Wits Fine Arts BA (FA) by witsmarketing

Department of Fine Arts BA (FA) front page HANDBOOK 2022

Sabrina Veiga, NEWWORK20, 2020

manifesto in the making

Manifesto With the ongoing call for us as Institutions of Higher Learning to re-imagine and re-position ourselves, the question that most, if not all institutions should be asking is “WHAT ARE WE DOING?”

WHAT are we doing? • • • •

We are physically situated at Wits University in Johannesburg, a contemporary African City that is also home to multiple pan-African and global identities. We work towards embodying an Afrocentric curriculum, and a social justice agenda. We offer a contemporary arts program oriented by our decolonial and geographical position within the Global South. We place our teaching in conversation with our own histories, speaking both to the local and the complexities of the trans-national and continental.

what ARE we doing? • • •

Expanding the field of art, where the role of an artist is situated within a broader field of social, cultural and economic ecologies and questions. Producing knowledge and cultural practices that are not limited to the University. Teaching through artistic work, as a form of embodied and material research.

what are WE doing? • • • •

We are a group of artists, thinkers, cultural workers, and researchers across a variety of artistic disciplines – ranging from traditional art mediums to conceptual and the ephemeral. We offer a range of teaching methodologies; ways of thinking that allow students – young artists - a series of professional skillsets, conceptual tools and modes of expression. Our work includes, but is not limited to – painting, photography, printmaking, performance, video, sound, installation, sculpture, drawing, digital media and curatorial practices. We place our practices and our teaching in relation to a broader ecology of institutions and social contexts: Wits Art Museum, Braamfontein and inner city Johannesburg, the network of galleries, museums and project spaces, including our own: The Point of Order (TPO).

what are we DOING? • • •

Inhabiting theory as practice and practice as theory. Imagining ways of responding to and interpreting the world through creative and critical practice. Accommodating a variety of positions, including the active role of students in decision making, planning, and curriculum design.

The manifesto is a living document, an ongoing shaping of our program, our practices, processes, thinking, and ideas. It is a document in progress, co by students and staff so that it is responsive to the needs and ambitions of the Department in the historical, political and social contexts we find ourselves in.

table of

CONTENTS Manifesto 2 Introduction 5 BA (Fine Arts) Purpose of Qualification, Careers in Visual Arts 7 Curriculum 9 First Year 9 Second Year 9 Third Year 10 Fourth Year 10 Staff: Academic and Administrative 11 Lines Of Communication 13 Health and Safety 14 Important Contacts 14 Covid-19 Compliance 18 Occupational Health and Safety Contact Details 19 Art Practice - Use of Materials, Equipment and Studios 20 Equipment and School Facilities 22 Fine Arts Facilities The Workshop 26 The Photography Section 27 The Print(making) Studio 28 The Point of Order 29 Course Requirements for all levels of study, Satisfactory Performance (SP) Assessment in Fine Arts Courses

31 31

First year of Study 36 Second Year of Study 41 Third Year of Study 45 Wits Young Artist Award (WYAA) 55 Fourth Year of Study 57 Arts Education (PGCE) 67

All information contained herein is subject to change. Your course co-ordinators will advise you should any changes occur. 3

intro to wits fine art

INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Wits School of Arts (WSOA) and your studies within the BA Fine Arts program. This handbook aims to provide important information to help you find your way through your degree and courses. We regard ourselves as privileged to be, and are proud of, working in an art school which has over the years and through its local, continental and international community of artists and scholars, established a reputation for creative and intellectual rigour and innovation. WSOA comprises a number of departments: Fine Arts, Cultural Policy Management, Digital Arts, Drama for Life, Film and Television, History of Art, Heritage Studies, Interdisciplinary Arts and Culture Studies, Music, and Theatre and Performance. As such, you are part of a diverse group of students aiming to specialise in multiple creative fields and we trust that you will take the standard of excellence into the next generation. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 profoundly disrupted all of our lives, work and studies. It challenged personal, learning and teaching environments, systems of health and social support as well as the cultural ‘industries’. At WSOA we had to adapt to emergency online teaching at a very rapid rate, shifting contact teaching, rehearsals, studio work, performances etc. to virtual platforms, lectures and consultations. We will continue to be impacted by the pandemic in 2022, working within a blended teaching and learning mode, where your courses will partly take place on campus and partly online, via ULWAZI and other platforms. We want to ensure that the space of teaching and learning accommodates everyone, remaining mindful of our own and each other’s differences and well-being. Please be informed about all Covid -19 regulations, protocols and health support centres on campus, as well as the vaccination mandate of the University. Your BA(FA) degree will introduce you to various media, processes, skills, histories and methodologies in art. It is here that you will contribute individually and collectively to a community of practice on and off campus, and online. The Fine Arts department is committed to shaping an open, productive environment for artistic research, study and work, which recognises that developing a creative voice and language is a process- a constant search requiring learning and unlearning, testing, failing and succeeding. This is a degree where you cannot separate yourself from your work, and where you will be confronted with your own beliefs, conventions and possibilities. You will be asked to exercise self-reflection, intellectual and intuitive analysis and imagination; engaging questions that address our times, urgencies and vulnerability. 100 years Wits was formally established in 1922 and a number of centenary events and celebrations will take place over the course of the year at the University to reflect on achievements and legacies. For us, it will provide a significant moment to reconnect with alumni who graduated since 1992, to review the role of the Fine Arts department and institution, our partnerships and pedagogies. We have grown through the excellent work and rigorous critique by students, artists and scholars who have contributed to the department and the arts. In this, the Fees Must Fall protests in 2015 and 2016 were pivotal in opening up fundamental, political questions and complexities we continue to grapple with.

Title in Transgression (Boitumelo Motau, Dineo Diphofa, Malebona Maphutse, Simnikiwe Buhlungu, Nyasha Nyandoro, Robyn Kater and Kyle Song), in residency at NGO (Nothing Gets Organised), 2016.

DEAR NEWWORK21 As we write you this letter, it is not lost on us that much like youth, or so-called ‘every generation’, much is expected out of NEWWORK. “You are the future!” “Change the world!” “You are the ones we have been waiting for!” “Fulfill or betray your mission!” And so on and so on. Fair not? Be reminded of the words written on SATURDAY, July 20, 2024 by Lauren Oya Olamina, author of EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING, in the Octavia Butler novel ‘The Parable of the Sower’ of 1993: “All that you touch You Change. All that you Change Changes you. The only lasting truth Is Change. God Is Change.” xxx Future Now Now Rangoato Hlasane, Letter to NEWWORK21, 2021

bachelor of arts in fine arts

BA FINE ARTS The Purpose of the Qualification You have registered for a BA (FA) degree, which covers four years of intensive study. The purpose of the qualification is to produce a graduate who is academically qualified for entry into the professional field of contemporary art. Broadly, the degree aims to equip you with the specialised skill sets, qualifications and knowledge relevant to contemporary art practices, art critical discourses and further studies in the broader humanities. Furthermore, the qualification aims to generate graduates and artists who contribute critically to culture, society, and the creative economy both nationally and globally.

Careers in Art and Culture The BA (Fine Arts) degree provides qualifications for a career in any field requiring practical and theoretical expertise in visual arts and culture. Since 1992, our graduates and alumni have made careers nationally and internationally as artists; curators; creative public practitioners; gallerists; arts collectives,museum and arts managers and administrators; art educators at primary, secondary and tertiary level; researchers and creative workers in the theatre, digital media and film, as well as the special needs settings and art publishing.

BA (FA) programme Art practice, history, writing and theory form part of the BA FA programme and are integrated into different course streams of your degree. The studio-based component involves a wide range of contemporary practices including Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, Photography, Performance, Installation, Video, Curatorial Practice, Spatial Practices, and Digital Media. In addition to learning specific skills, methods and research in art, we actively encourage an interdisciplinary approach to art making and peer-to-peer learning. In the first two years, you will be exposed to an intensive series of discipline specific processes and media, assignments and workshops. From First Year you are asked to test and explore different modes of working, building a portfolio, material knowledge and exercising a sense of artistic trajectory. In the final two years, you are required to work increasingly independently, with the focus on more personal creative and intellectual development, guided by consultations with assigned supervisors and studio ‘crits’. The lecture-and tutorial based component consists of four consecutive years of art history and cultural theory. The first year program, Film, Visual and Performing Arts (FVPA) is a broad introductory program for all first years in the School of Arts, and this is followed by History of Art in the Second and Third Year, concluding with Critical Theories and Visual Cultures (CTVC) in Fourth Year. CTVC is taught at Honours level, focuses on contemporary art theory and practice and involves a long Research Essay. Professional Practice and the graduate NewWork exhibition round off your final year of the degree.

Outside of your courses, we welcome student-led exchanges, exhibitions, events and collaborations on and off campus and expect you to activly pursue your knowledge, research base and exposure within the arts. This includes attending exhibitions, studio reviews, concerts, project spaces, openings at TPO and the city, obviously within Covid 19 guidelines. As well as expanding your sense of critical reviews, publications, collectives, biennales and projects across online networks. You will be notified of seminars and conferences, exchanges and partnerships that the Fine Arts department is involved in (Including Nirox Sculpture Park, Tierney Fellowship Program and the annual AFEMS African Feminisms Conference). Staff members are participating this year in various international programmes, including documenta15 in Kassel, the Casablanca Biennale and Kochi-Muziris Biennale. In your courses you will be exposed in different ways to some of the networks we form part of, through guest lectures, seminars, open calls or exchanges.

Oratile Konopi, Bua Le Ênê, 2019

curriculum for bachelor of arts in fine arts

CURRICULUM The Bachelor of Arts Fine Arts is a full-time four year undergraduate professional degree. PROGRAMME CODE: AFA01 Plan Code: APABFA20, NQF Exit Level 8, NQF Credits 554

Year of Study I

WSOA1002A WSOA1003A FINA1003A FINA1004A FINA1005A FINA1006A

Film, Visual and Performing Film, Visual and Performing Fine Arts IA Fine Arts IB Drawing and Contemporary Drawing and Contemporary

Arts IA Arts IB

Practice IA Practice IB

NQF Credits

NQF Level

18 18 18 18 18 18

5 5 5 5 5 5

iii) A student is required to complete two semester courses in one of the following languages: isiZulu or Sesotho or South African Sign Language (SASL). If a student is proficient in any two of the three languages (isiZulu, Sesotho or SASL), the student is advised to do one of the following: (i) register in a first-language stream for two courses in isiZulu or Sesotho, (ii) register for two courses in any one of the following: French, German, Italian, Portuguese, or Spanish, or (iii) formally apply to the Dean for exemption from the requirement to register for a language subject. Where an exemption has been granted, students must add a course yielding 36 credits in a subject approved by Senate. A student may also be granted a credit if s/he has completed the same or an equivalent course.

Year of Study II NQF Credits

NQF Level

FINA2003A FINA2004A HART2003A

Fine Arts IIA Fine Arts IIB History of Art IIA

24 24 24

6 6 6

HART2004A FINA2007A FINA2008A

History of Art IIB Drawing and Contemporary Practice IIA Drawing and Contemporary Practice IIB

24 24 24

6 6 6

Year of Study III

FINA3009A FINA3010A HART3005A HART3006A HART3007A HART3008A FINA3011A FINA3012A

Fine Arts IIIA Fine Arts IIIB History of Art IIIA History of Art IIIB History of Art IIIC History of Art IIID Drawing and Contemporary Practice IIIA Drawing and Contemporary Practice IIIB

NQF Credits

NQF Level

18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

NQF Credits

NQF Level

Year of Study IV

FINA4015A FINA4017A FINA4012A

Research Project Critical Theories and Visual Cultures Fine Arts IVA

30 23 23

8 8 8

FINA4013A FINA4016A

Fine Arts IVB Professional Practice in Fine Arts

23 23

8 8

See also: University Rules and Syllabuses for degrees and diplomas, Faculty of Humanities

Additional courses If you wish to register for additional BA courses it is important that you first speak with the undergraduate school administrator, Hamisha Bhana, and your course-coordinator about your curriculum plan.

Completion rules You are required to complete a minimum of 554 credits and four years of study to qualify for the Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts degree.

Award with Distinction The BA (FA) degree will be awarded with distinction based on the following criteria: •

You must have obtained a minimum of 48 points on the rating system.

