Futuro( Art at Uni kids) (2 Viewers)

[trina233]

lalala

iv'e changed my prefernces after getting 75.80 as a uai to include fine arts at newie, thankgod my parents finally caved in , they have now accepted me being much more an artist, then a news reader or real estate agent haha.
so anyone else applying for this course?thankgod it takes 70 as a Uai.
oh and does anyone know the costs of courses at cofa and N.A.S compared to Uni?

 

[irnie]

cofa is uni.

im going thru the gruelling process of deciding whether to go to sydney uni or wollongong. i got an offer from wollongong in the mail. i will probably get an offer from sydney, judging by the feedback at the interview. i have to accept or decline my intent for wollongong by friday. i cant make up my miiind!!!! its throwing me closer and closer to an anxiety attack at this rate!

 

[etc. etc. etc.]

Oh hey Maxibon - have you tried looking on eBay for a SX-70?

There's always quite a few Polaroid cameras going at once - new and old. There's a whole bunch on there as I speak.

 

[maxibon88]

Sydney(SCA), from what i hear is very conceptually based and has a very good reputation. But most people would definately choose sydney over wollongong. It has a good rep, internationally etc, and has good resources ( i dont know about wollongong as i havent heard much about the art course).

Personally i dont know if i should go to SCA or COFA, they both appeal to me. Probably COFA cause its in paddington, but SCA cause the kids i met at the interview were cool. haha such silly reasons. But yeah ill be doing painting for sure.

As for those polaroid cameras, ebay is tricky to search on, sometimes they come up other times they dont. I guess it depends on how good of a searcher u are. I should really get paypal too.

 

[fugazi]

I'm going to COFA next year! We can be more than internet buddies.
Suggestive winks x 2.

Anyway, hopefully I'll scrape in with my UAI.
I'm trying to decide whether to do design or fine arts...
Does anyone have projected cut-offs? Anyone else doing similar courses?

 

[trina233]

cofa is uni.

and so it is.

 

[ElGronko]

I have decided that I don't like the idea of "studying" art.

Perhaps it is just my current mood, as I am very prone to erratic and sporadic mood swings, but i realised that the idea of studying art is too constrictive.

I have no idea what i want to do with regards to a career, but I am thinking I might just do international studies at Sydney. Change the world and all that.

 

[irnie]

ok im thinking SCA. then i can keep doin the gallery stuff i've been doing lately. and get some cash.

 

[etc. etc. etc.]

I want to go to COFA because it has the most focused degree for what I want to do (B. Art Education -> Art Teacher), but damn, SCA feels so.... right. The campus is just great.... I absolutely adored walking around the Painting studios on their Open Day.

COFA feels so cramped and a little concrete-jungle like. My teacher did his Masters there and agreed, saying it was very cramped and crowded during the day.... and said that a lot of people there seemed to be quite a bit pretentious and arrogant. Mind you, he further commented that there were also some 'really really wonderful people' there.

I don't know. I'm sure I'd be the type of person to be incredibly satisfied with any art school/degree.... !

Anyway, now I'm going to prance off and dream about being a Fine Arts student, taking coffee breaks on Oxford St at lunch, having in-depth discussions while working in our studios, painting till I can paint no more, being buried in art history
books and contemporary art magazines, spending hours on end in the darkroom (until I can handle the smell no more), grabing takeaway Thai from Oxford St with some fellow art students at the end of the day, before heading off to an exhibition opening.... and then bombing the streets with stencils afterwards!



Sigh.

 

[irnie]

sca it is for me... they offerred me a place during preliminary round and i guess thats it for me.... i've heard the area is soooo beautiful, but the paddington scene is so appealing...

 

[etc. etc. etc.]

Bump!

I want some updates! Did you guys get into the courses you were hoping for?

 

[maxibon88]

Ya, Fine Arts COFA, but geese the marks went down that much i could even do Art education or art theory. Its wierd cause i havent really been excited about any of it, I guess i dont know if ill fit in to this whole art at uni thing. I mean the art im into is really art outside of the system, and i dont think having a degree in fine arts is going to establich me somewhere. On the other hand i will meet cool people..(maybe) and get to occupy myself for another three years. Plus what could be bettter that hanging in oxford. (hanging in NY obviously).

 

[etc. etc. etc.]

Yeah, the COFA cut-offs did go down quite a bit! B Art Ed is 80.00, and in 2004 I'm sure it was like 88.00. Very suprised at Art Theory only being 81 too.
Oh well, guess there just wasn't much demand this year !

Irnie, congratulations on getting into SCA, and congratulations to you Maxibon for getting into COFA. I'm sure you two are going to have a wonderful three years! I'm extremelly jealous

 

[irnie]

i also got an offer from COFA and am now having doubts about where to go... and yes, enrolment is TOMORROW

 

[Hermzie]

What do you guys think would be the main difference between Fine Arts at CoFA, SCA, and the NAS? Which is more accredited and why?

Oh, and the Art Theory course at CoFA involves a studio practice right? Because I love art theory and history but would shrivel up if I couldn't be in a studio, painting.

 

[etc. etc. etc.]

As far as I can tell, these are some of the main differences between the BFA (BVA at SCA) degrees....

NAS places a much stronger emphasis on Drawing as a key subject. First year is 9 hours of Drawing a week, (out of 25) and in second and third year it remains a key subject, at 6 hours a week. All of their studio majors are more what would be considered 'Fine Art' (Ceramics, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Printmaking) and so they don't offer any contemporary 4D art, or design option.

