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Sally Smart: “First Commissions takes our artists to the world”
Ahead of the First Commissions exhibition in Melbourne on 27 and 28 July, multidisciplinary artist – and Vice-Chancellors Professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne – Sally Smart tells Mireille Stahle about the “commission” that launched her career, and how Australian artists are turning their gaze to the rest of the world. The one thing that's critical for a young artist …
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Southbank Campus to open for Open House Melbourne
Open House Melbourne visitors can be among the first to see the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music's new world-class spaces at Southbank on 27 and 28 July, as part of a broader Open House Melbourne program at the University of Melbourne....
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Bill Henson: “There is no formula for how creativity unfolds”
Bill Henson is one of Australia's best-known contemporary photographers – but it was not always thus. As the First Commissions art project launches ahead of an exhibition in Melbourne on 27 and 28 July, he tells Mireille Stahle about his early years as an artist. ...
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First Commissions art project launches in Florence
A major Australian arts project presented by the University of Melbourne has been launched at the feet of Michelangelo’s David, the world’s most famous statement on physical perfection, ahead of exhibitions in Florence and Melbourne this month....
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VCA alumni stories: Janno McLaughlin, artist
After many years living between New York and Argentina, artist Janno McLaughlin completed a Master of Contemporary Art at the VCA in 2018. She paints and writes stories about hope, optimism, resilience and loss, and uses her art practice to highlight the plight of the most fragile in our community....
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Lin Onus: eternal landscape of the artist’s mind
A new exhibition at the University of Melbourne celebrates the work and ongoing influence of the late Yorta Yorta artist Lin Onus. ...
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Meet Giulia Giannini McGauran, VCA Art graduate and photographer
VCA alumna Giulia McGauran wanted to be a nurse, studied drawing, and works now as a photographer. Here she tells us about her artistic inspirations, favourite shoots from the past year, and what she'd do with a million dollars. By Susanna Ling Hi Giulia, how did you end up at the VCA? I always thought I would be a nurse, but I was …
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What is Interactive Composition at the University of Melbourne?
It defies easy definition, but those who have had anything to do with Interactive Composition at The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music know its value. It's a course for innovators, creators, collaborators and ground-breakers. When Interactive Composition graduates leave the University, they go into the world and make their mark....
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Curating A Life: Professor Natalie King
This year, curator and writer Professor Natalie King was recognised by the Australian Financial Review as part of their 100 Women of Influence awards for her contribution to arts, culture and sport. In this interview, first published on Pursuit, she explains more....
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In Pictures: VCA Art Masters Exhibition 2018
Graduating students from the Master of Contemporary Art and Master of Fine Art (Visual Art) have transformed the Margaret Lawrence Gallery and the VCA Art Studios for The Masters Exhibition (which runs until 9 December).The exhibition celebrates the students' artistic imagination, extensive theoretical knowledge and mastery of practical and technological skills. Photographer Drew Echberg documented the opening night festivities....
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Tiriki Onus: five questions for the Acting Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development at the University of Melbourne
The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, percentage-wise, has the highest number of Indigenous students of any faculty at any university in Victoria, and now there are plans to rename campus paths and walkways with local Indigenous place names. Acting Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, Tiriki Onus, tells us more. ...
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Flamingos, giants, and School of Rock: backstage with VCA Production students
Without sound designers, stage managers, and set and costume designers, many stage, screen and music performances would never get off the ground. We spoke to three graduating Production students about their profession, philosophies, favourite projects, and what's on the horizon for next year....
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Artist Moorina Bonini on the reclamation of cultural identity
Graduating VCA Visual Art Honours student Moorina Bonini discusses her work The Other Reclaims, exhibited in The Stables as part of the 2018 VCA Art Graduate Exhibition....
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Indigenous artist Yhonnie Scarce wins prestigious RAKA Award
Victorian College of the Arts Lecturer Yhonnie Scarce has been named the 2018 Kate Challis RAKA Award recipient for her contribution to the visual arts using blown glass....
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Explainer: what is artistic research?
The role of artistic researchers is not to describe their work – it's something else entirely....
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In Pictures: Folio Live
Over five evenings in November, Interactive Composition students from the University of Melbourne took over Grant Street Theatre with collaborative sound and media works which incorporating sound with film, animation, dance, theatre, installation, visual art, production, songwriting and performance. Here are some highlights from Folio Live 2018 by photographer Sav Schulman....
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Five questions for Dr Kate Just, Graduate Coursework Coordinator (Visual Art), University of Melbourne
Dr Kate Just is an award-winning contemporary artist and academic who has worked extensively with representations of the body, feminism, and queer arts theory and practice. As part of our ongoing Staff Stories, she tells us about what's important to her and what she loves about her work....