•

You must have obtained a first class pass and at least one upper second class pass in the research component and the professional major.

Students who achieve satisfactory results (a minimum of 65%) in their final year may proceed directly to a Master of Arts in Fine Arts / MA(FA). 10

academic and administrative

STAFF The Fine Arts Department includes academic, administrative and technical staff who in their different capacities, roles and qualifications contribute to the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. This includes teaching specific media, co-ordinating studios, courses and talks, mentoring senior students, assisting with installing exhibitions and day-to-day management. All teaching staff are in charge of different portfolios which form part of running the department and ‘academic citizenship duties’, such as chairing finance committees, overseeing infrastructure or contributing to school wide committees on transformation and curriculum development. Concurrently, every staff member pursues their own art practices, research and exhibitions, as well as studies. In 2022 we will be joined by a group of special guests lecturers and sessional staff members who will be teaching in undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including Dean Hutton (digital/web workshop in D&CP I&II), Pebofatso Mokoena (Drawing, D&CPII), Nyakallo Maleke (Drawing and Public Interventions, D&CP III), Mitchel Gilbert Messina (Digital/web workshop, D&CPIII), Mbali Dhlamini (D&CP I).

Prof David Andrew Natasha Christopher Gabrielle Goliath Rangoato Hlasane Prof Sharlene Khan Dorothee Kreutzfeldt Bettina Malcomess Zen Marie Tracey Rose Joshua Williams

Associate Professor Lecturer Lecturer Lecturer Associate Professor Lecturer Lecturer Lecturer Senior Lecturer Lecturer

Tandolwetu Yokwana

Departmental Administrator

Reshma Chhiba Daniel Gray Thabiso Kholobeng Godfrey Mahlangu Bongumusa Shezi To be appointed

The Point of Order, Exhibitions Coordinator, Lecturer Senior Technician and Workshop Manager Printmaking Technician and Printstudio Manager Workshop Assistant Sculpture Studio Technician and Studio Manager Photography and Digital Technician

lines of communication

COMMUNICATION Clear lines of communication are vital for the running of the Department. Each student year group is asked to elect a student representative who will represent your interests at Departmental meetings. It is at these meetings that students have an opportunity to raise issues of concern and also participate in the workings of the Department. Alternatively, students should direct queries, suggestions and concerns to the lecturer and/or course coordinator. The course coordinator will take up matters with the Heads of Department. Where necessary, the Heads of Department will follow up with the Head of School or designated offices. Where lecturers or course-coordinators cannot assist, and for any emergencies or personal, confidential matters, students can email Heads of Department directly.

Contact Department Administrator Tandolwetu Yokwana tandolwetu.yokwana@wits.ac.za | 011 717 4654 Room 314, 3rd Floor, WSOA building. Student Liaison Officer Hamisha Bhana hamisha.bhana@wits.ac.za | 011 717 4656 Room 112, 1st Floor, WSOA Building Heads of Department Sharlene Khan sharlene.khan@wits.ac.za I 011 717 4637 (Postgraduate Coordinator) Dorothee Kreutzfeldt dorothee.kreutzfeldt@wits.ac.za I 011 717 4659 (Undergraduate Coordinator)

take care

HEALTH AND SAFETY The School of Arts is committed to ensuring the health, safety and welfare of all staff, students, contractors, service providers and visitors in its environment. All employees, staff and students play an important role in shaping a teaching and learning environment that is ethical and safe, caring, productive and accountable. Importantly, we are guided by a number of policies of the University, their legislation, standards, and requirements. This includes the general Code of Conduct for staff and students. We all arrive at the institution with different experiences, values and body politics. You may have been exposed to forms of racism, gender based violence, exclusion, social stigma and discrimination based on gender identification, health, sexual orientation, nationality and beliefs. It is vital that you know your rights and freedoms as students which are directed by University policies and aim to protect you against victimisation, bullying and forms of harm or transgressions. We draw you attention in particular to the antidiscrimation and sexual harassment policies. A breach of conduct is serious. Please read up on how/ where to report transgressions, as well as understand matters of confidentiality. This applies to all of us. Your mental and physical health are a priority and we ask that you take care of each other and responsibility for yourselves, as well as for the spaces you occupy and relationships you generate, reaching out for support from peers, staff or counsellors where necessary.

Campus Health and Wellness Centre (CHWC) The Campus Health & Wellness Centre (CHWC) offers a wide variety of health services to Wits students and staff members. The services are convenient, accessible, caring and cost-effective. Lower ground floor, The Matrix Building, East Campus Tel. 011 717 9111 / 9113 Mental health enquiries: 0766093924 Campus Health - Wits University

Wits Student Crisis Line Support for students experiencing emotional and psychological distress. The toll free line is managed by professionals and is available 24/7/365. Call 0800 111 331

Useful Contact Information for After Hours Support Life-Line (24 hours) 011 728 1347 or 0861 322 322 South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) SADAG Helpline - 0800 12 13 14 or SMS 32312 SADAG Suicide Crisis Line 800 567 567 or SMS 31393 Akeso psychiatric response unit (24 Hour) 0861 435 78 14

Counselling Careers and Development Unit (CCDU) The CCDU provides a welcoming and safe space to students, to enhance their well-being and contribute to their academic success. They offer career development through career counselling/ education, psychometric career assessments and personal development workshops. The CCDU also offers confidential individual psychotherapy/counselling, groups for psychoeducation and support, stress management, self-esteem and mindfulness. CCDU Building, Braamfontein Campus West, Wits University Closest Entrance: Gate 9, Enoch Sontonga Ave, Braamfontein. Tel: 011 717 9140 / 32 | Email: info.ccdu@wits.ac.za CCDU EDUCATION CAMPUS: M14 Ground Floor, Marang Block, Education Campus, Parktown, Tel: 011 717 9268 |Email: info.ccdu@wits.ac.za Both offices are open Monday-Friday 08h00-16h30 Counselling and Careers Development Unit - Wits University

Gender Equity Office (GEO) The Gender Equity Office deals with all aspects of gender based harm, e.g. Sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape; Sexism / unfair discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation. 20th Floor, University Corner, cnr Jorissen Street and Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein (the building above the Wits Art Museum) Open from 08h00 to 16h30 from Monday to Friday 011 717 9790 Contact Us - Wits University

Disability Rights Unit (DRU) The Disability Rights Unit (DRU) is able to assist students with visual, physical, hearing, learning, psychological, speech, chronic illnesses & painful conditions, seizure disorders and students with temporary disabilities (e.g. broken limbs) who may request services for the period during which they are disabled. Room 1151, First Floor Solomon Mahlangu House, East Wing Closest campus entrance on Jorissen Street 011 717 9154 Disability Rights Unit - Wits University

Student Councils Wits School of Arts Student Council We encourage student representatives to contact the chair of WSOA Student Council, Nomvuyo Buthelezi (2172296@students.wits.ac.za) to engage on any student-led initiatives, events or actions, or issues you need to raise. Student Representative Council (SRC) Contact: 011- 717 9206, Office:EAST CAMPUS, MATRIX, FLOOR 2 15

Protection Services The Protection Services Division is responsible for the prevention of crime, the detection and apprehension of offenders, the preservation of peace and the protection of students, staff and University property. Security officers patrol the entire campus 24 hours a day. Services offered by Wits Protection Services include a 24-hour escort service (on campus) for all students and staff, especially those working late in libraries or computer labs. If you require an escort, dial one of the numbers listed below and supply the following information: •

Your name

•

Your current location and intended destination

•

A call back number in case we need to notify you that your escort has been delayed

All hours and in case of emergency and to escort students on campus at night: East Campus: (011) 717 4444 / 6666 Health Sciences Campus: (011) 717 2222 / 2232 Education Campus: (011) 717 3340 Business School: (011) 717 3589

Safety on campus - Wits University

Kudu Cards Access to campus facilities is controlled by the use of student and staff identity cards. Please report lost/stolen Kudu Cards to Protection Services IMMEDIATELY. This is to prevent unauthorised use of your card. You should have your card with you at all times and present it to Protection Services or Library personnel if you are asked. Other officers of the University may require your card as identification in labs, examination venues and sports facilities. You may not refuse to identify yourself. Abuse or misuse of your Kudu Card may lead to disciplinary action or immediate card confiscation. What constitutes misuse of your card? •

Allowing any other person to gain access to, or out of, any facility

•

Being in possession of more than one Kudu Card

•

Allowing another person to make use of your card for any purpose, other than to obtain your details for official university purposes

•

Failing to store the card in a manner that will prevent it from being damaged (every card is issued with a Card Holder for this purpose)

•

Failure to report any financial or fraudulent irregularities.

compliance and resources

COVID-19 Wits has adopted a Mandatory Vaccination Policy which states that all members of the University community will be required to vaccinate against Covid-19 in order to access the University’s premises, aside from those who have been granted Reasonable Accommodation. You are required to upload your vaccination certificate to the MVax Upload and RA Portal by 01 March 2022. The following link connects to the Wits Covid-19 portal, containing a wide variety of useful information, resources and updates. Before entering campus, complete the Covid-19 Screening tool. Follow the standard Covid-19 protocols: Wear a Mask; stay in well-Ventilated areas; Vaccinate; maintain Social distance of 1.5m; and Sanitise hands often. Fine Arts specific guidelines for the use of facilities, studios, workshops and laboratories will be communicated to you by course coordinators and lecturers. Be prepared for changes, as they get updated throughout the year, depending on waves, national directives and new variants. As of 20th February the following rules apply (subject to updates):

•

If you test positive and do not have symptoms you do not need to isolate and you can come to campus. Continue to follow the standard Covid-19 protocols: Wear a Mask; stay in well-Ventilated areas; Vaccinate; Complete the Covid-19 Screening tool; maintain a Social distance of 1.5m; and Sanitise hands often.

•

If you test positive and show symptoms, you need to isolate for seven days. Do not come to campus. Seek medical advice if symptoms worsen. Inform your Lecturer and Course Coordinator that you are sick. Return to campus after seven days with a sick note as required by Faculty/Line Manager. If you have moderate or severe Covid-19 illness, please submit a medical certificate to anna.moloi@wits.ac.za in order to return to campus. 7 days isolation is still required for mild illness, but you do not need a medical evaluation to return to campus.

•

If you have symptoms of Covid-19, please do not come to campus. Inform your Course Coordinator that you are unwell. You do not have to isolate, but monitor your symptoms and seek medical advice as needed. You may return to campus when you have recovered, with a sick note as required by Faculty/Fine Art Department.

•

If you have been in close contact with someone who tests positive for Covid-19 and you do not have symptoms then you need not isolate and you can come to campus. Continue to monitor yourself for symptoms and follow the routine Covid-19 protocols.

If you reside in a WITS residency, please make sure you know the specific protocols to follow when you fall ill. All information is available in the Wits Covid-19 Handbook. Also see Frequently Asked Questions.

wsoa occupational health and safety

Health and Safety Contacts Campus Health and Wellness

In case of Emergency

Lower Ground floor of the Student Union Building below the Matrix

011 717 9111 011 717 9113

Reshma Chhiba

OHS&E Officer

First Aider Level 1

The Point of Order (TPO)

011 7174737

Daniel Gray

OHS&E Officer

First Aider Level 1

Art House), UC7, Wolmarans

0794347080 011 717 4609

Thabiso Kholobeng

OHS&E Officer

WSOA Printmaking Studio, First Year Studio

011 717 4634

Godfrey Mahlangu

OHS&E Officer

Art House, UC7, Wolmarans

0609662278

Elias Nxumalo

Evacuation Coordinator

WSOA, based at the WSOA Reception

011 717 4609 speed dial 6194

Joshua Williams

OHS&E Officer

WSOA Basement

011 717 4622

Bongumusa Shezi

OHS&E Officer

WSOA Basement

078 617 2636

First Aider Level 1

Under the South African Government Legislation and the Wits Policy on Smoking, smoking (of any kind) is not permitted in any public or work space. As such, smoking is prohibited in the Wits School of Arts building (this includes any open courtyard or space within WSOA, including the rooftop) – within at least 10 metres away from the building including any window. Please use only designated areas for smoking. 19

use of materials, equipment and studios

ART PRACTICE We are bound by the occupational health and safety regulations of the University. On a very immediate level, this means being aware of how you use equipment, tools and material, how you install artworks or occupy studios and spaces, avoiding any harm or risk to yourself, others or the environment. The Department of Fine Arts encourages resourcefulness, recycling, conservation (water, electricity, resources), awareness and proper handling of hazardous and toxic materials, and the preference for nontoxic ‘green’ material as an integral part of creative practice, and research. You are asked to participate in the recycling of paper, discard toxic material such as turpentine and acids in appropriate containers, and to use hazardous material, tools, and machines with the necessary precaution. Importantly, you need to inform yourselves about the material you work with - be that paint, varnishes, solvents, sculpture materials or image processing chemicals. Ensure the necessary safety precautions for working, including use of protective gloves, goggles, dust masks, working in open air and a well-ventilated studio, switching on extractor fans and having fire extinguishers at hand. Turpentine, solvents, Plaster-of-Paris, paint and clay must not be discarded via the drains and plumbing system. Resin and similarly toxic material should be used carefully and only in open areas (sculpture studio exterior). •

Familiarise yourself with the location of fire extinguishers in the building, first aid kits andl emergency fire exits (please ensure that during the course of the year all passages and exits remain free for movement in the event of an emergency)

•

Read the instructions for usage of materials and chemicals and familiarise yourselves with storage requirements, and waste management

•

Should you come across anything during the day or after hours that may be of Health and Safety concern, please report it immediately to the security guard on duty and to a member of staff.

