Gauri Chabbra
Almost a decade ago, when students used to express their interest in Fine arts it was viewed as an avocation and not a vocation. Artists could not lead a comfortable life by making art as the nucleus of the career, so it remained at the periphery.
However, with creativity and aesthetics entering almost all domains, Fine Arts has become not only an avocation but also a vocation and that too a lucrative one.
In a layman’s terminology, Fine Arts include drawing, painting and sculpture; each expansive in itself forking into multiple pathways and inroads.Painting involves designing murals, portraits, sceneries using various types of medium and on different surfaces. Sculpting is creating statues, monuments by either chiseling stone or carving wood or handling clay. This is a highly involving and time-consuming task. Modern sculptors use materials like reinforced cement, concrete, white bronze or plaster of Paris, which all give amazing results.
Changing face of art:
Today artists have stepped out of their own world and brought about a confluence of creativity and commerce popularly called Commercial Art. Art joins hands with commerce and becomes an integral part of today’s business.A relatively new area – commercial art – is the application of the different types of art media for commercial purposes – such as creating advertisements, billboards, book jackets, window displays, cinema slides, technical catalogues, packaging etc. In case you wish to join this field, you only need to be a good artist but also be adept in the ‘art of marketing and publicity.
Some of the changing faces of art are:
Design, today has changed its face and become an amalgam of aesthetics and technical skills. First priority is given to create something that reaches the commercial and technical standards rather than only being a good work of art. Designers create a seamless integration within various departments to bring about a marriage of aesthetics and commerce.
Graphicsbrings about a confluence of illustration and photography, lettering, designing symbols and logos. Natural interest and talent needs to be enhanced with formal training since this helps foster and further the artistic acumen.
Course Cursor:
There are several courses in Fine Arts including Bachelors/Masters Degree in Fine Art. For BFA courses, one must have passed the Higher Secondary Examinations or 10+ 2 level. It is usually afour to five year course. MFA course is open to BFA graduates. This is a two year course. Other than these courses there are diploma and certificate courses in various streams of Fine Arts
Under Graduation:
The eligibility required for Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts is a higher secondary (10+2) pass. Usually, the course duration for this course is 3-4 years in most of the institutes and universities. Foundation and specialization course are taught in the first and remaining years respectively.
B.A. (Fine Arts) – Stands for Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts. Typically, a B.A. is a three year course, minimum eligibility for which is an intermediate (10+2). It is a discipline which is developed for aesthetics and creativity. Subjects studied under this degree are drawing, painting, figure drawing, portraiture, watercolor, art-making concept development, and art history critique.
B.A Bachelor of Arts (Graphic Design)
BFA (Bachelor in Fine Arts)
BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) offers a 3/ 4 years integrated course.The first year deals with integrated education in aesthetics, application of design and art, while the rest of the three years are meant for specialization in niche arts like sculpture, painting, applied arts, history of art, graphic art, visual arts, graphic print making, and commercial arts.
BMM, Bachelor of Multimedia:
Bachelor of Multimedia is a four year full time degree program offered at Apeejay College of Fine Arts Jalandhar. For admission to this course you must have obtained 45% marks in aggregate in 10+2 examination (any stream) from P.S.E.B. / C.B.S.E. or any other examination recognized as equivalent thereto by the G.N.D.U. Amritsar.
Post Graduation:
* MA Fine Arts of 2 year duration
* MFA, Master of Fine Arts. You should have passed in B.A. with 50% marks in aggregate having Fine Arts as an Elective subject or Bachelor of Design with 50% marks.
* Post Graduate Diploma in Commercial Arts of one year duration.
After Post Graduation:
* Ph.D Fine Arts (Full time) minimum three years from the date of registration
* Ph.D Fine Arts(Part Time)
Institute Scape:
* Apeejay College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar
* Government College of Art,Chandigarh
* Guru Nanak Dev University Amritsar
* Lovely Professional University, Phagwara
Career Prospects:
Art has come out of the walls of being a solitary pursuit and has entered almost all domains like art studios, advertising companies, publishing houses, fashion houses and the like. If you wish to go in for variety and flexibility you can chose to be a freelance artist. You can also foray into teaching, direction, photography, television, clothing and fashion, as art director for magazines, on-line services, software companies, publishing houses, manufacturers, advertising, promotion and product design.
Today, art has spread its wings everywhere. In every piece of art in a newspaper, magazine, book, poster, and leaflet there’s a graphic artist. Here too, there are inroads.You can put the magazines together, draw the cartoons and graphics, develop visual aids like logos and designs for commercial houses or create illustrations for books and magazines in a publishing house, design websites, animate graphics, paint murals, paint faces , do anything under the sun.
And you are no more solitary… there is a team with you. If you care to widen the canvas, you can foray into photography, landscape design, interior design, shop-window design, framing, and textile and clothing design.
All these platforms would make your creative juices ooze and flow besides bringing lucre for you. By the time you know you would have made a vocation out of your avocation.A vocation that draws you into the realm of multinational companies along with the coveted job titles and fancy salaries.
Final year BFA student Harpreet Singh, who took up Fine arts against to the wishes of his family,says “For first two years, my father was upset that I chose to become an artist. He is a happy man ever since I joined Infosys as a Graphic Designer”.
So, do not curb your creative juices, just make them flow… and create a career compass of their own…
For queries contact gauri_nagpal @yahoo.com
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