Visual Arts Degree Graduation
Rachael Doelman
and her soft sculptures installation.
The first students from Wellington Institute of Technology’s vocational Visual Arts Degree will be graduating in
November. The Degree is the only one of its kind offered in the Wellington region.
Lorraine Rastorfer programme manager says “the degree focuses on providing students with a interdisciplinary approach to
their visual art-making that results in students pushing boundaries in their concepts, media and contexts for their
work. It provides students with excellent skills suitable for a wide range of creative industries, or an independent
visual arts practice”.
The WelTec degree has a Collaborative Art component which students have found particularly exciting as this has been
workshopped by Jock McQueenie, who is the architect of the cutting edge practice of linking creative practitioners with
community and commercial interests.
Graduating students work will be unveiled at the end of year exhibition at the main Petone Campus on 11 November
(details on invite). The exhibition will include works from students on Levels 5, 6 & 7 of the degree programme and will be open to the public for one week. The opening celebration features the band
‘Cortina’, who are a leading alternative Wellington band.
Highlights of the exhibition include Jenine Kerr’s multi-media perspex city installation, Heath Fleishfresser’s ladder
jungle installation, Fa’apoi Uvea’s classically beautiful oil paintings of life on Tongan islands and Alice Tankersley’s
large scale mythical wall-works, painstakingly attached directly to a wall, with the most delicate of materials.
Carianna Briggs, who is completing her degree after transferring from a university course, has found the relaxed tuition
style and small class sizes at WelTec a really successful combination in helping her achieve the excellence required to
graduate with a degree. In her work, Carianna has created poetic objects using transient materials that explore thoughts
of home.
ENDS