•

Do the research to find alternative, less toxic material

•

Be smart and know what you are working with and how to work with material and tools

•

Be mindful not to endanger yourself or others when working

•

Take responsibility for the appropriate and safe use of tools and material as part of your research and practice

•

Discuss and plan with your supervisor if any of the material you have been using can be re-used/recycled by other students once you leave

•

Inform your supervisors or course coordinators of safety risks that you may encounter while working in the studios

•

No students are allowed to sleep overnight in WSOA, particularly in the Fine Art workshop and lab spaces as this presents a great health and safety risk.

•

Fine Arts students are not permitted to allow non-Fine Art students or visitors into workshop, studios and lab spaces without prior permission by the course coordinator and workshop manager

In case of emergency, immediately contact the OHS Officers, Daniel Gray or Godfrey Mahlangu, campus health or security.

Please note that due to health and safety concerns, some material and tools may not be available for use after hours or outside the supervision hours of workshop technicians.

Io Makandal, Opportunistic Plantscape: Composting Feral Topographies, 2022

wsoa

FACILITIES AND STUDIOS The Department of Fine Arts is housed in various buildings across the Wits School of Arts and off main campus. Administration and staff offices are located in the main WSOA building on East Campus. You will also find the First, Second, and Third Year studios and various facilities including the Photography and Print sections here. Art House houses the Wood and Steel Workshop on the ground floor, and senior studios on two levels upstairs. Masters and PhD students have their studios on the 7th floor of University Corner and at 9 Wolmarans Street in Braamfontein. The Point of Order (TPO) is the Fine Arts public exhibition space, directly opposite WSOA on Bertha and Stiemens Streets. WSOA seminar rooms and the Appolonia Lecture Hall are shared with other departments. Please check specific venues of your courses - these may change subject to availability. Studio spaces, equipment, facilities, studios, and materials provided by the Department of Fine Arts and Wits School of Arts for the use of students registered for the BA(FA), MA(FA) and Creative PhD degrees. These are partially funded through the Redirected/Laboratory Fees that every student pays as part of their University fees. Please note that the equipment, facilities and studio spaces managed by the Fine Arts Department and the Wits School of Arts may only be used by registered Fine Art students and for work that is made exclusively towards the degree - it may not be used for private, external or commercial work. If you wish to use any equipment or facilities in collaboration with non-Fine Art students or visitors, you first need to get permission from relevant lecturers/technicians and the Undergraduate Coordinator. Studios, facilities and all other spaces on and off campus are managed by different staff and used by different student groups. As part of our general work ethic and attitude, these spaces are to be respected and maintained in an appropriate manner by everyone throughout the year. In this you are equally responsible for ensuring that the studio, facilities and workshop spaces remain in good condition for teaching and learning, for exhibiting work during assessments, crits and exams. This also applies to using furniture and other equipment in studios, the computer lab and workshops. Students who do not adhere to these conditions will be liable for replacement or repair of lost or damaged property and in cases of abuse or theft, will face disciplinary action by the University.

Please do not remove desks, chairs, stools, easels, palettes and other furniture, equipment, or materials from the First and Second Year studios, Fine Arts Computer Laboratories, or Sculpture and Printmaking studios as this severely compromises the teaching program. Rather approach the Departmental Technician or your year coordinator should you be short on such basics.

Use of Studios Communal studios allocated to you in the WSOA and Art House buildings are aimed to be flexible, shared spaces that can adapt to different courses, activities and work during the year. Studios are available during working hours (8.00 - 17.00). You are asked to take care of the studios you occupy and make your own, which includes the following: •

keeping the studios clean and in good working condition. While cleaners are employed to regularly clean the studios, you are asked to collectively organise and clean your studios and generally assist in maintaining a constructive and inspiring working environment.

•

display your names in your studio (or on the doors - applicable to 3rd and 4th years)

•

keep the furniture, easels, lockers clean and in good working order, even if they have been used by many students over several years.

•

Use drop-sheets when painting.

•

store your material and artworks in your lockers or in allocated, shared areas.

•

work process and ethic: respect each other with how you work in the space, e.g. use of power tools, paint, music etc.

•

Take care of your work, tools and material.

•

avoid blocking the drains with paint or oil and dispose of material such as paint, plaster-of-Paris, cement, clay, oil etc. appropriately. Use appropriate bins to collect and recycle solvents such as turpentine – NEVER pour these solvents into the drains.

•

Chemical drums are available in the Darkroom, the Painting and Printmaking studios for the disposal of chemicals, turpentine, thinners and various oils.

•

for any needs or repairs in the studios (furniture, lighting, plugs, window covers, partitions etc.), paint or any permanent fixtures you want to change or add, speak to the relevant studio assistants, technical and academic staff.

•

you are in charge of the studio - ventilate, ensure you’re Covid-19 safe

•

3rd and 4th years are asked to organise keys for their studios (R 50 deposit)

WSOA Art Studios Manager: Bongumusa Shezi, bongumusa.shezi@wits.ac.za, 078 617 2636, Office in B7, WSOA basement Art House Studios Manager: Daniel Gray, daniel.gray@wits.ac.za, 079 434 7080

Leaving Your Studio and Clearing Facilities at Year End You will need to vacate and clear your studios at the end of the year (November) to make way for the next student group. You are responsible for leaving the studio space as you found it: clean, the walls restored (holes etc. neatly fixed) and appropriately painted white, the floors cleaned (paint and oil stains removed) and the furniture left in good order and in place. Remove any of your material or artworks, including unwanted items (this also applies to other facilities such as the print studio or dark room). Clear out all lockers, claim your locks and remove all data from the shared computers in the labs by the due date. In special cases you may make arrangements with the Heads of Department for communal storage over the vacation period. Artworks left in studio spaces after the notified date will otherwise be disposed of as the Department does not have unlimited storage capacity.

All work produced during the year, and all waste material generated in the process, is to be removed from studios and lockers by the dates specified by the Department towards the end of each year. The Department reserves the right to dispose of work found in studios and lockers after the due date allocated at the end of the year.

Installations & de-installation The technical and spatial installation of your artwork for crits and exams forms an integral part of your studies, practice and production. As part of thinking and working curatorially, you are asked to familiarise yourself with the architectural specifics of available spaces; hanging and installation systems; measuring; the use of the appropriate hardware and tools for the installation and de-installation of your work (i.e. the use of specific types of wall plugs/screws for brick wall, wood or dry walling; appropriate use of nails; handling power tools, use of spirit level etc.). As a principle do not use double sided tape to hang your work on any surface as it is very difficult to remove and damages the work and the walls. Some spaces require that you need to book out the space in advance and sign a studio use form with the relevant manager of the space (your year coordinator can give you more info on who manages particular spaces). Restore the walls, floors, ceiling and lighting to the required standards immediately after crits, exhibitions and exams. This includes fixing, patching and painting holes in walls, removing nails, staples, adhesives or tape from walls and partitioning boards. Short workshops will be arranged on basic practical and technical know-how. You are encouraged to support each other and get input from staff where needed.

Another Roadmap Workshop, 2017

fine arts

FACILITIES The Workshop The Workshop is located on the Ground Floor of the Art House Building next to The Nunnery. It is managed by the Workshop Senior Technician, Daniel Gray, and the Workshop Assistant, Godfrey Mahlangu who will introduce you to the working hours, the use of machines and tools, health and safety rules in the workshop, tool and gear take-out, group and individual appointment system, etc. The use of the workshop is strictly for undergraduate and post-graduate Fine Arts students and staff. Access to these facilities is further monitored in terms of Occupational Health and Safety requirements. Daniel and Godfrey are available to consult and assist you with the use of tools, finding design solutions and the realisation of your ideas/art work production and installation. Every year specific material is purchased from Redirected/Lab budget and made available for your use (e.g. wood, paint). This material is allocated to particular courses and years and needs to be shared. The allocation is overseen by the workshop and course coordinators. Tools and equipment are available for loan or use in the workshop. When taking out tools, you are responsible for returning them in working condition, on the due date. Penalties will apply to late returns. Lost, stolen, or damaged tools / equipment must be replaced by the person who signed them out. Safety standards must be observed at all times. You are responsible for learning and adhering to the safe and appropriate use of power tools and machines available in the workshop, and to respect the standard safety precautions. Safety protective gear (goggles, particle masks, respirator masks, safety shoes) must be worn while working with machinery in the workshop. Please adhere to the booking and access times specified by the workshop staff. Senior Technician, Workshop Manager: Daniel Gray, daniel.gray@wits.ac.za | 0794347080 Workshop Assistant: Godfrey Mahlangu, godfrey.mahlangu@wits.ac.za | 0609662278

Photography Section The Photography Section comprises the photography studio and workspace, digital printing facilities, photographic, video and sound recording equipment, black & white darkroom and processing facilities, and the Fine Arts Computer Lab. These facilities are managed by the Photography Technician, and are located on the Ground Floor of the WSOA building. Equipment and some materials are purchased and maintained from the annual Redirected/ Lab budget. Students may borrow equipment from the equipment store. You will be introduced to the booking system, please note that equipment is issued at specific times only (see notice boards in the photography section). A list of equipment, including cameras and data projectors, that you have access to is available from the Photography Technician. Loan periods vary according to demand, but generally equipment is loaned out for a week at a time. Late returns will be fined. In cases where equipment is long overdue, the Department of Fine Arts may impose further penalties and restrictions on further loans. The Fine Arts Computer Lab is equipped with iMacs for teaching programs and for fine art students for their undergraduate and postgraduate Fine Arts work. The computers run Adobe CC Suite, including Photoshop, Lightroom, AdobeBridge, Adobe Premiere. You are asked to sign and adhere to the Computer Lab Code of Conduct at all times. Access to the Lab is controlled by access card. The Digital Printing Facility is available for specialised photographic printing. A limited amount of printing is allocated per undergraduate student for free, and students wishing to exceed this may pay for their printing. These payments are made directly into the photography account and cash is not accepted. The darkroom is equipped with enlargers and all the requirements for black and white film processing. A basic amount of chemistry is available to students.

