ACUADS 2004 Conference

 
This paper emerges from current work related to a number of research projects across several creative arts disciplines. It poses the following questions: What implication does creative arts research have for extending our understandings of the role of experiential, problem-based learning and multiple intelligences in the production of knowledge? How can the application of such understandings influence policy and enhance opportunities for support of creative arts research in the university and the broader arena? In a previous paper examining the function of the exegesis (Barrett, 2004), I referred to the suggestion made by Lauchlan Chipman that: in a knowledge economy, it is necessary for a large number of people to comprehend the creative output of others in order for such output to be sufficiently taken up for the enhancement of society. This paper is an extension of the previous one in its attempt to promote wider understanding of the value of creative arts research. I will focus on the dialogic relationship between the exegesis and studio practice in painting, creative writing, performance and dance, in order to demonstrate that creative arts enquiry can promote a more profound understanding of how knowledge is revealed, acquired and expressed. Four successful research projects will be examined as 'case studies' to show how creative arts research methodologies may be applied in the development of more critical and innovative pedagogies and to argue that the role of creative arts research is still to be fully realized and acknowledged in the knowledge economy.

Estelle Barrett is Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University where she has taught Visual Theory for the past six years. Her research interests include representation, subjectivity and identity, psychoanalysis, body/mind relations, affect and embodiment in aesthetic experience. She has an active interest in Visual Communication and Creative Arts Research and is involved in a number of collaborative research projects in this area.

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The last decade witnessed a 'virtual goldrush' of activity in regard to online education worldwide. Unfortunately, many institutions and software companies flattened the educational landscape in their scramble to establish their online presence. The general result has been poor quality, purpose, a lack of consideration for future implications; sadly reinforcing belief that online education is a poor substitute for face-to-face learning and teaching.

Fortunately, time has moved on, and credible institutions have realised that quality must be the key component of online education. Some have begun to sift through the credible principals of previous examples and are building upon them. It has become apparent that to achieve quality and purpose, online educators need to look past an immediate solution and view the long-term picture.COFA Online was established at the College of Fine Arts in 2003, and has since been planning and teaching online courses in art and design practice, education and theory - methodically building the foundations of a quality, sustainable online program. As a result of practical experience and ongoing research, the first COFA Online Course Author Fellowships were awarded in 2004. By doing so, a supportive community of course authors has been created, participating in regular workshops, together with a variety of education and learning experts. This paper outlines how the Fellowship program has aimed to increase the quality and experience for students studying online courses in art and design.

Rick Bennett has worked for The University of New South Wales for 12 years in the School of Design Studies at the College of Fine Arts. The last few years have seen a dramatic change in his role within the University: from coordinator of the first year Bachelor of Design program to that of directing significant research into the Internet and possibilities it holds for collaborating across distance for art and design education. In 1998, he founded The Omnium Project as an ongoing research initiative for online collaborative education for the creative arts. In 2001, he was awarded the first UNSW Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence Using Educational Technology. Today, Rick is continuing to develop interesting advances in online creative interaction between distanced individuals and in 2004, The Omnium Project was awarded significant funding through an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant. Rick has a presented and published outcomes of his online work, both nationally and internationally, at design and education conferences as well as in peer reviewed journals and publications.

Simon McIntyre has taught graphic, interactive and information design at the University of new South Wales, College of Fine Arts for the past seven years, including two years of teaching design in an online environment. During this time he also designed and produced interactive media and video material professionally within his own business. This understanding of interactivity and user interaction led him to work collaboratively with Rick Bennet on several projects before being invited to join COFA Online permanently in 2004. Using his understanding of interactive principles and communication, along with his years of practical experience teaching and practising design, Simon is helping to develop systems to improve the quality and delivery of online education at COFA.

 
As funding for higher education continues to shrink, student numbers steadily increase and international alliances become significantly important, online delivery is often heralded as the ‘direction of the future’ for learning and teaching. However, deep rooted and negative opinions regarding the online learning experience and concerns that technology will replace the teacher accompany the new pedagogical setting.

