Major Overview

Description

The Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts major) is an intensive studio-based course of study that prepares you for a successful career as a contemporary artist. By working closely with our staff of nationally and internationally recognised practising artists and with experts from related creative arenas such as curatorial practice, art theory and the history of art, you will explore a range of artistic processes, techniques and technologies that will help you to establish your career in the field of contemporary art and culture.

The structure and programme of offerings in the UWA Fine Arts major is highly distinctive and the only one of its kind in Australia. Following a foundational first year of study in which you develop fundamental practical skills in tandem with a body of conceptual and theoretical knowledge, you then select from three specialist pathways. These focussed areas of creative practice are (a) Film, (b) Art and Biotechnologies, and (c) Art and Environment. Over the course of your second and third year of studio-based practice you incrementally develop expertise in one of these focus areas with complementary studies in the history of art and elective studies in areas that align with your individual interests and support your creative work.

Within the cutting-edge focus areas of Film, Art and Biotechnology, and Art and Environment, we foster your artistic skills across established and emergent mediums. And, by giving you the opportunity to develop those skills within settings as varied as the science laboratory or in landscapes that are undergoing rapid environmental change, the Fine Arts major gives you the opportunity to artistically articulate and debate the most challenging and difficult issues facing our world.

Outcomes

Students are able to:

  1. demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of creative art, the history of its major mannerisms, artists, theorists and formations of thought, to understand its social relevance and responsibilities, and the processes used in its formation
  2. articulate the complexities of art as a socially constructed practice that is situated in time and place, and mediated by perspectives shaped by relations to ideology, politics and social intersubjectivity
  3. contextualise the practice of creative forms of fine art with other forms of intellectual inquiry and appreciate the relevance of linking theory to practice in the formation of concepts, the discussion of principles and the perspectives of reception
  4. use a discursive vocabulary that enables complex arguments to be clearly articulated within artworks and the evolving field of research that surrounds artistic practice and the discourse of design
  5. demonstrate a high level of working skills with fine arts media and an understanding of practical methods and presentational protocols used by art to objectify ideas and concepts.
Broadening guidelines

All students studying towards a Bachelor's Degree at UWA are required to Broaden their studies by completing a minimum of four units (24 points) of study outside their degree specific major. Broadening is your opportunity to explore other areas of interest, investigate new disciplines and knowledge paradigms and to shape your degree to suit your own aspirations and interests. Many of you will be able to undertake more than this minimum amount of broadening study and we encourage you to do so if this suits your aspirations. Over the next few months you will find here some broadening suggestions related to your degree-specific major. While we know that many students value guidance of this sort, these are only suggestions and students should not lose sight of the opportunity to explore that is afforded by your Broadening Choices. Advice can also be sought from your Allocated Student Advising Office.

Courses

Fine Arts can be taken as a degree-specific major in the following degree courses:

Example Study Plan

See study plans for more information.

Units

Key to availability of units:
S1
Semester 1
S2
Semester 2
N/A
not available in 2024 – may be available in 2025 or 2026
NS
non-standard teaching period

Level 1

Degree-specific major units

Take all units (24 points):

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1 ARTF1052 Fine Arts Studio: Record, Visualise & Imagine
Incompatibility
VISA1050 Art of Visualisation and Recording VISA1052 Art of Expression
S2 ARTF1053 Digital Art and Object Making
Incompatibility
VISA1051 Art in the Environment VISA1053 Video Art: Methods and Means
S1 ARTF1054 Drawing Foundations
Incompatibility
VISA1054 Art of Drawing
S2 HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art None

Level 2

Degree-specific major units

Take the following unit:

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1 ARTF2000 Curatorial Practices
Prerequisites
Successful completion of
one level 1 Unit(s) in your chosen degree
Incompatibility
VISA2051 Curatorial Practices
Degree-specific major units

Take unit(s) to the value of 12 points from this group, including at least one of: ARTF2020, ARTF2021, ARTF2030, ARTF2031, ARTF2040, ARTF2041.

