Epoch: QUT Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Arts) Graduate Exhibition 2019

• Main Author: Queensland University of Technology, Creative Industries
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Queensland University of Technology; Bachelor of Arts (Visual Arts) Exhibition Catalogue; Madison Agnew; Ella Callander; Emma Cameron; Tori Carroll; Brooke Dunlop; Taina Flatz; Joaquin Gonzales; Bayley Hegerhorst; Georgia Hillas; Hannah Jeffery; Jester; Ian Leung; Amelia McLeish; Georgia Mean; Jordan Neal; Kellie Parsons; AJ Reaño; Colby Rinaldis; Phoebe Roulston; Abigail Rutter; Kimberly Stokes. Alice Thacker Claire Wallace Keemon Williams Molly Wilson; Dunlop; Hannah; Phoebe; Queensland; First Nations
• Online Access: https://digitalcollections.qut.edu.au/3669/; https://digitalcollections.qut.edu.au/5659/1/EPOCH%20-%202019%20QUT%20Visual%20Arts%20Graduate%20Exhibition%20Catalogue.pdf; https://digitalcollections.qut.edu.au/5659/

The Queensland University of Technology acknowledges the Turrbal and Yugara, as the First Nations owners of the lands where QUT now stands. We pay respect to their Elders, lores, customs and creation spirits. We recognise that these lands have always been places of teaching, wisdom and learning. On behalf of the teaching staff in Visual Arts I would like to congratulate the 2019 Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Arts) graduates for Epoch. This exhibition not only displays artwork produced during the final year of study, but also represents the culmination of years of hard work and dedication. During the course of their degree, the graduates have honed their artmaking skills to become well equipped for professional practices in contemporary art. They have offered support to each other as a ‘creative community’ as they have learned and grown together as artists. The exhibition title Epoch is particularly apt in this regard. More than just a period of time, an epoch can also describe the beginning of a new period of history. Certainly, while these artists are ending one period of their lives as undergraduate students, they are also embarking on a new journey, as creative practitioners moving forward in a larger community in clear need of new ways to understand and see the world. Poised at the start of this new beginning, in this exhibition these artists have demonstrated the range of creative perspectives, and considerable effort, that they have achieved during their visual arts degree. These accomplishments have been earned from QUT’s Open Studio art teaching program that foregrounds art thinking related to speculative inquiry, conceptual rigour, self-directed practice, cultural responsiveness and a transmedia approach to creative practice. Studio critiques, discussions, and an engagement with art history and theory have all supported students’ skills as artists and professionals in preparation for a career in the arts. During their studies, students have met and overcome constant challenges while striving to always improve ways of achieving creative outcomes. They have reached a level of expertise that gives them the confidence to apply their talents in the arts industry and across a broad range of contemporary art settings. I wish to particularly thank the Visual Arts’ teaching staff for their efforts and can add that we all feel a great sense of accomplishment seeing how much these students have gained during the course of their studies. We see Epoch as a demonstration of their talents as artists, as well as a showcase that displays their potential for achieving even more in the next stage of their creative lives. DR LEAH KING-SMITH Lecturer and Study Area Coordinator Visual Arts, School of Creative Practice