Equipment booking and queries: Jodie Pather, jodie.pather@wits.ac.za and cc to photo.finearts@wits. ac.za | 011 717 4625 Photography Academic Staff: Natasha Christopher, natasha.christopher@wits.ac.za I 011 717 4629

Print Studio The Print Studio is located on the south side of the ground floor of the WSOA building and managed by Thabiso Kholobeng. The studio is equipped with professional facilities for intaglio processes, relief printing, silkscreening and lithography. Relief printing is included in the First Year program. Intaglio processes, including drypoint, etching, and aquatint are taught in the Second Year, followed by silkscreening and lithography to enable students to gain advanced skills in printmaking processes. The Print Studio is open for senior students’ independent work and collaborative printing projects, in consultation with the academic staff and the Printmaking Technician. As in the workshop and photography sections, all of the equipment, tools and stock are Wits School of Arts assets. Print-making involves specialised inks, handling of hazardous chemicals, plates, stones, tools and presses, all of which require safe, correct and respectful work. It is imperative that you know how to work with the material and equipment and observe studio protocols, with consideration to everyone using the studio. Use of Professional Facilities •

Monitor the correct use of the presses at all times

•

Release the drum and press bed at the end of the day

•

Avoid wastage of materials at all times

•

Follow the standards and instructions set by the Printmaking Technician/ Studio Manager

•

Ensure that hot plates are switched off at all times when not in use

•

Switch off lights at the end of each day

•

Maintain a clean studio space throughout out the week, including the cleaning of rollers, brayer and surfaces

•

Clean the sink at the end of every day

•

Take care of inks and ensure that they are packed away at the end of the day

•

Wear protective clothing / safety gear: students are not allowed to use the Acid Room and associated materials without protective clothing, mask, PVC apron and gloves

•

Refrain from using C4 (Liquid/ paste) to clean silk screens

•

Work with care

Printmaking Technician / Print Studio Manager: Thabiso Kholobeng thabiso.kholobeng@wits.ac.za | 011 717 4634 Printmaking Academic Staff: Prof David Andrew david.andrew@wits.ac.za I 011 717 4636

The Point of Order (TPO) The Point of Order (TPO) is a public exhibition/project space run by the Department of Fine Arts, and is a dynamic and vital point of visibility for the Department’s art programs. The core of the Fine Arts exhibitions programme is managed from TPO and facilitated by the Exhibitions Coordinator, concurrent to the Department’s academic project. Located outside of University grounds, TPO allows for engagement with initiatives, exhibitions and projects produced within the Department in a publicly accessible exhibition space. The programme covers student and/or staff-led initiatives, and hosts shows, installations, events, screenings, book launches and exchanges with local and international individuals and institutions, with a focus on developing artists from the undergraduate and postgraduate programme as well as alumni. TPO is a pivotal space in the gallery/project space ecosystem of Johannesburg and allows for experimental and non-commercial work. It thus offers itself as a playground or laboratory, in which students and practitioners are free to work through and develop their understanding of professional art practice. TPO Website | Facebook | Instagram

Objectives •

•

· Enable undergraduate and postgraduate students/artists to present ideas and work within an experimental lab/studio context, geared towards peer group discussion and critical engagement with the Fine Arts staff body, through self-led discussions, crits and examinations.

•

· Allow students to use the space as an open or closed studio/gallery, or testing ground, without the obligation to exhibit outcomes for the public.

•

· Maintain a dynamic exhibition project space for the public viewing of student work through exhibitions, openings, events, talks, screenings and other activations.

•

· Engage with and develop various curatorial strategies and critical thinking around artistic praxis. This may take the form of student-led conferences, panel discussions, talks and hybrid webinars.

•

· Collaborate with the Department of History of Art, WSOA, the Humanities and other teaching and learning programmes within the university.

•

· Support non-commercial exhibition-making methodologies, with a practice-centred rather than commercially oriented focus.

•

· While TPO is primarily aligned with departmental programming, the space is made available to external projects that speak to our curriculum and arts education.

Provide an exhibition project space conducive to practice-led research, experimentation and the testing of creative ideas and concepts.

Maintain a vital online platform and archive for the documentation of exhibitions and events hosted by TPO.

Management The logistical and creative management of the exhibition programme is overseen by Exhibitions Coordinator, Reshma Chhiba, adding important value to the pedagogical research goals of the department, the Wits School of Arts, the Faculty and the University. Reshma Chhiba and Exhibitions Portfolio Manager, Gabrielle Goliath, with input from Fine Arts staff members, drive decisions on exhibition and event proposals. All artists and exhibitors are responsible for the installation and maintenance of their exhibitions at TPO, the Department’s workshop team can be contacted to assist when more complicated hanging solutions are required.

Protocol and exhibition agreement documents ensure that all exhibitors use the space in a manner that requires care and effective use of space, without damage or negligence to the artworks and equipment on display/in use. Additional equipment can be loaned for temporary use from our internal photography department. TPO’s inventory of all dedicated equipment undergoes an annual stock check. The operational budget, which includes the cleaning of the space, security, repair and maintenance of lighting and equipment, is managed by the Exhibitions Coordinator and approved by the Heads of Department. TPO hosts regular events every year, including the Wits Young Artist Award (WYYA) and graduate NEWWORK exhibition, as well as Fine Arts postgraduate exam submissions and limited undergraduate shows. The space is also made available to external exhibitors, artists, curators, events and projects from other Departments, Faculties and Institutions whose projects align with the vision and objectives of the space. These external projects present a unique opportunity for TPO to widen its reach; engage critically with the role of art/s education in society, and generate revenue towards the effective and efficient maintenance and support of its programmes and infrastructure. Bookings are subject to availability of space.

Exhibitions Coordinator: Reshma Chhiba, reshma.chhiba@wits.ac.za, 011 717 4737

Boipelo Khunou, Occupation, 2016

bachelor of fine arts

COURSE REQUIREMENTS All Levels of Study It is compulsory to attend classes. If, for any valid medical, health, connectivity/data or other reason, you cannot keep up with classes, you must inform your lecturer and where neccessary provide a doctor’s certificate or equivalent to the Student Liaison Officer (Hamisha.Bhana@wits.ac.za) and course coordinators, verifying the reasons for your absence (Check Covid-19 report protocols). Failure to attend class online or in person without valid reasons will impact your Satisfactory Performance (SP) certificate. If your SP is withheld for inadequate attendance and participation in class, you may not be allowed to present work for assessment in mid and end year examinations (June for the First Semester and in November for the Second Semester).

Satisfactory Performance Certificate (SP) Each course will require that you to produce and submit assigned essays or artworks, a body of work or research to your best capacity, which will be assessed by course lecturers. Failure to submit work in your courses may result in a course mark of 0%, and SP warnings. Extensions can only be granted by the relevant lecturer on completion of a Flexibility Form which is available at WSOA Reception (or email Hamisha Bhana, Hamisha.Bhana@wits.ac.za) The SP certificate may be withheld if you are continuously absent without valid reason, do not participate in class and if you do not attain a minimum of 40% for your course or unit mark.

Assessment The following section should be read in conjunction with the more specific assessment guidelines and benchmarks for each course unit and project outlines. Assessment is seen as continuous and integral to all teaching and learning. Self-directed and peer-topeer evaluation is as important as consultations that take place between students and teaching staff during studio sessions, which provide opportunities to gauge how you are understanding and translating processes, working within disciplines or across assignments. It is critical that you involve yourself and actively participate in different evaluation processes, which may include formal studio crits, informal online discussions, process marks or summative course assessments. Your Fine Arts and Drawing & Contemporary Practice courses are made up of four units or modules per year. Course units usually run for a term or block (6-7 weeks). Your practical work and any other assignments will be assessed as part of each course unit, and in formal exams that take place in June, at the end of the first semester, and in November for the second semester. Exams offer a critical moment to present work you generated over the course of an entire semester and engage questions relating to your practice, individual artworks, and progress. The exam format is adjusted to each year of study and will take into account possible Covid-19 related restrictions.

Marks Each course or unit is assessed in the following way: Course mark - 40% Exam mark (June or November) - 60% The final mark is used to determine whether a student has met the requirements of a course or year of study. Your course and unit outlines will define the specific content, intentions and expectations, how assessments are structured and how marks are arrived at. For example they may be awarded for particular online, practical and written assignments or crits. Some of these marks are awarded in relation to work-in-progress, with the expectation that further work takes place towards exam submissions. Throughout the degree, you are expected, as artists and art students, to respond to assessment feedback, questions and critique and incorporate input, guidance and propositions into your work. Assessments are meant to be productive and fair, and assist you in your learning process. This includes building skill sets and confidence, recognising strengths, gaps or further potential. You will be encouraged to develop, rework, advance and deepen your artworks, knowledge and research, whatever level you are at. In this you are to actively drive, participate in and commit to your work and assignments. You are responsible for keeping to course submission or presentation deadlines. Late or nonsubmissions of work may be penalised and affect your course mark (failed absent). In that case you will need to communicate with your lecturer and course coordinator about assessment deferral and permission to submit work for examination. Failure of a course will mean that you will have to repeat units or the entire course before being allowed into the following year of study. Guidelines on your semester examination will be provided by your lecturers and course coordinators. This includes dates, format (online and/or in person), spaces, criteria and assessment protocols. The mid/end year assessments involve teaching staff as well as external examiners who will evaluate all your semester work and course submissions. Presentation and curation of your work, in whichever format (online or in person), are of critical importance throughout the degree. From First to Fourth Year, you are expected to present work in as considered and professional a manner as possible, for crits as well as for assessment.

Assessment Criteria Assessment criteria and structures are outlined in each course, and calibrated according to the year you are studying in, the level you are at, different course requirements and projected outcomes or expectations. Please note that it is not only your final work/s that are assessed. The processes and ongoing explorations, research and practices or initiatives you engage in throughout the year are vital to your artistic development and therefore form part of the evaluation process. For this reason it is important that you record, archive and store all preparatory or process/research work appropriately and make it available at crits and formal assessments.

SAQA registered assessment outputs: •

decode and understand meanings, arguments and positions in visual, written and verbal texts

•

understand your own position in relation to debates, discourses and modes of professional art practice

•

critically evaluate and execute current forms of professional practice

•

begin to communicate your own lines of inquiry within professional practice

•

synthesise written, oral and visual information to articulate a clearly sustained argument/visual solutions

•

explain and use conventions of critical analysis of both written and visual texts

•

suggest and apply critical and innovative approaches in the scholarly and professional field

•

draw conclusions arising from research and practice and act upon this data

•

make the shift to self-directed, independent learning and development of critical practice

•

develop the ability to assess themselves in oral, written and visual modes

•

take initiative in shaping own learning situations and direction in studio practice

•

establish a pattern of goal-setting and time management with minimal supervision

•

be receptive, and respond appropriately, to feedback from lecturing staff and peers

•

work collaboratively and independently

•

value and demonstrate imagination and creativity

•

demonstrate competence, independence and originality in specific discipline knowledge and studio practice

•

acquire an in-depth understanding and practical knowledge of the chosen discipline or field of enquiry

•

demonstrate wide reading and visual production in a specialised area

•

be aware of contemporary debates in relation to established knowledge and professional practice

•

demonstrate the ability to critically engage in using, adapting and challenging academic and creative conventions

•

engage critically at a high level with concepts, texts and images

•

engage ambiguity, contradiction, indeterminacy and diversity

•

produce a body of creative work which meets the requirements of the School

•

engage in art practices outside of the academic institution

Evaluative bracketing A B C D F

75-100 68-74 60-67 50-59 0-49

excellent, outstanding, exceptional good to very good average to fair just meeting requirements of degree, below average inadequate, not meeting requirements of degree

Sub-minimum rule Unless specified otherwise in a course outline, a student will not be allowed to obtain credit for a course unless s/he achieves: •

a final mark of at least 50 percent for that course; and

•

a sub-minimum of 35 percent in each of the components of that course as well as in the summative assessment for that course.

Such a sub-minimum criterion applies only to components which contribute 25 percent or more towards a course, unless specified otherwise in the course outline. Summative assessment in this instance is assessment that regulates the progression of students by awarding marks at the conclusion of a course.

You will find University Rules and Syllabuses online here. Please also check the University policies on ICT and on Intellectual Property. Wits Plagiarism Policy

Overheard in the Gallery, 2022

fine arts

FIRST YEAR OF STUDY Fine Arts IA and IB Fine Arts IA and IB FINA1003A; FINA1004A Level: 100 Semester: One and Two Prerequisites: None Coordinator: Natasha Christopher natasha.christopher@wits.ac.za | 011 717 4629 | Room 320, Third Floor, WSOA ; Room 012A, Ground Floor, WSOA (during teaching hours) Period: B, C, D-Diagonals – see Fine Art timetable The Fine Arts Department is using a practice orientated timetable, that aims to prioritise your time towards course-directed and independent studio work and research. Contact time with lecturers is distributed over three diagonals, and shared with Drawing & Contemporary Practice over the week. Should you have any courses that clash with your allocated fine art classes, please notify your lecturers within the first week of the Semester. Over and above these course and contact hours, which are compulsory, you are expected to work independently to complete work for each course. This independent work is critical if the course outcomes are to be achieved. Friday afternoons are scheduled for longer crit sessions, research, events including departmental/School symposia and screenings, outings and independent work that happen across the undergraduate and postgraduate program.