By paying careful attention to the alignment of course content, learning activities, assessment and learning outcomes, online education experiences can be engaging and rewarding for both student and teacher. However, perceptions often remain negative towards online education, viewing it as simply a cost-saving measure leading to student isolation, inactive participation and absent teachers. This paper aims to outline some myths regarding online education and dispel them as misconceived.

Rick Bennett has worked for The University of New South Wales for 12 years in the School of Design Studies at the College of Fine Arts. The last few years have seen a dramatic change in his role within the University: from coordinator of the first year Bachelor of Design program to that of directing significant research into the Internet and possibilities it holds for collaborating across distance for art and design education. In 1998, he founded The Omnium Project as an ongoing research initiative for online collaborative education for the creative arts. In 2001, he was awarded the first UNSW Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence Using Educational Technology. Today, Rick is continuing to develop interesting advances in online creative interaction between distanced individuals and in 2004, The Omnium Project was awarded significant funding through an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant. Rick has a presented and published outcomes of his online work, both nationally and internationally, at design and education conferences as well as in peer reviewed journals and publications.

Leong K. Chan lectures in graphic design at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He is the author and coordinator of two online courses, Graphics and Contemporary Society (GCS), and Graphics, Global Communication and Society (GGCS). His research includes the socio-graphic history of HIV/AIDS in Australia and South East Asia; graphic design and national experience; online collaboration in design education and practice; visual culture in East Asia, and graphic systems for information design. He is research director of the Australian Socio-Graphic AIDS Project (AGAP), the Southeast Asian Socio-Graphic AIDS Project (SEAGAP), and the Design Asia Project (DAP). Currently, Leong Chan is a Senior Lecturer and Postgraduate Research Coordinator at the School of Design Studies, College of Fine Arts (COFA) at the University of New South Wales.

Andy Polaine is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Media Arts, College of Fine Arts (COFA) at the University of New South Wales. In 1995 Andy Polaine co-founded the award-winning new media agency Antirom in London working with clients such as the BBC, Levis Strauss and Co. and The Science Museum. He later worked as a senior producer at Razorfish in London before moving to Sydney, Australia in 1999 where he started the interactive department of visual effects company, Animal Logic. Andy left Animal Logic in 2001 and is now a Senior Lecturer in Interactive Media at The University of New South Wales's College of Fine Arts as well as working as a freelance designer and writer. He writes two regular columns for Australia's leading design magazine, Desktop, and has written for a number of other publications including Australian Creative and the Sydney Morning Herald. He commenced his PhD at the University of Technology, Sydney in 2004 and recently won a UNSW Faculty Research Grant for his research into the language of interactivity.

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Theorists or logicians of practice tend to approach the task of theorising practice as a dressmaker approaches the task of making a garment. Using theoretical schemas or patterns, shapes are “cut out” from the continuous flow of practices. These shapes are inverted and then become metonymic for the practices they purport to describe or explain. The part becomes the whole. In the totalisation of theory, Pierre Bourdieu (1990) claims, the “fuzziness” of practice is replaced by the demarcation of semi-academic artefacts.

The focus on artworks, rather than practice, has produced a gap in our understanding of the work of art as process. Working with Martin Heidegger’s notion of “handlability”, I demonstrate how in creative arts practice, “research” commences in practice – in our dealings with the tools and materials of production, rather than a self-conscious attempt at theorisation. By focusing on enunciative practices, that is, the systems of fabrication rather than systems of signification, I argue that there is a possibility of opening up the field of an “art of practice” from the bottom up, rather than from the top down. According to such thinking, such logic of practice follows on from practice rather than prescribing it.

Barbara Bolt is a lecturer in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Melbourne. She is a practicing artist, writer on art and art critic. Her book ‘Art Beyond Representation: The Performative Power of the Image’ will be published by IBTauris in 2004. In addition she has published a number of chapters in books as well as refereed articles. Her current practice is concerned with the Sublime Techno.

