Fine Art Studios


The Bachelor of Arts (Fine Art) moved to a two-stage enrolment process in 2018. In stage one, you will have enrolled online in courses for semesters one and two 2018. In stage two, you will now need to select semester two 2018 classes for your Fine Art Studio, Workshop and ART: History+Theory+Cultures 2018.

This page will assist you with stage two of the enrolment process. Here you will find a list of potential Fine Art Studio classes. You will only take one Fine Art Studio class, but you need to list three (3) preferences. These classes will all run under the following course codes:

Fine Art Studio 2 VART  3645 (1st year)
Fine Art Studio 4 VART 3647 (2nd year)

Read the list below carefully and select three Fine Art Studio classes you would be happy to enrol in for semester two. Remember these Fine Art Studio classes are 24 credit point courses and will require 6 contact hours per week. 

In May 2018, we will post a link to a Google form on this page so that you can nominate your preferred Fine Art Studio classes. The form will have three (3) drop-down menus with the following classes listed. You will need to nominate your first, second and third Fine Art Studio class preference. 

For more information about a course, please contact the Studio Lead of the offering studio.

IMPORTANT – You must not repeat any class in your preference lists. Every effort will be made to place you in your first preference classes.

Course Information


  • Lecturer
  • Contact hours
  • Open to all students

Offering Studio & Studio Lead


  • Ceramics – Kris Coad
  • Drawing – Greg Creek
  • Gold & Silversmithing – Kirsten Haydon
  • Painting – Peter Ellis
  • Print – Richard Harding
  • Sculpture – Fleur Summers & Simon Perry
  • Video & Sound – Martine Corompt
  • Program Course – Mark Edgoose
  • Program Course – Mark Edgoose (1)

Andrew Gunnell

Alchemy: technique, mediation and the artist's response - FULL


  • Andrew Gunnell & TBC
  • Fridays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

Through practical workshops this course introduces and explores a range of processes and techniques of lithography and etching as a medium that extends and compliments drawing. Using reproductive techniques with their inherent alchemy, history and transformative principles students will explore and develop strategies to respond to unintended results and the mediation of the medium with consideration of their idea. Students will be encouraged to find an alternative directions in order to produce new artworks while developing a generative art practice.


Kari McInneny-McRae, 2017, clay and glaze, 20 x 34 x 2cm

Ceramic Form and Place - UNAVAILABLE


  • TBC
  • Fridays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

In this course students will investigate the composite in terms of both material and form, in relation to the ceramic object. Students will consider how the multiple can be explore to create the installation space of the object.


Robin Kingston, two pages from personal sketchbooks 2008 -2009 (details), watercolour, gouache, graphite and acrylic polymer, image courtesy of the artist

Colour - FULL


  • Rhett D’Costa & Robin Kingston
  • Thursdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & Fridays 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

Colour is an important deliberation when making art. In this course you will focus on colour in various guises - considering it; as idea, as culture, as material, as expressive, as social, as political, as metaphor, as aesthetic, as intuitive, as emotion, as personal, as signifier. The course is studio based and is designed and delivered in ways, which focuses on your individual responses to colour. At all times experimentation is encouraged as a way to extend and develop a body of artworks in any form and material relevant to your individual interests. You will gain experience, skills and knowledge in developing a career as a professional artist through an Exhibition Project, where you will curate, exhibit, critique and document your work in a collaborative group exhibition.The course will be delivered through a flexible set project, lectures, student presentations and individual studio and group tutorials.


Nicholas Bastin, Golden Frame No 1

Composite Materials in Jewellery Objects - FULL


  • Nicholas Bastin & TBC
  • Wednesdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

In this studio students will create new objects and jewellery through the investigation and manipulation of material and surface. Metal and enamel will be utilised to look at how the intrinsic qualities of a material and its surface can counter balance cultural perceptions of value. Students will explore how composite elements and materials can build material, surface, form and meaning.


Revenue (Spread), 1980, Robert Rauschenberg, Tate Modern, UK

Drawing Painting Materialities - FULL


  • TBC
  • Thursdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & Fridays 9.30am – 12.30pm
  • Open to all students

This course focuses on the dialogue of drawing, painting & materiality in studio practice. You will investigate a variety of making strategies and pictorial systems of visual information that will expand your experience of combinations of painting, object, installation and drawing. Through studio research you will explore different forms of imagery expressed through a range of techniques and relationships between 2d and 3d. You will experience how paintings and drawings operate as elements in installation / space and you will reflect on the role of the viewer experiencing and interpreting artworks. You will investigate the material natures of object and image evident in many forms of current contemporary practice. You will develop a wide range of experimental and works, leading to a self initiated individual practice. To gain experience, skills and knowledge in developing a career as a professional artist you will participate in an Exhibition Project, where you will curate, exhibit, critique and document your work in a collaborative group exhibition. You will experience individual tutorials, peer-to-peer discussion and group feedback sessions, field trips, online learning, demonstrations and health and safety; experiences that will enrich and sustain your continued development as artists in a supportive and stimulating environment.


