West Dean College

BA (Hons) Craft Practices

08Sep2025 - 01Jul2026
Application
Tags:  Design ,  Schools ,  Making
Management person:  Lizzie Neville , Tim Bolton

The BA (Hons) Craft Practices course (specialising in Clocks, Furniture, Metals, Musical Instruments and Books and Bindings) is a one-year programme designed to provide a route into professional practice in your chosen field or for progression onto postgraduate study. 

The programme is intensely practical, with most assignments designed to enable you to create work which enhances your craft skills alongside the development of your own personal interests and voice. Studio Work units, based on your specialist workshop, are run continuously throughout the academic year as the core of the top-up programme, informed and enhanced by Contextual and Professional Research, helping students to situate their practices in a historical and contemporary context. The year culminates in a Summer Show open to the public.

Campus & Virtual Open Days: Find out more here
Duration: One academic year (36 weeks each year) full-time
Scholarships and bursaries: See available funding

West Dean Summer Show
The West Dean Summer Show offers an opportunity for students with our Graduate Diploma and MFA qualifications to showcase their talents in a diverse range of practices including sculpture, installation, print, painting, film, ceramics, and textiles.
 

Learning environment

• Well-equipped, highly specialist workshops and individual bench spaces in which to work
• Workshop access 8.30 am - 9 pm, seven days a week*
• A stimulating and supportive learning environment in which to develop your creative craft practice
• A specialised programme of lectures, seminars and workshops
• Input from regular visiting lecturers, artists and makers
• Professional development provision for museum, collections and gallery visits and other external events
• Contact with a regular series of professional artists-in-residence based in the studios throughout the academic year
• An immersive environment with rich connections to craft and art history, particularly Surrealism, through the legacy of college founder Edward James

You can expect

• Low student: tutor ratio
• Dedicated individual workshop space
• Access to advanced facilities, workshops and expertise
• Support in developing specialist studio work
• Support in developing critical thinking and contextual knowledge
• Support for developing transferable skills such as self-management, communication, collaboration, IT and research skills
• Increased independence and self-reliance applicable for further study, practice, or employment

>> FULL COURSE DETAILS 

>>  APPLY HERE 
 

Master of Fine Art (MFA) Craft Practices

08Sep2025 - 09Sep2026
Application
Tags:  Schools ,  Making ,  Technics
Management person:  Lizzie Neville , Tim Bolton

The Master of Fine Art (MFA) Craft Practices at West Dean College is a two-year full-time masters course designed to support you to further advance your practical, theoretical and professional skills, through an emphasis on specialist studio practice. You are likely to already have a well-developed craft practice but want to spend a further period of time specialising and refining your core concerns and creative ambitions.

Our MFA Craft Practices focusses on the making of objects or artworks using traditional and contemporary craft techniques, materials, and processes. It combines the skills and knowledge of traditional crafts with contemporary design principles and artistic expression.
Craft Practices encompass a wide range of material knowledge, including ceramics, woodworking, metalworking, textiles, willow, paper, as well as inter and cross-disciplinary practices. Craft often involves the use of both traditional and innovative materials and techniques, such as recycled or found objects and digital fabrication in the creation of unique and original works.

Craft Practices often reflects broader cultural context, addressing social, environmental, ethnographic, and political issues. Makers may explore themes such as sustainability, identity, consumerism, or the preservation of traditional craft practices through their work.
One of the distinguishing features of contemporary craftmaking is the emphasis on individual craftsmanship and the artist's personal voice and expression. Artists and artisans working in this field often push the boundaries of accepted techniques, experimenting with new techniques, forms, styles, and ideas. They may incorporate elements of abstraction, conceptualism, or other contemporary art movements into their work, or research ancient lost-making methods, resulting in objects that may be both functional and visually compelling.

On this programme you will be encouraged to explore interdisciplinary practices, as well as those focused on a single discipline area such as furniture, clock making, musical instruments, tapestry, bookmaking, small and large scale metals and ceramics. You will benefit from sustained periods of studio-based activity, alongside developing your critical reflection towards a dissertation in the second year.

Campus & Virtual Open Days: Find out more here
Duration: Two academic years (36 weeks pa) full-time course
Scholarships and bursaries: See available funding

West Dean Summer Show
The West Dean Summer Show offers an opportunity for students on our Graduate Diploma and MFA qualifications to showcase their talents in a diverse range of practices including sculpture, installation, print, painting, film, ceramics, and textiles.


Learning environment

• Individual studio spaces
• Excellent staff-to-student ratio with regular tutorial support
• Specialised lectures, seminars and workshops with regular visiting lecturers and artists 
• Expert support from workshop technicians
• Professional development - gallery visits and other external events
• Contact with a regular series of professional Artists-in-Residence
• An immersive environment with a large applied arts collection and rich connections to art history, particularly Surrealism, through the legacy of College founder Edward James

You can expect

• Support in consolidating studio/workshop practice to a high standard
• Access to facilities, workshops and expertise for the fabrication of artifacts relating to the individual student's ambitions.
• Individual studios and outdoor facilities make it possible to realise ambitious work
• Opportunities for innovative approaches to studio practice so conceptual ideas can be tested and informed using selected media
• To develop originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in craft practices
• Systematic understanding and critical awareness of current debates in contemporary craft and art practice
• To develop an aptitude for professional practice, independent research or employment, including opportunities for public exhibition

Interdisciplinary study
Students are encouraged to collaborate with other College departments, particularly the full-time programmes in Fine Art and the School of Conservation, making the most of the wide range of specialist knowledge, materials and equipment that is available.

>> FULL COURSE DETAILS 

>>  APPLY HERE 

 
Teacher/s:  Kate Jennings