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Jon Cattapan becomes the first artist to test a new edition-making initiative at the VCA
A new edition-making initiative will see visiting artists creating work at the recently refurbished Victorian College of the Arts Print Workshop....
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Arts explainer: what is social practice?
We hear a lot about social practice in the arts, but what actually is it? We asked course coordinator of the University of Melbourne's new Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Social Practice and Community Engagement Dr Danny Butt....
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Podcast: Professor Sally Smart, “The power of artists is extraordinary”
The Expert Hack Podcast sat down with Victorian College of the Arts alumna artist Professor Sally Smart to discuss how artists are influencing politics and social change....
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A tour of Melbourne’s Arts Precinct and the people who make it
The reimagining of Melbourne's Southbank is a source of disruption, possibility and hope for the people and organisations of the Arts Precinct. ...
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An interview with Yandell Walton, resident artist in the VCA’s PHASMID Studio, Berlin
Melbourne artist Yandell Walton's work interacts with its environment in complex ways. So what effect will being in Berlin have on her practice?...
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Watch VCA Greats: Patricia Piccinini
In 2015, Patricia Piccinini’s ComCiência in Rio De Janeiro was the most visited contemporary art exhibition in the world. Patricia Piccinini is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts where she is now Melbourne Enterprise Professor of Visual Art....
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How to digitally render Ned Kelly as a woman going to a ball
In this video, as part of our ongoing How To series, VCA Production Lecturer in Design Anna Cordingley demonstrates how to digitally render a costume design. Find out more about Production at the Victorian College of the Arts. See also: How to make an acid dance track with the Roland TB-303. How to create backing tracks with the Boss RC-30 Loop Station. …
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Martyn Myer: ‘A world-class cultural capital needs a world-class arts training faculty’
Philanthropists come in all shapes and sizes, but for Martyn Myer there's only one approach: roll up your sleeves and don't take no for an answer. ...
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‘Space of Friendship’: Melbourne Art Fair joins forces with the University of Melbourne
This year’s Melbourne Art Fair is being held at the University of Melbourne Southbank campus, home of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music and Melbourne’s growing Arts Precinct....
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Letter: Yours Internally
Director of the Margaret Lawrence Gallery Dr David Sequeira shares his thoughts about Yours Internally, an exhibition of work by Kiron Robinson and Grant Stevens showing from 27 July–25 August ... and possibly gives the Backstreet Boys more poetic and artistic credit than they have enjoyed to date....
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Storm in a Petri dish: mixing art and science
Storm is an interdisciplinary Symposium and Exhibition, co-hosted by the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music and the Faculty of Biomedicine at the University of Melbourne. We spoke to some of the contributors about their work and the meaningful collaborations art and science can inspire....
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Meet Casey Jenkins, Master of Contemporary Art student
First year Master of Contemporary Art student Casey Jenkins is settling back into university study after spending a lot of time in small but active community art groups. Encouraged and inspired by other students and staff, Casey talks to us about collaborating and creating networks at the Victorian College of the Arts. I’m only in my first year, but so far …
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Southbank’s redesigned Print Workshop – a guided tour at the Victorian College of the Arts
Printmaker Adrian Kellett has been at the Victorian College of the Arts’ Print Workshop for 19 years – first as a Fine Arts student, and now as Print Workshop Coordinator. He takes Susanna Ling on a walk-through of the newly-refurbished Print Workshops, designed by Hatz Architects....
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Kate Daw, Head of VCA Art, on her vision for artists in Southbank
She's an internationally-recognised visual artist whose work has featured in group and solo shows since 1992. The former Head of Painting, and recently-announced Head of VCA Art, outlines her vision for teaching, learning and promoting art at the University of Melbourne's Southbank campus....
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Five Deadly Questions for Richard Frankland
Associate Professor Richard Frankland is Head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development at the University of Melbourne. He's also a key figure in ongoing talks with the Victorian Government to establish a treaty or treaties to acknowledge the unique position of Aboriginal Australians, and a participant in the Victorian Government's recently-launched Deadly Questions initiative. ...
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Meet Georgie North, Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Art) Honours student
Painter Georgie North values strong relationships with her peers and enjoys working in collaborative and public art projects. She speaks with Kelly Southworth about empathy, inspiration, and learning from others. My understanding of art has become more empathetic since starting at the Victorian College of the Arts. Despite differences in approach and practice, there seems to be a common understanding and rapport between artists. I'll …
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Meet the staff: Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
Dinosaur spirit animals, lurking rulers and miniature chairs – yes, we're an eclectic bunch ... ...
