This module places emphasis on developing skill sets in Painting, Photography and Printmaking.

Practical workshops introduce the students to materials, skills and techniques that broadens their knowledge and understanding of two dimensional media. Material and experimental approaches to image making are explored through a number of interlinked projects that expand their experience of art making and studio practice within a contemporary context. Emerging from a solid grounding in the practical aspects, the module progresses with an emphasis on developing research and conceptual skills within the 2D discipline.

1. Demonstrate an understanding of materials, skills and techniques involved inPainting, Photography and Printmaking. Display knowledge of processes used in two dimensional image making and their appropriate usage within a contemporary art context.

2. Display visual enquiry, studio experimentation and creativity by gathering and processing research material in response to workshops and to set briefs.

3. Articulate and synthesise ideas and critical concepts to lecturers and within peer critiques.

4. Demonstrate an understanding and awareness of a wide range of contemporary art practice.

5. Understand and carry out good workshop practice with an awareness of health and safety issues pertaining to studio and workshop.

This is an extensive introductory module that exposes the student to a range of media, techniques, and methodologies associated with creating sculpture, ceramics, digital and time-based practices. It will introduce students to a range of processes involved in working with wood, metal, clay, plaster, rubbers for mould making, glaze, performance, audio/visual recording and software within digital and time-based media. The module is designed to familiarise students with relevant sculptural, ceramic, digital media and time-based practices and methodologies utilised within a wide range of contemporary art practices.

In the process, students will receive demonstrations and training in a wide selection of the extensive range of equipment and materials available within the areas of sculpture, ceramics, digital and time-based media. Students will receive a thorough health and safety induction in both general workshop health and safety, and safe usage of specific machines, materials, equipment and processes utilised within the module. They will be taught the skills necessary to complete given tasks safely, within industrial and artistic guidelines.

Students will be introduced to formal languages within contemporary sculptural, ceramic and digital/time-based practices. They will be tasked with responding to a series of specific project briefs that emphasise formal elements and require responses that explore and express formal dynamics through a range of materials and processes. Project themes will include ideas of geometry, container/containment, memory and objects. Project themes will also challenge students to build and incorporate learned techniques into an evolving studio practice that is grounded in individual concerns and expression. As such, students will be required to increasingly engage with ideas and content emerging through their individual pursuits and to recognise potential meaning emerging through the outcomes of material manipulation within sculptural, ceramic, digital media and time-based processes.

Students will be introduced to ideas of how artworks and can respond to, be informed by and be situated in response to the dynamics of context and space.

Students will be introduced to the evolution of formal languages and qualities within historical and contemporary sculptural, ceramic, digital media and time-based practices, including how the dynamics of contemporary practices have been impacted by formal approaches and engagement with materials.

1. Demonstrate an ability to work with a selected range of equipment, tools and materials safely while using the correct personal protective equipment for each specific process, in line with health and safety instruction and guidelines.

2. Evidence of a basic sense of how to observe, explore and research ideas given as project briefs through drawing, process-based research and material manipulation and apply the specialist processes and techniques demonstrated within workshops to the various tasks assigned.

3. Explore, work with and describe a range of formal elements (e.g. balance, form, mass, etc) through processes of material manipulation and presentation particular to the areas of sculpture, ceramics, digital and time-based media.

4. Develop comprehensive, technical notebooks that observe, record and collate information on the dynamic relationships of material processes and concepts within ones own work and that of a range of professional practitioners.

5. Establish self-directed learning and research strategies in the development of a responsible, professional engagement with individual practice.

6. Contribute to and engage with peer group activities and critiques.

"Superdigital Interconnectivity' This module seeks to capitalise on the learning from'Digital Media1' in 1st Yr and expand on its core concepts in greater depth as well as introducing new techniques. As the title suggests, the student will develop a critical and practical framework for seeing ideas through the gamut of digital practices from 2D bitmap & vector origination into stop-motion, key-frame and rotoscoping animation practices and on into motion graphics and video editing.

The students will be able to immerse themselves in a broad & deep module and critically equip themselves for the future!

1. Display the ability to work in a self-motivated and focused manner.
2. Demonstrate the ability to follow a digital workpath from concept through to realisation.
3. Exhibit the facility to seamlessly move through the primary material toolbox (bitmaps, vectors, fps, animation, video).
4. Make evident the cognative ability to resolve material problems in a satisfactory way.
5. Express an understanding of the location of Digital Media Art practices within the wider Contemporary Art context.

