Why study fine art at UoN?

Studying Fine Arts at Newcastle will help you find your niche and flourish as an artist. Learn to express your ideas using painting, drawing, fibres, ceramics, sculpture, printmaking and photomedia, or combinations of all these. Experiment with new processes, techniques and materials.

Our art history and theory courses will give you contexts for your own creativity and a crucial mental map of how to find inspiration from the greats. You will also acquire critical thinking skills from analysing images that are transportable to any career.

A personalised education

Our academic and technical staff are artists with excellent reputations in Australia and overseas. They are knowledgeable and approachable. The relatively small size of the department means you will be a name, not a student number. We know our students, we engage with their strengths and weaknesses, and we encourage a student community that is stimulating and supportive. Students are also encouraged to take advantage of our fantastic study abroad programs.

You can find our graduates on photoshoots for Canon in Paris, running the Art Gallery of South Australia, or winning major national art prizes. Many have become professional artists, while others have gone on to a range of fascinating careers.

Newcastle is great for artists

Living and creating is far more affordable in Newcastle than in the capital cities. That means more time making things and less time working a part-time job.

The beaches, the built environment of Australia’s second oldest city, Newcastle’s amazing industrial heritage and the diverse beauty of the Hunter Valley hinterland make for an eclectic and endlessly inspiring visual environment.

It’s a great place too for galleries with Australia’s best regional collection held at the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, and other galleries such as the University Gallery and Maitland and Lake Macquarie galleries holding nationally significant exhibitions. There’s a buzzing commercial art scene too, where many of our graduates now exhibit. There’s Watt Space Gallery and ReNew Newcastle, which turns unused commercial spaces into galleries, shops and studios, and the annual This Is Not Art Festival. It’s a great place to form strong connections with the broader artistic community.

Shape your passion, hone your mind

First year provides a taste of everything that happens in our three key studio areas. In subsequent years, we encourage you to specialise while remaining aware that creativity in the visual arts is increasingly an interdisciplinary process. Find out more

Build your skills utilising fantastic facilities

Our studios and teaching spaces are second to none. There’s state of the art photomedia facilities, airy painting studios, the only university foundry on the east coast, over a dozen kilns, as well as printing and papermaking machines. Find out more

Our students end up doing amazing things

University of Newcastle Fine Arts graduates have gone on to a range of stimulating careers. Many are practising artists, while others have become gallery owners, curators and managers. Others still have found work with government organisations that administer and support the arts. Find out more

Additional entry requirements

As well as submitting a UAC application and meeting the University minimum academic entry requirement you must apply directly to the School of Creative Arts for a portfolio interview. Find out more

Meet our achievers

Why would you do this degree? Find out from graduates, students and academics. Discover how their future is taking shape, and learn first-hand what it's like to study at uni. Find out more

Our studios and teaching spaces are second to none. There’s state of the art photomedia facilities, airy painting studios, the only university foundry on the east coast, over a dozen kilns, as well as printing and papermaking machines.

At Newcastle students get the chance to materialise their ideas using technology they otherwise couldn’t access, like our laser cutter or paint labs. Our dedicated student gallery, Watt Space, also offers students the opportunity to exhibit in the city centre.

The centre of your practical experience happens in our fantastic studios. Hands-on lectures teach students how to work with various materials, but there’s plenty of time for trial and error, and to experiment with new ways of making art.

Members of our technical staff are on hand in the studios to help with the use of machinery. They can teach you how to use equipment ranging from darkrooms, image editing and composition software, foundries, printing presses, welding torches and kilns. They’re all artists and have years of practical knowledge to help you with the problem solving involved needed to translate ideas into art.

Show it

To make it as a professional artist, you need to find a market for your work. This usually involves exhibiting.

One of the great advantages about studying Fine Arts at UON is our designated student gallery, WattSpace, in the city centre. It’s a nurturing environment that adheres to professional standards. Because it’s student run, it’s a great opportunity to learn skills of curating and gallery administration too, careers that our graduates have prospered in. And of course, for many it’s the first chance to exhibit your work on a commercial footing.

Newcastle is unique as a place to create and show art. Practical experience gained in the studios and Watt Space can easily be extended by becoming involved in events like This is Not Art, Australia’s premiere arts festival for the young. ReNew Newcastle has turned many abandoned shopfronts and buildings in the city into studios and galleries.

Swap

The world of art is almost as large as the world itself. Studying Fine Arts at Newcastle opens up a range of international experiences. Spend a semester at Germany’s Bauhaus University, an intellectual and artistic hub where art stars such as Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky once taught.

The University Newcastle on Tyne in Britain shares our industrial heritage, superb fine arts facilities, the amazing BALTIC gallery and access to the other great galleries and museums of Britain and Europe. Further north, the University of Dundee in Scotland is another popular destination for exchange students.

If nature is your source of inspiration why not exchange with Canada’s renowned Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, established in the quirky maritime city of Halifax. Then again if it’s the city or the tropics that push your buttons, Hong Kong’s Baptist University is another popular destination for our students.

Check out all your study abroad options.

University of Newcastle Fine Arts graduates have gone on to a range of stimulating careers. Many are practising artists, while others have become gallery owners, curators and managers. Others still have found work with government organisations that administer and support the arts.

Students graduate with an expertise in the creation and analysis of visual culture. This can lead to jobs as illustrators, photographers and graphic designers in industries such as advertising, media and publishing.

A Bachelor of Fine Arts at University of Newcastle equips graduates with critical thinking and problem solving skills that are invaluable in many business contexts, whether it’s sales and marketing, starting up a business, or developing products to take to market. These skills are also in demand in areas such as policy making and project management.

Other students have used their skills to enter the helping professions, by qualifying to become art teachers, art therapists, or youth workers.

Here are just some of the professions a Fine Arts graduate can find themselves in.

• Animator
• Archivist
• Art Dealer
• Art Director
• Art Therapist
• Artist-in-residence
• Arts Administrator
• Arts Manager
• Community Arts Worker
• Community Project Officer
• Conservator
• Critic
• Cultural Development Officer
• Education Officer
• Events Manager
• Exhibitions Officer
• Film/Television Production Assistant
• Gallery Manager
• Graduate Programs - Public and Private Sectors
• Illustrator
• International Aid/Development Worker
• Journalist
• Lighting Designer
• Multimedia Designer / Web Designer
• Museum/Art Gallery Curator
• Museum Publications Officer/Editor
• Photographer
• Policy Officer/Analyst
• Practicing Artist/Craftsperson
• Primary Teacher/Classroom
• Research Officer
• Secondary Teacher
• TAFE Teacher
• Tour Guide
• University Lecturer / Academic
• Visitor/Tourism Information Officer
• Visual Effects Technician
• Youth Worker

Linsay

Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours)

Linsay was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) Class 1. Images from her Honours exhibition 'Bad Taste' were published on the front cover of art magazines Real Time and Jet. Linsay was commissioned to produce a body of work for the exhibition Autofetish: Mechanics of Desire, held at the Newcastle Regional Art Gallery.

Gareth

Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours)

Gareth was awarded a Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) Class 1 and the Faculty Medal. He also won the Jennie Thomas Travelling Scholarship which gave him the opportunity to travel to Italy where he enrolled in a marble carving course at Arco Arte studis. Gareth currently continues to work in his other medium of choice, Huon Pine and also has work in private collections in Sydney, Newcastle and abroad.