First Year Studio The green studio (1st floor, Wits School of Arts building), will be your home this year not only for your studio courses in Fine Arts and Drawing & Contemporary Practice but a place where you can work on your own, store your equipment and materials, and interact with other students. Covid-19 protocols and rules apply. We value a responsible and mutually respectful attitude and will encourage suggestions, activities and projects which go beyond the set prescribed work for the course. Your course coordinator for the year will be assisted by a number of other lecturers and by senior postgraduate students. All the Fine Arts staff are available for personal consultation on any matter affecting your progress in the course. Please make appointments to see staff outside of class time – read the section on ‘Lines of Communication’ on page 8 in this regard.

Course description and Artwork assignments The aim of this foundation course is to introduce you to a broad field of contemporary Fine Arts practices and media, including Photography, Sculpture, Performance and Painting. The course consists of a series of artwork assignments in a variety of media and approaches, which are designed to cover a range of practices on both a technical and conceptual level. You will be working on campus and online, and you are encouraged to respond to the assignments in a way which both engages with the problems set, and which shows a creative independence. Detailed assignment briefs will be provided at the beginning of each course. Written assignment briefs will be presented at introductory studio sessions in which they will be more fully discussed, questions answered, and suggestions for research and supplementary material will be provided. It is absolutely COMPULSORY for you to attend these introductory sessions. Failure to attend these sessions will seriously jeopardise your successful completion of the assignment and lead to the issuing of an SP (Satisfactory Performance) warning letter. You are expected to keep to deadlines. Your work will be assessed in a number of ways: through the formal allocation of marks during and at the end of projects, in semester exams, and through a more informal process of discussion and debate. We see the study and creation of art as involving both a personal and introspective dimension, and a more public opening of your work and ideas to debate, discussion and comparison. For this reason it is absolutely necessary for you to be present during scheduled class times, and to participate in class discussions and crits.

Drawing & Contemporary Practice IA and IB Drawing & Contemporary Practice IA and IB FINA1005A; FINA1006A Level: 100 Semester: One and Two Prerequisites: None Coordinator: Natasha Christopher natasha.christopher@wits.ac.za | 011 717 4629 | Room 320, Third Floor, WSOA ; Room 012A, Ground Floor, WSOA (during teaching hours) Minimum 8 hours contact time per week. You will also need to work independently outside of these class times. Period: B, C, D-Diagonals – see timetable

Course Description Drawing & Contemporary Practice is an introductory course in drawing on a technical, conceptual and expanded level. During the first year program, emphasis is given to observational drawing and by implication, exploring a visual language through various techniques of and approaches to drawing, media and materials. The course deals with the basic qualities, tools and skills in drawing, such as tone and line, marks, spatial depth and volume, conventions of perspective and bodily representation. The program alternates between units that focus more on observational, analytical and perceptual drawing, and those that extend the language of drawing into more expressive and/or conceptual forms. The course engages with historical conventions and different material approaches to drawing, which may include compositional drawing in pen or charcoal, site specific drawing at varying scales, and extensions of drawing into printmaking and digital media. In addition, you will be introduced to basic web and digital media tools in a two week workshop.

Exhibition Crewing The installation of professional exhibitions is part of the learning gained in studying Fine Arts. First year students are strongly encouraged to get first-hand experience in the installation and running of exhibitions. Every First Year student is expected, within Covid-19 regulations, to assist in at least one of the School’s many exhibitions during the year, or to obtain the equivalent experience in one of the many museum, gallery and project spaces in the city.

Film, Visual and Performing Arts (FVPA) IA and IB Film, Visual and Performing Arts (FVPA) IA and IB WSOA1002A and WSOA1003A Level: 100 Semester: One and Two Prerequisites: None Academic Coordinator: Kate Bernberg Contact: info.fvpa@wits.ac.za | kate.bernberg@wits.ac.za Room 17B, Ground Floor, WSOA 011 717 4682 Course site on Ulwazi: https://ulwazi.wits.ac.za/courses/31139 All students entering First Year programs in the School, whether they are pursuing their studies in Digital Arts, Music, Film and Television, Fine Arts, Theatre and Performance or History of Art, will register for a foundational, interdisciplinary course: Film, Visual and Performing Arts (FVPA). You will receive a separate course guide setting out the programme and study material for the course. In this course you will be introduced to key concepts in the areas of Film, Drama, Music, Visual and Digital Arts, and to a range of art forms from these different modalities. Each unit is arranged according to two overarching themes; Representation (first semester), and Stereotyping/The Body, Sex and Race (second semester). Lectures and tutorials will explore the ways in which similar concepts are employed and exploited through different modalities across a variety of forms of art and performance, looking at both commonalities and differences. Through this exploration, students intending to major in specific ‘arts’ disciplines will gain a broad understanding of issues in the wider cultural sphere, which extends beyond the narrow confines of specialist studies, into our everyday lives, and our understanding of the world. Increasingly in the arts, discipline boundaries are being challenged and re-drawn. This course will give students a basis on which to assess such developments. The course will be taught by leading artists/academics from the Wits School of Arts. Details of the course in terms of structure, assessment, projects and so on are presented o n the course site on Ulwazi and in the course reader which is available from the IACS department administrator in room 17A in the Wits School of Arts.

first year Time Table

MON

08:00-08:45

09:00-09:45

B 10:15-11:00 r e a k E

11:15-12:00

B 12:30-13:15 r e a k D

FVPA TUES

Fine Arts I WED

Lunch

Staff meeting StaffMeeting

14:15-15:00

15:15-16:00

16:15-17:00

Drawing and Contemp Practice I D

FVPA

Drawing and Contemporary Practice I THURS

Fine Arts I

FVPA

Fine Arts I FRI

FVPA

DIVA TALKS StaffMeetin D C g Drawing and Contemp Practice I

Studio Practice/Crits/Exhibition Visits/Department-Peer Symposia/Reading Group/Independent Research/Screenings

Athini Rathebe, NEWWORK19, 2019

fine arts

SECOND YEAR OF STUDY Fine Arts IIA and IIB Fine Arts IIA and IIB FINA2003A; FINA2004A Level: 200 Semesters: One and Two Prerequisites: FINA 1003A, FINA1004A, WSOA 1002A, WSOA 1003A Coordinator: Joshua Williams joshua.williams@wits.ac.za | 011 717 4622 | Room 133A First Floor Contact Period: B, C, E-Diagonals – see timetable to be provided by the course coordinator. Please check for any clashes with other BA subjects. Studio: 2nd year studio, WSOA ground floor and various workshops/labs at WSOA

Aims and Objectives Fine Arts and Drawing & Contemporary Practice artwork assignments are closely aligned and set to function as complementary units. These courses will consolidate your First Year art studies and introduce you to new and advanced concepts, techniques and methods of working. Artwork assignments outlined for the various disciplines will prepare you for the more self-motivated and open methods, characteristic of your senior years of study.

Course Description The Fine Art part of the course will include Performativity and Installation, Sculpture Painting and Printmaking. Detailed outlines will be provided for each of these term-length units. Projects are set to include a high level of technical learning, as well as encouraging more conceptual, independent and creative responses. All projects require self-motivated research which should include extensive reading, discussion, visiting exhibitions, following up on references etc. This research should be evident in your notebooks, which will form an important part of assessment. As in the case of First Year studies your entire practical output will be examined in June and November by the academic staff of the Fine Arts Department. The Printmaking and Sculpture courses also seek to expand and develop your understanding of the technical and creative possibilities of these media in a historical and contemporary context.

Drawing & Contemporary Practice IIA and IIB Drawing & Contemporary Practice IIA and IIB FINA 2007A; FINA 2008A Level: 200 Semesters: One and Two Prerequisites: FINA 1003A, FINA1004A, WSOA 1002A, WSOA 1003A or by permission of Head of School Coordinator: Joshua Williams joshua.williams@wits.ac.za | 011 717 4622 | Room 133A First Floor Period: B, C, E-Diagonals – see timetable Studio: 2nd year studio, WSOA ground floor and various workshops/labs at WSOA

Course Description The Drawing & Contemporary Practice II course includes Drawing, Painting, Video and a more selfmotivated Independent Project in the last term. Projects will be introduced through presentations, readings, specific tasks, excursions and seminars. This Drawing unit expands the standard notion of drawing as a visual approximation of physical reference or representation, to one in which drawing becomes an open ended process, concretising thought, concept or feeling. You will explore drawing as a method of visual analysis, note- taking, data collection and space/ object design. Please note: As part of the requirements for your Drawing & Contemporary Practice II course you will be required to keep a notebook throughout the year which will be assessed alongside your practical work at both the June and the November assessments.

History of Art II HISTORY OF ART II HART 2003, HART 2004 Level: 200 Semesters: One and Two Prerequisites: WSOA 1002A, WSOA 1003A In the first semester of History of Art you will focus on Portrait (Figure) and Landscape. Please see the course outline provided by the History of Art department.

second year Time Table Please check details on course outlines as sessions for your Fine Arts and D&CP courses may be adjusted. If there are clashes with your BA subjects, inform the lecturer and course coordinator in the first week.

MON

08:00-08:45

09:00-09:45

B 10:15-11:00 r e a k E

History of Art II TUES

Lunch

14:15-15:00

Staff Meeting E

CTVCHI B

16:15-17:00

D&CPII A

History of Art II C

15:15-16:00

FINE ARTS II

History of Art II

Fine Arts II THURS

B 12:30-13:15 r e a k D

FINE ARTS II

D&CPII WED

11:15-12:00

FINE ARTS II A

D&CP II

FRI

History of Art II DIVA TALKS StaffMeetin E D D C B B CTVCHI B g Studio Practice/Independent Research Time/Exhibitions/ additional courses/ Peer Symposia-Reading Groups

Adrian Fortuin and Renaldo Swartz, Context and Display course HART 3006, 2019

fine arts

THIRD YEAR OF STUDY Fine Arts IIIA and IIIB Fine Arts IIIA and IIB FINA3009A; FINA3010A ls Third year Fine Arts Level: 300 Semester: One and two Pre-requisites: FINA3009A and FINA3010A (2nd Year Fine Arts) Coordinator: Professor David Andrew David.Andrew@wits.ac.za, 011-717 4636, Room 320, 3rd Floor, WSOA building Period: A+C+D Diagonals – see timetable

Preamble The outcome of the third year Fine Arts course is to produce an independent body of work – creative research - with the guidance of a supervisor. Here the focus of the course is to build and demonstrate a critical practice in your creative research through the production and submission of a body of practical work. Given that we are working in a period of varying pandemic lockdown and associated regulations, much of what is written below has to be understood in this context. Furthermore, given that the focus is independent practice, the outcomes are very often ones that you develop in conjunction with your supervisor. This is at the heart of the radical heterogeneity that the course seeks to open up in the third and fourth years of study. As such, the third year of study represents a distinct shift as you move from the course/unit-based practices experienced in first and second year to a form of teaching and learning where you are leading the process. Of course, there have been many instances during the early years of your degree where you have worked more independently; most of the projects framed by lecturers have offered opportunities for you to explore your own interests and develop your practices. The independent projects you experienced in the fourth quarters of both your first and second year programs are further examples of the kinds of practice that will be central to your third year Fine Arts course and Fourth Year.

Contact Periods Notwithstanding the pandemic conditions under which we are working, studio time takes place over the three diagonals on the timetable. We expect you to be working in the studio – or on the many sites that your practice requires – on a regular and consistent full-time basis, except when you are attending other lectures and tutorials. Contact times are a formal requirement and you are expected to be in your studios or on site for consultations with your supervisor. These consultation times will be discussed with you in the first week of the first quarter. They are a formal requirement and you are expected to consult with your supervisor at least twice a quarter, be present at two crits a semester and submit work for an exam once a semester. The course is a full-time programme. Attendance and full participation is necessary to fulfill the requirements of the degree.