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This successful research project centred a body of work within the physical, allegorical and historical narratives of Quadratura Painting. It acknowledged the anthropological grammar of ornament and its motif, as well as the technical prowess associated with the evolution of objects within pictorial space. It recognised the associated parallel of Realist painting and the precedent of self-portraiture as disembodiment. The paper traced the realisation of maestro authenticity beginning with 15th and 16th century Flemish conquests of Reality [and the correspondent Italian penchant for harmonious perspectival illusion], then catapulted the issue into the Baroque Starfleet conquests of Andrea Pozzo and Giambattista Tiepolo. This was balanced against the plasma-screen plasticism of the replicant years of Photo- Realism and the grounding of Quadratura painting within a current vernacular. The suggestion was that the historical model of spiritual, didactic and environmental propositions of illusionary painting have evolved into purely decorative tableaux within domicile or professional applications. Has the ‘quest for truth’ becomes obsessive contrivance and artifice. The studio practise was a delineation of the ‘ocular gush’ as replication of corporeal space. This was both a literal translation of “quadratura” as “tourist pictures’ and a deliberate, mannered gesture of representing autobiographical guise within the flayed skin of a rectangular painting.

Wayne Brookes completed his Master of Fine Art at the University of Tasmania Centre for the Arts in 2003. He is currently enrolled in a PhD in Hobart, researching “Heaven’s Above ­ Celestial Ceilings: A Contemporary Paragon of Apotheosis”. He has maintained a professional practise for over 20 years and has exhibited extensively.

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In this paper, theories of fashion, consumption and material culture are used to explain and understand the phenomenon of the proliferation of typefaces. The paper addresses the conference themes by presenting a successful research initiative which, due to its interdisciplinary nature, represents potential for institutional collaboration to further explore other overlooked products of internationalisation in art and design.

The late twentieth century witnessed the democratisation of typeface design and typeface usage due to the ease of access to desktop computer technology and a related exponential growth in the number of typefaces available to users of type. What is the cultural significance of this phenomenon? There are many late twentieth century sources of commentary on fashion, consumption and material culture, but none mentions typefaces within wider cultural terms. Similarly, while there has been passing mention to fashion and trends by graphic design and typography writers and commentators, none has identified a connection between typefaces and the theories underpinning fashion, consumption and material culture. Yet typefaces are a designer’s essential tool in visual communication and my PhD research showed they were viewed at the end of the twentieth century as collectable items, utilitarian objects, objects of beauty, envy and admiration.

In a world in which the competition for an audience’s attention is increasing exponentially, designers require new knowledge about typefaces for visually branding or customising their clients’ messages. In this paper, I explore theories from outside art and design to position typeface designing as an activity, and typefaces as artefacts, within a more comprehensive societal picture than the expected daily professional practice of graphic designers and everyday computer users. This paper will also show that by tracking and thereby understanding the cultural significance of ubiquitous typefaces, it is possible to illustrate the effects of internationalisation in the broader sphere of art and design.

Anthony Cahalan has broad-ranging experience in graphic design, marketing, public relations and design education. He is currently Deputy Head of the School of Design and Architecture and Associate Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Canberra. He is the country delegate for Australia of Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI), and state president and national councillor of the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA). He studied visual communication at Sydney College of the Arts, has a Master of Design from the University of Technology Sydney and has recently submitted his PhD thesis for examination to Curtin University of Technology in Perth.

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Strategies in first year architecture studios at the University of Canberra are intended to encourage development of intellectual horizons on which increasingly complex inquiry and practice can build. Students in first semester are introduced to the language of western architecture through its origins in ancient Greek and Roman literature, especially in rhetorical manuals. ‘Dialectics’ is introduced in the idea of a ‘conversation’ between the student/architect and his/her work, as a kind of ‘uncovering’ or ‘revealing’ through which the design may emerge. Studio projects establish as primary themes the notions of translation, especially of emblem or symbol, and of interpretation. In second semester, architecture is located in the study of ‘type,’ especially of the house and its foundational theme of ‘returning to origins,’ of inhabitation, and of anamnesis, or recovery from memory into a contemporary context and setting. These projects aim to develop awareness that architecture and the language in which it is situated have histories and precedents worthy of attention, and that analogical thought is inextricably linked to the making of architecture.

