The course in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Art has three main aims:

* Provide students with basic geographical and historical frameworks for the study of indigenous visual arts in Australia and the Torres Strait Islands.
* Familiarise students with concepts that indigenous peoples have expressed as fundamental to their understandings of relationships between art and life, both historically and in a contemporary context.

* Assist students in developing ideas about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual arts contribute to cross-cultural critical theory.

The skills that students can expect to gain are:

* Ability to identify historical and geographical origin of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island art.
* Ability to conduct a culturally relevant appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island visual arts.
* Ability to formulate cross-cultural awareness in the processes of interpretation of visual arts.

The course of lectures, workshops and tutorials includes guest lectures by indigenous artists and scholars.

By the end of this course you should be able to:

1. Identify historical and geographical origins of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island art

2. Conduct a culturally relevant appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island visual arts

3. Develop cross-cultural awareness in the processes of interpretation of visual arts

4. Research and access information on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island art

5. Speak and write with cultural sensitivity and confidence on Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art

Students must submit and perform all assessment tasks in order to complete the course.  Failure to submit assessment items by the last day of the exam period and perform assessment tasks on schedule will result in an NCN

Oral presentation and paper 1,000 words (25%), (LO 1,2,3,4,5)

Research essay 2,500 word essay (45%), (LO 1,2,3,4,5)

End of semester visual test (20%) (LO 1,2,5)

Tutorial participation (10%) (LO 1,3,5)

Classes will be held on campus and at other venues in Canberra.Three hours of lectures and tutorials per week.Students are expected to complete an average of 7 hours of study per week outside class contact hours.

ARTH1002 - Introduction to Art History and ARTH1003 - Introduction to Modern Art, or the permission of the Coordinator

Wally Caruana, Aboriginal Art, Thames and Hudson, 2003