On completion of this module, the learner will have experienced the industrial mould-making process as a means of producing multiple forms from a mother mould. The concept of the multiple will be examined both in terms of its industrial genesis and its potential as a creative possibility. The production of 'many' press-molded or slip-cast objects will be emphasised in terms of their potential to produce a contemporary collection of multiples as a final statement, installation or collection of three-dimensional objects. The possibility of creating an original or unique three-dimensional statement in space while exploiting an industrial means of production will also be explored. It will be possible to glaze and fire the objects, thus rendering them permanent, but they could also remain unfired and ephemeral in nature, depending on the learner's perspective.

1. Demonstrate an ability to self-motivate and to work responsibly, both independently and within the class group
2. Evidence of an awareness and understanding of good workshop practice and current Health and Safety concerns
3. Develop the self-awareness to identify and evaluate individual needs within the learning structure, progressing towards an accumulation of appropriate knowledge
4. Display ability to incorporate intellectual, conceptual concerns and technical solutions in response to a set of problems provided by a given project brief
5. Formulate responses in the construction project outcomes which reflect the technical input associated with plaster mould-making, press-moulding and slip-casting.

Three-dimensional portraiture. This is an elective module where students will create an anatomically correct life-size clay study from a life model and participate in and undertake group critiques, research, discussions and lectures on the human in contemporary art practice. On completion of this elective the student will have knowledge of portrait anatomy, clay manipulation and an understanding of how the human is referenced in various disciplines in contemporary art practice.

1. Research the use of the humanin both a historical and contemporary art context and participate in group discussions and undertake presentations of research findings.

2. Develop strong critical observational skills and applied artistic anatomy apply them to three-dimensional clay representation of a human head.Take anatomical measurements from a life model and apply to clay form.

3. Formulate an understanding of the interpretation of surface form and the ability to technically manipulate clay.
4. Contextually and conceptually understand the use of the portrait in contemporary art practice

5. Exercise a comprehension of relevant health and safety and proper workshop practice in relation to the handling and use of clay.

This module explores the book beyond its conventional place as a carrier of text. It aims to consider the book as an object in its own right and as a means of presenting artwork and ideas through briefed and self-directed projects. Learners will be introduced to traditional non-adhesive and adhesive binding techniques through detailed practical demonstrations. Learners will also be introduced to the principles of self-publishing using analog and digital printing methods. Detailed presentations on how the book format is utilised in contemporary art practice will also be examined and discussed.

1. Display a specialised knowledge of traditional and contemporary bookbinding techniques.

2. Apply their knowledge, understanding and problem-solving abilities across a range of contexts, many of which will be new or unfamiliar to them, ranging from experimentation with type, digital and print media to theoretical developments in the field.

3. Understand how the book format iscontextually and conceptually applied to contemporary practice.

4. Demonstrate an ability to conceive, plan and complete a project, Incorporating various components and elements of book design into a coherent unit.

CT2 focuses on the main themes and debates surrounding modern and contemporary art. The core theme is that it is not possible to understand why contemporary art takes the form it does without an appreciation of the themes and debates of earlier c20th art.