Anonymous - student work

Extended Drawing Practices - FULL


  • Ben Sheppard & TBC
  • Thursdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

In this course you will further develop your Drawing practice as a broad-based contemporary art form. You will strengthen your skill base and test how drawing practices that extend beyond the studio both employ and disrupt conventions of drawing. You will explore personal & public ideas, new materials and new ways of making and installing drawing works. A selection of initial themed projects will lead to you developing a self-directed and resolved body of work. To gain experience, skills and knowledge in developing a career as a professional artist you may participate in a collaborative Exhibition Project. Students in this course will share tutorials and resources with the Studio Drawing Projects course. Additional lectures, skills demonstrations and gallery visits will demonstrate how contemporary artists employ drawing concepts and methods that directly extend their studio practice.


Lindy McSwan, Quiet by full moon, vessels, 2016, mild steel

Inside, Outside, Vessels & Wearables - FULL


  • TBC
  • Thursdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & Friday 9.30am – 12.30pm
  • Open to all students
In this studio students will explore the relationships of internal and external space, specifically in terms of the object and the vessel in relation to the hand and the body. Conceptually expanding and engaging fabrication methods that push and pull materials. Students will use silversmithing repousse and punches to engage the malleability of internal and external spaces to explore the volume, surface and form of objects for the body.

Alberto Burri, Plastica(Combustione Plastica, Plastica), 1964, Pompidou Centre

Material Thinking - A Topography of Practice


  • Fridays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

The starting point for this course is the contemporary history of materiality in works of art. It examines the social and political meaning of materiality embedded in the art object, whether painting or sculpture. It explores more traditional views of materiality in the context of a re-evaluation of their importance within contemporary art. Key reference points are Base Materialism, Anti Form, Art Povera and the Poetics of the Everyday. This course will involve experimentation with materials, forms and technical skills, through innovative thinking, to produce works that reflect your interests. Conceptual and technical skills will be acquired through sequential projects and workshops that explore a wide range of spatial practices. You will learn to critically evaluate your work alongside other students in your group.


Peter Ellis, Titian’s Ghost, 1998, synthetic polymer emulsion, gouache, collage on canvas panel

Painting Transformations - FULL


  • Louise Weaver & Peter Ellis
  • Thursdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

In this course you will develop your own unique studio practice in relationship to the diverse field of contemporary art. You will expand, transform and deepen your Painting studio practice in experimental and innovative ways and discover new strategies for developing your imagination and generating ideas. You will develop a self-initiated practice, complemented by a series of open-ended projects where you will experience the interdisciplinary nature of painting as image, object and installation. Through contemporary studio investigation, exploring concepts, technologies and skills, you will develop an individual, flexible studio work proposal that is sustainable and research focused to your individual ideas. You will gain experience, skills and knowledge in developing a career as a professional artist through an Exhibition Project, where you will curate, exhibit, critique and document your work in a collaborative group exhibition. Complementing your studio practice will be a series of visual lectures on historic and contemporary art and artists; including on site at the NGV which will focus on the historic & contemporary technical aspects of methods of production and contemporary ideas. This fine art painting studio aims to – Encourage self-motivation, sustainable studio working methods, highlight lateral approaches to problem solving and ways to expand and extend ideas, techniques and skills. You will experience individual tutorials, peer-to-peer discussion and group feedback sessions, field trips, online learning, demonstrations, health safety; experiences that will enrich and sustain your continued development as artists in a supportive and stimulating environment.


Jim Shaw, Thrift Store Paintings, 2000, ICA London

Pop Trash & Remix


  • Ian Haig & TBC
  • Thursdays 1.30pm – 4.30pm & Fridays 9.30am – 12.30pm
  • Open to all students

In this course you will explore how aspects of low, pop and everyday culture can inform a contemporary art studio practice and offer new ways of considering cultural analysis and critique. What is meant by the definitions of trash, kitsch, and pop? and what kind of cultural hierarchies and histories do they represent? Through a range of theoretical and practical experiences you will investigate strategies such as appropriation, montage, assemblage and remix to question cultural forms, hierarchies and value systems and explore the vast and complex terrain of pop and trash culture. Building upon your strengths, you will be encouraged to develop a strong sustainable working process through your own individualised creative research, leading to a group of resolved works in a format appropriate to your individual projects. Supportive individual and group tutorials, lectures, collaborative workshops, technical demonstrations and individual studio work complement this course.