Dr Eugenie Keefer Bell is Acting Head of Architecture at the University of Canberra and director of first year architecture. Her research concerns the history, theory and practice of architecture, crafts and design.

Professor Stephen Frith is Head of the Department of Architecture at the University of Canberra. On sabbatical in 2005, he is researching connections between rhetoric and architecture.

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This seminar will explore the role of the artist’s journal as a mechanism to enhance creative thinking and encourage a ‘deep’ approach to learning. The material to be presented is the result of an ongoing research project regarding the development of a ‘theme’ based journal. The project is run in the classroom with first year Visual Communication students at the University of South Australia. The study has been underway for two years and will continue this year.

In the South Australian School of Art (as in many Art and Design institutions) students have always been encouraged to keep journals. This practice is instilled by the compulsory use of journals in first (and sometimes second) year. While some students find this quite productive and consequently a journal becomes a creative tool they use for the rest of their careers, most just participate because they have to - once assessment is complete the journal is abandoned. Some even go as far as to resent the journal and wage a constant battle with lecturers and do little in their journals as they see no connection what so ever with the creative process. A very small fraction do not even keep a journal at all and are prepared to sacrifice 20% of their grade as a result.

At the beginning of the 2002 academic year a group of lecturers decided that perhaps a different approach was needed. It was hypothesised that if the students could make a stronger connection to journals and the creative process they would be more motivated to keep a journal. Further if the students could use the journal as a form of personal expression they might ‘bond’ with the journal and hence increase the chances of them adopting this as a life long learning process. This would reinforce the learning and depth of concept development as students had more ownership of the project. This corresponds with elements required for successful student learning as identified by Biggs (Biggs J, 1989) as key features to achieve a ‘deep’ level of learning.

The learning journal is also becoming an important tool for evidencing the depth of learning – very significant as scrutiny and accountability are key elements in the standards debate (Davies A, 1999). We cannot simply assess the artefact in isolation.

Debate in this seminar will have a strong focus on the role of the learning journal. In particular:

- How do we get students to see the value of learning journals (what is the value of a learning journal)?
- Can the learning journal lead to better creative thinking and deeper cognitive processes?
- Can the learning journal form an effect tool for assessment?

This is a live and ‘hands-on’ project with genuine and exciting results. It raises questions about: teaching methodology; creative thinking and expression; the effectiveness of the learning journal; assessment criteria; teacher and student expectations; and ‘surface’ and ‘deep’ learning.

The seminar will explore the successes and failures of the project as well as the changes in assessment and curriculum developed to support this initiative.

Matthew Hepplewhite is currently a Lecturer in Visual Communication at the South Australian School of Art, University of South Australia. His professional experience includes appointment as Coordinator of Design Foundation Studies as well as Director and Founder of Mango Chutney, a professional design consultancy. Previous lecturing appointments have included TAFE and the Ngapartji Multimedia Centre. Mr. Hepplewhite has also run professional development programs examining issues in relation to curriculum development and the new media.

Mr. Hepplewhite has been an active member of the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA) and the Adelaide Art Directors Club (AADC). Research interests include: the use of learning journals; curriculum development in relation to the new media; motivation of students to achieve learning outcomes; exploration of the non-linear visual narrative; and theories and of design teaching and pedagogy.

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For educators, students and learning institutions, online education offers great prospects; remote access, internationalisation, quality assurance, flexible delivery, yet there is little evidence that Australian design schools are embracing the potential of online learning. Given the progressive teaching practices of many design schools, the resistance to new educational opportunities is surprising.

This paper proposes that the biggest hurdle for design education online is the technology: the Learning Management System/s (LMS). Based on the experience of design students and staff using WebCT (the world’s most popular LMS), significant inadequacies are identified. In response to the issues raised, new design solutions and related theories are explored. It is the view of this paper that a vibrant and vital communication in our virtual classrooms requires the same communication freedoms allowed in the physical classroom. It will be argued that a LMS that goes beyond practical, administrative functions and promotes an active online community in a graphically engaging environment will better serve the pedagogical, cultural and ethical interests of design education.