Course Description Given the expanding range of activity which constitutes contemporary Fine Arts practice and the diverse ways in which a student’s work will develop, the third year course will be taught through a supervisor system. In this system students are allocated to a lecturer/ supervisor on the basis of discipline focus and personal interests. The allocation of supervisors is a carefully considered process involving both staff and students. The supervision sessions/consultations provide an opportunity for rigorous critique, debate and presentation of ongoing work. Assessment – including self- assessment – is ongoing and integral to this process. The Fine Arts Third Year programme is divided into two semesters. The course demands a rigorous and focussed engagement with creative practice as research. This is importantly an independent creative research driven process, where students are tasked with the challenge of developing a body of work over the duration of a year. This independent practice at Third Year level is developed in conversation with your supervisor and with the support of the technicians in the department.

Course Aims and Expectations Third year Fine Arts is aimed at self-directed and independent learning and the development of a critical studio practice as creative research. You are required to make the shift from the project orientated teaching of the first and second year towards the setting of your own project and the development of an independent body of work in your chosen area of study. Your chosen area of study could be medium-based, or it could be project-based. Each student, in discussion with their lecturer/supervisor, delineates a course of creative research objectives to pursue. You will need to focus your creative research in terms of questions of medium, conceptual / aesthetic focus and location within, or relationships to, existing similar forms of practice. This requires an active engagement and knowledge of the specific field in which you choose to situate yourself. This active engagement is an important part of articulating a research area and in developing a critical awareness of that research area. Teaching is by way of continuous critique, evaluation and assessment of work-in-progress and final submission of work (s). Supervisor will give you feedback and guidance on your work. Make sure that you prepare thoroughly for these meetings. The supervisory process and wider assessment procedure sets the terms through which each student builds and consolidates the area of study initiated and partly established in the earlier years of study. Central to this process is to understand as fully as possible the historical and contemporary dimensions of your specific research area, and be able to critically situate your creative research within its relevant field. Even though the course comprises two semesters - each autonomous and assessed independently - the year is seen as a continuum. Continuity is necessary to best manage the scope of your project and attain the depth needed for consolidated work in the field. As contemporary art is to a large degree defined as a particular form of responsiveness to ‘the present’, it is critical that you visit current exhibitions, read contemporary art journals and generally engage with contemporary culture. Scheduled talks, lectures and events also play an important part in developing critical perspectives. You are also required to keep a research/study file for the year. This should include documentation of research informing your studio practice – e.g. notes and sketches of ideas for works, references, photographs, invites and crits of current exhibitions you have seen, commentary on talks and lectures you have attended. This file is to be submitted with the rest of your work at exams. 46

In addition, you are obliged to produce an independent work for the Wits Young Artist Award which is to be included in your body of work for the second semester. The call for submissions for the WYYA will be made in the second quarter of the first semester – this is something that you should be thinking about from the beginning of the year.

Course Outcomes As noted, in third year you are required to make the shift from the project orientated teaching of first and second year towards self-directed and independent learning and the development of a critical practice. This will entail a considerable intellectual and conceptual adjustment – focus your energies here. The following provides a summary of the general outcomes of third year study – what we expect you to achieve. This outlines the goals you should be working towards and is intended to assist you in assessing your own progress. A key aspect of being aware of these outcomes is that students develop a self-criticality and individual responsibility for their performance in the course.

Qualifying students will be able to: Take initiative in shaping the direction of their creative research, i.e. identifying an area of interest in their creative research and presenting an appropriate material manifestation of that area of interest, so as to: •

demonstrate competence in discipline-specific knowledge in studio practice, and, where relevant, reflect familiarity with the critical concerns of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity

•

be receptive and responsive to feedback from peers and lecturers

•

develop the ability for self-assessment in oral, written and visual form

•

demonstrate wide reading and informed knowledge in relation to specialised fields of practice

•

show awareness of contemporary debates in relation to established knowledge in the field and professional art practice

•

reflect understanding of their personal positions in relation to debates in contemporary art and culture

•

present their work on a professional level

Assessment The assessment in Fine Arts 3A and 3B is not based on a rubric. Rather, the academic staff tasked with assessing the work will in the first instance engage with the work, and understand the agenda that it sets. Assessment holistically assesses the work based on the prerogatives and priorities delineated or articulated by the student and as suggested by the work itself. In this sense it is similar to a form of postgraduate work, where the candidate sets the research question, and the research methodology and this becomes the basis for assessing the work. Formal assessment is in the form of two crits, or reviews, of work each term and an end- of-semester exam that takes place at the end of the second and fourth terms. For formal crits students present their work to each other, to the staff, and in certain instances to other academics and/or professionals in the field. Presentation of the work submitted for these crits is expected to be of a high professional standard. All requirements for crits and end-of-semester exhibitions must be fulfilled as a Satisfactory Performance (SP) requirement. Assessments are marked in two forms. The crits, and in certain instances workshops, contribute to the unit mark. The unit mark constitutes 40% of the total mark. The exam mark comprises the remaining 60% of the overall mark. The exam (both June and November) is assessed by an external moderator and/or examiner.

In addition to the above, students are assessed on their ability to: •

understand the formal and discursive factors critical to the production and reception of their artwork, e.g. space, context, presentation, materiality

•

conceptualise and translate a research topic into material form in a way that demonstrates formal resolution and technical mastery

•

engage with the public context in which their work is shown

•

meet challenges arising out of the direction of their own work and class or group projects

Crit Assessment For crits you will be required to present your work to a group of peers and lecturers (assessors). By this we mean you will have your work displayed to its best advantage in an appropriate space whether this be in your studio, the school building or elsewhere in the WSOA precinct. Given that we continue to work in a time of pandemic, we will also consider whether crits will take place online. Please note that these assessments will be marked and that these marks will contribute to your coursework mark. These coursework marks will also inform the assessment process in the July and November-December exams.

Exam Assessment The exams are scheduled twice a year, at the end of each semester. Your approach to the exam should be consistent with and meaningful to the work that you do. It should be an integral and meaningful ‘submission’ or ‘publication’ of the creative research that you pursue in the semester. While there are a range of choices for you to consider, the exam should take the form of an exhibition or submission of a portfolio for review. We will be prioritising in person exams where you will exhibit your work in a space on campus. You need to submit all work produced during the semester. While you may decide to edit your work and curate that which best articulates your development and resolution up to the end of each semester, you must have all works available for examination. This is critical; if we are to fairly assess you, we can only make a judgement on the basis of all the information. You do not want to be penalised on what might seem to be too little work, not enough engagement, progress, or whatever, in the absence of evidence to the contrary. If there are ‘unrealised’, abandoned or ephemeral works (such as performances, for example) that are not part of your presentation, you should provide some form of documentation for your submission.

Crit and Exam Presentation Presentation is a critical component of the exam process, in all its aspects, from the completion of individual pieces to the manner in which they are installed in the space chosen or allocated – of course this includes the online space. You need to be aware that you will not simply be assessed on the merit of individual work but also on the configuration of your works in a chosen space. In short, you need to think of the practice of making and the practice of curation as interdependent. The quarterly crit presentations and reviews are there to provide you with the opportunity to ‘practice’ display, presentation and curation. These sessions are focused on the resolution of your ideas, which should be seen as integral to your working process.

Supplementary Material Your research/study file must also be submitted. You are also encouraged to submit other support material that you feel gives insight into your working process. This includes sketchbooks, journals, exploratory material, drawings and documentation. Your work should be accompanied by a short proposal and/or a brief text on your ideas and research. Even though November assessment constitutes the examination of the unit of the Second Semester, students can and indeed should show work from the first semester so as to reflect the genesis of their practice. It is important that this assessment reflects a body of work as covering a full year, notwithstanding the focus of the assessment on selection, and on work produced in the second semester.

Drawing & Contemporary Practice IIIA and IIIB Drawing & Contemporary Practice IIIA and IIIB FINA 3011A - FINA 3012A Level: 300 Semester: One and Two Prerequisites: FINA2007A and FINA2008A Coordinator: Bettina Malcomess (Semester 1) Contact: bettina.malcomess@wits.ac.za, Room 315, 3rd Floor, WSOA, 011 717 4609 Contact Periods: B-Diagonal, plus additional sessions – see timetable. You will also be required to work independently outside of these class times.

Course Description The Third Year Drawing & Contemporary Practice program runs parallel to the Third Year Fine Arts major. The course takes an expansive view on drawing and includes workshops, research projects and artist ‘laboratories’ that explore current issues relating to the urban, campus, the natural and built ‘environment’ and ecological and social context. Drawing is treated both as a medium in itself and as a tool for reflection, reference, process, preparatory work, and as a way of thinking through form and site. The course aims to explore drawing practices that go beyond these parameters and beyond the boundaries of the institution, as a form of site-specific practice. Emphasis is on a critical and active artistic practice, and on relational and participatory modes of working within the urban / peri-urban / campus / natural environment. Integral to the course is group collaboration and weekly process based outcomes. Long term projects are encouraged, as is the development of one’s Fine Arts practice through a series of parallel experiments that enter into conversation with each student’s independent Fine Arts practice. The course requires that students be agile and receptive to complexities of sites outside the studio, as well as demonstrate the ability to adapt a variety of modes of working to different kinds of public encounter.

Course Requirements

In Third Year, you are required to: •

attend all compulsory or elected studio sessions, demonstrations, workshops and lectures (refer to timetable and groups)

•

take responsibility for time management and setting goals (start planning your time now!)

•

work collaboratively and responsibly within a group

•

be receptive to and respond appropriately to feedback from peers

•

attend local exhibitions and related cultural events on a regular basis

•

demonstrate wide reading and research in relation to a specialised field of practice

•

be aware of contemporary debates in relation to established knowledge and professional art practice

•

understand your own position in relation to debates within modes of professional practice but also new insights into ecologies as relational forms

Course Outcomes Qualifying students will be able to: •

demonstrate a critical understanding of the conceptual, social and discursive issues involved in the course

•

reflect critically on their production and draw links between the work for this course and their major

Assessment You will be assessed on the following: •

An understanding of the factors that contribute to the reading/s of the work, e.g. space, context, ecology etc.

•

A manifest awareness of the critical context – historical/contemporary; international/ local and ecological/ technological – that informs the practical work

•

The conceptual, formal and technical resolution of the work produced

•

Level of engagement in class and critical assessment sessions

•

Ability to meet challenges arising out of studio assignments and workshops and develop a responsive working creative methodology

•

Ability to problem solve with relative independence and in groups

•

The depth and thoroughness of your research and commitment to process

•

The consideration of site specific and other relevant factors in the conceptualisation and realisation of the studio briefs

•

You will be individually assessed for each project; these marks will form your unit mark and will count towards your final mark. As with your major, improvements, reworking of projects – where, and if appropriate will enable you to better that mark. HOWEVER, you will find that much of the work you do in this course is on a ‘one-off’ basis and as part of a group. As such, how you perform in the process is critical, as is the thorough documentation and representation of the work for assessment.

History of Art IIID History of Art IIID HART 3005, 3006, 3007, 3008 Level: 300 Semester: One and Two Prerequisites: FINA2007A and FINA2008A,HART 2003, HART 2004 Coordinator: Greer Valley, History of Art I greer.valley@wits.ac.za I 011 717 487 Methods and Approaches to Art: The course will emphasize key concepts and developments that are part of a global contemporary art discourse and examine the histories and lineages that have informed the many ways that art is made today. This course is positioned from the point of view that artistic production and the understanding of what is incorporated into the discipline “Art History” has moved away from dominant Western modes of scholarship and practice to the idea of a connected global field. The class will critically examine a variety of interpretive methods associated with the practice of art history, such as formalism, iconography, social history, feminism, semiotics, deconstruction, visual culture studies, postcolonialism and decolonial theory. The course also deals with learning how to do academic research and by the end of the module, students will have developed their skills in visual analysis, reading, research, writing, and argumentation. A reading and resource list of relevant texts, films and other resources is provided at the start of the semester that will further extend students’ understanding of the ideas, theories and methods presented during the lectures. You will be provided with a detailed course outline by the History of Art Department.

Reading the Contemporary In the Second Semester you will be attending the course unit Reading the Contemporary. Lecturer: Bettina Malcomess Contact details: bettina.malcomess@wits.ac.za |Room 315, 3rd floor, WSOA Reading the Contemporary consists of a seminar and lecture series that converge and diverge around critical theory and conceptual art in the 1960s, tracing the histories of dematerialisation, minimalism and postmodernism and the impacts of the cold war on cultural production in non-aligned African countries. The course covers the shift from modernist art history to post-structuralism, feminism, pan-africanism and and critical race theory, with a focus on broader cultural shifts in post-indepenence art in the global south, information technology and the idea of site/environment in practices from Fluxus to contemporary performance art. The course is intended as a bridge between Third Year History of Art and the Critical Theories | Visual Cultures course and the writing of your Research paper in Fourth Year. It emphasises situated and decolonial modes of critique and methods of close reading, introducing students to a range of contemporary forms of writing, and transmedial visual, sonic, filmic, print practices and visual cultures. The course places an emphasis on ecology and the history of technology as ways to think against inherited hegemonies.