1. Identify the key themes and debates defining modern and contemporary art

2. Question, challenge or justify the standard means by which art is judged

3. Understand the range of methodological approaches to the understanding of art and its institutions

4. Develop further their critical abilities in describing, interpreting and evaluating visual artefacts

5. Situate their own knowledge, practice and understanding within the wider cultural and historical framework

6. Understand the essay format as a means of cultural enquiry and critical thought

The History of Art 2.1: Modernism Matters module for 2D/3D Students will explore aspects of the history of Modern Art from the 19th to mid-20th century structured under broad themes considering the authors and historiography of the discipline and considering the legacy of Modernism in contemporary art production. The lecture series will draw on diverse examples from Western European and American art from the 19th Century and the Modernist avant-garde to mid-20th century, including Western engagement with non-Western art. Irish art of will be referenced in the context of broader themes when relevant, and there will be one dedicated week to Modern Irish Art. Significant authors of art history will be referenced and their contribution and approach will be critiqued, drawing the learners' attention to how art history has been written and presented and highlighting changes within the discipline in the modern era. Auxiliary workshops will encourage learners to discuss their understanding of the lecture content and will expand the topics to discuss examples of how Modernist movements, ideas and art works inform our understanding of Post-modern developments and contemporary art. The workshops will stimulate active learning through discussion and participation in exercises and dialogue. Workshop size is based on a maximum of 18-20 students to facilitate group work and discussion. Workshops take place in a seminar room with blackout, PC and digital projection of AV and online resources. Guided field trips to the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art and IMMA will facilitate the importance and vitality of experiential learning by looking at art in real life as well as mediated by online collections. This element of the module fosters student access to national collections and the continued potential that these repositories of visual culture offer to learners. A range of links to ATU library resources, audio visual materials, activities and discussion forums will be available to module participants on the ATU virtual learning environment, Moodle. Art History 2: Modernism Matters aims to deepen the learners' understanding of Modern art, its movements, manifestations and manifestos. This module will provide a consolidation of learning within the discipline of Art History and aims to develop learners' independent, critical analysis of works of art. Learners will advance their skills in evaluation, discussion and writing about works of art; to empower further study in the discipline and ultimately to assist their own development as artists.

1. Write and present clearly articulated, factually supported critical reflections on a topic from the lecture series employing academic methods of research and citation.
2. Recognise and employ specialistvocabulary relevant to Modern art criticism in their ownverbal and written analysis of works of art

3. Acquire critical skills in describing, interpreting, contextualizing and evaluating Modern artusing relevant terminology and specialist insight.

4. Distinguish between modern movements and styles and identify their key characteristic and ideologies.
5. Be familiar with some important authors of modern Art History and Theory, and how to access appropriate literature and learning resources using ATU library resources

This is a practical interdisciplinary module exploring historic and contemporary drawing in the context of 'The Artist's Note-Book', 'Drawing and New Technology', 'Drawing and the Life-Model' and 'Drawing as Movement in Space'. The fundamentals of observation and visual enquiry will be developed over specific six week blocks designed to concentrate on how drawing can become a research tool for the development of visual methodologies, experimentation, the interface between new and traditional technologies and a link between thought, movement and mark-making in two and three-dimensional space. The formal elements of drawing and observational skills will be developed through a variety of methods and media. The learner will be equipped with a knowledge and understanding of perceptual drawing skills, exploring observation and process using tools ranging from the familiar to the experimental as they relate to drawing within contemporary art practice.

1. Demonstrate technical skills and competence in the use of drawing materials and media.
2. Display an ability to use drawing as a research tool.
3. Demonstrate enquiry, creative understanding and experimentation in the language of drawing.
4. Assimilate, critique and evaluate ideas and concepts in relation to historical and contemporary drawing practice.
5. Develop a personal voice through drawing that can be applied in the development of studio practice.
6. Engage with and participate in drawing workshop activity.

The aim of this module is to consolidate practical and critical skills, develop an independent studio practice and produce a body of artworks located within a matrix of material, conceptual, art historical and contemporary references. Having developed a sense of the range of possibilities presented by research-led practice and its evolution in the previous year, students pursue a line of independent enquiry culminating in an individual body of work that reflects their critical and intellectual understanding as well as demonstrating creativity and innovation.

1. Develop relevant material from researchand integrate process-based material/digital investigations that utilise appropriate judgement in a wide variety of studio practices.

2. Display an ability to exercise problem solving and to set goals that respond in an original way to a self-generated brief in the production of artworks

3. Articulate and express conceptualised, developed thinking in group seminars, tutorials and peer critiques.

4. Understand critical evaluation and contextualisation of personal learning in relation to Contemporary Art Practice

5. Demonstrate the ability to care for and maintain specialised tools and technologies and work safely, in an environmentally sensitive fashion, in studios and workshops.

This module is designed to significantly build on the students understanding and application of a range of technical and conceptual aspects of Sculpture, Ceramics, Digital and Time Based media and practices. Students will develop and apply sophisticated understandings of sculptural, ceramic, digital, time based, and contextual approaches to art making.

In the process, students will be challenged to explore visual research methodologies and conceptual themes, in conjunction with experimentation across a range of materials and techniques within their dedicated, self directed and evolving studio practices. As such, a focus is placed on understandings of relationships between concept, content, and process.

