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B A Visual Art

B A Visual Art

Fine Art: Fine Art offers a range of courses in drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics and digital art. Courses may include a theoretical component related to studio practice. Level 300 students may work using flexible interdisciplinary methods.
Digital Art: Digital Arts is a programme of study offered on the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. The Digital Arts undergraduate and post graduate majors encompasses two main areas of study: a theoretical component which is aimed at understanding of the nature of digital media and a creative component aimed at helping students develop the skills needed to exploit the multiple creative possibilities made possible by the digital platform. The programme introduces the following digital processes: film production, animation, net art, interactive design, graphic design and digital image making.


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  • Fine Art 1: Drawing & Design

    Prerequisite Requirement: Previous study in art is not a requirement.
    Aim: To introduce students to the practice of studio drawing and design.
    Content: An introduction to general studio drawing and design using a variety of new and traditional studio methods and materials
  • Fine Art 1: Two-Dimensional Studio-Work

    Prerequisite Requirement: Previous study in art is not a requirement.
    Aim: To introduce students to the principles and practice of two-dimensional visual art.
    Content: A studio-based module introducing the fundamentals of two-dimensional visual art, with the focus upon painting and printmaking
  • Fine Art 1: Ceramics

    Prerequisite Requirement: Previous study in art is not a requirement.
    Aim: Introduction to the basic principles and practices of ceramics and three-dimensional design.
    Content: Introduction to the principles of sculpture, in various media. Introduction to hand building and moulding techniques in ceramics; firing and glazing. Basic studies in design.

    Fine Art 1: Special Topics

    Prerequisite Requirement: Consult the School Office.
    Corequisite: Consult the School Office.
    Aim: From time to time the School of Literary Studies, Media and Creative Arts is able to offer one or more special modules, in order to explore new areas and themes emerging in the discipline or arising from the research of current or visiting members of the teaching staff.
    Content: Consult the School Office.

    Introduction to Digital Arts: DIGA 101

    Aim: To introduce students to the practices and principals of the digital arts.
    Content: An introduction to digital drawing, painting, photography and montage.
  • Introduction to Digital Media: DIGA110

    Aim: To introduce students to the concept of media and its application in the digital context.
    Content: This module introduces students to foundational media theory and its application to the digital media, using the nature and history of animation as a key example. In addition it includes a practical digital media project exploring “digital identity”.
  • Western Art: AHIS110

    Aim: To introduce students to central issues/concepts in the development of art, enabling the student to both understand and evaluate a range of cultural manifestations.
    Content: An introductory examination of artistic practice and interpretation, their origins and subsequent impact in diverse cultural contexts.
  • Art History: Additional Topics: AHIS170

    Aim: From time to time the School of Literary Studies, Media and Creative Arts is able to offer one or more special modules, the purpose of which will be to explore new areas and themes emerging in the discipline concerned or arising from the research of current or visiting members of the teaching staff.
    Content: Consult the School Office.
  • Fine Art 2: Expressive Drawing

    Prerequisite Requirement: 80 credits, unspecified. 16 credits in Drawing and Design is advisable.
    Aim: To increase students’ creative competencies in studio drawing.
    Content: Observed and imaginative studies in a variety of new and traditional media.
  • Fine Art 2: Two-dimensional Studio-Work

    Prerequisite Requirement: 80 credits, unspecified. 16 credits in Fine Art 1: Two-Dimensional Studiowork is advisable.
    Aim: To increase students’ technical and conceptual competencies in various two-dimensional processes.
    Content: A studio-based module in two-dimensional visual processes, with the focus upon painting and printmaking.
  • Fine Art 2: Ceramics

    Prerequisite Requirement: 80 credits, unspecified. 16 credits in Fine Art 1: Ceramics is advisable.
    Aim: To introduce students to the principles and practice of ceramics and three-dimensional design.
    Content: Observed and imaginative studies in various media. Introduction to the basic principles of throwing, hand building and glazing in ceramics. Basic studies in design.
  • Applied Digital Arts: DIGA201

