News

Brad Miller, Plasma_flow (detail) 2012.

School of Design Studies Lecturer Brad Miller is participating in Vivid 2012.

Plasma_flow is a spectacular large-scale interactive projected installation and uses adaptive surround sounds to reinforce the user experience of interacting with a cloud of highly charged particles. The installation will emulate a Fluid/Particle system and is accessible for real time interactive via a series of Infrared light sensitive cameras, capturing input from participants as they traverse the space. Their traces will be projected as a swirling storm of particles and dyed fluids in response to their movements. The configuration is designed to be site specific and response to the unique qualities of the Cleland Stores and the Rocks.

More info.

School of Art Senior Lecturer & Director, Imaging the Land International Research Institute (ILIRI), Louise Fowler-Smith, began the Tree Veneration Society a little over a year ago. Receiving a City of Sydney Matching Grant for $5000 for the project, the Tree Veneration Society have now been invited to participate in the Chippendale BEAMS Festival which will occur in September. The Chippendale BEAMS Festival is the Festival of the Chippendale Creative Precinct (CCP).

“The aim of this project is to honour all cultures in our multi-cultural society, at the same time as drawing attention to the importance of the natural environment”. - Louise Fowler-Smith

More info.

2012 Jenny Birt winner Marikit Santiago with Jenny Birt & COFA Dean Professor Ian Howard

Congratulations to Marikit Santiago for winning the 2012 Jenny Birt Award with her series Mestiza/ Tabi tabo po (Collaboration with Ramesh Nithiyendran), Snake Charmers and Coca-Colanized, on display now in the COFAspace Gallery.

This award is presented to an outstanding COFA coursework student, majoring in the fields of painting or drawing. Named in honour of  Jenny Birt, a committed supporter of the visual arts, this award has been presented annually since its initiation in 1995.

Sohia Davison

COFA Bachelor of Design graduate Sophia Davison created one- off handmade jewellery pieces with 95% recycled materials collected from St Vincent de Paul. The range has been auctioned off on eBay raising over $300 which will go toward the Vinnies Christmas appeal.

Rosemary Laing, Bulletproofglass #1 (detail) 2001. Courtesy of the MCA & the artist.

The following COFA graduates and staff are exhibiting in the launch exhibition of the new Museum of Contemporary Art.

Khaled Sabsabi, Master of Art
Brook Andrew, Master of Fine Art
Shaun Gladwell, Master of Fine Art
Stephen Birch, Master of Fine Art
Rosemary Laing, Master of Fine Art
Susan Norrie, Master of Art Theory
Mikala Dwyer, Master of Fine Art
Nigel Milson, Bachelor of Fine Arts/ Master of Fine Art
Kate Murphy, Bachelor of Art Education/ Master of Fine Art
Dr Bonita Ely, Senior Lecturer, School of Art
Nick Savvas, Master of Fine Art
Lindy Lee, Master of Art Theory
Noel McKenna, Graduate Diploma in Professional Art Studies, Alexanger Makie
Michael Kempson, Senior Lecturer, School of Art and Director of Cicada Press
Tom Goulder, Bachelor of Visual Arts, Sydney College of Advanced Education
Brown Council: Frances Barrett (BFA, ArtTh/Art), Kate Blackmore (BFA BA), Diana Smith (BFA BA) & Kelly Doley (BDes/ BFA)
The Kingpins: Angelica Mesiti (BFA/MFA), Técha Noble (BFA/MArt), Emma Price (BFA/MFA) and Katie Price

Applications for the Premier's COFA Visual Arts Scholarship close May 4, 2012.

COFA is pleased to once again be supporting the Premier’s Teacher Scholarship program.

The Premier’s COFA Visual Arts Scholarship will provide one visual arts teacher in NSW with $15,000 in order to study at a respected tertiary institution overseas, visit educational institutions and/or consult with experts.

This collaborative partnership reflects COFA’s strong commitment to Visual Arts Education.

Michelle Tinta, from St Josephs College, Hunters Hill, won the  2011 Premier’s COFA Visual Arts Scholarship.

Tinta’s research interests lie in the intersection of digital and analogue photographic processes. She will use the $15,000 scholarship to travel to American institutions in New York, Chicago, Santa Fe and San Francisco during June and July 2012.

Deadline for 2012 applications: May 4, 2012.

More information

Thomas de Munk-Kerkmeer, 'It's a bird!!!', Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe 2012. Photo Howard Jones.

Dr Alan Krell, an Associate Professor in COFA’s School of Art History and Art Education, has been selected to be on the curatorial panel for the 16^th annual Sculpture by the Sea at Bondi.

The popular exhibition was established in 1997 and attracts thousands of visitors each year.

This year, Sculpture by the Sea will be on show along the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk, October 18 – November 4, 2012.

More info

Benjamin Carey, 'zero david, zero jo, zero josh, zero karly,' 2011.

COFA Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate Benjamin Carey has been selected to exhibit at the Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Denmark.

The Spring Exhibition is an open submission exhibition that has long been one of the highlights of the annual programme at Charlottenborg. In 2012 the show features 69 participants from around the world.

Artist statement:

To find point zero is to plumb the depths of historical subjectification and disinter what remains an object from its mediate appendants and significations, the wisdom of which moment is due to neither past nor future. Nigh upon receipt of a noxious inheritance, an ascendant generation suffering history longs to be denuded of its world of Capital determination. Our immediate art, our raw art, thus commences: everything shall be decontextualised at once, radically and publicly, to point zero and then beyond – into para-capital terrains.

More info.

Previous winning designs for COFA Annual Logo Design Competition.

The COFA ANNUAL ‘A’ Design Competition

Prize: $1,000

Deadline: 4pm Friday 20 July 2012

Eligible students:

• Any final year student (defined as eligible to exhibit in the 2012 ANNUAL exhibition), or
• Group of 2-4 final year students (defined as eligible to exhibit in the 2012 ANNUAL Exhibition).

The selected design will be adapted for use in all COFA ANNUAL 2012 Promotional Materials including:

• ANNUAL 2012 Catalogue
• ANNUAL 2012 Website
• Exhibition Posters and Banners
• Exhibition Invitations

Brief

Develop a new identity for the COFA ANNUAL 2012 Exhibition. The new identity should be realised through the creation of a letter ‘A’ logo.  This letter ‘A’ logo must function as the key visual feature of the exhibition’s branding.

Considerations

• The COFA ANNUAL is the most significant COFA student exhibition of the year. It represents students from across all COFA disciplines including painting, drawing, sculpture, environments design, graphic design, jewellery, object design, textiles, photomedia, print media, digital media, textiles and time-based-art. The design should not favour one discipline over another.
• The visual outcome of this design competition should be distinctly different from other COFA ANNUAL exhibitions.
• Submissions can be created in two, three or four colours but must also provide a black & white version of the design.

Elements to be submitted

• The creation of a logo based on the letter ‘A’
• A written statement that provides insight into the design elements (150 – 300 words)

Format for submissions

• Hardcopy and electronic samples of the design outcomes in both colour and black & white
• A written conceptual statement
• Name, student number, class and contact details

Submission Process

• Hardcopy and electronic versions of the design outcomes and a conceptual statement will be submitted to the Student Centre (located in the Elwyn Lynn at COFA Paddington Campus) on or before Friday 20 July 2012.

Selection Process

• The winning design will be announced on the COFA website 1-2 weeks following the close of the competition.
• The COFA Marketing Department will contact the winning student or group of students directly to arrange payment of the $1,000 prize.

Download the 2012 specifications here.