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
N/A ARTF2020 Moving Images
Prerequisites
ARTF1052 Fine Arts Studio: Record, Visualise & Imagine (formerly VISA1050 Art of Visualisation and Recording) and/or ARTF1053 Fine Arts Studio: Space, Time & Beyond (formerly VISA1053 Video Art: Methods and Means)
Incompatibility
VISA2050 Video Art: Experimental Investigations
S2 ARTF2021 Animation and Video
Prerequisites
ARTF1052 Fine Arts Studio: Record, Visualise & Imagine (formerly VISA1050 Art of Visualisation and Recording) and/or ARTF1053 Fine Arts Studio: Space, Time & Beyond (formerly VISA1053 Video Art: Methods and Means)
N/A ARTF2030 BioArt
Prerequisites
ARTF1052 Fine Arts Studio: Record, Visualise & Imagine (formerly VISA 1050 Art of Visualisation and Recording) and/or ARTF1053 Fine Arts Studio: Space, Time & Beyond (formerly VISA1053 Video Art: Methods and Means)
Incompatibility
VISA2249 Art and Life Manipulation
N/A ARTF2031 Living Art
Prerequisites
ARTF1052 Fine Arts Studio: Record, Visualise & Imagine (formerly VISA1050 Art of Visualisation and Recording) and/or ARTF1053 Fine Arts Studio: Space, Time & Beyond (formerly VISA1053 Video Art: Methods and Means)
Incompatibility
VISA2214 Aesthetic Crossovers of Art and Science
S1 ARTF2040 Environmental and Biological Art
Prerequisites
ARTF1052 Fine Arts Studio: Record, Visualise & Imagine (formerly VISA 1050 Art of Visualisation and Recording) and/or ARTF1053 Fine Arts Studio: Space, Time & Beyond (formerly VISA1053 Video Art: Methods and Means)
N/A ARTF2041 Art in the Environment: Deep-Time Performance and Socially-Engaged Art
Prerequisites
ARTF1052 Fine Arts Studio: Record, Visualise & Imagine (formerly VISA1050 Art of Visualisation and Recording) and/or ARTF1053 Fine Arts Studio: Space, Time & Beyond (formerly VISA1053 Video Art: Methods and Means)
S2 ARTF2054 Drawing, Painting & Print Studio
Incompatibility
VISA2273 Art of Drawing—Advanced
NS ARTF2270 (Inter)national Studio for Arts and Culture
Incompatibility
VISA2270 International Studio for Arts and Culture
Degree-specific major units

Take unit(s) to the value of 6 points:

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
N/A HART2202 Art and Social Justice
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
N/A HART2222 Contemporary Art
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
Incompatibility
VISA2222 Contemporary Art
S2 HART2274 Introduction to Museum and Curatorial Studies
Prerequisites
HART1000 Great Moments in Art (formerly VISA1000)
or HART1003 Ways of Seeing: Themes and Theories in Art
Incompatibility
VISA2274 Introduction to Museum and Curatorial Studies

Level 3

At Level 3, students are required to undertake a 12-point major project unit

Degree-specific major units

Take all units (12 points):

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S2 ARTF3050 Advanced Major Project
Prerequisites
ARTF3000 Advanced Studio
Incompatibility
ARTF3050 Advanced Major Project
Degree-specific major units

Take unit(s) to the value of 6 points:

Availability Unit code Unit name unit requirements
S1 ARTF3000 Advanced Studio
Prerequisites
one of the following: VISA2050 Video Art: Experimental Investigations.
VISA2051 Curatorial Practices.
VISA2214 Aesthetic Crossovers of Art and Science.
VISA2249 Art and Life Manipulation.
VISA2270 International Studio for Art and Culture.
VISA2272 Art of the Graphic Novel.
VISA2273 Art of Drawing—Advanced (formerly VISA2273 Art of Drawing—Transdisciplinary Practices)
or 12 points of Level 2 Fine Arts units (ARTF-coded units) including 1 of: ARTF2020 Moving Images, ARTF2021 Cinematic Spaces, ARTF2030 Art and Life Manipulation, ARTF2031 Art and the Life Sciences, ARTF2040 Earth, Water, Air & Fire: Material Explorations in Environmental Art
or ARTF2041 Art in the Environment: Deep-Time Performance and Socially-Engaged Art (ID 7366)
Incompatibility
Unit(s) VISA3050 Advanced Studio (ID 4823)
N/A ARTF3020 Advanced Film: Immersive Cinematic Experiences
Prerequisites
Completion of 12 points of Level 2 Fine Arts units (ARTF-coded units), including ARTF2020 Moving Images and/or ARTF2021 Cinematic Spaces.
N/A ARTF3030 Advanced Art and Biotechnologies
Prerequisites
Completion of 12 points of level 2 Fine Arts units (ARTF-coded units), including ARTF2030 Art and Life Manipulation and/or ARTF2031 Art and the Life Sciences
N/A ARTF3040 Advanced Art and Environment
Prerequisites
Completion of 12 points of Level 2 Fine Arts units (ARTF-coded units), including ARTF2040 Earth, Water, Air & Fire: Material Explorations in Environmental Art
or ARTF2041 Art in the Environment: Deep-Time Performance and Socially-Engaged Art