Certificate in Fine Art

Our Certificate in Fine Art programme is a bespoke, flexible way to study. It’s ideal if you’re serious about developing your technical art skills, but have limited time. The Certificate in Fine Art allows you either to focus on one discipline or to work across multiple disciplines, including painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture and digital media.

The Certificate is internally awarded; it is not part of the RQF (The Regulated Qualifications Framework) and can’t be used as credit for another qualification.  (You can, however, be credited for some of the Elective Skills Workshop courses you take on the Certificate programme if you choose subsequently to join our Contemporary Fine Art Diploma or Contemporary Portraiture Diploma – see the Diploma pages for more detail). 

For more information about tours of the Academy or to book a one to one chat please visit our Book a Tour page here or call a member of our Academic team on +44 (0)20 7407 6969.

Programme Overview

The Certificate in Fine Art is typically one full day (10.30am-4.30pm) a week, completing six skills courses over two years. It can also be completed in an accelerated mode; two full days a week over one year. 

The programme is made up of six modules called Elective Skills Workshop Courses. These courses are common components to all our academic programmes at the Academy, so you will be working alongside a diverse group of students from a range of our long courses. You will choose your Electives from a range available each term. The day you attend will be dependent on the course you choose each term.

The Certificate course is not formally assessed (nor is it necessary to complete work outside the taught sessions). You will, however, need to meet the minimum attendance requirement (80%) and complete all six Elective Skills Workshop courses to pass the programme. At the end of the Certificate you will have the opportunity to exhibit your work at the annual Certificate Show. Students are also able to take advantage of free places on the Academy’s short courses, subject to availability and at the discretion of the Academy.

The Certificate is a flexible programme and can be customised to your needs. It can be started at the beginning of any of the three terms throughout the year. The programme is designed to fit around students’ busy lives and can be paused as often as necessary (with advance notice and for whole terms only); there is no time-limit to completing the Certificate and students can move between the standard and accelerated mode from term to term.

Our Teaching Approach

Our teaching body is second to none. All our tutors are practising artists. They include prize-winning artists, artists with work in national collections and members of leading arts organisations.

Central to our philosophy is that teaching and learning should be in small, supportive groups: our tutors get to know students individually and students learn from both the tutor and from each other within teaching groups not exceeding 15 people.

Elective Skills Workshop Courses

The Elective Skills Workshop (ESW) offer varies from year to year, with different courses provided each term.  We offer courses in all disciplines, including drawing, painting, print making, digital media, sculpture and installation, with a selection of courses in most mediums each term.  

Elective Skills Workshop courses are structured over ten weeks (September and January terms) or eight weeks (summer term).  You are free to choose whichever course you’d like to study each term from the selection available.

You can see a selection of the ESWs on offer here.  Provide link

Please see the 25/26 Certificate Programme Handbook*,  Student Handbook*, and Student Terms and Conditions for more information.

*Please note handbooks may be subject to change and will be reissued upon enrolment.

Fees

Fees for the Certificate Programme can be paid termly or annually.

Please note, these are our 2025/26 fees. Fees are subject to annual review and are likely to increase due to inflation in the following academic years (this is capped at 5% annually).

If you opt to pay termly, fees will be subject to a 5% surcharge.

Fees can also be paid within a longer, individually agreed payment plan to spread the annual fee across the academic year. Payment plans do incur a 10% surcharge.

A deposit of £100 is also payable on acceptance of the offer (which is deducted from your first year’s tuition fee. Please see 3.2 of the Terms & Conditions for details). The Academy reserves the right to retain this deposit if you fail to enrol. If you cancel within the stated 14 calendar days this deposit will be refunded along with any other monies paid

Entry Requirements

No formal qualifications are required for entry to the Certificate Programme.  We consider each application on an individual basis and welcome candidates from a variety of backgrounds. We will assess an applicant’s suitability for the programme through a portfolio of work, personal statement and interview. For this programme, we’re keen to encourage people near the beginning of their artistic journeys to apply, as well as people with more experience who are looking for high quality, skills based training.

Applicants must be over 18 at the time of entry and must demonstrate competency in spoken and written English, which will be judged through the applicant’s Personal Statement and interview. On receiving an application, we will offer suitable applicants an interview. In some cases, we may ask to see additional supplementary work.

Personal statement

As part of your application form you’ll need to submit a personal statement. This is your opportunity to stand out from the other candidates, to set the scene for your interview. Your personal statement should be approximately 500 words.  We’ll ask you to: 

• Give us some context; What have you done previously (educationally, artistically and professionally)? Why are you interested in Fine Art ?
• Tell us about the materials, methods, and processes you use to make work and what you’re interested in exploring in the future.
• Tell us how and why artists have influenced your work.
• Why do you want to study at the Art Academy? What do you hope to gain from the programme? What are your ambitions?

Examples of work

As part of the application form you’ll be asked to submit examples of your work digitally, so that we can assess your suitability for the programme ahead of a physical interview; you should submit approximately 5 to 10 pieces. Digital examples must contain information about media and dimensions as a minimum, you may add titles and other explanatory text if you wish. This should be submitted as a PDF, Powerpoint or Word document.

For interview you’ll need to bring physical examples of your work with you. (This doesn’t need to be completely different content to the digital submission). It should be approximately 10 to 15 pieces of work plus your sketchbooks (if you use them). These examples do not need to be mounted or ‘presented’, but rather a collection of work. You should, however, consider the order in which you wish them to be viewed.

For both digital and physical portfolios you should include evidence of:

• Drawing
• Finished work
• Work that demonstrates your range (include pieces that demonstrate your ability with different media and techniques)

Please note the following:

• Include developmental, unfinished and experimental work is important too; we’re not looking for perfection.
• Be decisive. The ability to select and edit is important. You should have something to say about every piece and demonstrate that you can critically evaluate your work.

Apply

We welcome applications from all enthusiastic candidates.

Please email academiccourses@artacademy.ac.uk or call +44 (0) 20 7407 6969 to discuss courses further or arrange a visit.

Application deadline

Please note that although there are places still available for September 2025,  applications are subject to availability and will not be accepted if the programme has reached capacity.

More information on the admissions process can be found on the Academy’s Admissions Policy.

Apply

To apply, please fill out the online application form here.

If you wish to apply by post, please email admissions@artacademy.ac.uk to request an application form.