd need to do further research.

Art and Philosophy at Duncan and Jordanstone in Dundee is great. Not just restricted to Philosophy.

some do a joint honours degree, but not sure on what combination of subjects

The idea that arts degrees don't pay is absolutely not true.

Aberystwyth offer joint honours in Fine Art with English Lit / Art History / Film Studies / Creative Writing

maybe “very good” was a silly term. I should say they love to paint and draw. they love to visit galleries. they got a 9 in Art GCSE and are doing A-level and I expect they will get a good grade but who knows.

I am reluctant for them to do plain fine art as a degree as we aren’t a family they can afford to support a struggling artist And I can’t see how you make money as an artist.

Thanks. This sounds interesting but I can’t find it online. All the modules are about art theory etc.

This is great tip. The only one I’ve found so far that combines with something other than history of art or cultural theory or other art related topics. Thanks for this.

Edinburgh’s undergraduate MA will do what you want (4 years, not 5, as far as I know, and you come out with an MA not a BA). Go to this page, select the options you want (eg drawing) and it’ll show you the possible degrees you can go for. www.eca.ed.ac.uk/study

It's the MA Fine Art which allows this, but it's a five year course so that may be too much!
Most Scottish degrees are 4 years and sometimes well-qualified English students are offered second year entry meaning they get the degree in 3 years.
I don't know if this course would let you do that to bring the total down to 4 years - but then you'd miss some of the flexibility of the early years of the degree:

www.eca.ed.ac.uk/programme/fine-art-ma-hons

If your DD wants to do a joint degree with something more practical, eg business/foreign language etc then I think that’s also possible with joint honours.

Have a good look at Lancaster. You go in on your major (fine art) but then also do either 1 or 2 minors. In the first year you do equal parts of each. You can then either carry on with single or carry on with joint honours. It means you can do fine art with pretty much any humanities subject.

There is a difference between wanting to be an artist and doing Fine Art degree
My DS does Fine Art. He has never wanted to be a professional artist. In much the same way I imagine History students don't all want to be Historians or Eng Lit students Librarians.
The degree is in something he loves to do and wanted to take further.
Its the skills learnt on the degree that make you employable.
There is a percentage in every degree that are not in grad jobs 6 months after graduation. As I said to DS, if you work hard that won't be you!
He has a paid internship for a major UK company in their marketing dept this summer. He was up against marketing students. Being a Fine Artist has been an advantage. It teaches so many skills that sitting in a lecture hall and studying in a library does not. The key is to grab all the opportunities , recognise the skills and sell them to employers.
He has run teams, curating Art spaces, budgeted, delegated, and conflict resolved. In his degree he works independently, liaises with technicians, project manages, deals with difficult people, researches, cites, leads group discussions and a whole heap more as well as having a very creative mind full of ideas.
Fine Art is as much a dead end as any degree. The biggest hurdle is the prejudice against it (which has been shown a bit on this thread!!).
He owns his degree, is proud of it and it's never been an issue as a result.
Plus he loves it! And as it is mainly independent work he can work part time around it.

@Namechangedasouting987The IFS would disagree with you. They have looked at value for money degrees and earnings. You are hard pushed to break even after doing an Art degree (not design which is different). History and Geography are much higher up in terms of earnings and value for money. English is the outlier in terms of humanities degrees and not one for future earning potential these days. Fine Art doesn’t keep many doors open.

Obviously if getting a job doesn’t matter, fine art is fine but if you do, it’s a big risk and low pay is more likely. Many people we know have continued art as a hobby and get real pleasure from that.

The other thing worth saying is that university matters for humanities. If you can get to elite RG it’s far better in terms of a job than mid division universities. Universities also have politics clubs and that career is never barred from anyone.

This? https://www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/curation-and-culture/undergraduate/ba-hons-culture-criticism-and-curation-csm

Yes. A relative did Anthropology and Spanish at Exeter. She also did a minor in Gender Studies in first year, but I honestly think that that was just an easy course to fill up the space.

Also worth having a look at Glasgow. I did English Lit, Scottish History, Russian lang and lit, Drama over my first two years. (3 courses a yr) and did my honours in Russian lang and lit. Some of my fellow Russian students combined with other languages, but also maths.

https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/arts/students/undergraduatestudents/changeyourworld/undergraduateartsdegrees/

Anthropology is not remotely like Fine Art though. Fine Art requires specialist facilities. Anthropology, like History of Art, doesn’t. This is why humanities like these can be combined with all sorts of similar subjects and MFLs but Fine Art won’t be.

@Xxcxxccxx the UCAS code for the MA Fine Art ( five year programme) at Edinburgh is W150. HTH. There is also a four year BA( Hons) fine Art degree as someone else mentioned