Whether you’re an art and design or photography student at college you’ll have the opportunity to let your creative flair run wild. You’ll have access to outstanding resources and facilities such as a ceramics studio, dark room, Mac and PC editing suites, textiles studio and 3D workshop. To maximise your creative potential, you will be supported by our expert tutors who have years of experience in their specialist areas.
At Chesterfield College, we have great relationships with universities and art colleges, allowing our students to benefit from exclusive lectures and workshops. We also have excellent connections with industry professionals, local and national businesses and art & design practitioners who work closely with us to provide opportunities for relevant work-based experiences. You’ll also have the opportunity to display your work as part of our end-of-year Summer Exhibition, so you can really show off your talent.
Art and Design
We have a range of different courses to suit everyone from BTEC Level 2 up to our Art & Design Foundation course. Our Level 2 programme is equivalent to 4 GCSEs and takes one year to complete. This course covers a range of art & design skills, including drawing, printmaking, 3D, ceramics, graphics, and photography. This will give you the tools, experience and techniques needed to create a varied portfolio to enable your progression into work or onto a Level 3 course.
Our Level 3 course is a two-year course and is the equivalent of 3 A Levels. Throughout this programme, you will build on the techniques you learned at Level 2 or at school. The first year of the Level 3 programme gives you the opportunity to develop higher-level skills in a wide range of art & design material areas including fine art, fashion, textiles, ceramics, 3D, graphics, photography, animation & illustration. Every week you will be trying different techniques with different tutors. In the second year you have the option to specialise in one or more of these material areas. The qualification allows you to explore creative ideas and put them into practice. This will be in both digital and physical approaches. There will be an end-of-year show where you’ll be able to exhibit and sell your work to friends, family and members of the public.
Our Foundation Programme is a one-year course. The typical path is to study your foundation course before going on to university. We have had students from our course go to some of the best universities in the world. Techniques taught will include, drawing, creative design, applied arts, metalwork, ceramics, plaster, fine art, visual communication and textiles. You will have the opportunity to specialise in a particular area so that you can build a portfolio ready for university interviews and applications. This will then develop into you creating your final project over a period of 12 weeks. They’ll also be opportunities to network, work with industry, take part in competitions and get involved with the community.
Find out more about our courses and apply here.
A Levels
Photography
We are lucky at Chesterfield with our range of facilities. We have digital and traditional resources including top-end photographic equipment, Mac labs, a darkroom and photography studios.
Our Level 3 course is a two-year course and is the equivalent of 3 A Levels. During the two years you’ll have the opportunity to work with other departments around college, you’ll have the opportunity to take part in industry-led work experience, enter competitions and photograph events in the local community. We have excellent links with Universities and Industry specialists, and you will benefit from informative talks, visits and workshops.
You will have the opportunity to build a portfolio of work ready for progression onto University, Apprenticeship or into industry.
Read more about our courses here.