In this sense, the NAS could be considered a bit more of a traditional school than COFA and SCA. They follow a more traditional style of teaching art (strong emphasis on Drawing as the basis of all art, lots of studio time under the direction of an artist tutor).

COFA is a lot more open with it's BFA disciplines. They offer; Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Photomedia, Sculpture/Performance/Installation, Time Based Art, Ceramics, Jewellery and Textiles. They also seem to put a stronger emphasis on the contemporary and conceptual.

Because they offer a total of five different undergraduate degrees (not including double degrees) and are part of UNSW, they are probably a much more diverse institute. You're not just working along side painters and printmakers, but also object designers, fashion designers, web designers, graphic designs, sound and video artists etc. Also including people from other degrees at UNSW taking General Education units at COFA!

At SCA, I think everyone receives a broad education across a mixture of disciplines in first year. They also have a drawing program - computer, experimental and life/observational. Theory mostly revolves around theories of art practice.

Then, in second and third year, students branch off into their single studio major. However, the school places pride on it's ability to offer broader interdisciplinary study.... so you're not just stuck in Painting, Photomedia etc. They generally branch off into three areas - Fine Arts (Painting, Printmedia, Sculpture) Media Arts (Photomedia, Electronic and Temporal Arts) and Object Art and Design (Ceramics, Glass, Jewellery and Object).

I know they're more 'contemporary' than NAS, and I think they might put a stronger emphasis on studio work than COFA.

Anyway, they all have their pros and cons. I'm aiming for Art Ed at COFA, but if I was to decide to do a BFA or BVA, I'd probably go for SCA myself. I really really love their campus and studio spaces. It's all very spacious!

 

[Hermzie]

What would I do without you Collette! *hugs*

So which institute do you think would provide students with the tools required to get into art curating and administration, as well as allowing them to be artists (that can actually paint and draw(!)), because I'd really like to be an artist, but obviously I'd need to somehow support myself so I guess arts administration would be one of my options.

 

[etc. etc. etc.]

You'd shrivel up and die a horrible horrible death (it's true) !

Alright well.... a straight BFA degree itself won't properly equip you to become a curator/administrator. Your best bet would be B Art Theory at COFA, however I'm sure they do not offer a studio counter part. Check out the program structure here - http://www.handbook.cofa.unsw.edu.au/downloads/2005/schemas/4803_BArtTh.pdf

UNSW does also offer a double degree B Art Theory/B Arts, yet Fine Arts is not offered as a B Arts major.... so that won't be of any help to you.

COFA does offer postgraduate courses that would be valuable to you though. Particularly the Graduate Certificate in Art Administration (0.5 years in length), the Graduate Diploma in Art Administration (0.8 years in length) and the Master of Art Administration (1.5 years in length). You can apply to any of these if you have a BFA or relevant undergraduate qualification.

So, you may wish to study BFA at COFA or BVA at SCA for three years (or four if you do honours) then try your hand at getting into one of those COFA postgraduate programs. You'd certaintly be more qualifed than simply having a B Art Theory next to your name.... and you would have had three years to solidly study artmaking and history, and live the life of a BFA student.... then be able to focus on your goal of curating and administration!

It might also be possible to combine TAFE study in FA though, if you were to take B Art Theory part time. There's lots of options really.... you just have to do lots of looking around!

Actually, just looking all this up for you I've realised that COFA offer a Grad Cert in Art and Design Education. I had no idea! This means that I could do my three years of BVA at SCA, completely focused on art.... and then I could still learn how to become an art teacher in the same amount of time as the B Art Ed! I was always aiming for Art Ed because I wanted to learn how to become an art teacher.... not an artist, then a teacher. I didn't want to spend my fourth year doing a straight out Grad Cert/Dip in Education, because that wasn't really teaching me how to teach art. I wanted something more focused.... but what could be more focused than a Grad Cert in actual Art and Design Education!

Then again, if my illness gets so bad that I can't cope with finishing my second year of the HSC (or have no more motivation.... Pathways yo) I'll try my hand at getting into a Diploma of Fine Arts at TAFE part-time, finish that, get a year advanced standing in BVA/BFA (by which time I assume I will be better), then finish that, then go on to do the Grad Cert in Art/Design Ed.

So yeah. There's lotsssssss of options - just got to find the right one for you!

 

[maxibon88]

National Art schools part of Maquarie Uni now...haha they think theyre pretty good dont they! Honestly save ur money and travel to NY rather than art school, i reckon ud learn more...having said that what would i know. Its who u know these days not how good you are at anything that really matters. Before criticising keep in mind this is ment to sound like a huge generalisation, of course its not entirely true, but from what i have seen if u want to get somewhere its who you know. But for what most people on this site Uni sounds like a good thing for Art edu and curating etc, etc. Plus the Uni sign up is hard as hell, it seems u need some kind of degree to get through the bullshit.

 

[Hermzie]

Collette - I feel like sending you a basket of cookies and chocolate, lol. Thank you!!

National Art schools part of Maquarie Uni now...haha they think theyre pretty good dont they! Honestly save ur money and travel to NY rather than art school, i reckon ud learn more...having said that what would i know. Its who u know these days not how good you are at anything that really matters. Before criticising keep in mind this is ment to sound like a huge generalisation, of course its not entirely true, but from what i have seen if u want to get somewhere its who you know. But for what most people on this site Uni sounds like a good thing for Art edu and curating etc, etc. Plus the Uni sign up is hard as hell, it seems u need some kind of degree to get through the bullshit.

Yeah, I know - I guess it gives kids other options instead of just CoFA and SCA. Most jobs out there are all about the connections nowadays, I agree, and I have no idea what you meant by the last part Coherency dude, coherency