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Handing over the reins at The Stables – a new home for the arts in Melbourne’s Southbank
The University of Melbourne's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music today celebrated the completion of The Stables – a world-class visual arts and performance space in the heart of the city's Arts Precinct. The former Victoria Police Mounted Branch stables have been transformed into world-class teaching and learning facilities for students of the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and …
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VCA alumna Yvette Coppersmith wins the Archibald Prize 2018
Visual Art alumna Yvette Coppersmith has been awarded Australia's most distinguished portraiture prize for her self-portrait....
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Welcome to The Stables – a new, world-class arts facility in Melbourne’s Arts Precinct
The former Victoria Police Mounted Branch stables have been transformed by Kerstin Thompson Architects into world-class teaching and learning facilities for students of the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. Here, lead architect Kerstin Thompson gives us a guided tour. We found out just before Christmas 2014 that we'd been successful with our submission to be the architects …
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Monochromes are so much more than a grey area in visual art
Artists who engage in contemporary monochrome art practices see themselves as part of a growing lineage – as a new exhibition at the Margaret Lawrence Gallery amply demonstrates. ...
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Myuran Sukumaran’s final 72 hours – what GUILTY tells us about the death penalty, and life
Paper Planes and Van Diemen's Land producer Maggie Miles talks about co-writing and producing a film about the Bali Nine convicted criminal's last days....
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Two-minute interview: David Batchelor, artist and writer
David Batchelor is one of more than 30 artists whose work will feature in Monochrome: Empty & Full at the Margaret Lawrence Gallery in Melbourne in May. By Sophie Duran Hi David, you began collecting one-sentence statements about the meaning and value of colour in preparation for the 2008 anthology you edited, Colour. Is there one (or a couple) that still stand …
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Art of war: where conflict meets creativity
The relationship between Australia’s military efforts and sanctioned artists dates back to 1918 but, as the nation’s 63rd official war artist explains, there are as many ways to cover combat as there are artistic sensibilities. By Professor Jon Cattapan, VCA Director Vasily Vereshchagin’s 1871 painting The Apotheosis of War shows a pyramid of human skulls on a dying landscape, watched over and picked at …
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Vanitas has been nominated for a Webby – vote now
An immersive art app developed by Victorian College of the Arts lecturer Robert Walton is in the running for the Oscars of the internet. By Robert Walton, Lecturer in Theatre (Dramaturgy and Directing) at the Victorian College of the Arts Last Tuesday we found out that Vanitas, an art work I created with my colleague Jason Maling for smartphones and cemeteries, has been …
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Robert Ambrose Cole, Rosslynd Piggott, Angelina Pwerle, Lindy Lee and David Rosetzky in a new exhibition at the Margaret Lawrence Gallery
In this catalogue essay, Margaret Lawrence Gallery Director Dr David Sequeira sets up the gallery's latest exhibition, In Between: Notions of transition and the intermediate. ...
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Peek into Buxton Contemporary with new director Ryan Johnston
Walk and talk with the inaugural director of Buxton Contemporary, on the University of Melbourne's Southbank campus, before the gallery opens on 9 March. ...
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Doing Feminism: an interview with Professor Anne Marsh
With feminism and what it means so firmly back on the public agenda, there’s never been a better time to get to grips with its role in art and culture....
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An interview with Tom Crago, the artist behind Materials at the NGV Triennial
He’s the CEO of Australian video game developer Tantalus Media, a restaurant owner, a former triple-jump champion, a PhD candidate … oh, and an artist at the blockbuster NGV Triennial exhibition. ...
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Discover hidden art and artefacts at the University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is home to 32 cultural collections including libraries, prints, rare books and music archives, you just need to know how to find them - now there's help....
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Vale Alun Leach-Jones, distinguished painter and VCA alumnus
VCA Director Professor Jon Cattapan remembers one of Australia's great abstract artists....
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Artist Kate Daw in conversation
Kate Daw, Head of Painting at VCA Art, has exhibited nationally and internationally since 1992, and has work in two current Melbourne exhibitions. She speaks with Paul Dalgarno about her life and career to date.
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Watch: How to cast bronze, at the VCA Foundry
In this, the third in a series of How To videos from the Victorian College of the Arts and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, VCA Workshop Manager Dr Tim Edwards demonstrates how to cast bronze objects in the Faculty's purpose-built foundry, from start to finish. If you like it, please share! Banner image: Screenshot. See also: How to do an Australian accent (that doesn’t …