Fine Art

The School of Fine Arts believes that art is a way of understanding the world and responding to new ideas and situations. As a result, the programme is strongly based around exploring ideas and their realisation as art. Rather than focus on specific disciplines such as painting or sculpture, as a traditional art school would do, the School of Fine Arts provides students with the skills to develop the vision in the media best suited to that vision. These skills include concept generation and development through making, writing and critical reflection, practical workshops and technical knowledge.

While studying here students benefit from an astute, inquiring and supportive culture - one that the student helps to create and participate in. This model holds graduates in good stead as they go on to a variety of active roles in the cultural fabric of New Zealand and the world beyond. The School is proud of the fact that graduates from this programme work independently and collaboratively and are valued for their ability to combine a wide range of media and processes.

The School’s focus on interdisciplinary training is intended to enable graduates to work across conventional boundaries - from new forms of image generation to interface technologies, from material and spatial exploration to planning and urban development, or indeed any new industry requiring flexible, creative and lateral thinkers. Graduates from the BFA programme have progressed into careers as artists, consultants, teachers, freelance practitioners, art writers, curators, technicians and project managers. Many have continued into postgraduate study both here and abroad.

First year students across the BFA (Hons) and BDes (Hons) share a core suite of papers in their first year.

Second Year: Fine Arts students have their own dedicated studio space within the School and are encouraged to become increasingly independent in their approach to art practice. Projects are based around thematic briefs and experimentation.

Critical Studies and self-selected electives comprise the rest of their study and help students make connections across disciplines and theoretical principles.

Third Year: Students devise and develop individually determined projects for Contemporary Art Studio and also undertake a group exhibition project. A broad range of electives are available for study in Semester One. Critical Studies and Fine Arts Research Methods play a key role in preparation for Honours study.

Fourth Year: The Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) pathway has a strong focus on research-based art practice with a seminar programme and ‘journal’ supporting the development of independent project work. Alternatively, students in the Bachelor of Fine Arts pathway focus on practice-based work and self-selected electives in their final year.

Staff

Richard Reddaway