Geoff Hinchcliffe is an Associate Lecturer in Graphic Design at the University of Canberra. He is a graduate of the Canberra School of Art’s Graphic Investigation workshop and has practiced as a graphic designer for over 10 years, working in print, web, interactive media and television. He is currently engaged in a Masters by research in the University of Canberra’s School of Creative Communication.

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Reaching an increasingly diverse and sophisticated tourist population with an effective cultural message, realistically delivered, for those Queensland regions not advantaged by unique natural structures poses a real challenge. Although today cultural references are blurred due to rampant standardisation, globalisation and mass production, there is a growing desire by the tourist public to return to our origins, traditional know how and singularity which are values precisely concentrated in the arts and crafts professions. It is essential for those regions to define and rekindle a cultural uniqueness through their traditional skills thereby creating substantive opportunities for a sustainable future.

This session draws parallels between regional France (2003 Senate Report “Tourism and the Arts and Crafts Professions”, a discussion paper) and regional Queensland underlining the rich possibilities existing between cultural tourism and the arts. It also examines those factors likely to accelerate or impede the development of this concept by focussing on the successful contemporary examples of such relationships in regional France which argues that:

1. This recognition influences cultural heritage priorities in different rural communities.
2. The emphasis must be on human activities which encourage, maintain or revive artisanal and technical skills from the local regions.
3. A recognition that cultural tourism allied with the art and craft professions, by emphasising the uniqueness of the cultural object through quality, authenticity and integrity, can offer regional/rural communities not just mere survival but a good quality of life as a cultural and economically sustainable alternative.

Robert Jadin is Lecturer and Convenor of the School of Art Theory, Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. His current research interest is The Visual Arts and Design within "Heritage Trails/Cultural Tourism". The focus of this presentation is on "potential for institutional collaboration" namely the potential partnership, collaboration between small scale rural Cultural Tourism [rural shires] and the visual Arts and Design professions [Art Schools].

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The co-respond conference presentation describes the cross disciplinary and cross institutional collaborative project, an ongoing collaboration between Mark McDean, Lecturer in Visual Art at Monash University Gippsland Centre for Art & Design and Laurene Vaughan, Lecturer [Fashion & Textiles] at RMIT University Melbourne. The co-respond project has been exhibited at P.I.C.A. [W.A.] as part of the Space Between [Curtin University] conference in April 2004 and at Monash University Switchback Gallery Victoria in May 2004.

co-respond explores DW Winnicott’s concept of the transitional object – the space between the self/internal and the other/external – as it relates to the layered perspectives of cross disciplinary practice.

The ongoing project takes the form of a visual conversation between the two artists [both initially trained and continue to work within the visual arts and currently practicing as academics within the fine art and fashion areas] on how they understand and explore the diverse aspects of their current practice. That is a cross disciplinary professional practice that embraces both image/ object making with academic theory and practice through the methodology of narrative [spoken, text and image]. There are many potential layers to the conversation: the nature and complexities of practice, cross disciplinary representations, explorations and inspiration, and the nature of the object/space of transition.

Mark McDean has lectured in sculpture and visual art studio at Monash University – Gippsland Centre for Art & Design for the past five years. Along with his continuing studio practice involving textiles, photography and installation Mark was a lecturer in the Fashion department at RMIT University Melbourne from 1999 to 2004.

