VCA ART 2021

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) involves completion of a substantial piece of original research, demonstrating ability to communicate research findings effectively in professional arenas and international contexts. In most cases the thesis includes a body of exceptional artwork and a substantial written paper. A rigorous and sustained piece of work is presented indicating that the academic research process is complete, with the holder admitted to the community of scholars in the discipline.

The Master of Fine Arts (Visual Art) is a two-year program that extends an artist’s potential for academic research. This studio-based program facilitates and develops mastery in a chosen field of practice and contributes to a deeper understanding of contemporary artistic practice, cultural theory and discourse more broadly. The practice-led MFA culminates in a substantial piece of original research that generally comprises a body of creative work and a written dissertation.

The Master of Contemporary Art program serves as a bridge between undergraduate study and independent art practice. This coursework program prepares students to develop a professional art practice, situate their practice within contemporary art contexts and gain important networks in a supportive community of staff, artists and industry professionals. The course encourages experimentation and speculation, as well as engaged dialogue with staff and students, in an independent studio setting. In the second year, students identify an area of research to investigate and they undertake a year-long studio project. Throughout the degree, students engage in a range of professional opportunities, including graduate intensives, group and solo exhibitions, and local and international travel.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) degree is an esteemed program designed to support students wishing to develop research skills and deepen their understandings of contemporary artistic practice and related theoretical discourse. With an emphasis on independent artistic research and devising and managing a major creative project, this dynamic program prepares candidates for advanced critical and creative thinking and problem solving. Honours is located in The Stables, a world-class teaching and learning facility at the heart of Melbourne’s arts precinct and with strong connections to a diverse range of professional partnerships and networks. Academic staff within the program are leading artists, theorists and curators in their fields.

The Graduate Certificate in Visual Art is a part-time course that facilitates practical and theoretical frameworks for studio workshops, complimented by studies in art history and theory. As it is graduate level, GCVA students can choose to work in painting, drawing, digital technologies, printmaking, sculpture, installation, performance or photography, and/or a combination of the above. Throughout the year formal group critiques and individual discussions encourage critical reflection on the works made. The Graduate Certificate in Visual Art is designed for students who have completed a degree and wish to further develop their skills in the visual arts.

This program is taught by leading contemporary artists in immersive studio- and workshop-based environments, and it enables students to develop their own professional art practice. Students experiment with a wide range of approaches, including traditional drawing and print media as well as digital media, video, installation, performance and socially-engaged art. Students develop their material and conceptual methods in response to their interests, contextualised in relation to relevant historical and contemporary art practices and theory. Through their work, students address broader concerns, such as social and political issues, often drawing from other fields of knowledge. As genealogies of artistic practice, the fields of drawing and printmaking provide a foundation upon which students can invent the art practices of tomorrow.

Drawing and Printmaking staff and students dedicate their 2021 graduate show to the memory of our colleague and teacher Damiano Bertoli, who passed away in September this year. Damiano worked in our program for more than 20 years and touched the lives of hundreds of students during that time, including this year’s graduating cohort. His legacy will live on in their practices and those of our alumni.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) is taught in an immersive studio-based environment. Reflecting the diversity of contemporary art practice, the course supports independent and conceptually innovative practice. By developing technical and conceptual methodologies, students gain a sound knowledge of traditional and contemporary painting skills, techniques and concepts.

Through the practice of critical analysis, students become more confident in expressing their own visual ideas and observations in light of the historical, contemporary and theoretical contexts in which they work.

These days, anyone and everyone takes photos. But what is a photo and what is the photographic? How do you ‘think’ through the practice of photography to make artworks? How do you apply photographic thinking to develop artworks even without a camera?

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (Photography) challenges students to consider these questions and more as they undergo an immersive experience in contemporary photographic practice and theory. Photography’s history meets the students’ own, as they pursue their own specific questions and attitudes through making. In a studio-based learning environment, independent exploration is encouraged using various techniques, including black-and-white darkroom photography, colour darkroom printing, digital imaging and the projected image in installation. These and many other methods of making enable the discovery of what a photograph can become – and the kind of artist one can be.

Sculpture is where we test material, any material, your material.

Material comes from our body – our place and time, from a history, from a cultural memory, or the all-too-present future. Material suggests, reflects, cascades, shatters, lingers, transforms, protrudes and disappears. It pulls you in and pushes you away. We circle material, develop new techniques, strategies and languages that challenge established knowledge. Material is supported, physically politically and intellectually, by space, place and context, but let’s not go there right now; let’s stay with material and the impossibility of pinning it down.