Students will be directed towards enquiry that opens the potential for engagement with content and narrative that can be suggested through direct engagement with objects, materials, processes, imagery and actions in time and space. In the process, students will engage with both physical and virtual space, using traditional and new media.

The student will be required to design methodologies that enable them to deeply engage with relevant information and thematic resonances that emerge from and stimulate their activities. They will explore relationships between form, space, time, material, process, society and context. Thematics will be given to direct such enquiry to reflect pertinent concerns within historical and contemporary art practices. For example; environment, landscape, territory, object, memory, body, identity, context, society, relationality, narrative, consumerism, time. These thematic approaches present opportunities to research an extensive range of possibilities inherent in the relationships between distinct areas and explore how they are invariably interwoven through nuances of meaning and synthesis of sculptural, ceramic, digital-media, time-based and contextual practices.

The crossing of concept and content with material and multi media processes will deepen the students engagement with the conditions and wide range of contemporary art practices, as students will observe and explore how content can be addressed within a multitude of instances and genres.

1. Demonstrate an ability to observe, research and develop ideas throughdrawing/notebooks, lens/time-based imagery and material manipulation in response to conceptual and technical challenges provoked by project briefs.

2. Record and document relevant contemporary artists and research their applied practices and contexts, while collating such research material within applied strategies in the design of material, conceptual, time based and contextual solutions to specified projects.

3. Demonstrate a responsibility towards self-directed learning and an evolving understanding of contemporary art concepts, practices and skills through the development of individual evolving visual language.

4. Contribute to peer dialogue, group critiques, seminars, symposia and other cultural events, with particular empathy for the thematic content.

5. Apply allsafe workshop practices and an awareness of all health and safetyprotocols.

This module is available to learners who have no previous knowledge or experience of textiles. People have an innate, complex and intimate relationship with cloth and it is our silent companion in life. This module explores this relationship, with emphasis on textiles as a material and conceptual tool. The term textile here refers to the following realms: textile industry, textile craft (mechanical or artisan), social and cultural, economic or political, rather than foregrounding a technique or industrial/commercial production process. The learner is encouraged to reflect and respond to one of these textile sites. The learner's personal ideas and aesthetic sense is developed through materials and process unique to textiles.

1. Develop an understanding of diverse contemporary art practices where cloth is both a material and a concept. Learners will be able to discuss their own work from a critically aware perspective and be able to make comparisons with the work of other contemporary artists who employ textile and cloth in their practices.
2. Make an informed decision on a personal area of interest by exploring the medium of textile and its relationship to humanity.
3. Design a self-directed project to include research methodologies, combined material and concept exploration through to realisation, informed by the learner’s individual unfolding practice.

4. The ability to understand and utilize lateral thinking, textile material, and problem solving exercises in their work practices.

5. Will develop abilities in textile making through a range of practical undertakings in workshops, and will be able to critically document progression and observations through ongoing sketch and process books.

6. Contribute to peer learning by demonstrating the ability to conceptualize and articulate in appropriate language their work process in lectures, group seminars, tutorials and peer critiques

This module explores the role of curation and the demands of the contemporary art exhibition. It uses Tulca Festival of Visual Arts as a major resource in which students can examine these issues.

There are two strands to this module.

First, the module looks at current debates around the curation of contemporary art by examining key written sources and case studies.

Secondly, learner teams explore these issues through practical curatorial and educational projects. Learners will take on the role of the curator and/or teacher and occupy the space between artist and audience by organising an exhibition and/or art project.

1. To introduce learners to current debates around curation and contemporary art

2. To situate such debates within a wider historical and cultural context

3. To introduce a variety of exhibition contexts (from Tulca, to Frieze Art Fair, to the Venice Biennale and Documenta).

4. For learners to work in curatorial groups and develop a themed exhibition, set-up and to introduce the exhibition.

5. For learner teams to undertake various projects within Tulca Festival of Visual Arts

6. To produce a critical essay relating key themes in curation to the practical experience of organizing and presenting an exhibition/project involvement

7. To gain a rounded and considered understanding of the role of the curator in contemporary museum and gallery culture.

The module provides an overview of developments in public art practice from site and context specific artworks to community art and socially engaged practices. Combining theory, case studies and practical, experience-based learning the module requires students to keep a project research diary documenting an engagement with a particular context, community or site and produce a project proposal for a public art work in response to the theoretical framework.