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Aspects of the poetic are discussed in relation to defining knowledge. Like humour—which cannot easily be explained and defies the organizational rigour of research—the poetic is a paradox in research. It is central to most art practice but inaccessible to systematic analysis. But also like humour, it can be highly contested. Esteem for the poetic can be frowned upon. Recognizing it or apologizing for it was often a stigma in art history. Since the 1970s there has been a certain aesthetic shyness, the terms of which are debated in this paper. Elements of the poetic are outlined on a psychological plane, in its metaphoric agency and through imagination. Definitions are attempted in the cross-discursive, relating to medium-consciousness and congruence of form and content.Aspects of the poetic are discussed in relation to defining knowledge. Like humour—which cannot easily be explained and defies the organizational rigour of research—the poetic is a paradox in research. It is central to most art practice but inaccessible to systematic analysis. But also like humour, it can be highly contested. Esteem for the poetic can be frowned upon. Recognizing it or apologizing for it was often a stigma in art history. Since the 1970s there has been a certain aesthetic shyness, the terms of which are debated in this paper. Elements of the poetic are outlined on a psychological plane, in its metaphoric agency and through imagination. Definitions are attempted in the cross-discursive, relating to medium-consciousness and congruence of form and content.

Dr Robert Nelson is the Associate Dean Research and Graduate Studies and Associate Professor and in the Faculty of Art & Design at Monash University, where he teaches research methods in the studio graduate program. He gained his MA (French and Italian painting and literature) and PhD (Greek sculpture and philology) from La Trobe University. His publications have mostly centred on contemporary Australian art, with 100 essays in journals and catalogues and 400 newspaper articles as art critic for The Age in Melbourne. In 2000, Robert was awarded the Pascall Prize (a national prize for critical writing in all fields of the arts). Robert is also a painter, with 11 solo exhibitions and 10 group or collaborative exhibitions and scene painting for Polixeni Papapetrou.

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Do we want to create designers, or technologists who think they are designers? Desktop publishing programs gives the operator permission to call themselves graphic designers. The paper outlines an investigation into the need to integrate design theory and the learning of new graphic design software programs.

Since the 1980s we have seen a change in design theory, design practice and design training, influenced by design education within the university context, a dramatic increase in student numbers, the growth of design as a preferred profession, and new technologies. Visual concepts are the starting point for all design, they are a way of visually describing an idea. The incorrect use of technology is producing poor design.

Dawn Porritt is a lecturer in Graphic Design at the University of Canberra. She is currently studying for Master of Environmental Design. Dawn Porritt was previously a partner in a Graphic Design consultancy and a teacher in visual art, at secondary and tertiary levels.

Bob Miller has a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts (Photography). He is a Lecturer in Photography in Graphic Design, University of Canberra. Bob has expertise in digital and traditional photography and the interplay between graphic design and image making. The synergy found within this interplay provides the foundation for his teaching of photo imaging to students. He a member of the AIPP, and is a practicing professional photographer. He has won numerous local, State and National awards for Photography.

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This research project proposes to model the activities and roles of a visiting Research Fellow and an Artist-in-Residence (AIR) with the intent of applying the key educational features and strategies to the online environment. Where feasible, the aim is replicate the role of a Research Fellow online by enlisting the services of well-known artists to contribute their expertise and creative input to the teaching activities of a University School of Art. The primary purpose is to support and enhance the delivery of quality learning outcomes for the Curtin BA (Art) Online degree. The project presents an opportunity to establish wider contact with audiences that have an interest in interacting with an online AIR site to access or contribute research materials and participate in creative activities.

In the online environment students are empowered to learn both autonomously as well as actively explore opportunities to teach one another. This emphasis on independent learning is particularly prevalent when asynchronous discussion groups (bulletin boards) are used as an integral part of the learning experience. Students are given the incentive to explain, share, comment, critique, and develop course materials among themselves in ways rarely seen in a traditional classroom setting. The use of electronic alternatives to face-to-face dialogue often results in high quality discussions as students often refer to course materials and reflect on their answers before responding to the lecturer’s questions or to classmates’ comments. As a result, students have the opportunity to post well-considered comments without experiencing the immediate demands of in-class discussions.

The potential of online learning communities will be examined in terms of fostering independent self-directed learning and to encourage online mentoring. Existing examples of practice in online learning will be considered with a view to devising a suitable model for application to online learning communities engaged in creative practices.

