A day in the life of a history of art student

8.30am: Coffee 

Arrive on campus and head to Portland Coffee in the Students' Union to meet my coursemates. We each grab a takeaway coffee in time for our first lecture.

9-11am: ‘International Study’ lecture

The first half of the lecture began by outlining the itinerary for our upcoming course trip to Paris in the spring. We continue to learn about how Paris presents itself as an Urban Palimpsest, where aspects of history, perhaps being materials and architecture, are layered and embedded within buildings or the streets of Paris.

Our lecturer encourages us to look out for this when we visit, particularly with the example of the The Centre Pompidou, being positioned within one of Paris’ oldest districts. It makes us more excited to experience this first-hand in a few weeks’ time!

11-11.45am: Hallward Library

Head to Hallward Library and review seminar preparation work for tomorrow’s classes. I make notes from the reading and answer any comprehension questions that engage and delve deeper into topics covered within my lecture from earlier in the week.

12pm: 'Black Art in a White Context' seminar 

My next seminar is in the Trent Building. I love studying in this building, it’s one of the prettiest on campus, and the view of the white stone and clock tower is always so pretty against a blue sky. 

This module explores the creative practices of black artists, and the critiques and attitudes towards them, within the wider context of Western society. We considered the set reading, and discussed the ethnographic display of items from Africa that are recontextualised as art pieces within 19th century Western art galleries. In groups, we then discussed the concept of the ‘displaced object’, particularly focusing on the Benin Bronzes that were stolen from West Africa in the 19th century and debated its subsequent return to Benin in the eventual Western context as an art piece.

In second-year, there is more freedom to take modules within the department, but outside of your specific course. I chose two modules from the Cultural, Media and Visual Studies Department – 'The Sixties: Culture and Counterculture' and 'Memory, Media and Visual Culture'. These allowed me freedom outside of an art history perspective to further the depth and variety of my degree. 

1pm: Lakeside Arts exhibition 

After the seminar, we walk along the lake to the nearest tram stop. With the campus being so green, the wildlife is so vast, but the bunnies and geese are most playful.

On the way, we pop into the on-campus gallery, Lakeside Arts, to see the new exhibition: Sophie Ryder: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints. The gallery assistants informed us of the artist’s bronze casting process, and the influence of mythology in her creative practice. Lakeside Arts presents the exhibition as a “glimpse into the artist’s studio practice”, with a multimedia curation of her works from across her career that display her artistic identity. 

My friends agreed that what we learnt in our classes would go down better with brunch and some vintage shopping in town.

2pm: Brunch and shopping

After a short tram ride, we’re in town! We find a seat in the Pudding Pantry and grab a coffee, homemade lemonade, and a stack of pancakes for £10. Afterwards we pop into the many charity and vintage shops of Nottingham for a bit of retail therapy. 

3.30pm: Nottingham Contemporary visit 

We head to the Nottingham Contemporary art gallery, to meet the History of Art Society for a private gallery tour of three artist solo exhibitions – Rosalind Nashashibi: Hooks, Carolyn Lazard: Long Take, and Charlotte Johannesson. 

Between performance art, traditional painting and tapestry coding, the art gallery curated a broad range of artistic experiences that explored the vastness of modern art practice.

We’re then led to a restaurant afterwards for an organised social, and it’s so nice and refreshing to socialise with people from different courses and year groups that have shared interests. 

6pm: Home and emails 

I remember to email one of my lecturers to organise a one-to-one meeting regarding the next coursework essay. I know that I’ll be able to bounce off a few ideas and go through my plan with them, which is so beneficial to knowing how I can progress in this module. 

I then catch up on my emails. The Cultural, Media and Visual Studies Department emails contain an abundance of exciting opportunities available in forthcoming weeks, and I am always on the lookout for extracurricular activities that add to my university experience or could boost my CV. 

For example, in my first year I participated in a creative work placement at Backlit Gallery in Nottingham, where I worked alongside various other students from both the University of Nottingham, and Nottingham Trent. Working in groups, we co-designed an exhibition that showcased the work we collectively produced over the course of three months, and participated in relevant workshops that informed us of the creative and curatorial industry. 

7.30pm: Cinema

We head to the Savoy Cinema in Lenton. With a range of brand-new movies or old classics for a £5 student ticket, we get popcorn to share, and watch the movie at 8pm.

11pm: Bed 

I head to bed, and I can finally read my copy of Pride and Prejudice that I picked up in town. Luckily, I have a later start tomorrow, my first lecture being at 12pm, so I know that I’ll have a lovely lie-in to look forward to.