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 in visual arts is research-oriented and is non-prescriptive in the terms of its content. Successful research in Visual Arts is necessarily contingent upon individual interests and passions. Students are expected to produce a proposal at the beginning of the semester; and consult regularly with their lecturers upon its implementation. Both the intentions of students and the results of their work are debated in group discussions and critical sessions

Objectives

Upon completion of this units, students will:

1. be keen to perfect their practice in Visual Arts with excellence in technique and to perceive a relationship between technical excellence and the visionary aspirations of their discipline;
2. be able to pursue an area or areas of studio practice with a strong sense of direction and commitment and an equally strong curiosity for the possibility of redirecting their practice and making cross-disciplinary links;
3. feel some confidence defending their chosen direction in studio practice against informed challenge and criticism;
4. be resolved to find the 'logical' extension of their practice, whether through higher degrees of technical refinement or refusal of established aesthetic criteria or critical regimes;
5. seek to extend their practice with reference to the history of the particular art practices which have shaped their own art direction, empowering them not only with the knowledge of authoritative precedents but the practical advantage of technical and iconographic cues;
6. be keen to relate critically their chosen direction in Fine Art to the terms of contemporary discourse;
7. find an appropriate balance between intuitive processes underlying their practice and critical reason or analytical thought.

Assessment

By folio 100%, including an initial project of no less than 20%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Daniel Palmer

Contact hours

4-hours lectures, tutorials and studio plus 20-hours independent study per week

Prerequisites

Admission to honours program