Fine Art Studios

Please ensure you have enrolled in the Fine Art Studio course in enrolment online.
You will not need to preference this course: students will be allocated to their home studios course relevant to their year level.

(Note: There is a separate page for Workshop classes and a separate page for ART: History+Theory+Cultures classes).

The Fine Art Studios are offered under the following course codes:

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

Fine Art Studio classes are 24 credit point courses and will require 6 contact hours per week.

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

Please find link to the course guide VART3645 or VART3647.

Please note: although we would like to offer all of the Fine Art Studio options below, classes are subject to viability and may not run if numbers are too low.

Course Information

Offering Studio & Studio Lead

In this course you will further develop your Video and Sound practice as a broad-based contemporary art form. You will strengthen your skill base and test practices that extend studio practice, and both employ and expand Video and Sound art conventions. You will explore personal & public ideas, new materials, technologies and new ways of making, screening and installing 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 in the art industry 2nd year students will participate in an Exhibition Project. Additional lectures, presentations, skills demonstrations and group critiques will accompany this course.

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.

In this course you will 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 and its development into other mediums within the atelier space of the studio. The idea of atelier includes both the individual working space as well as the shared experience of studio as a community. 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 your 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. 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.

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 extend beyond the studio to both employ and transform identity. You will explore identity and transformative practices in relation to new ways of making and installing a range of 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 Drawing Atelier course. Additional lectures, skills demonstrations and gallery visits will demonstrate how contemporary artists employ drawing concepts and methods that directly extend their studio practice.

In this course, you will undertake a series of creative projects where you will explore how the narrative can be used as a starting point in creating Jewellery and Objects. One by one you will explore the malleability of materials and create alloys of copper and silver. Through the use of metal punches and hammers you will stretch and transform the surface qualities of the metals you use. The projects are playful and the processes will complement your narrative and conceptual intentions by enabling you to create new and original forms and surfaces. At the completion of the semester you will have produced a body of jewellery and object works that tell a story.

Using the esteemed ceramic collection of the National Gallery of Victoria as a starting point, students source an object that peaks their imagination, passion or curiosity. This ‘historic’ and/or ‘significant’ object is the conduit for a conceptual and technical research. Students will be encouraged to develop an individual approach and interpretation to develop new work, utilising a range of ceramic techniques.

In this course you will explore the unique possibilities offered by the Matrix for duplication, multiplication and the unique through experimenting with reproductive technologies. You will utilise a range of technologies and materials, including digital, intaglio, photographic and/or serigraphic  processes to diversify your options for print production. You will deepen your analytical thinking and making skills through the combination of conceptual and technical development. 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.

"In this course you will be introduced to historic and contemporary art practices that approach the concept of storytelling and setting. With a focus on both abstract and representational forms, the course will examine the diverse ways in which artists engage narrative interpretations from individual experience to shared stories, whether real or fictional. Through studio- based investigation you will explore works that respond to content that articulates representations of place: incorporating the real, imagined and virtual.You will consider the history of painting and its influence on the production of contemporary narrative. Investigate the role of the internet on the discipline of painting and explore the networks and narratives between place and paintings, online and in real space.

You will be encouraged to explore the medium of painting and related media, as a means of visual mapping, storytelling, communication and the translation of non-visual content into individual art works. You will experience working in series, exploring both reductive and expansive strategies of studio production. You will respond to a range of thematic projects that will lead to independent self- directed outcomes in a variety of media. 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 theme- based group exhibition. You will experience individual tutorials, peer-to-peer discussion and group feedback sessions, online learning, demonstrations, health safety and proposal writing for professional practice and student presentations.

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. Outcomes may include a range of paintings, drawings, collages, objects, digital and photographic works and related support materials that exemplify a Contemporary Art Practice. Through a 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. 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 course 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, student presentations, field trips, online learning, demonstrations, health and safety; experiences that will enrich and sustain your continued development as artists in a supportive and stimulating environment.

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

In this course you will investigate the place of the Ready Made, the Re Made and the Re Purposed in contemporary jewellery and objects. By researching existing materials and objects and how they present and live in the world you will find new contexts from existing objects and forms. You will explore how pre-existing objects can be altered, remade and adapted to create new work. This will provide opportunities to consider how the viewer engages with jewellery and objects through the pre-existing narratives, connections to form and the inherent material qualities in the collected objects.

This course aims to further develop your sculptural practice by focusing on an individual and hands-on approach to making. You will begin the course by creating and documenting a series of works without predetermined outcomes in relation to a series of themes. This will allow you to be productive in an intuitive and creative way and build a deeper understanding of your own interests. In response to this work, you will research and document a series of artists, works and ideas and begin to build an archive of research material to draw on in the future. In the second half of the course you will use these early works, research materials and ideas to develop and present a major work or series of works. 

This course aims to provide you with the tools to begin to develop conceptual directions that you can expand on as you develop your practice. 

This course aims to further develop your Sculptural practice by focusing on an individual and hands-on approach to making. You will begin the course by creating and documenting a series of works without predetermined outcomes. This will allow you to be productive in an intuitive and creative way and build a deeper understanding of your own interests. In response to this work, you will research and document a series of artists, works and themes or ideas and begin to build an archive of research material to draw on in the future. In the second half of the course you will use these early works, research materials and ideas to develop and present a major work or series of works.

This course aims to provide you with the tools to consolidate your work to date and to assist you in developing directions that you can potentially expand on as a professional artist or in further study.