    Aim: To introduce students to the practices and principals of animated digital imaging.
    Content: An introduction to accessing and processing digital imagery including remediation, sequential imaging and basic narrative.
  • Film Studies: DIGA210

    Aim: To provide students with basic understanding of the film medium and of the processes involved in film production.
    Content: An introduction to the key terms used in film production and analysis; formal analysis of the filmic image and sequence; an understanding of film narrative, genre and the concept of the auteur; an introduction to the history of mainstream cinema; the practical creation of a narrative sequence.
  • Africa: Art of a Continent: AHIS210

    Aim: To introduce students to selected aspects of and methodological approaches to African material culture and contemporary art.
    Content: An examination of the cultural and historical forces that have informed the production and reception of West, Central and Southern African art. Both traditional practice and post-colonial and contemporary production are covered.
  • Fine Art 3: Studio-Work A

    Prerequisite Requirement: 224 credits, including 64 credits in Fine Art, at least 32 of which must be at level 200.
    Aim: To introduce students to advanced studio-work.
     
    Content: Advanced assignments in the principles, techniques and concepts of two-dimensional or three-dimensional studio-work. Theoretical elements may be included.
  • Fine Art 3: Studio-Work B

    Prerequisite Requirement: Fine Art 3: Studio-Work A. 32 credit points in Level 100 and/or Level 200 Art History modules.
    Aim: The production of a conceptually and technically sound body of studio-work for the exit examination.
    Content: More advanced, candidate-motivated projects in specialised areas of two-dimensional or three-dimensional studio-work.
  • Fine Art 3: Applied Digital Arts 3A

    Prerequisite Requirement: DIGA201P1: Introduction to Digital Media DIGA101P2: Introduction to Digital Arts and DIGA201P1: Applied Digital Arts
    Corequisite: One of the following modules must be completed as a co-requisite: FIAR101 P1 – Fine Art 1: Drawing and Design FIAR102 P1 – Fine Art 1: 2D Studio Work
    Aim: An exploration of digital arts techniques and ideas.
    Content: An investigation of processes and ideas relating to 2D animation and digital image making
  • Fine Art 3: Applied Digital Arts 3B

    Prerequisite Requirement: FIAR303 – Fine Art 3: Applied Digital Arts 3A
    Aim: An exploration of digital arts techniques and ideas.
    Content: The specialisation of processes and ideas relating to 2D animation and digital image making.
  • Fine Art 3: Special Topics

    Prerequisite Requirement: Consult the School Office.
    Corequisite: Consult the School Office.
    Aim: From time to time the School of Literary Studies, Media and Creative Arts is able to offer one or more special modules at Level 300, in order to explore new areas and themes emerging in the discipline or arising from the research of current or visiting teaching staff.
    Content: Consult the School Office.
  • Advanced Digital Arts (1): DIGA301

    Aim: To extend the principles and practices of digital art established at levels one and two.
    Content: Advanced digital imaging techniques (rotoscoping, advanced cell animation); digital montage, hyper-narrative and other semiotic structures.
  • Advanced Digital Arts (2): DIGA302

    Aim: To further extend the principles and practices of digital art established at levels one and two.
    Content: Advanced digital animation using Final Cut Pro; sound recording, editing and design; experimental animation.
  • Advanced Film Studies: DIGA 310

    Aim: To extend students’ understanding of film as a medium through examining world cinema production past and present.
    Content: Selected key developments in the history of world cinema and their theorization through categories such as art cinema, third cinema national/transnational cinema, digital cinema; advanced analysis of the filmic image and sequence, paying particular attention to visual and non-linguistic aural modes of meaning making; Practical creation of a non-narrative sequence.
  • Digital Theory: DIGA311

