B Fine Arts / B Arts (1 Viewer)

p i r a t e

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Hey dudes

I'm very interested in studying this course next year. Anyone doing this could give some advice on their experience with this degree?

Thankkkss!

Nic
 

beezjaxx

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im only doing fine arts, not combining it with arts. im lazy. thats bad. im lazy before uni even starts, oh noes.
 

maxibon88

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How cool does this mentoring buisiness sound...cant wait to go start...the cd was ok too...Geese the marks really did go down! Less people then i presume?
 

slinky_cumquat

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yeah im doing mentoring i think, sounds interesting and a good way to get invpolved more in cofa and get to know everyone
 

beezjaxx

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yes!!! i know! that metoring thing sounds effing cool fun! haha. i cant wait! when do we have to send the mentor request forms back? cause i dont wanna out this address and then find out im movin in like 2 weeks, ya know?
 

Hermzie

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That's strange - the cofa website doesn't mention anything about a combined degree in fine arts and arts:\
 

tash

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i just did 2 years of the wonderous BFA/BA and just have transfered to Music education because i hated it!! but no fear, that was my own personal dislike with the way they teach the painting major. basically if you hate doing random experimentation and not learning a thing about developing your drawing/painting technique, then go ahead and do a painting/drawing major. but i learnt very little from it. and the 2nd year 1st semester teachers are exceptionally boring.

however i really enjoyed printmaking electives- michael kempson is the bomb so if you have him he's excellent

sorry to have such a bum remark about it! nah i'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves cofa's a great place to go- great location (go shopping between lectures!) and it's small and cosy
 

Hermzie

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So you don't get taught to draw or paint, or to improve your technical skills? :S So what does the course teach you?:\
 

tash

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ok well this is how i saw it. if you take a drawing elective or any elective, you might learn about something. however in your actual drawing/painting major class (from 2nd semester on- 1st yr session 1 is random, and 2nd year gets worse) basically you get a few assessments in which you have to produce however many paintings they want eg. in 1st yr 2nd session you paint a still life, a few abstracts, umm something to do with atmosphere, and mediated images. then 2nd year you do a lot on experimentation (they love wax mixed with paint, randomly) rather than learning the fundamentals of drawing- like i personally think that the basis of being an artist includes learning how to draw and paint properly, and experimentation comes after you've mastered that. except in class, the teachers come around about once in the 3hr class, look at your stuff and make a few comments, but you don't learn how to improve your technique or anything. and imo it's producing a whole lot of lazy artists cos can't draw anything that requires artistic talent, time and thought, because all they've been taught to do is throw paint onto a canvas. like it'd be good if they taught us how to use the paint and how to create better tone, perspective, overall composition etc. oh yeah if you don't know how to use oil paints and clean your brushes properly and stuff then you should become friends with someone who does cos learning how to use different mediums is basically up to you (though they do give a few lectures on various mediums and others things you can mix them with to get different effects)

however this is just my thought, and i am really into painting portraits and things that look realistic, i'm not currently a fan of throwing paint around and then seeing what'll happen if i paint something on a car door. you can probably approach the classes with a more positive manner and get more out of it than i did. but i do know that a lot of people were not a fan of 2nd yr painting. this is just the major- electives are better! like when i was in 1st year we HAD to do a life drawing class and that was excellent cos andrew christofedes would come around and tell you how to fix things wrong with proportion and stuff, except that's not compulsary anymore so you have to take it as an elective.

umm yes, if you would like any more explanations of the wonders of the BFA i am happy to give comments!
 

Hermzie

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Ah, thank you so much for that Tash. I thought that the BFA at CoFA would actually teach you how to paint and draw - there doesn't seem to be much of a point in just experimenting without improving your technique - you can do that stuff at home, you don't need to pay 40 grand for a degree in experimentation! lol

The NAS might be a better option for me then, since I'd actually like to be an artist who can paint and draw. :)
 

maxibon88

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Thanks for that info it was really useful, and im actually pleased cause I love non figurative painting( i also like figurative). I think they dont really want to teach eveyone too many generic skills so when they leave everyone has developed their own style, But yeah it sucks they dont help you much and thats the feel i got from the enrolment day, no help at all. Hope its better when i start.
 

tash

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glad i was of some help- like you will learn stuff, just not in your major if it happens to be painting!! you'll learn heaps in printmaking- etching is really good and i quite enjoyed screenprinting too- cos you work on your printing technique and thus i was learning something new. and like i said before, make sure you pick you electives well

i'm not sure what NAS is like, never been there, but i take the assumption they focus more on technique and stuff. i was thinking of doing some courses at julian ashton at one point but never got round to it...

yeah the cofa staff are relatively useless!! there are a couple that have absolutely no personality to speak of- but there are some good ones too.

good luck to you all, hope you enjoy cofa more than i did!
 

LISOC

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hi!

i've got my heart set on COFA...considering doing the BFA/BA. i was told that COFA was excellent for photomedia (which is what i want to major in)...

can anybody back this up?

cheers xo
 

LISOC

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^ short and sweet, just the way i like it.

thanks Komaticom! <3
 

J.B Hi-Fi

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hi
i've just been accepted to B Fine Arts at UNSW and i'm considering a double degree with a bA in media and communications. i was tossing between the two course wen i applied and decided on the fine arts course, but now i think i should do a double degree but i'm worried about the work load

if any1 has any advice that'd be great

i'm planning to do a photomedia major for the B Fine Arts

thx
 

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