Bachelor of Fine Art

This course will educate you in all aspects of creative visual practices and cultures and will also enable you to build a high level of expertise in one of three specialisations:

• Art history and curating
• Fine art
• Visual arts

You will engage directly with professional artists as well as with practitioners from allied creative fields including art theory, administration, management, education, writing, design and the curatorial.

Art history and curating will prepare you to operate effectively within the expanded field of art history, criticism, curating and cultural production more generally. You will be able to situate visual art in relation to broad social, cultural, environmental, historical and theoretical developments, explore forms of writing about art and visual culture, and study curatorial theories and practice related to the presentation, interpretation and promotion of art works in exhibition settings.

Fine art will prepare you for a career as a contemporary professional artist and will provide you with adaptable creative skills that open up a variety of career options in allied creative and professional fields. You can take an interdisciplinary approach and explore a range of media and techniques, across drawing, film, glass, jewellery, painting, photography, installation, sound, digital technologies, printmaking and sculpture, or you can practice in a single medium.

Visual arts will provide you with a sound knowledge of the theories and practices required to work professionally in the visual arts. This specialisastion is only available in a double degree course. You will develop your artistic skills in one or more visual media and integrate this with your expertise in the field of your second degree such as arts, business, or information technology. You may also choose to share your artistic creativity and passion through a professional career in teaching by enrolling in the double degree with education.

Double degrees

The Bachelor of Fine Art course, in the specialisation of visual arts, can be taken in combination with the following courses:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Business
• Bachelor of Information Technology
• Bachelor of Education (Honours)

This will lead to the award of two degrees, the Bachelor of Visual Arts, and the degree offered by the partner course. The requirements for the award of the each of the degrees are the same whether the award is earned through a single or double degree course. Students should refer to the course entry for the partner course and the course mapcourse map (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2016handbooks/maps/) for the double degree, for the requirements of the other degree.

Specialisations

Art history and curating

Art history and curating is concerned with the historical, theoretical and practical aspects of contemporary art and its forms of display. Modern and contemporary art will be situated in relation to broad social, cultural, environmental, historical and theoretical developments. This specialisation will enable you to become articulate in critiquing artistic practice and to operate within the expanded field of art history and curatorship.

Fine art

Fine art is concerned with the practice of contemporary art. This specialisation will provide you with an interdisciplinary approach to artistic practice, developing your critical awareness and understanding of cultural developments across local, national and international contexts. It will encourage you to move across discipline boundaries and to develop individual studio-based responses to the broad field of creative practice.

Visual arts

Visual arts is concerned with an expanded understanding of cultural production. This specialisation will provide you with an interdisciplinary approach to visual practices. It will develop your critical awareness and understanding of artwork in its production, presentation, curatorial and discursive contexts. You will be exposed to a range of discipline areas as a basis for individual as well as collaborative cultural production and later customise your program according to a broad array of professional, material and public outcomes.

These course outcomes are aligned with the Australian Qualifications Framework level 7, the Bologna Cycle 1 and Monash Graduate AttributesAustralian Qualifications Framework level 7, the Bologna Cycle 1 and Monash Graduate Attributes (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/alignmentofoutcomes.html).

Upon successful completion of this course it is expected that you will be able to:

1. undertake sustained independent cultural practice in fine art and associated industries at a professional level
2. contextualise, generate and apply an interdisciplinary understanding of cultural production in order to position your independent professional practice and output critically within it
3. identify and evaluate research concepts in art history and theory relevant to contemporary production
4. demonstrate critical thinking and communication skills including writing abilities that enable you to become articulate in critiquing artistic practice
5. interpret, represent and respond to diverse modes of creative expression including the socio-economic and cultural contexts of fine art practice and the ethical responsibilities of the profession.

The course develops through theme studies in history and theory, drawing, and fine art knowledge and practice. In the art history and curating specialisation, these will come together through an internship and a final research project. In the fine art and visual arts specialisations, these will come together in the form of a graduand exhibition normally developed during the final two studio units in the third year of the course.