Žilvinas Kempinas, Double O, 2008, video tape, fans (NGV)

Sculpture in the Expanded Field


  • Simon Perry
  • Thursdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

This course introduces sculpture using Rosalind Krauss’s iconic essay Sculpture in the Expanded Field to develop approaches to expanded notions of spatial practice such as installation, the ready made, performance, conceptual, site specific and time-based works. It locates sculptural practice in relation to modernism and through to contemporary practices and encourages students to approach their work in an expanded way. Students will be encouraged to develop their own responses through a series of guided projects.


Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, Alter Bahnhof Video Walk, 2012

Sound Image Studio


  • Martine Corompt & Philip Samartzis
  • Thursdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & Fridays 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

In this course you will examine and explore the spaces between moving image, sound and studio practice, within a sustained investigation of time and process. You will broaden your knowledge of the historical and contemporary field of Time based media (single and multi channel projections, screen works and sound installation) presented in museums, festivals, galleries and Biennale’s throughout the 20th and 21st century. Experimentation and play with various analogue and digital processes used to record, capture, transform and present sound and moving image artworks are encouraged, developing new ways of reflecting on and expanding your practice. Building upon your strengths, you will be encouraged to develop a strong working methodology through your own individualised research, leading to a series of resolved works that engage with the possibilities of interdisciplinary art practice.  This course will be complimented by themed lectures, discussions, field trips, gallery visits and group and individual tutorials.


Jiaying Wang (2016) 'Green is the main colour', acrylic, soft pastel, wood, wire, chair

Studio Drawing Projects - FULL


  • Greg Creek & TBC
  • Fridays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

In this course you will further develop Drawing projects through their relations to your Studio practice. You will enrich and deepen your skill base and explore how to use and transform traditions of drawing within the space of the studio. You will explore graphic, pictorial and narrative themes, perception and translation of object, figure and image, and cycles & series of image making leading to the development of self-directed and resolved projects. To gain experience, skills and knowledge in developing a career as a professional artist you may participate in a collaborative Exhibition Project. Students in this course will share tutorials with the Extended Drawing Practices course. Additional lectures, life room experiences and museum excursions will investigate ways artists employ drawing concepts and methods that underpin and extend their studio–based drawing projects.


Samantha O'Farrell, 2016

The Contemporary Ceramic Vessel - FULL


  • TBC
  • Thursdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

This course explores the contemporary ceramic vessel and how the vessel responds to socio economic, political and environmental conditions. Students will explore and experiment with different ceramic forming techniques and surface finishes in relationship to concept.


Richard Harding, this is not a drill, 2012, photographic screenprint with glitter, spray paint and mirror, installation detail

The Multiple


  • Richard Harding
  • Thursdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

In this course you will explore the unique possibilities offered by Printmaking's inherent capacity for duplication and multiplication, exploring reproductive technologies with notions of the ready made. You will experiment with print imaging technology, including digital, intaglio, photographic and/or serigraphic processes to diversify your options for fine print production. You will deepen your analytical thinking and making skills to locate your studio practice within the broader context of fine art. In consultation with your lecturer, you will take responsibility for the determination of your study program through set assignments with a major self directed studio project.


‘ The Silvering ’ installation photos, helium, mylar, AGNSW, Sydney 2017 (as part of survey show; Mikala Dwyer, A shape of thought)

Thought Experiments


  • Mikala Dwyer
  • Thursdays 9.30am – 12.30pm & 1.30pm – 4.30pm
  • Open to all students

Playing with our conception of space as a geometrical construct. Thinking through radical dimension, witchcraft and Schrodinger’s Cat We will create experiments using materials that come to hand, bodies and the space we are in. Starting from simple shapes such as circles, squares and triangles we will journey into radical dimensions. The emphasis in this course will be on the experiment and a celebration of mistakes as tools for getting started. Where it takes you from there is the unknown. We will create experiments using materials that come to hand, bodies and the space we are in. Starting from simple shapes such as circles, squares and triangles we will journey into radical dimensions. The emphasis in this course will be on the experiment and a celebration of mistakes as tools for getting started. Where it takes you from there is the unknown.