1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the range and development of public art practice.
2. Reflect an understanding of the cultural contextand ethical issues arising in collaborative and socially engaged art practice.
3. Research and develop a public art proposal for asite, context, community of place, or interest.
4. Produce and communicate a public art project proposal that demonstrates effective planning, costing, managment and evaluation of a public artwork.
5. Demonstrate understanding and exercise appropriate judgement in the mediation and communication of public artworks and socially engaged practice.
6. Participate in seminars, workshops and other events, contributing and responding appropriatelyand express conceptualised developed thinking in group seminars, tutorials and peer critiques.

During this semester long module, the student will plan, shoot and deliver a short video work using DSLR cameras. Having considered a variety of relevant artworks, and having been instructed on the technicalities of filming and editing, the student will present a project proposal. This presentation will form the basis of the mid-term review which will inform the direction of the final piece.

1. Exhibit an expanded awareness of the range of contemporary practicioners using the moving image as part of artistic practice.
2. Identify the knowledge required to develop and research a concept, then to bring that to a conclusion using the appropriate skill and techniques.
3. Display a specialised knowledge of the techniques and skills required to produce a finalised moving image project.
4. Exercise the management skills required to plan a project, solve problems, and present resolved artworks.
5. Appreciate the similarities and differences between moving and still images and evidence a sympathy for the position and relevance for the moving image within the learners’ own practice.
6. Evidence an ability to explore individual artistic and social concerns using contemporary visual media.

This module facilitates Level 7 Contemporary Art students in developing an electronic art practice portfolio (e-portfolio) documenting the planning, installation, exhibition and deinstallation of the students' group show held in a public space. It provides learners with professional practice acumen relevant to the real-world environment of the practising artist and/or designer. Learners are asked to document and report on all aspects of the planning and execution of their end-of-year group show held in a public location external to the college. For assessment, learners present an e-portfolio documenting the exhibition process to include a short written evaluation of their experience. This e-portfolio will also reflect the actuality of professional engagement as it applies to the learner’s own developing practice and coursework.

1. Engage with the group in the planning of an exhibition
2. Carry out the task(s) assigned to the student’s sub-group.
3. Effectively construct a professional web-based platform, with attention to both design and content chronicling the process of planning, installation, exhibition and deinstallation.
4. Critically evaluate the experience as part of the e-portfolio.

Exhibiting Contemporary Art introduces students to the themes, issues and practicalities of exhibiting contemporary art. It introduces them to the various art institutions in the local Galway scene – for example, 126 Artist-Run Gallery, Galway Arts Centre, TULCA, and Engage Art Studios. They use this experience and consider how to present their own interests and concerns they have been developing in the studio through a simple exhibition format. Emphasis is placed on the student presenting and discussing the work exhibited.

1. Appreciate the different art institutions in Galway and the locale and the roles they play

2. Articulate their own interests and concerns through a selection of work to be exhibited in the light of exhibitions experienced

3. Mount a small exhibition considering themes, selection and placement of works in the space available

4. Discuss the possibilities and tensions involved in moving from the life of the studio to the world of public exhibitions.

5. Present a public talk and handle subsequent discussion when ‘opening’ their (mini) exhibition

This module explores current debates around contemporary art in two ways.

First, it considers the relationship between the artist and their prospective audience by focusing on the institutional and theoretical frameworks of contemporary art. This takes place in the first semester.

Second, the module asks students to reflect on what defines a vibrant cultural scene and how, through the production of an online journal, to contribute actively to it. Students organize and decide on content, design, production and promotion of an online journal.

The key idea is for students to consider their learning and practice in relation to a wider cultural context and framework.

1. Navigate and comprehend key texts, thinkers, perspectives and current debates in contemporary art and visual culture

2. Understand the institutional and theoretical frameworks governing contemporary art

3. To work as part of a team in presenting group seminars and in producing an online journal

4. To produce an essay and understand the essay format as a means of cultural enquiry and critical thought

5. Undertake tasks such as website construction, design, uploading material, formatting, proofing, content management, appreciating the metrics and understanding of audience engagement

6. Develop interpersonal skills, appreciating a positive attitude and the ability to listen, empathise, critically evaluate and communicate as a team-worker

7. Situate their own knowledge, practice and understanding within the wider cultural and historical framework