Part A. History and theory studies

History and theory units will equip you with the skills necessary to research fine arts issues and provide the research methods relevant to your studio or workshop practice. They will enable you to contextualise your own practice and communicate ideas and strategies. Through the prism of history, as well as reference to bodies of knowledge relevant to cultural production, you will begin to situate the place of art in society.

Part B. Drawing foundation

This will assist you to develop the perceptual, practical and intellectual skills required by art, design and architecture students in the discipline of drawing.

Part C. Fine art knowledge and practice

Through this component of the course you will develop key skills and concepts particular to your fine art specialisation. Through lectures and seminars, studios or practice driven workshops, you will develop the capacity for independent cultural production within fine art and related fields. Interdisciplinary skills and practices will be explored in conjunction with critical thinking. Students specialising in art history and curating will have the opportunity to interact with topics and students from a range of relevant fields in the arts. Students specialising in visual arts will engage with and integrate specific professional fields from related areas into their practice.

Part D. Occupational health and safety study

This will introduce you to occupational health, safety and environmental training particularly within the context of studying art, design and architecture.

Part E. Free elective study

Electives will enable you to further develop your knowledge of fine arts, or to select units from across the faculty or the University (in which you are eligible to enrol).

The course comprises 144 points, of which 96 points are focussed on the study of fine art and 48 points are free electives.

Elective units may be at any level, however, no more than 10 units (60 points) are to be completed at level 1 in the fine art course.

The course progression mapcourse progression map (http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2016handbooks/maps/map-f2003.pdf) will assist you to plan to meet the course requirements, and guidance on unit enrolment for each semester of study.

Units are six credit points unless otherwise stated.

Part A. History and theory studies (54 points for art history and curating, 18 points for fine art, 24 points for visual arts)

Art history and curating (54 points)

Students complete:

• AHT1101 Introduction to visual culture in art, design and architecture
• AHT1102 Modernism and the avant-garde
• AHT2102 International art 1945-2000
• AHT2105/AHT3105 Contemporary international art
• AHT2602/AHT3602 Art criticism and curatorship

and four additional units from:

• AHT2025/AHT3025 The body in contemporary art
• AHT2120/AHT3120 Art and social change
• AHT2130/AHT3130 Renaissance to Baroque: Italian art and architecture in context*
• AHT2137/AHT3137 Art and the moving image
• AHT2138/AHT3138 Space, place and society
• AHT2440/AHT3440 Camera culture: From analogue to digital representation
• AHT2530/AHT3530 Neo-Baroque aesthetics: History and theory
• AHT2740/AHT3740 Australian visual culture: Contemporary art in context
• AHT2801/AHT3801 The medium in contemporary art

* Taught in Prato.

Fine art (18 points)

Students complete:

• AHT1101 Introduction to visual culture in art, design and architecture
• AHT1102 Modernism and the avant-garde
• AHT2102 International art 1945-2000

Visual arts (24 points)

Students complete:

• AHT1101 Introduction to visual culture in art, design and architecture
• AHT1102 Modernism and the avant-garde
• AHT2102 International art 1945-2000
• one additional unit (6 points) from art history and theory (AHT) coded-units listed above or any other AHT unit so long as you have the prerequisites and there are no restrictions on admission to the unit.

Part B. Drawing foundation (6 points)

Students complete:

• DWG1201 Drawing 1

Part C. Fine art knowledge and practice (36 points for art history and curating, 72 points for fine art, 66 points for visual arts)

Art history and curating (36 points)

Students complete (12 points):

• PHO1204 Digital imaging for contemporary art
• AHT3030 Project studies
• AHT4406 Curating internship (0 points)

and two units (12 points) from the following writing, communication and critical thinking electives:

• DIS1704 Web design
• MKF1120 Marketing theory and practice
• ATS1279 Media and culture
• ATS1298 Professional writing
• ATS1903 Introducing literature: Ways of reading
• ATS1305 Introduction to film studies
• ATS1254 Culture, power and difference: Indigeneity and Australian identity
• ATS1328 The foundations of journalism
• ATS1329 The practice of journalism

and two units (12 points) chosen from one of the following groupings:

Journalism

• ATS2790 Feature writing
• ATS3923 Reporting art and culture

Literary studies

• ATS2517 Introduction to fiction writing
• ATS3063 The Writing self: Creative non-fiction

Communications and media studies

• ATS2436 New media: From the Telegraph to Twitter
• ATS3437 Communication and creativity
• ATS3763 The second media age

Film and screen studies

• ATS2983 Screen project: From film theory to digital video practice
• ATS2962 Now showing: Contemporary approaches to film and television
• ATS3969 Film and television studies in the digital era

Philosophy

• ATS2405 Critical theory and post-structuralism: Recent European philosophy
• ATS3419 Aesthetics and European philosophy

Indigenous cultures and histories

• ATS2355 Power, knowledge and identity: Between representation and reality
• ATS3361 Museums, galleries, theatres: Intentionality, authenticity and reception

Fine art (72 points)

Students complete:

• FNA1111 Contemporary practices 1 (12 points)
• FNA1112 Contemporary practices 2 (12 points)
• FNA2111 Contemporary practices 3 (12 points)
• FNA2112 Contemporary practices 4 (12 points)
• FNA3111 Contemporary practices 5 (12 points)
• FNA3112 Contemporary practices 6 (12 points)

Visual arts (66 points)

Students complete:

• VPR1011 Visual practices 1
• VPR1012 Visual practices 2
• VPR1113 Research practices
• VPR2011 Professional practice
• VPR2012 Research practices advanced
• VPR3011 Professional practice advanced
• VPR3012 Visual practices 3 (12 points)

and three units (18 points) from the following fine art workshops in drawing, film, glass, jewellery, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture:

• DWG2501 Drawing: Landscape, space and environment
• DWG2504 Drawing: Advanced studies 1
• DWG2506 Drawing: Social based strategies
• DWG2507 Drawing: Conceptual studies 1
• DWG2508 Drawing: Conceptual studies 2
• DWG2509 Drawing: The body 1
• DWG2511 Drawing: Anatomy 1
• DWG3516 Drawing: Anatomy 2
• DWG3518 Drawing: Advanced studies 2
• DWG3519 Drawing: The body 2
• FNA2003 Interdisciplinary project
• FNA2903 Art and design in film
• FNA3903 Film practice
• GLS1211 Contemporary glass practices
• GLS2213 Contemporary glass sculpture
• JWL1311 Jewellery practice and theory 1
• JWL1312 Jewellery practice and theory 2
• JWL2313 Jewellery practice and theory 3
• JWL2314 Jewellery practice and theory 4
• PHO1203 Photographic imaging
• PHO1204 Digital imaging for contemporary art
• PHO2202 Advanced digital photography
• PHO2204 Video art and the moving image 1
• PHO2207 Photographic processes
• PHO2208 Photo light studio
• PRM1001 The contemporary print: Etching and relief printmaking
• PRM1511 Artists' books
• PRM2401 Screenprinting and the contemporary poster
• PRM2512 Artists' books 2
• PTG1001 Painting introduction: Materials and methods
• PTG2031 Abstraction and non-objective painting
• PTG2032 Painting: Installation and the expanded field
• PTG2033 Representational painting: Narrative and figuration
• PTG2034 Sound and space: Dematerialised form
• PTG2035 Interventions: Feminist and conceptual practices
• SCU1021 Contemporary casting
• SCU1022 Sculptural construction: Woodworking and welding
• SCU2021 Advanced moulding and casting
• SCU2022 Site specificity: Sculptural and installation interventions

Part D. Occupational health and safety study (0 points)

Students complete:

• OHS1000 Introduction to art and design health and safety

Part E. Free elective study (48 points)

Electives may be chosen from units available in the Bachelor of Fine Art course. Elective units may also be used to sample from across the faculty and University, or to complete a minor from another course so long as you have the prerequisites and there are no restrictions on enrolment in the units.

For students in a double degree course, some units required for the other degree are credited as electives towards the visual arts degree.

Students successfully completing the Bachelor of Fine Art may proceed to a one year honours program leading to the Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours). To be eligible to apply for entry into F3701 Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours), students must obtain a distinction grade average of 70 per cent or above in the final year of the undergraduate course.