Painting Program. Image Courtesy of University of Melbourne.
Welcome to the VCA Art 2024 Graduate Catalogue! It is exciting to present the works of more than 160 graduating students and graduate researchers from our nine cohorts at VCA Art: Sculpture, Photography, Painting, Drawing and Printmaking, Honours, the Graduate Certificate of Visual Art, Master of Contemporary Art, Master of Fine Art and PhD programs.
In this fifth edition of our online catalogue, there are profiles on each graduate’s art practice and the Graduate Exhibition installation across the numerous Art Studios, the Stables, The Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery and the Martyn Myer Arena.
The Graduate Exhibition is a celebration of our graduating students, and I want to acknowledge and thank them for all the work they have undertaken over the duration of their time with us. This catalogue is only a small reflection of the hours spent in studios asking and proposing questions through material. It can be a strange, mystical and thoroughly frustrating process but the journey and outcomes seen here show that it is a struggle that is worthwhile.
I wish to thank our deeply committed and talented VCA Art team. We are all artists, some of us are academics and others are professionals, but we all support as a team the journey our students have been on.
While I cannot name everyone I would like to thank here, I want to highlight the dedication of the Heads of our nine programs: Dr Simone Slee, Head of School of Art, Dr Lisa Radford, PhD Convenor; Vikki McInnes, Master of Fine Art Research Coordinator; Dr Janelle Evans, Head of the Master of Contemporary Art; Dr Jamie O’Connell, Head of the Graduate Certificate of Visual Art; Dane Mitchell, Honours Coordinator; Dr Alex Martinis Roe, Head of Drawing and Printmaking; Dr Masato Takasaka (Acting) Head of Drawing and Printmaking, Dr Mark Shorter, Head of Sculpture, Dr Sanja Pahoki (Acting) Head of Photography and Dr Raafat Ishak, Head of Painting. I cannot thank you – or your teams – enough.
It’s also essential to acknowledge the professional teams (the ‘techs’),
Kylie White, Joon Youn, Jess Milne, Mark Friedlander, Nina Gilbert, Adrian Kellet, Zamara Robison, Naoise Halloran-Mackay, Darren Munce, Aaron Rees, Sam George, Yuho Imura, Julien Comer-Kleine, Yvette James, Tim Edwards and Michael McCafferty.
We also thank David Sequeira and HeeJoon Youn, Director and Gallery Manager of The Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, within which our students show.
Beyond our VCA Art community are those within the broader VCA and Faculty whose incredible grace and support we could not do without. This includes the amazing Programs and Operations team, and the University’s Communications and Marketing team.
I would like to also acknowledge our indebtedness to the wonderful work of our Health Safety and Risk team. Each year you are presented with all sorts of creative ideas that need to be negotiated and developed to keep us all safe in the production of these artworks shown here in this catalogue.
Many thanks go to my colleagues for their advice and curatorial eye on this catalogue. A particular thanks to our catalogue designers, Jack Loel, Jack Fowler and Tait Sengstock for this most beautiful website and the University Marketing and Communications team.
A huge thank you also goes to our photography team for their beautiful documentation of the graduate’s artwork: Christo Crocker, Sam George, Kenny Suico and Astrid Mulder.
Of course, I would also like to express my gratitude for the support of VCA Director, Professor Emma Redding and our Dean, Professor Marie Sierra.
A very special thanks go to our donors and the industry professionals whose generous awards and artist opportunities have been more important than ever before.
My final thanks must go to the incredible Katie Paine. With extraordinary grace, logistical ease, kindness and good humour, Katie has shepherded both the students and staff through the extraordinary logistical exercise of the catalogue. Thank you so much, Katie! We appreciate how easy you make it for us all.
In this fifth edition of our online catalogue, there are profiles on each graduate’s art practice and the Graduate Exhibition installation across the numerous Art Studios, the Stables, The Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery and the Martyn Myer Arena.
The Graduate Exhibition is a celebration of our graduating students, and I want to acknowledge and thank them for all the work they have undertaken over the duration of their time with us. This catalogue is only a small reflection of the hours spent in studios asking and proposing questions through material. It can be a strange, mystical and thoroughly frustrating process but the journey and outcomes seen here show that it is a struggle that is worthwhile.
I wish to thank our deeply committed and talented VCA Art team. We are all artists, some of us are academics and others are professionals, but we all support as a team the journey our students have been on.
While I cannot name everyone I would like to thank here, I want to highlight the dedication of the Heads of our nine programs: Dr Simone Slee, Head of School of Art, Dr Lisa Radford, PhD Convenor; Vikki McInnes, Master of Fine Art Research Coordinator; Dr Janelle Evans, Head of the Master of Contemporary Art; Dr Jamie O’Connell, Head of the Graduate Certificate of Visual Art; Dane Mitchell, Honours Coordinator; Dr Alex Martinis Roe, Head of Drawing and Printmaking; Dr Masato Takasaka (Acting) Head of Drawing and Printmaking, Dr Mark Shorter, Head of Sculpture, Dr Sanja Pahoki (Acting) Head of Photography and Dr Raafat Ishak, Head of Painting. I cannot thank you – or your teams – enough.
It’s also essential to acknowledge the professional teams (the ‘techs’),
Kylie White, Joon Youn, Jess Milne, Mark Friedlander, Nina Gilbert, Adrian Kellet, Zamara Robison, Naoise Halloran-Mackay, Darren Munce, Aaron Rees, Sam George, Yuho Imura, Julien Comer-Kleine, Yvette James, Tim Edwards and Michael McCafferty.
We also thank David Sequeira and HeeJoon Youn, Director and Gallery Manager of The Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, within which our students show.
Beyond our VCA Art community are those within the broader VCA and Faculty whose incredible grace and support we could not do without. This includes the amazing Programs and Operations team, and the University’s Communications and Marketing team.
I would like to also acknowledge our indebtedness to the wonderful work of our Health Safety and Risk team. Each year you are presented with all sorts of creative ideas that need to be negotiated and developed to keep us all safe in the production of these artworks shown here in this catalogue.
Many thanks go to my colleagues for their advice and curatorial eye on this catalogue. A particular thanks to our catalogue designers, Jack Loel, Jack Fowler and Tait Sengstock for this most beautiful website and the University Marketing and Communications team.
A huge thank you also goes to our photography team for their beautiful documentation of the graduate’s artwork: Christo Crocker, Sam George, Kenny Suico and Astrid Mulder.
Of course, I would also like to express my gratitude for the support of VCA Director, Professor Emma Redding and our Dean, Professor Marie Sierra.
A very special thanks go to our donors and the industry professionals whose generous awards and artist opportunities have been more important than ever before.
My final thanks must go to the incredible Katie Paine. With extraordinary grace, logistical ease, kindness and good humour, Katie has shepherded both the students and staff through the extraordinary logistical exercise of the catalogue. Thank you so much, Katie! We appreciate how easy you make it for us all.
Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
University of Melbourne