APA4002*

Major project (Applied Arts honours)

18 points - One lecture and one tutorial per week, plus individual supervision - Second semester - Caulfield - Prerequisite: APA4001 - Corequisites: none - Prohibitions: none - Core for BAppA (Honours)

Objectives On successful completion of this subject, students should (1) cultivate high ambitions to perfect their practice with technical excellence and to establish a relationship between mastery in technique and the visionary dimensions of their area of specialisation in applied arts; (2) be able to find working habits which prolifically engage the imagination and expedite both the realisation of artistic intentions and critical reflection on the results; (3) be keen to determine-at least provisionally-suitable artistic intentions which allow them to achieve an appropriate balance between the sensual faculties and the reasoning or critical faculties; (4) enjoy the prospect of debating or defending a given direction of practice in their discipline against critical interrogation; (5) be keen to engage in a dialogue with the history of their chosen genre, empowering them not only with familiarity and the ability to manipulate prestigious exemplars but with the confidence to challenge the authority of historical precedents or the uncritical values imposed upon them in received histories; (6) be curious about identifying the poetic dimension of their practice, either with reference to the symbolic use of design objects, the imagery contained in works, the tensions between conflicting semiotic expectations, the artful use of metaphor or humour or anything else; (7) identify inspiration not only with the innovative faculties related to finding new methods or novel imagery but with the power of consolidating old aesthetic ideas with a consistent impetus genuinely felt by the emerging practitioner; (8) be happy, wherever personal inspiration indicates, to embrace traditional methods and intentions in applied arts, and be prepared to define traditional practice as research, provided that new or continuing applicability in the recent history of ideas can be demonstrated.

Synopsis Studio at honours level in applied arts is research-oriented and syllabus does not prescribe the content of projects. However, it provides an important creative and critical framework for the development of the individual's imaginative faculties which drive the student toward a particular kind of work. Students are expected to produce a written proposal at the beginning of the semester; but they are free to carry out their work with any number of deviations from their original plans, provided that students keep their lecturers informed and seek their opinions. Both the intentions of students and the results of their work are debated in group discussions and critical sessions, with appropriate reflections on the location of the work vis-a-vis the current directions and imagined destiny in applied arts.

Assessment Folio (including an initial project of no less than 20%): 100%

Prescribed texts

To be advised

Back to the 1999 Art and Design Handbook