The potential of online learning communities will be examined in terms of fostering independent self-directed learning and to encourage online mentoring. Existing examples of practice in online learning will be considered with a view to devising a suitable model for application to online learning communities engaged in creative practices.

Of equal importance, the project represents an example of how Curtin is able to form unique collaborations between divergent areas of interest. In this instance, the partnership combines the expertise of the Faculty of Built Environment (BEAD), the School of Art and Design, and the Learning Support Network (LSN).

Dr Stephen R Quinton BEd (Curtin), MEd (UWA), PhD (UWA)
Stephen Quinton is employed by the Learning Support Network at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia as an academic lecturer and researcher in the design and delivery of multi-modal learning environments. His current research interests include the development of a database managed learning objects framework as applied to the design of online learning environments and the adaptation of learning styles and multiple intelligences theory to the provision of customised learning solutions.

Annie English is the Coordinator of the Bachelor of Arts (Art) available online from Curtin University through Open Learning Australia. Besides her role as an Academic Coordinator and arts educator, Annie English is an art writer for national publications, an independent curator of contemporary art exhibitions and a former assistant-curator at the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Annie English has a BA (Fine Arts) Hons (UWA) and a MA (Monash).

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Although the curated exhibition is no more that 150 years old it is now the principle format for making an argument with objects and artworks. Both a catalyst for engaging an audience and a meeting ground for artists, museum professionals, educators, academics and other researchers it provides the opportunity to develop ideas and explore the potential of objects, images and texts to communicate meaning.

Art schools and art galleries within universities are in a perfect position to affect the exhibition format while employing it as a way of showcasing their own achievements in the core areas of teaching & learning and research & development.

In this paper I will examine how exhibitions can contribute to the research and teaching and learning environment. Using sacred ground beating heart: works by Judy Watson 1989-2003 as a case-study I will examine the potential for exhibitions to enhance cross-disciplinary research initiatives, build institutional collaborations and create international linkages.

Ted Snell is Professor of Contemporary Art and Dean of Art, John Curtin Centre, Curtin University of Technology, Perth Western Australia, where he has responsibility for the John Curtin Gallery. He is currently a Board member of the National Association for the Visual Arts (NAVA), Chair of Museums Australia, Art Craft Design Special Interest Group (ACDSIG), Chair of the Federal Governments art-lending agency Artbank and a former Chair of ACUADS. In 2003 he also chaired the Premier's Fashion Industry Taskforce in Western Australia.

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This paper considers the University of Sydney's 2 - 3D Visualisation project that has been building models of digital visualisation to be used as a tool for the development, analysis and communication of ideas in the research, teaching and learning environments. It will also examine generic and discipline specific applications of virtual visualisation in a range of undergraduate and research programs and goes on to detail integration with more traditional forms of idea development and communication.

Despite the rise of visual literacy as a major means of communication, reflection, idea generation and analysis, we find that most areas of scholarship and most of the universities across the world have yet to consider digital visualisation as part of their curriculum. At the University of Sydney, the 2 - 3D Visualisation project already is piloting this concept and digital visualisation is to be incorporated into a number of undergraduate and research areas in 2004 with further expansion in 2005.

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A university’s mission in today’s economic performance-driven model of higher education is to assure quality learning and teaching contexts which produce the work-ready graduates demanded by employers. In this context strengthening the links between assessment and graduate qualities through authentic assessment activities has become a priority in many institutions. Project-based assessment, which is meaningful and related to real-life applications, is an established practice in art and design schools.

The question of interest for design educators in today’s quality-focused context is how to ensure this authentic assessment practice is effective in meeting the needs of the student, the teacher, the university and the profession. To be effective in the design context authentic assessment must prepare students to give and receive feedback. While most design educators are familiar with the broad parameters defining effective feedback the application of these parameters in particular learning contexts is not as well articulated.

This paper reports an action-orientated process in which students, a design lecturer and her colleagues collaborated to develop guidelines, and examples of effective verbal feedback practice, in a design critique context in a final year graphic design subject. Outcomes for the students and the teacher included shared understandings about effective feedback in the designer-client context. As graduates these students will enter their profession with a better understanding of the practice of effective feedback.

