Passionate about art? Our Bachelor of Visual Arts prepares you for the demands of a career in contemporary art, whether as an artist or in the many other roles within the art sector.
Study visual arts with us and enjoy a student-centred and studio-based programme where you can follow your interests in art – including painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, sculpture, installation, moving image, sound, performance, social practice, multimedia approaches, and new and emerging technologies.
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Start date: 2022
Portfolio guidelines: applying to study art and design
International student entry requirements
You may be eligible for preferential entry to the Bachelor of Visual Arts if:
This means you won’t need to submit a portfolio of art or design work. If you believe you are eligible for preferential entry, apply online and submit your application without a portfolio.
Classical Studies, English, History of Art, Media Studies, Ngā Toi, Ngā Toi Ataata, Painting (Practical Art), Photography (Practical Art), Printmaking (Practical Art), Sculpture (Practical Art), Te Reo Māori, Te Reo Rangatira
You may be eligible to enter Year 2 or Year 3 of our visual arts degree if you have completed all or part of a design or visual arts degree at another approved tertiary institution. Applications for cross-credits will normally be assessed after you receive an offer of place for the Bachelor of Visual Arts.
Email artbox@aut.ac.nz
In the Bachelor of Visual Arts degree you can specialise in one of three pathways:
Explore the breadth of the expanded field of sculpture in contemporary art. You'll be encouraged to develop individual approaches to your making through experimental and open-ended investigative methods.
There's a strong focus on the exploration of sculptural concepts and ideas driving contemporary art; object making, installation, performance and social art practices.
You'll engage with contemporary scholarship concerning sculpture inclusive of materiality, time, contingent objects, space, site and place, to become a critically informed and socially engaged practitioner who works as confidently with new technologies as with traditional processes.
You'll approach image making as a process that involves the interaction between visual qualities, ideas, technologies and media. Using media and technologies in ways that suit your inventive purposes, you'll then develop a territory of interest for art making.
Participate in workshops and seminars on painting concepts and techniques, printmaking concepts and techniques, studio practice and how to work with ideas and images, and on the critical analysis of works of art.
You'll engage with contemporary scholarship concerning painting and printmaking including:
Develop an independent lens-based direction from a foundation of learning in photographic theory and technical learning.
You'll work with a broad range of high-end equipment and facilities, including large format analogue photography, studio lighting and digital processes that include moving image work. By questioning what photography is and how it operates in the world today, you'll develop a photographic art practice that is critical and current.
You'll engage with contemporary scholarship concerning photographic representation, portraiture and documentary; the relationships between moving image and installation practice, photography and video's relationship to ideas of time, race, colonial histories and decolonisation.
You can study the following minors when you are enrolled in the Bachelor of Design or the Bachelor of Visual Arts:
Discover the magic of filmmaking processes. Explore cinematic language and production techniques, then apply your new skills and understanding to create a moving image work of your own.
courses are delivered over one semester and are worth 15 points each. You'll need to complete 60 points for the entire minor. In each year, you study and complete core compulsory courses alongside studio and specialist courses in the minor that you have selected.
Available as a minor only.
60 points from the following courses:
Explore notions of place and human relationships that connects with Pacific cosmologies, genealogies and identity through your creative practice.
Available as a minor only.
60 points from the following courses:
Discover business for creative concepts - covering economics, innovation, creative entrepreneurship, strategic thinking, branding and marketing.
courses are delivered over one semester and are worth 15 points each. You'll need to complete 60 points for the entire minor. In each year, you study and complete core compulsory courses alongside studio and specialist courses in the minor that you have selected.
Available as a minor only.
60 points from the courses below, including a Level 7 course or both compulsory core courses ARDN502 and ARDN702, in addition to 30 points from DESN600, DESN601, MARS501, ENTR501 of which at least one course or 15 points must be at level 6.
Discover how art and design can contribute to a new future where both people and our planet will prosper. Explore ecological and social aspects of design for sustainability.
courses are delivered over one semester and are worth 15 points each. You'll need to complete 60 points for the entire minor. In each year, you study and complete core compulsory courses alongside studio and specialist courses in the minor that you have selected.
Available as a minor only.
60 points from the following courses:
Design thinking is a mindset and set of creative methods that can be used to interrogate, understand and solve real-life business, social and environmental problems.
Working collaboratively with others, you'll learn to develop an understanding of the needs of the people you're designing for, experiment and explore creative ideas, and create physical and experiential design solutions.
This minor is aimed at students who are interested in developing design thinking expertise to support their major discipline area.
60 points from courses listed below including DESN501 with at least 15 points at level 7
Use the latest advanced technologies including 3D printing, computer controlled CNC cutting, milling and routing, and laser cutting to produce three-dimensional work. You’ll gain an understanding of how digital fabrication can be a driver for your creative ideas, through to your final product.
courses are delivered over one semester and are worth 15 points each. You'll need to complete 60 points for the entire minor. In each year, you study and complete core compulsory courses alongside studio and specialist courses in the minor that you have selected.
