About
From the evolution and artistry of Japanese woodblock prints to Gutenberg’s revolutionary printing press in the 15th century, from the 1960s when Andy Warhol’s screen prints shook up the art world to the arrival of the contemporary digital age, printmaking has played a vital role in art and culture and continues to push creative boundaries in the 21st century.
The National Art School’s outstanding Printmaking faculty instructs students in the Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) and Master of Fine Art (MFA) programs to develop key technical skills across and explore the boundaries of contemporary visual art to find their own path as an emerging practicing artist. The BFA course covers the full range of printmaking processes including relief, intaglio, screen printing, lithography and digital print process.
Printmaking students at NAS have access to well-equipped workshops and studios that allow them to acquire studio skills across a broad range of printmaking techniques and materials, from relief printing to digital print process, taught by highly experienced lecturers, all of whom are practicing artists, and assisted by specialised workshop technical staff. Working with a variety of media, students create a wide range of images and objects that can include multiples, artist’s books, site-specific works and traditional prints.
Teaching in our printmaking studios combines technical instruction and critical discourse that direct students toward the discovery of a personal visual language. Students at NAS gain the in-depth conceptual understanding and studio discipline required to pursue a successful career in visual art.
The faculty team is led by Head of Printmaking Simon Cooper, also NAS Head of Studies and an accomplished practicing artist who joined the School in 2001. He has taught and exhibited around Australia and overseas, with work held in collections nationally and internationally. All Printmaking lecturers at NAS are also experienced professional artists, dedicated to engaging, supporting and challenging their students throughout their degrees.
NAS is renowned for its studio-based, hands-on model of learning. All Printmaking students receive intensive face-to-face teaching in small classes and are allocated their own studio in the final year of their BFA studies. Postgraduate students also have their own studio on campus. As well as thriving under the tuition of experts, Printmaking students are encouraged to support each other and work collaboratively to develop their studio practice, share research and experiment with printmaking processes and materials.
In the BFA program, all first-year students at NAS study Printmaking in first semester alongside Studio Introductions in Ceramics, Painting, Photomedia, Sculpture and Digital Imaging, as well as the core subjects of Drawing and Art History & Theory; in second semester students choose two electives to specialise in. In second year, students focus fully on a chosen elective such as Printmaking, however there are always opportunities for cross-disciplinary work.
