Textiles (MA)

Textile is distinct, offering a unique opportunity to consider both the material and immaterial.

As part of the MA Contemporary Dialogues portfolio, you will be encouraged to engage with contemporary issues and material investigation, including critical and theoretical dialogues as fundamental to your progression and individual practice.

We offer workshops across disciplines, including photography, glass, ceramics, surface pattern and textiles, encouraging you to develop an interdisciplinary approach, involving those traditionally associated with textile practice and beyond. Hand-made as well as digital processes can be considered, as can writing and text as forms of textile making and thinking.

The course will culminate in a student-led exhibition and critical report.

Course Overview

The master's Contemporary Dialogues portfolio at Swansea College of Art offers a unique postgraduate experience.

Graduates and professionals from a wide range of specialities benefit from multidisciplinary learning together with expert lecturers and a broad range of facilities.

You will have the opportunity to draw upon experiences and knowledge from across the different pathways and reflect this in your own personal study.

The research environment benefits greatly from the input of our teaching staff and visiting lecturers, most of whom are research-active artists, designers, and theoreticians of national and international significance.

In the first part of the programme, you will complete a series of taught modules. You will participate in multidisciplinary exchanges, through seminars and lectures involving students from all programmes within the Contemporary Dialogues portfolio, to stimulate new perspectives and challenge directions. The cross-fertilisation of ideas through such dialogues is expected to promote a rethinking of the perceptions and production techniques appropriate to your discipline.

Throughout the taught part of the programme, you will be expected to undertake material investigations and research into contemporary themes, with consideration given to environmental, economic, social, and cultural issues.

Assessment

Assessment is carried out through coursework, both written practical and presented.

There is a 4,000-word theoretical essay with poster presentation in Semester 1, and a 5,000-word report in Semester 3, which accompanies the practical work.

There are no exams on this course. Students are formatively assessed throughout a module. Summative assessment takes place at the end of a module, which includes presentation of the work to the assessment team.

Career Opportunities

Graduates become active members of our creative culture, developing careers in a variety of professional roles, such as:

• Cultural entrepreneur
• Curator
• Educator - university lecturer
• Funded research degree student
• Practising artist/designer