Mary-Jane Taylor is a Senior Lecturer in the Bachelor of Graphic Design course, School of Design and Architecture, at the University of Canberra. Mary-Jane ran a successful multi-disciplinary design consultancy in Sydney for a number of years before entering the teaching profession to establish the graphic design course at the University of Canberra. She teaches both undergraduate and postgraduate students in graphic design, convenes the senior year in graphic design and the interdisciplinary subject Exhibition Design, and is a long-time member and former state president of the Australian Graphic Design Association (AGDA). She has recently completed postgraduate studies with a focus on assessment, critique and feedback in design education.

Dr Coralie McCormack is a Senior Lecturer in the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Scholarship at the University of Canberra, specialising in postgraduate research supervision, mentoring, evaluation of learning and teaching and narrative approaches to teaching and research.

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This paper argues for an approach to internationalisation that goes beyond attracting international full fee paying students and conducting domestic programs off-shore, to also include the internationalisation of the design education curriculum. This approach is being incorporated in Industrial Design at the University of Canberra, and two examples are considered here. The first is a project/problem-based approach drawing upon the cultural diversity of heritage both of international students in the course and of Australian students. The second details the benefits of the vibrant international exchange program within the design course, including positive learning experiences and benefits to students and teaching staff alike. These two examples demonstrate a positive internationalisation of the design student experience and curriculum and the importance of maintaining such components within a design course. As is well recognised, Australia can ill afford to be an inward looking and isolated state, and internationalisation brings many benefits. However, in the context of budget reductions, the challenge is to ensure sufficient resources to maximise these benefits.

Stephen Trathen is the Discipline Head of Industrial Design at the University of Canberra. ACT 2601. He has 10 years experience in tertiary design education after 11 years in industrial design practice. He has a Degree in Industrial Design, a Grad Dip in Ergonomics and a Masters of Applied Science by research where he investigated the nexus between consumers interaction with products and various stages of the pre purchase decision making process and the various influences of aesthetic and usability attributes.

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Trading Identities is an exhibition extending from an Australian Research Council project 'Fabric(ations) of the Postcolonial ' at the University of Wollongong 2001-2004. The research, initiated by Dr Paul Sharrad, has explored the socio-historical processes of textile production, trade and cultural adaptation and the interactions between textiles as a metaphor in postcolonial English literatures. Curated by Diana Wood Conroy, the exhibition demonstrated the connections across countries of the former British Empire: Australia, Canada, the Pacific and India. Foregrounding contemporary artists Narelle Jubelin, Osmond Kantilla, Kay Lawrence, Nadia Myre and John Pule, it positioned museum artefacts that related to the context of their work. These artefacts showed that their art does not come from a void but emerges out of complex trajectories of geographical exploration, trade, and colonisation.

The exhibition and colour catalogue have been supported by a grant from the Australia Council. Curated by Dr Diana Wood Conroy , Fabrics of Change included rare museum fabrics and artefacts related to the research of Dr Paul Sharrad (Assoc. Prof. English Studies), Dr Anne Collett (Senior Lecturer English Studies) and Dr Dorothy Jones (Assoc. Prof, Honorary Fellow, English Studies).

This paper outlines the process of applying for the ARC Discovery grant, and collaborating between two disciplines. It describes the outcomes: accomplishing a conference, journal articles, and an edited book and exhibition/ monograph. Obtaining specific funding from other sources for exhibition, and integrating postgraduates were crucial areas of the project.

Dr Diana Wood Conroy
Currently Associate Professor in Visual Arts, Faculty of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong, Diana Wood Conroy has a B.A. (Hons) in Archaeology (University of Sydney) and a Doctor of Creative Arts degree (University of Wollongong) Her exhibition work explores relationships between classical, Aboriginal and personal worlds in tapestry and drawing. Her widely published critical writing on ancient and contemporary art and textiles is informed by material culture and postcolonial approaches.