Course Information

Offering Studio

In this course you will engage with a wide range of concepts and material investigation into abstraction and non-objective art practices, leading to an individualised studio practice. You will produce experimental research work that emphasise the importance of materiality, scale, colour, composition, pattern, structure, surface, matter, Zen, calligraphy, gesture, play and chance associations. The rich legacy of Western Modernist abstraction and Contemporary abstraction will be at the core of your studio work. You will experience a variety of strategies to generate new ideas, concepts, techniques and material process in a variety of media. You may experience the use of abstraction through, painting, print and digital technologies, drawing, collage, frottage, photography, the object, installation and other media. The use of found objects, photography, nature, urban environments, signs and symbols, ephemeral works, response to sound and light may be stimuli for your production of work. You will develop a draft studio work proposal that is directed to your own individual studio work. You will experience student presentations, visual lectures, individual and group tutorials and feedback and field trips to exhibitions in a supportive stimulating environment.

Siu Kam Han, This is not snow

This course focuses on the evolution of ceramic craft practices historically and across a range of places and regions. It considers the meaning of ceramic craft-based practices in the context of contemporary art. In this course you will also research, design and create ceramics using the material of porcelain. You will implement techniques such as hand forming, wheel and casting in the material of porcelain to construct a range of forms that reflect your aesthetic and ideas. You will explore a range of concepts that examine the inherent characteristics of the material, such as its fineness, whiteness and translucency.

In this course offering you will be introduced to local and global ideas and practices examining modes of representation and ways of seeing. Linking theory to practice this course will develop your formal and conceptual understanding of representation and your knowledge and application of these fundamental ideas.
The objectives of this course offering are to understand how knowledge and making are linked through ways of seeing and thinking, to investigate pictorial languages and conceptual approaches to communication through the making of creative works, and, to relate critical concepts, texts and practices to your studio production. The course looks particularly at the idea of human presence in photography specifically to do with; picturing people, voluntary and involuntary portraiture, series and sequencing, (Re)presenting absence and a range of alternative representational strategies in photography.

In this course you will develop your own unique studio practice in relationship to the expanded field of painting that may include painting, collage, works on paper, the object and installation. You will experience new strategies for generating ideas and stimulating your imagination, that lead to the development of a flexible studio work proposal that is sustainable and research focused to your own individual ideas. Themes in contemporary art will be investigated to demonstrate how artists initiate, expand and maximise outputs through experimentation and research. Ideas may include: the body, nature, abstraction, materiality, colour, chance, series, memory, the known and the unknown. You will identify your field of practice and participate in an Exhibition Project where you will curate, exhibit, critique and document your work in a collaborative group exhibition. This will provide valuable information and experience in exhibition practice, gallery installation strategies and professional practice that will prepare you for a career in the arts industry.
You will experience individual tutorials, peer-to-peer discussion and group feedback sessions, field trips to local museums, demonstrations and health and safety; experiences that will enrich and sustain your continued development as artists in a supportive and stimulating environment.

Tap Chan, Three Riddles (Apparitions), 2016

In this course you will focus on manifesting your ideas in sculpture with an emphasis on transforming materials and production processes.
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 with a focus on sculpture and installation art. It explores more traditional views of materiality in the context of a re-evaluation of their importance within contemporary art. 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. Key reference points include; Base Materialism, Anti Form, Arte Povera, and the poetics of the everyday object.

Rebeka Tam, Collapsing Series, 2020

In this course you will explore and experiment with the physical properties of a broad range of materials and learn to perform moulding skills and processes which can be applied to making objects out of a range of materials, such as ceramics, paper, plaster and wax. Conceptual, perceptual, formal and aesthetic concerns will be addressed as they relate to object making and assist you to develop an individual approach to object forming using moulding processes as it relates to sculptural and architectural forms.

In this course you will develop practical skills across a range of processes and materials which are commonly used in sculpture practice. This course aims to further develop your sculptural practice by focusing on an individual and hands-on approach to making. This will allow you to be productive in an intuitive and creative way and build a deeper understanding of your own interests. You will be introduced to particular methods and materials through specific projects, with an emphasis on the relation to individual concepts in art making.
It focuses on an individual and hands on approach to making, explore your individual intuitive and creative techniques in contemporary sculptural form. You will be given practical instruction and experience in the use of workshop equipment together with relevant health and safety training.