The art history residential school
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Looking at art can be a rich and rewarding experience, stimulating the imagination and even challenging us to see the world differently. This week-long residential school equips you to look at and interpret artworks in an informed and critical manner. It provides classroom-based learning and first-hand experience, with the emphasis on looking at actual works of art. Teaching is structured around guided visits to the National Gallery, Tate Modern, and British Museum. Topics covered range from Renaissance to contemporary art and artefacts from a variety of cultural traditions. You’ll also develop skills of discussion and debate, and gain confidence in presenting your ideas to others.
Fees 2012
See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.
Course facts
An undergraduate course in Arts and Humanities.
| About this course: | |
|---|---|
| Course code | AXR272 |
| Credits | 15 |
| OU Level | 2 |
| SCQF level | 8 |
| FHEQ level | 5 |
| Course work includes: |
|---|
| 1 Tutor-marked assignment (TMA) |
| End-of-module assessment |
| Residential school |
Register for the course
This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees and financial support may vary by country.
What you will study
This course will benefit both students currently enrolled on art history courses and those who are new to the discipline. The themes of the school complement and support existing art history courses without repeating the content.
The central focus of the course is attendance at a week-long residential school. In advance, you’ll receive a preparatory reading and study package consisting of a Course Guide and a collection of offprint texts. This material introduces terms and debates that will be important for the work done at the residential school. Readings have been selected to provide a critical vocabulary for describing artworks and to introduce historical and contextual themes relevant to the study of different kinds of artworks and cultural artefacts. You are required to submit a short preparatory assignment related to the initial reading. This is not graded and you are simply required to pass it.
The residential-school course introduces four themes:
Renaissance Art: Sacred and Secular - structured around a visit to the National Gallery
Academy and Avant-Gardes - structured around a visit to the National Gallery
Modern Art and Modernism - structured around a visit to Tate Modern
Western Art and Other Cultures - structured around a visit to the British Museum.
Each of the themes will consider the historical making and function of the artworks from a particular period or place as well as the contemporary encounter with these objects in museums. All the themes address the distinction between the historical meanings attached to artworks at the moment of their production and initial use and the way they are displayed and viewed today.
The residential school will begin with a discussion of the preparatory reading and some necessary underlying concepts for the analysis and discussion of works of art. Four days in the week then follow a similar pattern. For each of the four themes there will be:
- a morning seminar exploring relevant concepts and historical questions
- a visit to the relevant gallery or museum collection, with your time divided between face to face tuition in front of works of art and independent guided study
- a further seminar in the afternoon in which conclusions are drawn and issues developed from work completed in the gallery.
In addition, one teaching day will be structured around independent study, during which you’ll have time to work on the project you’ll present at the end of the week. Some optional museum or gallery visits may be organised and there will also be a 90-minute session on completing the end-of-module assessment (EMA). Optional screenings of Open University DVD material relevant to looking at artworks will take place throughout the week.
On the final day, you (individually or in small groups) will present an assessed illustrated talk about a group of works of art, incorporating ideas acquired during the week. This project is ungraded and you are just required to pass it.
See our Residential Schools website for more information.
You will learn
This residential-school course offers opportunities for:
- first-hand experience of works of art in gallery and museum settings
- developing analytical and critical skills in the study of works of art. In addition to painting, examples may be drawn from sculpture and architecture, photography and graphic art
- learning about some of the different approaches to the study of art.
Entry
The course will benefit you if you’re currently registered on art history courses, or are relatively new to the discipline. The course will prepare you for work on art history courses at Level 3. It will also be accessible if you have previously done some formal study of art history at A level or undergraduate level (as part of The arts past and present (AA100), for example).
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Preparatory work
No prior study is necessary for this course, but 60 hours of preparatory reading is required as part of the course prior to attending the residential school.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
One of the aims of the course is to enable you to make critical comparisons between the works of art and texts related to them. One of the learning outcomes for this course is designed to enable you to develop their powers of visual judgement by direct engagement with works of art.
If you are blind or severely partially sighted, you will experience difficulty in achieving this learning outcome. However, if you have a background in art history gained whilst usefully sighted you will be able to draw upon this experience. Reproductions of works of art will be available in electronic format. You will be able to magnify these reproductions within the limits of standard computer applications, but no textual descriptions or alternative formats of reproductions will be available and the use of a sighted assistant to interpret the works of art would conflict with the required learning outcome. If you are blind or partially sighted, you are encouraged to contact the Student Registration & Enquiry Service for advice before registering for this course.
The residential school involves visits to major London galleries. These are fully accessible as buildings, and wheelchairs and stools can be provided as required. Taxis can be arranged if you are unable to use the pre-booked coaches to travel to the galleries. A number of ground-floor rooms are booked at the host site. Worksheets and other printed material used at residential school can be provided in large-print format.
The study materials are available in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader and musical notation and mathematical, scientific, and foreign language materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. The books are available in a comb-bound format. Other alternative formats of the study materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our publications Meeting Your Needs and Meeting your residential school needs.
You can also find information about accessible study materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Study materials
What's included
Preparatory reading material, a residential school week of tutorials, gallery visits and lectures.
Computing requirements
This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2005 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You’ll be allocated a tutor, who will provide advice and support during the period of the residential school. Tuition is provided from specialist tutors for all the school activities.
Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You must submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) on paper.
There will be a short preparatory assignment, which is ungraded and you are simply required to pass it. You are also required to participate in an assessed group project at residential school. Again, this is ungraded and you are just required to pass.
The end-of-module assessment (EMA) consists of an analytic exercise and a short essay. To pass the course, you must achieve a pass mark for this assignment and participate satisfactorily in the activities at the residential school, including presenting an illustrated talk about a group of works of art, incorporating ideas acquired during the week.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in May 2011 and May 2012. We expect it to be available once a year and the last starting date to be in 2018.
Fees 2012
See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.
Course facts
An undergraduate course in Arts and Humanities.
| About this course: | |
|---|---|
| Course code | AXR272 |
| Credits | 15 |
| OU Level | 2 |
| SCQF level | 8 |
| FHEQ level | 5 |
| Course work includes: |
|---|
| 1 Tutor-marked assignment (TMA) |
| End-of-module assessment |
| Residential school |
Study explained
- Financial support
- - find out if you qualify for support with your fees with our eligibility checker.
- Study explained
- - all you need to know about distance learning with the OU.
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I absolutely loved this residential course. The OU tutors worked their socks off to provide us with a really interesting ...
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