Visual Arts
About the major
Students enrolled in degrees other than the Bachelor of Visual Arts and Bachelor of Visual Arts/Bachelor of Advanced Studies can take a major or minor in Visual Arts as part of their undergraduate studies in addition to a major or minor in their own discipline.
First year introduces you to visual art practice to further extend your conceptual understanding and creative skills, theory and practice and the wide variety of media and disciplines within SCA's well-equipped studios, by focusing on project-based creative learning experiences in 2-Dimensional (image), 3-Dimensional (sculpture), 4-Dimensional (screen) and X-Dimensional (interdisciplinary) practices.
Second year enables direct focus on theory and practice within a broad range of visual arts disciplines, including ceramics, glass, jewellery painting, photomedia, printmedia, screen arts and sculpture; as well as a range of units growing out of experimental practices and the expanded field. You may elect to develop depth by enrolling in complementary disciplinary units. Alternatively, you may wish to develop your interdisciplinary practice by enrolling in a broader range of units.
Third year deepens your engagement with visual arts and contemporary culture, through intensive studio-based projects that are increasingly self-directed. As with second year, a broad range of disciplinary units are offered, that encourage proactive and idiosyncratic conceptual development, along with the deepening of your existing technical expertise. Further, the principles of practice-led research are established in a way that maintains the ability to find a specific focal point alongside the potential to explore a shifting or interdisciplinary mode of art making.
Requirements for completion
The Visual Arts major and minor requirements are listed in the Visual Arts unit of study table.
Learning outcomes
| No. | Learning outcome |
|---|---|
| 1 | Demonstrate competencies germane to contemporary art, showing both conceptual and practical awareness. |
| 2 | Apply conceptual, historical and practical skills in the development of a studio practice with outcomes of professional potential. |
| 3 | Demonstrate the skills and strategies necessary for a critical awareness within art practice. |
| 4 | Demonstrate a commitment to art practice. This includes consultation of research material related to the chosen field(s). |
| 5 | The capacity to create works of art that reflect a commitment to innovative and imaginative thinking. |
| 6 | Experience and interaction with the broader art world with evidence of, or potential to, forge professional partnerships and collaborations. |
| 7 | Learn and apply Workplace Health & Safety (WHS) to all aspects of art practice. |
Advanced coursework
The Bachelor of Advanced Studies in the School of Letters, Arts and Media (SLAM) offers students a program tailored to their disciplinary interests. Through units of study and individually designed projects, each student, guided by a disciplinary expert, will engage in advanced seminars that complement their individual research in project units. In SLAM this may be within the study of arts-based practices such as visual art, film, performance and writing, as well as literature, linguistics, or live and digitised media. Each student will be encouraged to develop and apply advanced disciplinary knowledge and methodologies to researching the past, present and future at local, regional and global levels in creative ways. In the Bachelor of Advanced Studies, students will have the opportunity to apply disciplinary knowledges and methodologies to the legacies of the past, the complexities of the present and possible futures in the areas of communication, literature and art.
Requirements and units of study for advanced coursework can be found on the Visual Arts advanced coursework units of study page.
Honours
Honours is not available for students in the Visual Arts major. Honours is only available for students completing the Bachelor of Visual Arts or an equivalent degree.
Contacts and further information
Sydney College of the Art website: https://sydney.edu.au/arts/schools/sydney-college-of-the-arts.html
School of Literature, Art and Media website: sydney.edu.au/arts/slam/
Example pathway
Visual Arts advanced coursework pathway
|
Year and Semester |
Units of study | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Sem 1 | Core: CAVA1001 Visual Art Foundation 1 | |
| Sem 2 | Core: CAVA1002 Visual Art Foundation 2 | ||
| Year 2 | Sem 1 | Selective: 2000 level unit from the Visual Arts major | |
| Sem 2 | Selective: 2000 level unit from the Visual Arts major | ||
| Year 3 | Sem 1 | Selective: 3000 level unit from the Visual Arts major | Selective: 3000 level unit from the Visual Arts major |
| Sem 2 | Selective: 3000 level unit from the Visual Arts major | Interdisciplinary Project unit: CAEL3999 Interdisciplinary Impact | |
| Year 4 | Sem 1 | Selective: SLAM4004 Working the Arts and Humanities or CAVA4001 Art Writing and Artists | Project unit: SLAM4001 SLAM Project: Pasts, Presents, Futures A |
| Sem 2 | Selective: SLAM4003 Meaning in the Anthropocene or CAVA4002 Professional Arts Practice | Project unit: SLAM4002 SLAM Project: Pasts, Presents, Futures B |