Art and Design
Pursue your passion
Do you love drawing, painting, designing or taking pictures? You've come to the right place. Welcome home.
Close to the city centre of Carlisle in a beautiful, leafy setting, the University of Cumbria’s Institute of Arts has everything you need to inspire your creativity. Studying here you will be part of a creative community of over 1,000 other artists and performers.
Our students are taught by experts with a wealth of experience and industry connections. They also benefit from national and international research trips; visiting artists and residencies; enviable bespoke studio, darkroom and life room facilities; regularly updated software and hardware; and visits to industry events including The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival. More importantly, our students have the opportunity to exhibit and showcase their work through our Degree Show and MA Show, as well as Free Range Festival and New Blood Festival in London, which aim to showcase the talent graduating from our Institute of Arts.
Our graduates are commercial artists, photographers, graphic designer, picture editors, curators who work in national and international galleries and museums. Some have gone on to work for Time Out, MTV, Conde Nast, BBC, The Daily Telegraph, Hallmark and Scoop Magazine to name only a few. Others have won awards, such as Harry G Ward winner of a BBC Fan Art Competition or received honorary mentions, like Joe Hardcastle whose architectural photography was mentioned at the Chromatic Awards.
Your Career with an Art and Design Degree
From the outset, you will be encouraged to find your artistic voice or style and our aim is to develop your professional knowledge and skills in order for you to forge a career in relevant industries. We also have a strong focus on helping students to acquire the skills required to pursue a freelance, portfolio career.
Many of our students become practitioners, designers and photographers. Some work as freelance artists while others find careers with national and international organisations. Our graduates can be found working in a wide range of industries from galleries and museums, across the media, to their own studios and companies. They are curators, art therapists, illustrators, animators, photographers, stylists and picture editors (to name only a few). Their work has featured in books, magazines, galleries, advertising campaigns, websites and film and TV title sequences.
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Working with Industry Professionals
Our experienced staff have professional backgrounds in relevant areas and maintain their own practice. We have strong connections with the industry to maximise opportunities for students to be taught by visiting professionals and take part in innovative live projects or work placements.
Some of our students have been head-hunted by major publishing houses such as Future Publishing and Condé Nast. One of our current students was runner-up in the prestigious ‘Book Illustration Competition’, beating other entries from 27 countries to make the shortlist.
Meet the TeamWhy study Art and Design at the University of Cumbria
The purpose-built arts resources and equipment at Brampton Road are excellent for students. Our highly practical courses are focused on the development of your skills and the atmosphere is friendly and lively. We aim to provide you with a rich, personal and unique experience and we have a proven record of excellence in teaching, student support and graduate employment.
The Graphic Design and Illustration studio is the hub of the course, students are encouraged to access daily. There is ample working space and over 80 Mac's with the latest software.
Photography has a wide range of specialist resources available for almost every conceivable art and photographic outcome. You will be able to work with a range of new equipment, including Nikon digital cameras, professional digital medium-format, panoramic Hasselblad and 4x5 large format, on location or in one of the three main professionally equipped studios. Post-production and printing is through high-quality dedicated, Mac workstations with the latest printers.
Our students also have the opportunity to exhibit their work in key stages of the year as well as visit exhibitions, events and trips all year round.
Visiting national and international artists deliver workshops, exhibitions and residencies for our students. In 2019, two of our highlights were our print residency with Liz Lyons from the Redeye Photography Network and a visit by Japanese Manga artist Junko Mizuno.
The University of Cumbria has its own art gallery - The Vallum Gallery - where we host several events throughout the year showcasing our students' work as well as an array of other artists'.
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Our courses are very active through social media and other online presences. Why not follow them for more information and to see what happens at our Institute of Arts?
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