    Aim: Advanced analysis of the digital media and their local and global context
    Content: Digital Media theory including, code, networks and software studies; Net Art; advanced animation; digital activism and digital media in Africa (including an activist project)
  • 20th Century Art, Visual Culture & Theory I: AHIS310

    Prerequisite Requirement: 224 credits
    Aim: An in-depth focus on selected aspects of Modernism, enabling students to critically assess Modernist theory and related art and architectural practice.
    Content: A critical examination of the ideas of artists, architects and critics who contributed to the rise of Modernism
  • 20th Century Art, Visual Culture & Theory II: AHIS320

    Prerequisite Requirement: 224 credits
    Aim: To provide students with insight into contemporary visual culture.
    Content: An examination of the debates about Postmodernism, the impact of mass culture and the construction of gender in visual material. Attention will be given to the predominance of the role of the media in transforming process and content in contemporary art.
  • Art and Museum Practice: AHIS 330

    Prerequisite Requirement: 224 credits
    Aim: An introduction to current issues and practice in national and international museums.
    Content: Museological issues such as curation, conservation, management, design practices, and ideologies will be examined in terms of current international and South African museum practices.
  • Contemporary African Art: AHIS340

    Prerequisite Requirement: 224 credits
    Aim: To provide a good understanding of selected theoretical issues pertaining to the interpretation of African and Southern African art.
    Content: African art has been shaped by various belief systems, social structures and diverse ideological and cultural practices. In the wake of colonialism African communities underwent systematic transformation, the impact of which is examined in relation to selected art, architecture and material culture.
  • Special Topics in Art History: AHIS 370

    Aim: From time to time the School of Literary Studies, Media and Creative Arts is able to offer one or more special modules at the 300 level, the purpose of which will be to explore new areas and themes emerging in the discipline or arising from the research of current or visiting members of the teaching staff.
    Content: Consult the School Office.
  • Fine Art 6: Studio Specialisation A

    Prerequisite Requirement: Fine Art 3: Studio-Work B or equivalent qualification.
    Aim: The introduction of independent studio-work in a chosen discipline or related disciplines.
    Content: Independent specialised studio research in one or more studio disciplines leading to an exhibition.
  • Fine Art 6: Studio Specialisation B

    Prerequisite Requirement: Fine Art 6: Studio Specialisation A.
    Aim: Advanced independent studio-work leading to the exhibition of a conceptually and technically sound body of work.
    Content: Advanced independent specialised studio research in the discipline or related disciplines chosen in Fine Art 640.

Postgraduate Courses on Offer:

Fine Art 7: Studio Specialisation A and B; Fine Art Honours Research Paper; MAFA Studio-Work; MAFA Research Component; Studio Practices in Digital Art; Studio Specialisation in Digital Art; Critical Methodologies in the Digital Arts; Digital Arts Research Project; Issues in Art and Art Theory; Issues in Art and Visual Culture (I) and (ii); Selected Issues in Art History; African Art and Culture; Special Topics in Art History; Honours Project: Art History


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B A Visual Art    Contact Details

Name Position Phone Number Address Email
Prof Donal McCracken Acting Dean of School 031 260 1886 MTB F274 [email protected]
Naicker, S PA to Dean 031 260 2346 MTB Rm274 [email protected]
Adarsh Rajesh Maharaj Acting School Operation Manager 031 260 2346 [email protected]
Suter, K Admin and Finance Officer 033 260 5300 OMB Rm 103 [email protected]
Palan, A Finance Administrator 031 260 2048 MTB Rm E106 [email protected]
Gumede,S Higher Degrees Administrator 031 260 1852 MTB Rm G141b [email protected]
Bowen, D Higher Degrees Administrator 033 260 5297 OMB Rm 131 [email protected]
Prof B De Meyer Academic Leader for Higher Degrees 033 260 5543 OMB Rm 129 [email protected]
Prof S Ngubane Academic Leader for Teaching and Learning 031 260 1458 MTB Rm G096 [email protected]

B A Visual Art


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