Structure and Methodology The course allows for lecturers to both deliver content as well as space for student led research and seminar presentations. Weekly sessions are structured by a mix of lectures, class discussions and group and individual exercises and seminars to provide a scaffolding towards the final course outcome, which takes the form of an essay, an interview, a review or another creative form of writing discussed with your lecturers. This course has been developed as a direct response to the need for reevaluating and rethinking the inherited modes of education established and entrenched in the university system. The methodologies of the course are as follows: •

Student-led and student-directed learning in order to enable each student to pursue their particular interest areas.

•

Broader offerings of subject areas made possible by multiple facilitators.

•

A focus on forms of writing and close reading methods and ways of constructing an argument

•

Smaller focus and discussion groups where there is more space for sharing ideas.

•

Assessments structured in order to give students a variety of opportunities for utilising their own strengths

Vincent Baloyi, Everything Under the Sun, 2016

third year Time Table

MON

08:00-08:45

09:00-09:45

B 10:15-11:00 r e a k E

B 12:30-13:15 r e a k D

Fine Arts III THURS

History of Art III

16:15-17:00

D FINE

FINE ARTS III E

D and E C Practice III E

History of Art III

D and C Practice III C

15:15-16:00

FINE ARTS III D

Fine Arts III FRI

14:15-15:00

HOA III

D and C Practice III WED

Lunch

Staff Meeting

History of Art III

Fine Arts III TUES

11:15-12:00

DIVA TALKS StaffMeetin g

Studio Practice/Independent Research Time/Exhibition/Department-Peer Symposia

FINE ARTS III B

D and B C Practice IIIB D AND C PRACTICE III D and C Practice III

Pebofatso Mokoena, NEWWORK21, 2021

wyaa

WITS YOUNG ARTIST AWARD The Wits Young Artist Award (WYAA) is supported by TPO and the Wits School of Arts as a platform for both acknowledging and giving exposure to new and provocative work by senior students of the Wits Fine Art Department. The award currently consists of three prizes, a first prize and two merit awards. Submission of work for the WYAA is compulsory for all students in their third and fourth year of study. A brief call for proposals/work is released in second term of the first semester, for students to begin working on their proposed projects. Once submitted, all work goes through a rigorous selection process, run by an independent curator/curatorial team and invited adjudicators. Selected work featuring shortlisted artists is presented in a group exhibition - in situ and online. During the opening of the exhibition, an adjudication process by a panel of experts working within the creative industry leads to the announcement of a winner, and two merit-award winners. Previous award-winners include: Jane Alexander (1982), Alan Alborough (1986), Kaolin Thomson (1996), Frances Goodman (1997), Reshma Chhiba and Lester Adams (joint winners 2003), Gabrielle Goliath (2007), Alexandra Makhlouf (2008, 2009), Alexander Richards and Buhlebezwe Siwani (joint winners 2010), Nyakallo Maleke (2014), Siyanda Mhlambi (2015), Dineo Diphofa (2016), Yolanda Mthombeni (2017); Kundai Moyo (2018); Adrian Fortuin (2019); Vick Bester (2020); and Aneesah Girie (2021). TPO Website | Mail&Guardian - WYAA 2020

Sue Pam-Grant, SHE Lines, 2020 56

fine arts

FOURTH YEAR OF STUDY Fine Arts IVA and IVB Fine Arts IVA and IVB FINA4012A; FINA4013A Level: 400 Semester: One and Two Prerequisites: FINA3009A and FINA3010A Coordinator: Zen Marie Contact: zen.marie@wits.ac.za | 011 717 4621 | Room 321, Third Floor, WSOA Period: A+C+D Diagonals – see timetable

Preamble The outcome of the fourth year Fine Arts course is to produce an independent body of work – creative research - with the guidance of a supervisor. Here the focus of the course is to build and demonstrate a critical practice in your creative research through the production and submission of a body of practical work. Given that we are working in a period of varying pandemic lockdown and associated regulations, much of what is written below has to be understood in this context. Furthermore, given that the focus is independent practice, the outcomes are very often ones that you develop in conjunction with your supervisor. This is at the heart of the radical heterogeneity that the course seeks to open up in this final year of of study. As such, the fourth year of study represents a distinct shift as you move from the course/unit-based practices experienced in first and second year to a form of teaching and learning where you are leading the process. Of course, there have been many instances during the early years of your degree where you have worked more independently; most of the projects framed by lecturers have offered opportunities for you to explore your own interests and develop your practices. The independent projects you experienced in course of your degree are further examples of the kinds of practice that will be central to your fourth year Fine Arts course and Fourth Year.

Contact Periods Notwithstanding the pandemic conditions under which we are working, studio time takes place over the three diagonals on the timetable. We expect you to be working in the studio – or on the many sites that your practice requires – on a regular and consistent full-time basis, except when you are attending other lectures and tutorials. Contact times are a formal requirement and you are expected to be in your studios or on site for consultations with your supervisor. These consultation times will be discussed with you in the first week of the first quarter. They are a formal requirement, and you are expected to consult with your supervisor at least twice a term, be present at two crits a semester and submit work for an exam once a semester. The course is a full-time programme. Attendance and full participation is necessary to fulfil the requirements of the degree.

Course Description Given the expanding range of activity which constitutes contemporary Fine Arts practice and the diverse ways in which a student’s work will develop, the fourth year course will be taught through a supervisor system. In this system students are allocated to a lecturer/ supervisor on the basis of discipline focus and personal interests. The allocation of supervisors is a carefully considered process involving both staff and students. The supervision sessions/consultations provide an opportunity for rigorous critique, debate and presentation of ongoing work. Assessment – including self- assessment – is ongoing and integral to this process. The Fine Arts Fourth Year programme is divided into two semesters. The course demands a rigorous and focussed engagement with creative practice as research. This is importantly an independent creative research driven process, where students are tasked with the challenge of developing a body of work over the duration of a year. This independent practice at Fourth Year level is developed in conversation with your supervisor and with the support of the technicians in the department.

Course Aims and Expectations Fourth year Fine Arts is aimed at self-directed and independent learning and the development of a critical studio practice as creative research. You are required to build on the creative practice of your third year towards deepening and expanding your work as artists. This is the final year of your degree and should build on all of the ideas and practices developed thus far in producing a body of work over the course of the year. Each student, in discussion with their lecturer/supervisor, delineates a course of creative research objectives to pursue. You will need to focus your creative research in terms of questions of medium, conceptual / aesthetic focus and location within, or relationships to, existing similar forms of practice. This requires an active engagement and knowledge of the specific field in which you choose to situate yourself. This active engagement is an important part of articulating a research area and in developing a critical awareness of that research area. Teaching is by way of continuous critique, evaluation and assessment of work-in-progress and final submission of work (s). Supervisor will give you feedback and guidance on your work. Make sure that you prepare thoroughly for these meetings. The supervisory process and wider assessment procedure sets the terms through which each student builds and consolidates the area of study initiated and partly established in the earlier years of study. Central to this process is to understand as fully as possible the historical and contemporary dimensions of your specific research area, and be able to critically situate your creative research within its relevant field. Even though the course comprises two semesters - each autonomous and assessed independently - the year is seen as a continuum. Continuity is necessary to best manage the scope of your project and attain the depth needed for consolidated work in the field. As contemporary art is to a large degree defined as a particular form of responsiveness to ‘the present’, it is critical that you visit current exhibitions, read contemporary art journals and generally engage with contemporary culture. Scheduled talks, lectures and events also play an important part in developing critical perspectives. You are invited to submit an independent work for the Wits Young Artist Award. The call for submissions for the WYYA will be made in the second term of the first semester.

Course Outcomes As noted, in fourth year you are required to build on the work already started in third year and consolidate this in producing a new body of work. This does not have to be a literal continuation of the same project, but it is important to build on, deepen and nuance the ideas, forms, processes and practice initiated in the first three years of your degree. In this final year of your degree, the expectations of the work are more exacting than in third year. It is expected that you more fully understand the coordinates of your practice, historically, and in the present. It is expected that there is more rigour and consideration of your creative practice and its related processes. This outlines the goals you should be working towards and is intended to assist you in assessing your own progress. A key aspect of being aware of these outcomes is that students develop a self-criticality and individual responsibility for their performance in the course. Qualifying students will be able to: Be functionally independent in conceptualising, researching, actioning and reflecting on creative research or creative practice. This includes the ability to: •

demonstrate competence in discipline-specific knowledge in studio practice, and, where relevant, reflect familiarity with the critical concerns of interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity

•

be receptive and responsive to feedback from peers and lecturers

•

develop the ability for self-assessment in oral, written and visual form

•

demonstrate wide reading and informed knowledge in relation to specialised fields of practice

•

show awareness of contemporary debates in relation to established knowledge in the field and professional art practice

•

reflect understanding of their personal positions in relation to debates in contemporary art and culture

•

present their work on a professional level

Assessment The assessment in Fine Arts 4A and 4B is not based on a rubric. Rather the academic staff tasked with assessing the work will in the first instance engage with the work, and understand the agenda that it sets. Assessment holistically assesses the work based on the prerogatives and priorities delineated or articulated by the student and as suggested by the work itself. In this sense it is similar to a form of postgraduate work, where the candidate sets the research question, and the research methodology and this becomes the basis for assessing the work. Formal assessment is in the form of two crits or reviews of work each term and an end- of-semester exam that takes place at the end of the second and fourth quarters. For formal crits students present their work to each other, to the staff, and in certain instances to other academics and/or professionals in the field. Presentation of the work submitted for these crits is expected to be of a high professional standard. All requirements for crits and end-of-semester exhibitions must be fulfilled as a Satisfactory Performance (SP) requirement. Assessments are marked in two forms. The crits, and in certain instances workshops, contribute to the unit mark. The unit mark constitutes 40% of the total mark. The exam mark comprises the remaining 60% of the overall mark. The exam (both June and November) is assessed by an external moderator and/or examiner.

In addition to the above, students are assessed on their ability to: •

understand the formal and discursive factors critical to the production and reception of their artwork, e.g. space, context, presentation, materiality

•

conceptualise and translate a research topic into material form in a way that demonstrates relevant research and technical proficiency

•

engage with the public context in which their work is shown

•

meet challenges arising out of the direction of their own work and class or group projects

Exam Assessment The exams are scheduled twice a year, at the end of each semester. Your approach to the exam should be consistent with and meaningful to the work that you do. It should be an integral and meaningful ‘submission’ or ‘publication’ of the creative research that you pursue in the semester. While there are a range of choices for you to consider, the exam should take the form of an exhibition or submission of a portfolio for review. We will be prioritising in person exams where you will exhibit your work in a space on campus. You will curate, edit and submit a selection of your work that best represents your progress at the point of exam. The work will be engaged with and assessed in all of the complexity that the work comes with. This means that we take seriously every choice that is made as a meaningful and important one. Part of the assessment is to understand if the work is doing what it sets out to do. This is not simply a question of ‘intentionality’ but more so a question of how the work itself functions as a proposition or a statement of intent.

Supplementary Material It is for you to decide on what is included in your final submissions. Your research/study file may be submitted with your work, but how you do this and when -if at all – is a choice that you need to make in conversation with the work itself. In many ways this is a matter of curation. Feel free to submit any other support material that you feel gives insight into your working process. This includes sketchbooks, journals, exploratory material, drawings and documentation. Your work should be accompanied by a short proposal and/or a brief text on your ideas and research. Even though November assessment constitutes the examination of the unit of the Second Semester, students can and indeed should show work from the first semester so as to reflect the genesis of their practice. It is important that this assessment reflects a body of work as covering a full year, notwithstanding the focus of the assessment on selection, and on work produced in the second semester.

