The organisation of sensory impressions into contexts that communicate to an audience a sense of meaning relevant to their experience of life

If your career aspirations lie in any of the vast opportunities in creative art, then our Art and Design courses are the first step on the road to an exciting and creative future. Career opportunities exist within areas, such as fashion and textiles, product design and crafts, photography, illustration, fine art, advertising and architecture.

Our Art and Design courses present you with the opportunity to explore and develop a wide range of practical skills, in a variety of media, materials and disciplines.  This allows the individual a very broad scope to find his or her own artistic expression.

Students will be able to develop in areas of special interest, while furthering their appreciation of Art and Design. They will work in 2-D and 3-D areas on set projects, which may be tailored to their individual interests and strengths.

We offer specialist endorsements in Fine Art, Textiles, Photography, Art, Craft & Design as well as (multi-discipline) courses. In addition, we offer the opportunity to study more than one endorsement at the same time.

On all courses students will develop an understanding of art history plus contemporary art and design practice. At A-level the work developed over two years is designed to construct a strong portfolio for interview.

The Art teachers bring to the department diverse artistic experiences to provide a breadth and depth to a student's creative education. 

One teacher is also a practicing artist with her own studio and the Head of Art runs education programmes in museums and galleries across Manchester.

Our city centre location means that there are tremendous resources available from museums and galleries right on our doorstep.  We utilise these as much as possible, visiting them regularly throughout the course to enhance the student's art experience.  Students are also encouraged to use Manchester as an artistic-resource as often as they can in their own time as well.

The ethos of the department provides a friendly, lively environment and a mature work ethic is fostered.  Students are encouraged to work outside lesson time in our purpose built studio.

Ideally students choosing to study AS and A2 will have studied the subject before and / or developed a portfolio of work in a range of mediums to demonstrate their creative skills.  It is also important that students are prepared to think about the creative process.  At A-level students are required to provide evidence of the development of their ideas in a collection of work called Portfolio Projects.

Annette Cobley-Francis
Head of Art and Design