Our focus is on encouraging the emergence and development of a meaningful artistic practice through experimentation with a range of creative media and processes. This is underpinned and supported by teaching the necessary skills, techniques, and research methodologies to foster your creative, practical, and contextual development. You will be taught by lecturers who are practising artists themselves with established local, national, and international reputations.

 

Bachelor of Fine Arts: Fine Arts Course Outline

Fine Arts explores traditional and contemporary materials, techniques, and approaches in relation to students' own ideas and creativity. Learning takes place within an integrated programme of studio-based and contextual courses that prepare students for a range of creative professions. Whitecliffe provides individual studio space, which can be accessed seven days a week. Students are further supported by technical equipment and support. At the end of each Semester, students stage formal assessment exhibitions within their studio space. These displays provide opportunities for showcasing work to the public and are essential for resolving existing ideas and considering new directions.

The uniqueness of the Whitecliffe Bachelor of Fine Arts qualification is that it begins by aligning the subjects of Fine Arts and Photo Media (Photography and the Media Arts) together, allowing students to experiment with all forms of working before choosing to focus on a specialism for further study. This means Whitecliffe graduates are better prepared to work across new and traditional fields of contemporary arts practice utilising these highly sought-after transferable skills in an increasingly wide range of industries after graduating.

Whitecliffe's Form Gallery provides an excellent site for students, alumni, faculty, and visiting artists to exhibit. These exhibitions provide insight into professional contemporary practice and help students to connect with the wider arts community.

 

Why choose Fine Arts at Whitecliffe?

• As the consistent winner of the Eden Arts Schools Awards since its inception in 2011, Whitecliffe is firmly positioned as the art school leading Fine Arts education in Auckland.

• The Whitecliffe Fine Arts department delivers a contemporary and internationally-relevant programme that positions Whitecliffe graduates for a life-long contribution to visual arts and the ever-expanding fields within the creative industries.

• Students and graduates have consistently won awards of note and have the opportunity to engage with the wider arts community while they are studying, building their professional arts practice from the outset.

• The award-winning faculty and high calibre of visiting artists ensure that Whitecliffe Fine Arts students are informed, connected, and current.

• The primary focus of the Whitecliffe Fine Arts department is studio-based learning; that's why Whitecliffe provides students with quality studio space and a programme that ensures that they get regular contact with lecturers who are practising artists.

• The Fine Arts Studios, along with the Form Gallery, is a hub for like-minded artists and an opportunity for students to see and discuss the work of their peers, their lecturers, and visiting artists.

• Students can access their studio spaces seven days a week and are encouraged to use the studio as a making and thinking space but also as an installation site. In this way, the studios are an opportunity for the presentation of work to be trialled and tested.

• End-of-semester exhibitions are a time for the formal assessment of work, but also a time to open the studios to the public, reinforcing the cycle of developing, presenting, and reflecting on work essential to contemporary arts practice.

• Fine Arts students are trained to digitally document their studio projects and these images are combined with written research to form a contextual portfolio that accompanies each student's end-of-year assessment. This highlights the ability each student possesses to discuss all aspects of their work and the way that it might be considered in relation to historical and contemporary modes of art practice.