Critical Theories and Visual Cultures Critical Theories and Visual Cultures FINA4017A Research Project FINA4015A Level: 400 Semester: One and Two Prerequisites: HART3005A, HART3006A, HART3007A, HART3008A Coordinator: Gabrielle Goliath Contact: gabrielle.goliath@wits.ac.za | 011 717 4609, Room 316, 3rd Floor, WSOA

Aim In Critical Theories & Visual Cultures (CTVC), 4th Year and Honours students are encouraged to engage with shifting temporal, sociopolitical and geographic drifts, tributaries and movements within expressive cultures, with a focus on South Africa, Africa and the African diaspora. The course is geared towards honing and deepening critical analytical, theoretical and reading skills; and these as oriented towards both the textual as well as a more expanded field of theoretical practice (as haptic and affective). Course participants are asked to think of theory and practice as entangled and mutually informing operations, as opposed to discrete intellectual/aesthetic pursuits. Titled Disobedient Histories/Fugitive Aesthetics, the first quarter course presents a critical rethinking of representation. Working with the notion of ‘fugitive disobedience’, the course design and reading material follows a range of black feminist, queer, ethical, decolonial, and ecological ‘turns’ within critical art theory, and the seismic and ongoing effects of these movements on the field of aesthetics. Lectures, seminars and assignments encourage course participants to think through, play with, and apply to art practice a range of interrelated theoretical frameworks, such as: racializing assemblages, black women’s geographies, genres of the human, colonial inscription and postcolonial conscription, excess flesh, decolonial and glitch feminisms, black feminist poethics, Afro-fabulation, black dada, black aesthetics, decolonial aesthesis, hapticity, decolonial healing, and beauty as a method. The second quarter course sits in close relation to the material covered in the first quarter, addressing notions of representation from points of paradox and rupture. The focus here is on the aftermaths, after-workings and ‘impossibilities’ of representing violence and trauma. How do we think about and work with the limits of representation, which is to say the ways in which language (in its various modalities) falters and ‘fails’ in its capacity to represent and make shareable experiences of violence, trauma and pain? Class engagement around this paradox of the representation of trauma tracks questions of documentation and witness, from such historical catastrophes as racial slavery, colonialism, the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide and the Ovaherero and Nama Genocide, to more incremental ‘everyday’ experiences of racialised, gendered, sexualised, ableist, ethnic, nationalised and economised violence. Central to the course is the question of what artmaking practices (in the most capacious sense) can afford us, open-up and enable, in relation to lived experiences of difficulty, even impossibility. CTVC provides an important entry point for those who wish to continue to Masters. The standard expected of this course is equivalent to any 4th year of academic study. Participants will already have completed the FVPA course in First Year and subsequently two years of History of Art. CTVC builds on previous courses in Art History as well as research and reading undertaken during studio-based courses, deepening understanding of art theory, history and practice.

CTVC is a reading intensive course and requires independent student-driven research. The course includes lectures, guest presentations, set readings, reading presentations and creative/written assignments. Details are available in the course outline, and both quarter courses have dedicated readers which provide a useful resource for the 2nd Semester Research Paper.

Outcomes •

develop analytical skills (visual and textual)

•

develop capacity to structure an argument/analysis

•

develop close-reading and comprehension skills

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develop research capacity and language skills (oral and written)

•

develop skills to situate arguments/analysis within a relevant theoretical framework(s)

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encourage integration of studio practice(s) and formal academic work

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deepen knowledge of local, African, African diasporic and international art practices and theory

Format •

Weekly Lectures (online)

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Guest Lectures (online)

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Weekly Set Readings

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Reading Seminars (on campus / venue TBC)

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Assignments: written & experimental

Lebogang Mabusela, Occupation, 2016

elective Professional Practice in Fine Arts Professional Practice in Fine Arts FINA 4016A Level: 400 Semester: One Coordinator: Tracey Rose Contact: Tracey.Rose@wits.ac.za | Room 317, Third Floor, WSOA

Course outline Professional Practice is an elective that aims to develop critical and engaged perspectives within the visual arts. The course will include practice-based engagements as well as seminar-based discussions on key areas and case studies within an ever-shifting landscape of artistic production. A core starting point for the course will be to critically analyse the forms and structures included in the visual arts. In this process we will look at various forms of arts organisations and different ways of practicing as an artist. Important in this process will be to think strategically about how you wish to position yourself within the visual arts sector or industry. Integral to Professional Practice is the conceptualization of the annual NEWWORK Graduation project. It is a moment that draws together all the necessary elements presented in the course of professional practice teaching. Students should be able to manage and run the NEWWORK22 project and all its aspects professionally, collectively and timeously. The NEWWORK project is strategically employed to develop practical aspects like self-organising in areas like branding, marketing, proposal writing for grants and design. A certain number of sessions and assignments will be designed with the aim of practical application towards running NEWWORK 2022. While an academic member of staff convenes the course, it is expected that as senior students in their last year of study you will be active in identifying and developing individual goals and areas of focus that are relevant to your specific research areas and projected career trajectories.

fourth year Time Table Please check course outlines of Critical Theories and Visual Cultures and Professional Practice for more details.

MON

08:00-08:45

09:00-09:45

B 10:15-11:00 r e a k E

Prof Prac IV TUES

14:15-15:00

15:15-16:00

16:15-17:00

Fine Arts IV D

CTVCB

CTVC C

Fine Arts IV

CTVC

Fine Arts IV FRI

Lunch

Staff Meeting

Fine Arts IV THURS

B 12:30-13:15 r e a k D

Prof Prac IV

Fine Arts IV WED

11:15-12:00

CTVC

CTVC B

DIVA TALKS StaffMeetin C g

A CTVC

Prof Prac IV B

Studio Practice/Independent Research Time/Exhibition/Department-Peer Symposia-Reading Groups

Pebofatso Mokoena, NEWWORK21, 2021

arts education course

Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) Visual Arts - Methodology (FINA 5019A) Visual Arts - Teaching Experience (FINA 5020A) Learning Area Studies: Arts and Culture (EDUC 5188A) Learning Area Teaching Experience: Arts and Culture (EDUC 5011A) Level: 500 Semester: One and Two Prerequisites: A BAFA degree or equivalent, by permission of Head of School Coordinator: Theresa Giorza (Wits School of Education) Contact: theresa.giorza@wits.ac.za The Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) is a qualification that allows students to teach the Visual Arts and Creative Arts subjects at secondary school level. Historically this qualification was taught by lecturers from the Department of Fine Arts and since 2020 is now delivered by colleagues in the Wits School of Education (WSOE). Should you have any queries about the course please approach Professor David Andrew or Rangoato Hlasane.

Contact Periods There are two sessions per week of two hours duration for the Visual Arts Methodology course. Students meet twice a week for the Learning Area Studies: Arts and Culture course (2 hours for each session). The Teaching Experience course takes place for one week in the first quarter, three weeks in the second quarter and six weeks in the Third quarter.

Outcome of Course This Art Education course, incorporating FINA 5019 (Visual Arts Methodology), EDUC 5188A (Learning Area Studies: Arts and Culture), FINA 5020 and EDUC 5011(Teaching Experience), will enable the student to demonstrate conceptual and creative practical and art historical teaching skills, knowledge and values in a range of different art/s education situations. The course aims to enable teachers to act as critical agents for Arts and Culture education in various teaching and learning situations, including the public sphere. Students will demonstrate the ability to teach and learn as critically reflective practitioners while working in increasingly creative and innovative ways. The course seeks to extend the participant’s subject knowledge base and range of pedagogical strategies for teaching and learning.

Course Format The first two quarters will concentrate on establishing the necessary platform upon which each artisteducator will be required to position themselves with respect to their role in art/s education. This part of the course will involve interactive sessions within the Department of Fine Arts at the Wits School of Arts and Wits School of Education, and with other institutions and individuals. While drawing on a great deal of international literature, the primary focus of the course will be to locate us within a Southern African context. To this end, students will be required to engage in primary research and materials development and to engage critically with recent National and Provincial Department policy decisions.

The nature of the lectures during the course will model, as far as possible, the interactive and experiential approaches recommended for the teaching Arts and Culture and the subject, Visual Art. At all times during the course there will be an emphasis on theory informing, and being embedded, in practice. This will be promoted as a teaching and learning methodology in which the reciprocity of “making” and “reading” is foregrounded. The course aims to develop art/s educators capable of contributing to and leading a radically transformed art/s education practice that challenges current orthodoxies and reconceptualises what art/s education might become in the twenty-first century. The outline refers generally to Visual Arts Education. This should be seen in the context of a broader, integrated Arts and Culture Education approach. Students will be placed in positions where they are able to test that which they have explored in “lecturetype” situations by establishing ties with the Wits Art Museum, the Origins Centre, Johannesburg Art Gallery, other galleries, and school and non-governmental organisations, such as the FUNDA Community College. The FINA 5019 course is complemented and informed by the EDUC 5093 (Learning Area Studies: Arts and Culture) and the two teaching experience courses FINA 5020 and EDUC 5101. You will receive a detailed course outline for the Arts and Culture Methodology course during week one of the academic year. Students are encouraged to use material covered in their other Methodology and Education courses to support their Art Education studies.

Satisfactory Performance Requirements Students are required to attend 80% of the timetabled sessions in the first, second and fourth quarters. During the Teaching Experience courses you are required to be present for the entire teaching programme in your designated school/s (100%). Students who are absent will be excused if they produce a doctor’s certificate. Similarly, students who fail to hand in written assignments on time, or who request extensions must produce a doctor’s certificate or an equivalent.

Expectations Records of student attendance at timetabled sessions will be kept. The course will be examined on the assumption that students have been attending lectures regularly. Reading matter is made available for each area of the course. The onus is on students to read all material, and the course will be assessed on the assumption that students have engaged with the literature. Students will be expected to be familiar with the material presented in lectures and workshops and to be able to discuss issues that have been raised. You will be expected to have both a specific and a broad knowledge of the material covered in the course and to be able to apply theoretical frameworks to a discussion of that material. Students will be required to do particular readings for some discussion groups, and to be able to enter debate on these readings and on issues raised in the lectures and workshops within the discussion groups. Students are expected to arrive on time for classes. The expectations for written work are the same as for the Fourth Year Critical Theories and Visual Cultures course. Please consult this section of the course guide for referencing requirements. Please be aware that any form of plagiarism will not be tolerated. Where plagiarism is suspected, the case will be referred to the Wits School of Arts Plagiarism committee. If you are unsure as to what constitutes plagiarism, please consult your lecturer at the beginning of the course. 68

You will be required to sign a covering document accompanying each of your assignments that states that the work being submitted is your own and is free of any plagiarised material.

Assessment and Assignments The following serves as a guideline to the Art Methodology assignments for the year: •

An essay paper in the first and second terms chosen from topics provided Deadline: Last Wednesday of each quarter.

•

Length of paper:

•

3000 words, typed (2 x 50=100)

•

A major research paper submitted in mid October. Length of paper: 5000 words, (typed) (300)

•

A learning programme (grades 10-12) submitted early in October (100)

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A portfolio/reflective journal demonstrating your growth as an arts educator through the course (Deadline: to be announced) (100)

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Two major materials development projects

•

Deadlines: late March and mid June,

•

one project in each of the first two quarters (2 x 50=100)

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A project that is part of one of the community based or public art programmes in Johannesburg (100)

•

A range of shorter exercises (4x 25=100)

•

A teaching experience file

•

(Deadline: on completion of Teaching Experience in the Third quarter) (50)

•

The above constitutes a coursework mark of 50%. Your final exam equivalent, which you will receive in February, will make up the other 50% of your Visual Art Methodology mark.

•

You will receive a separate breakdown for the Learning Area Methodology: Arts and Culture course. Similarly, the assessment of the Teaching Experience courses will be discussed with you at the beginning of the PGCE course.

Course Outline A detailed Course outline will be given to you at the start of the semester.

Venue The Visual Art Methodology lectures will take place at a time and venue as agreed upon between staff and students. The venue for these lectures will be in the Wozani Block, WSOE campus (first, second and fourth quarters).

Karin Tan + Skye Quadling, Artist Statement, 2014

Wits Fine Arts BA (FA)

Articles inside

Arts education (PGCe

the Point of order

Health and Safety

First Year

Art Practice - Use of Materials, equipment and Studios

BA (Fine Arts) Purpose of Qualification, Careers in Visual Arts

third Year

the Photography Section

Covid-19 Compliance

Staff: Academic and Administrative