Offered By	Faculty of Asian Studies, Canberra School of Art, ANU Medical School, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Economics and Commerce, Faculty of Arts, and Faculty of Law
Academic Contact	Wendy Teakel

This workshop major may only be taken in a Bachelor of Visual Arts, Bachelor of Design Arts or a Diploma of Art. 

The Australian National University, School of Art Sculpture Workshop provides an excellent environment for study and research. Students are prepared for professions in the visual arts. Many graduates of Sculpture work in diverse fields across the arts some are high profile professional artists exhibiting in public and commercial galleries locally, nationally and internationally. Graduates of Sculpture are also sought to develop major commission pieces for the public domain and they pursue careers as academics and teachers, curators, gallery assistants, technicians and managers. Applications are invited from school leavers and mature-aged students from Australia and overseas. Prospective students are strongly encouraged to make contact with the Head of Workshop, Wendy Teakel to discuss the courses on offer in Sculpture. Workshop staff interview applicants and ask them to present for consideration a comprehensive folio of recent work detailing three-dimensional interests and explorations, development of ideas through visual diaries and examples of observational drawing. For applicants who have had little opportunity to work in a sculptural medium, an awareness of contemporary sculptural practice is an advantage.

Candidates for the Visual Arts Graduate Program apply directly to that program. However they are encouraged to discuss their study options with the Head of Workshop. The Graduate Program presumes that an applicant has previous working experience as an artist or is a highly accomplished recent graduate. Applicants to the program are selected based on their prior achievements, the merit of the study proposal submitted and the availability of appropriate resources. Graduate students are entitled to 24-hour access to the Workshop and computer facilities. They are provided with individual studio spaces in the Workshop and work closely with Workshop staff and the Graduate Convenor.

The Sculpture Workshop encourages students to explore a range of conceptual, thematic and design considerations to develop personal creative responses through making. We offer studio introductions to a broad range of sculptural techniques including, Installation, metal and timber fabrication, carving, modelling, mould making, casting and bronze foundry. Sculptural outcomes find form through construction, assemblage and mixed media as objects and/or Installations or temporal works. In second year students begin to develop Independent Work Proposals and creative development is facilitated through tutorial sessions, one on one contact with lecturing staff and Workshop critique sessions. Students are encouraged to develop flexible approaches to making which are ideas driven. Drawing and spatial studies are integral components of the course where students explore spatial properties of sculpture through a range of media and approaches. Studio Theory seminars enhance the program by encouraging students to understand contexts of making and to discuss sculpture through theoretical and art historical references. The Sculpture Workshop has strong links with the Environmental Studio and encourages students to take up at least one Field Studies research project during undergraduate to promote environmental awareness and primary research opportunities.

The Workshop facilities, upgraded in 2008, comply with the latest OH&S standards. They offer students individual work spaces and well-resourced, media-specific studios dedicated to effective manipulation and fabrication of metal, clay and wax modelling, plaster and rubber moulding, plaster casting and construction of new and recycled timber as well as carving. An extensive range of plant equipment, hand power tools and air driven tools augment well-lit and ventilated studios. The Workshop facilities extend to a professional foundry casting in bronze and aluminium, fork lift, lifting tables and trolleys and a clean room for seminar presentations which can facilitate video projection. Spaces within the Workshop can be used for drawing, viewing of work, and Installation-based or temporal practice as well as constructing and fabricating. In addition, through the Complementary Studies Program, students can access the resources of other Workshops within the School and University, including video editing and three dimensional modelling and drawing offered by the School's Design Art Studio.

The expertise of the Workshop Lecturing staff is complemented by a full time technical officer and a dynamic program of visiting artists, artists-in-residence and graduate in residence programs. Visiting artists interact with students through workshops, lectures and demonstrations. Previous visitors include international sculptors such as Claire Barclay, Kevin Henderson and Zoe Walker, from Scotland, Daniel Brandely and Anne Rochette from France, Australian artists Mikala Dwyer, Fiona Hall, Nola Farman, Geoffrey Bartlett and Michael Snape, Udom Chimpukdee, Peerapong Doungkwe, from Thailand, Koichi Ishino from Japan and Lucia Pacenza from Argentina. Recent Graduates in residence include Geoff Farquhar-Still, Chlöe Bussenschutt, Steven Holland, Ayako Saito and Rosalind Lemoh

 

 

 

The information published on the Study at ANU 2009 website applies to the 2009 academic year only. All information provided on this website replaces the information contained in the Study at ANU 2008 website.