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Student profilesNadine Christensen Nadine Christensen grew up in the Gippsland region and after finishing school and travelling for a few years, returned to the Gippsland Centre for Art & Design to do her Bachelor of Visual Arts. She appreciated the intimate scale of the Centre and the opportunities this provided for bonding together as a student group. 'The environment suited me at the time and allowed for a more gradual development of my work within a close community of students and staff. I also enjoyed being located in the industrial and at the same time picturesque Latrobe Valley; issues of technology and environment continue to inform my practice as an artist' Nadine has been exhibiting regularly since she graduated from Monash in 1993. She's had solo shows at Monash University Museum of Art; Gertrude Street Contemporary Art Spaces; Metro Arts, Brisbane; and Uplands Gallery and 1st Floor (both Melbourne). In 2002 she was awarded an Australia Council residency at the Santa Monica Studio, California. Nadine has been invited to participate in the prestigious 'New 2004' show at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA). This annual series of major new commissions offers outstanding emerging Australian artists an opportunity to create new projects for the various spaces of ACCA. Bianca Faye "I chose to undertake postgraduate studies at Monash because they offered me flexibility. As an artist my way of working has created a lot of moving around. The last three years of part time study has taken place between Melbourne and Sydney as well as overseas. Desiring to complete a masters degree but not wanting to commit to staying in the same place I found this course provided me with what I wanted. The best thing to come out of my experience being an off campus student at Monash was the continued feeling of balance. I felt my studies became more incorporated with my life and that I was supported in my style of working. This then opened up my study experience and through travel my work evolved and adapted to various situations and places." Rona Green Rona Green is a leading Melbourne printmaker, curator and teacher. She chose to undertake the Master of Fine Arts at Gippsland Centre for Art and Design because she wanted to take her practice to the next level. “The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) was the next logical step in regards to further study for me. When I chose to undertake post graduate study, I was most interested in finding a supervisor who was a practising artist and who would be inspiring and committed to my research project.” Highly recommended by friends who had studied in Monash, Rona discovered Rodney Forbes. “The first thing I did was check out the University website, to see who was on staff. To my delight I discovered that Rodney Forbes, whose wonderful paintings I have admired for a long time, was the Head of Gippsland Centre for Art & Design and that he supervised MFA students.”
Click image to enlarge Rona commenced the MFA part time in 2008. Studying off-campus has given her the flexibility to undertake an MFA and integrate further study as part of her usual professional studio practice. The off-campus mode has also enabled Rona to maintain her teaching job, and the two – study and work – can coexist happily. Monash offers great resources in the form of facilities, services and staff, and it is up to the student to make the most of these. Rona realizes that any form of study offers us opportunity to interact and meet with a whole new range of people – staff and students. Enjoy this side of things and don't neglect the support the University offers in the way of scholarships and grants. Michael Gallop
Michael Gallop completed the Bachelor of Visual and Media Arts followed by a Master of Visual Arts at Gippsland Centre for Art and Design and has now mounted his first solo exhibition at leading Melbourne Gallery, Australian Galleries. Says Michael, “At the beginning of my university life, I had a slightly bumpy beginning. I thought I would play it safe, do a degree in IT and get a comfortable job. The problem here was that I struggled with IT, so, I decided to follow my heart and jump into a Bachelor of Visual Art which was another area I was interested in. Now five years later, I finished the undergrad and went straight onto a Master of Visual Arts by coursework and haven’t looked back since. I have acquired a set of creative skills that I otherwise wouldn’t have.” Michael started his studies as a painter and then became interested in woodcarving, mould-making and printmaking. The cross-disciplinary nature of the BVMA at Gippsland allows for this mobility in media. Students also have the opportunity to complete a semester at the Monash campus in Prato, Italy, where they study Monash units with Faculty of Art and Design lecturers in close proximity to Venice and Florence. For Michael, this was “the highlight of my studies …. the option of studying for a semester in Italy. The Monash Centre in Prato plays host to Monash students annually and the experience was totally amazing: being surrounded by such diverse history, art and architecture was true brilliance.” “The best advice I can give would probably be, ‘follow your heart’ or ‘try something new’ and ‘get out of the comfort zone’. This is what I did in terms of starting a course in art and heading overseas to study for three months. “I have been fortunate enough to now be represented by a Melbourne gallery through contacts that I made at the university. This in itself is an amazing first step and I am eagerly waiting to see what other opportunities may come from this. Finally, for those interested, I’ve recently made a website to showcase my work which can be found at www.michaelgallop.com”
Left: Weevil, 2007 |
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