Monash University Handbook 2011 Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Synopsis

Studio at honours level is research-oriented and non-prescriptive in the terms of its content. Students produce a proposal at the beginning of the semester but are free to carry out their work with any number of deviations from their original plans. The intentions of students and the results of their work are debated in group discussions and critical sessions.

Objectives

On successful completion of this unit, students will:

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 specialization in Fine Art;
2. be able to find working habits which prolifically engage the imagination and expedite both the realization of artistic intentions and critical reflection on the results;
3. be keen to determine 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 Fine Art, and be prepared to define traditional practice as research, provided that new or continuing applicability in the recent history of ideas can be demonstrated.

Assessment

Folio: 100%

Chief examiner(s)

Kit Wise

Contact hours

36 hours (lecture, tutorial, individual supervision) per week

Prerequisites

FNA4001