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 the 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 and consult regularly with their Lecturers on its implementation. Both the intentions of the students and the results of their work are debated in group discussions and critical sessions.

Objectives

Upon 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 Visual Arts;
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 art practices, 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 Visual 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.

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 supervised studio work plus 32-hours independent study per week

Prerequisites

VIS4001