Fine Art - Overview
Introduction
The Department of Fine Art, which is part of the Faculty of Humanities, provides comprehensive tuition in the practical as well as theoretical and historical aspects of the visual arts.
The Department aims to empower students by maximising their creative and intellectual potential. We seek to enhance visual literacy by exposure to a rich and challenging range of learning experiences, which will equip our students with a flexible, transferable knowledge base and enable them generate innovative responses to the visual world of the 21st Century.
Facilities and Environment
The Fine Art Department has outstanding and up-to-date facilities, including its own lecture theatre which is custom designed to suit its needs. The Main Fine Art block is a gracious historic building, and was in fact the first purpose-built art school in the country. It is here that the first year studios are housed. A well-equipped photography studio allows the department to teach black and white photography as well as colour processing. A series of spacious studios are housed in the Painting and Sculpture Block. The department has a magnificent printmaking facility, as well as a state-of-the-art computer studio which is used to teach the digital arts.
The Fine Art buildings are set in what is undoubtedly the most attractive university campus in South Africa. Rhodes is also a safe environment, with excellent well-managed residences as well as a campus that is easy to navigate.
Teaching Approach
All the Studio Practice staff at Rhodes are practicing artists who exhibit their works regularly; and all the Art History & Visual Culture staff are active researchers with diverse interests in aspects of contemporary art production. Even more importantly, they are people who enjoy sharing their knowledge. Classes at Rhodes are kept small. This allows the art staff to give close one-on-one attention to each student.
The art-making environment at Rhodes is a supportive one. Staff members use encouragement to elicit excellent work and to ensure that each student realises his or her full potential.
Exhibition Opportunities
Rhodesprovides students with ongoing opportunities to exhibit their works to a wider public. Apart from shows directed at the university and Grahamstown community, student work is sent to exhibitions in larger centres. Students also participate in the National Festival of the Arts in Grahamstown. This is not only the most prestigious and important arts festival in the country: it is also the arena where many up-and-coming young artists launch their careers. By studying at Rhodes, our students have a unique opportunity to gain exposure and achieve recognition at the Festival.
Projects and Outreach Initiatives
Fine Line Press
The Fine Line Press is a collaborative printmaking press and studio established within the Printmaking section. While private editioning studios exist elsewhere in the country, it is unique in southern Africa as the only fine art press based in a tertiary institution. Integral to the Fine Line Press initiative is a visiting artist programme, research facility, and community outreach. The initiative allows artists from a wide cultural spectrum and range of disciplinary backgrounds to work collaboratively with staff, graduate students and press assistants to originate and edition fine art prints. Students are exposed to a variety of individual artistic approaches and participate in stimulating creative dialogue and hands-on experience.
Student Outreach Project
The Grahamstown Art Project is a community engagement initiative run by the Fine Art Department with the support of the Grahamstown Chapter of Soroptimist International and the Commemorative Church. Fourth-year and Masters-level students in the Fine Art Department offer art classes to learners from Archie Mbolekwa High School. Thanks to the support of the Johan Carinus Art Centre, classes take place in a well equipped environment in which the learners are able to experiment with mediums ranging from drawing (charcoal and pastel), to watercolour painting, photography, clay and plaster face masks.
