Faculty of Art & Design – Dukes Cambridge

Academic Content
Engage in 20 hours of art and art history lessons each week, guided by an experienced tutor. Lessons combine interactive seminars with practical workshops, helping you explore key artistic principles, experiment with techniques, and develop your creative process across a range of media.

Time to Shine
Showcase your creativity and collaboration skills through group projects that culminate in the end-of-week Time to Shine Ceremony. You’ll present your artistic ideas and designs to peers, demonstrating innovation, visual storytelling, and confident communication.

Fieldwork
Take your learning beyond the studio and into the city through guided fieldwork. You’ll visit locations linked to art, architecture, and design to observe, research, and gather inspiration for your own work. These experiences help you connect artistic theory with real creative spaces while refining your analytical and observational skills.

Dedicated Academic Coaching
Receive one-to-one academic coaching designed to support your progression to university. Whether you’re preparing an art portfolio, writing a personal statement, or refining presentation skills, these sessions will help you confidently take your next academic steps.

English Language Development
Throughout the programme, you’ll strengthen your English skills by expanding your artistic vocabulary and improving your confidence in discussing and presenting creative concepts — particularly during your Time to Shine presentation.

Design Studio — Exploring Human Connection

In this collaborative project, students design and construct an interactive installation inspired by the theme of human connection. Working together, each group considers how art can respond to movement, emotion, and shared experience — perhaps through structures that shift as people walk past, or surfaces that invite visitors to leave their own creative marks.

The week culminates in a gallery-style opening where each group unveils their work, inviting guests to experience the installation and its message first-hand.

Design Studio — Reimagining Sustainability

This project challenges students to think creatively about environmental impact and artistic responsibility. Using recycled, reclaimed, or found materials, groups create installations that spark reflection on consumption, renewal, and waste.

The final showcase takes the form of a gallery opening, where the installations are displayed for your peers and tutors to explore.

Fieldwork Project — Responding to Place

In this hands-on exploration, students step outside the studio to investigate their environment. They collect textures, sounds, and visual patterns from around the Cambridge campus — from the rustle of leaves and the play of light on old stone to fragments of colour or architectural detail that catch the eye.

Back in the workshop, these sensory impressions become the raw material for creative experimentation. By incorporating their findings into new pieces, students learn how artists and designers respond to their surroundings.

Understand Core Creative Principles
Build a strong foundation in key concepts of art and design, including composition, form, and process. You’ll explore how these elements shape visual communication and learn to apply them thoughtfully in your own creative work.

Apply Artistic Concepts to Practice
Experiment with a range of materials, tools, and techniques to bring your artistic ideas to life. You’ll explore how creative thinking translates into tangible outcomes, producing original work that demonstrates both imagination and technical skill.

Strengthen Research and Reflective Skills
Investigate the work of artists and designers from diverse styles and contexts to understand different creative approaches. You’ll learn to analyse visual examples critically and reflect on your own artistic development to refine your creative process.

Develop Communication and Collaboration Skills
Collaborate with peers to create, discuss, and present visual projects. These sessions will help you express your ideas clearly, articulate artistic intentions, and engage confidently in constructive feedback and group critique.

Module 1: Visual Foundations
Develop your understanding of visual language by exploring the core elements of art and design — drawing, composition, and colour. You’ll experiment with a variety of techniques and materials, discovering how creative choices influence the mood, balance, and overall impact of your work.

Module 2: Design and Process
Learn how to transform ideas into finished creative pieces by focusing on design methods and project planning. You’ll practise taking an idea from initial concept through experimentation and refinement to completion, building problem-solving skills and confidence in your creative process.

Module 3: Art in Context
Examine how art reflects and responds to society, culture, and history. Through group discussions and project-based learning, you’ll explore the relationship between art and its wider context while developing your own ability to communicate meaning and perspective through visual work.