HKU Fine Arts with its Bips and Bops
This was actually one of the many video ideas that I’ve had incubating since my final year in uni and just put off for ages. It’s not a video because I hate talking to a camera + I don’t have a lot of time to make them hahaha.
Since the HKDSE had resumed its examinations on the 24th, I thought I’d discuss (more like rant) a bit about my experience at HKU for those who might be questioning their JUPAS choices.
In 2018, I graduated from The University of Hong Kong with a Bachelor of Arts degree (BA), majoring in English Studies and Fine Arts.
For those who aren’t really sure of what the BA degree entails, it’s essentially a flexible liberal arts degree that offers a wide range of subjects which you can mix and match and come up with endless combinations of majors and minors, so long as you fulfill the degree requirements. For more information on the basics, check out the faculty website.
Just before I dive into my life story, I’d like to make it clear that HKU does not offer any practical or studio art courses at all. Instead, its classes focus on art history and theory — if you’re looking for a studio course, I would suggest looking into the programmes at the other local universities and abroad.
When choosing programmes for my JUPAS choices, I knew pretty early on that I wanted to get into HKU BA. As a kid, I was a one-way track kid who showed no interest in nearly anything else. Moreover, after three years of dealing with the HKDSE Visual Art, I really needed a break from painting for a grade. Choosing HKU was largely influenced by the fact that I was a first generation university student. Studying abroad wasn’t an option for me so where else but to go to the most prestigious local university so my grandparents had something to brag about? (Though I have to admit, university rankings are barely reliable especially with HKU’s current administration.)
Getting in was the easy bit, figuring out what to do for the next four years was the wild ride. I essentially spent my first year and a half completely submerged in Hall culture while still participating in a theatre group. While I don’t regret the hectic experience, given that I learnt a lot about myself and how to deal with problematic people, as well as meeting my best friend and other good friends there, I did fuck up my GPA (Grade Point Average) to the point where the resident tutor kicked me out — and I quote — “for [my] own good.”
And she was absolutely right.
For the next two years, I spent a lot more of my time getting my money’s worth (not that I actually paid, I had government subsidies) of education.
Granted, I hadn’t missed out on too much.
The first year of an arts degree was more of a chance to explore different courses and subjects. These are usually beginner-level so you don’t have to worry about not knowing things beforehand — the whole point was to get you interested in the subject. I remember enrolling in French (though I ended up being in a third year course but that’s another story for another day), Comparative Literature, History, European Studies, German, Philosophy, and of course, English and Fine Arts. Though like I said, I basically fucked up my GPA by skipping nearly all of the lectures and refusing to hand in homework (don’t try this at home, kids).
The Fine Arts introductory course (FINE1001) was a broad overview of European art history and you barely get to learn about the more obscure pieces. It was, as its course description will tell you, for those who know nearly nil about art and its history. On the other hand, Fine Arts 1008 (FINE1001’s Asian sister) was much more interesting, according to those few classes I went to, because the artwork was unfamiliar — at least to me. But again, I played hooky so I can’t give a full review on these courses.
All in all, fine arts courses are essentially designed to train students to appreciate, analyse, and be able to discuss pieces of artwork both contextually and conceptually. Essay writing, artwork memorisation and critical analysis — in other words, the foundational skills — are inevitable.
It was the years after that things started to toughen up. You’d find that while the introductory courses had over a hundred students, the class size tend to shrink as the years go on. One of my professors used to joke about how the FINE1001 course was made to rope unwitting students into the department and when you finally realise what was going on, you’re tempted to leave. Honestly, the Fine Arts department is tiny; there’s only about fifty students majoring in it a year.
Personally, though, I preferred the more advanced courses that came in the later years. With the smaller classes, it was easier to stay focused since large lecture halls usually attracted students who might be falling asleep or doing other cough things — distracting-ly hilarious. Moreover, I hated public speaking so being in a smaller class was definitely an advantage. It was also less intimidating to stay behind and ask questions if you were confused and shy. I also liked to dive deep into rabbit holes, so I was able to select a more narrow combination of classes. I was especially interested in the 17th and 18th century so a majority of my courses sat well within the Western Art stream. I liked it so much that I pursued an independent research course on a French Baroque artist for my capstone (or final year project).
Classes were usually made up of lectures, assignments or tests, and essays. The lectures are given by the teaching professor, or in some cases, guest lecturers, which serve as foundational knowledge for that course, whereas the assignments and tests will ask you to display your understanding of that knowledge. If you got stuck with a bad professor, sometimes that means just parroting back at them. Of course there are classes that take on a different structure depending on the professor. There are some that function as workshops and as you hit the third and fourth year classes, they turn into seminar courses where you present a topic that you researched on, rather than being lectured at. Our department also offers courses where you take up an internship so it’s good experience for future job hunting.
The only element that’s a constant in all Fine Arts classes are the essays. These are research papers that would require you to take what you’ve learnt from class and self-studying, and use it to formulate your own argument and opinions. I had a love-hate relationship with these papers because while I really enjoyed writing and reading, it was extremely stressful and I was constantly asking for deadline extensions while staying overnight at the library and study rooms. It also didn’t help that I also used to juggle commissions and freelance jobs (fuck, I’m getting stressed just remembering). But I can tell you that the adrenaline high while frantically writing coupled with the sense of relief after you’ve submitted the paper was like a drug on its own. Or maybe I’m just a nerd haha.
In a nutshell, how those four years of uni will turn out is entirely up to you. I know plenty of people who changed their major during their final year and many who spent all that time doing anything apart from studying. There are those who dabbled in all sorts of courses and others who, like me, were obsessed wtih certain themes.
Anyway, I hope this helped, and gayau with everything.
Bonus Q&A!
Does having an art history background help with your painting career?
Yes, absolutely yes. If you checked out other studio art programmes, you’ll find that many of them offer mandatory courses on basic art history. It’s because we are constantly in dialogue with art history; when you make art, you are both contributing to and being influenced by — both directly and indirectly — our collective past, present, and future. Art history informs our choices on deciding compositions or colours schemes and even on why certain brushstrokes look that way with substantial social, political, and economic context. Quoting Maui from the Disney movie Moana, it’s a little like wayfinding; “knowing where you are by knowing where you’ve been.” (I know, I’m getting less and less academic and pretentious every day I’m out of school.)
Practically speaking though, having an art history background certainly helped in finding a financially stable job so I could support both my family and my side hustle(s). It’s an extra skillset that ties back into your passions, so why the heck would you not want it?