Enrolment in this minor is subject to approval from the Art & Design Minors, Head of Department.
Available as a minor only.
60 points from the following courses:
Explore the language of surface pattern and fabrication, create innovative and experimental fabrics and surface designs. This minor supports the development of work across a range of disciplines and potential applications. Emphasis is placed upon the importance of learning through making and the relationship between the maker, the process of making and the work.
courses are delivered over one semester and are worth 15 points each. You'll need to complete 60 points for the entire minor. In each year, you'll study and complete core compulsory courses alongside studio and specialist courses in the minor that you have selected.
Enrolment in this minor is subject to approval from the Art & Design Minors, Head of Department.
Available as a minor only.
60 points from the following courses:
Explore a series of MoCap applications in state-of-the-art facilities, including performance capture for pre-visusualisation, 3D animation, visual effects, gaming, virtual reality and experimental practice. Become an expert in a variety of approaches to motion capture with a range of production and post-production tools and techniques.
courses are delivered over one semester and are worth 15 points each. You'll need to complete 60 points for the entire minor. In each year, you study and complete core compulsory courses alongside studio and specialist courses in the minor that you have selected.
Enrolment in this minor is subject to approval from the Art & Design Minors, Head of Department.
Available as a minor only.
60 points from the following courses:
Explore fundamentals of digital camera technologies, lighting, post-production and editing, along with implications of photographic representation and communication.
courses are delivered over one semester and are worth 15 points each. You'll need to complete 60 points for the entire minor. In each year, you study and complete core compulsory courses alongside studio and specialist courses in the minor that you have selected.
Enrolment in this minor is subject to approval from the Art & Design Minors, Head of Department.
Available as a minor only.
60 points from the following courses:
Create multidisciplinary projects that explore social and public contexts to produce temporary events and durational artworks. Be part of a group of artists and designers working together (or independently) to make site-specific works, pop-up events, residencies, installations, interventions, ephemera and publications.
courses are delivered over one semester and are worth 15 points each. You will need to complete 60 points for the entire minor. In each year, you will study and complete core compulsory courses alongside studio and specialist courses in the minor that you have selected.
Enrolment in this minor is subject to approval from the Art & Design Minors, Head of Department.
Available as a minor only.
60 points from the following courses:
Add an additional major or a minor to your bachelor’s degree and study another area that interests you. You can choose from a wide range of additional majors or minors.
Enrolment in minors is subject to availability (not all minors listed above will be open each year). You also have the option of studying a minor or elective courses from outside the Bachelor of Visual Arts.
Your study is based in the making of art, supported by theory classes along with a mix of one-on-one tutorials, group critiques, seminars, exhibitions, visits from artists and critics, noho marae, and gallery visits.
Bachelor of Visual Arts courses are delivered over either one semester or a full year. If you're a full-time student, you normally complete 120 points each year (360 points for the entire degree). In each year you will study and complete core compulsory courses alongside your selected minor.
Explore the fundamentals of visual arts theory and practice. You're encouraged to develop your own artistic interests and approaches to art-making. You'll cover a wide range of materials, media and processes.
You also study one course from your chosen minor.
You continue doing a mix of studio and theory courses, specialising in sculpture and intermedia, painting and printmaking, or photography and lens-based media. You develop advanced visual, media, method and conceptual skills, and create a coherent body of art, with increasing self-reliance.
You also study two courses from your chosen minor.
At the end of Year 3 of the Bachelor of Visual Arts, you have the opportunity to exhibit your work through the AUT School of Art and Design festival
You also study one course from your chosen minor.
Search for a course (Arion)
Detailed progamme structure and course outlines (Blackboard)
Email artbox@aut.ac.nz
Enrolment in courses is subject to meeting all requirements and availability of courses.
AUT Bachelor of Visual Arts alumni are now carving successful careers around the world, as notable artists, curators, arts administrators, academics, teachers and technicians.
Double degrees double your knowledge and opportunities but don't necessarily take double the time to complete. If you study double degrees, you apply for and enrol separately in each of the two degrees. If you’re considering doing this, please seek course advice to discuss your plans. You may be able to cross-credit relevant courses from one degree to the other, although the number of cross-credits will vary depending on the degree combinations. Double degrees may be completed either one after the other or concurrently.
Detailed programme structure
By studying both degrees you develop design skills for roles in visual arts and business. This includes the ability to create high value products, services and brands, and to balance creative design and strategic thinking to complement design and business.
Postgraduate study will open up even more career opportunities for you. Our 18-month master's degree will enable you to specialise in and research a particular area within your chosen discipline.
The information on this page was correct at time of publication. For a comprehensive overview of AUT qualifications, please refer to the Academic Calendar.