Fineart.ac.uk has been created to celebrate the history and achievements of Britain's art schools. The Collection begins the task of assembling a comprehensive and sustainable online resource. Its content has been drawn from a group of 10 art schools and includes the significant CNAA collection. In its initial phase of development fineart.ac.uk covers a period from the mid 19th century through to contemporary practice and also includes a wide range of media. The resource provides a showcase for the excellence of UK higher education in fine art and also provides access to primary sources of importance to researchers that might otherwise remain hidden, disconnected or inaccessible. The National Collection is being launched in June 2003 with some 250 paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings by more than 150 artist-practitioners who studied or taught at degree (or equivalent) level in schools of art over more than a century. The website incorporates a rich body of information to support research and scholarship and will continue to be developed over coming years.

As well as growing in the number of artists, artworks and institutions being represented in the collection, contextual pieces, essays, interviews and critiques will be commissioned from within the sector, as the collection develops. These pieces will enrich the collection, and form the bedrock of the research resource. For examples of contextual material, click on the links below

• Celebrating the Achievement of the Art Schools: A New Resource HTML PDF
• Interview with the Artist Clyde Hopkins HTML PDF
• Speech given at the launch of fineart.ac.uk by the art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon HTML PDF
• Learning to Paint: A British Art Student and Art School 1956-61 PDF