ANNETTE SEEMAN

CO ORDINATOR FIBRE/TEXTILES DEPARTMENT

CO ORDINATOR BA (HONOURS) DEGREE PROGRAM

CURTIN UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ART

Represented by Gallery East Perth WA

Diploma of Teaching (Mercy College of Advanced Education Victoria)

Bachelor of Education (Art/Craft) (University of Melbourne)

Post Graduate Diploma in Art & Design (Curtin University Western Australia)

Master of Fine Arts (University of Western Australia)

Major Exhibitions

1983 Art in Fibre Three-person exhibition Hampton Court Galleries Melbourne

1984 Sculpture and Mixed Media Fibre Works. (with Dianne Hosking) Devise Gallery Melbourne.

Close to the Edge Fremantle Arts Centre Fremantle.

1989 Thinking Big Annette Seeman & John Teschendorff Fremantle Arts Centre Fremantle

1991 Works In Progress galeri MIA Malaysian Institute of Art, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

1992 Dreams 1992 Festival of Perth Exhibition Fremantle Art Centre.

1993 Possessed 1993 Festival of Perth Exhibition Crafts Council of Western Australia Gallery Perth.

1999 Gallery East 1999 Festival of Perth Exhibition

City of Perth Craft Award Exhibition CCWA Gallery Perth

2000 Miniature Works. Gallery Gallery. Kyoto Japan

Folding Works in Fibre Itami Museum of Art & Craft Kobe Japan

2001 Commitment Selected Works CCWA Gallery Perth

Divergence Siam Discovery Centre Bangkok Thailand

Faculty of Art & Design Gallery Chang Mai University Thailand

2002 Sanctuary: A Place of Unmaking KURB Gallery Perth

Sanctuary: A Place of Unmaking. Installation. School of Art Curtin University

2005 New Works Gallery East Perth

Group Exhibitions

Extensive involvement in national and international group exhibitions 1982-2005

1982 Next Year's Words Blue Room Gallery Melbourne College of Advanced Education

Limited Containers. Gryphon Gallery Melbourne Victoria.

1983 Invited Exhibitor Australian Crafts 83. Meat Market Craft Centre Melbourne Victoria.

Invited Exhibitor Diamond Valley Art Award Victoria.

Invited Exhibitor 2nd Biennial Acquisitive Textile Exhibition. Ararat Regional Gallery Ararat Victoria

1984 Invited Exhibitor Australian Crafts 84. Meat Market Craft Centre Melbourne Victoria.

Invited Exhibitor Fibre Focus. Meat Market Craft Centre Melbourne Victoria.

1985 City of Box Hill Art Award Exhibition. City of Box Hill Gallery Victoria.

Invited Exhibitor Australian Crafts 85. Meat Market Craft Centre Melbourne Victoria

Invited Exhibitor Inaugural Eltham Art Awards Exhibition. Eltham Civic Centre Victoria.

Invited Exhibitor Tutors Exhibition. Craft Council of WA. Gallery Perth Western Australia

Invited Exhibitor Diamond Valley Art Award Victoria.

Christmas Show. Galerie Dusseldorf Pert, Western Australia.

Invited Exhibitor 3rd Biennial Acquisitive Textile Exhibition Ararat Regional Gallery Ararat Victoria

1986 Invited Exhibitor Australian Crafts 86. Meat Market Craft Centre Melbourne Victoria.

Invited Exhibitor Tamworth National Fibre Exhibition

Invited Exhibitor Tamworth National Fibre Touring Exhibition.

Invited Exhibitor Australian Crafts Exhibition Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery Launceston Tasmania.

Invited Exhibitor National Acquisition Award Darwin Arts Centre Darwin NT.

America's Cups Cups Exhibition Galerie Dusseldorf Perth WA.

1987 Invited Exhibitor Australian Crafts 87. Meat Market Craft Centre Melbourne Victoria.

Invited Exhibitor Challenges Crafts Council of WA. Gallery Perth WA.

Inaugural Exhibition Beach II Gallery Perth Western Australia.

Invited Exhibitor City of Perth Craft Award Craft Council of WA. Perth Western Australia

1988 Fibre Works 1988 Craft Council of WA. Perth Western Australia.

Fibre Works 1988 Touring Exhibition N.E.T.S Western Australia.

Invited Exhibitor Tamworth National Fibre Exhibition Tamworth N.S.W.

Invited Exhibitor Tamworth National Touring Exhibition N.E.T.S. N.S.W.

Invited Exhibitor Pilasters Perth Institute of Contemporary Art WA.

1990 Fibre Expressions New Collectables Gallery Fremantle Western Australia.

Invited Exhibitor Tamworth National Fibre Exhibition Tamworth NSW.

1991 Invited Exhibitor Tamworth National Touring Exhibition NETS NSW.

1992 Feminisms Perth Institute of Contemporary Art Perth.

1993 Textiles and Praxis Craft Council of Western Australia Gallery Perth.

1994 Heavier Than Air Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts Perth.

Flatter Platter Exhibition Craftwest Galleries Perth.

Icons To Irony Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Gallery Perth.

Textile Arts Australia Gallery Gallery Kyoto Japan.

1995 Women’s Work Erica Underwood Gallery Curtin University.

1996 Folding I Artshouse Gallery Perth

First Off Inaugural Members Exhibition WAFTA CCWA Gallery Perth

1999 Nip & Fluff Xmas Show Moores Building Gallery Fremantle WA

2000 Leighton Beach Sell Off/Action Committee Art Exhibition Fremantle WA

2001 Uglyland Festival of Perth Exhibition Fremantle Arts Centre WA

2002 Collectors Moores Building Contemporary Art Gallery Fremantle WA

KURB (your indifference) Inaugural Exhibition KURB Gallery. Perth.

Postcards Tangent Gallery School of Art Curtin University Perth.

Love Your Work 30 Years of Fremantle Arts Centre Fremantle Arts Centre. Fremantle WA.

2004 Invited Exhibitor Supermart 2004 Breadbox Gallery Perth

2005 Twenty Years On Perth College 20^th Anniversary Art Exhibition Perth

Bali Deep/Sukawati Museum Puri Lukisan Ubud Bali Indonesia

Ararat Regional Art Gallery Victoria

City of Box Hill Art Collection Victoria

Edith Cowan University Perth WA

Tamworth Regional Art Gallery Queensland

Art Gallery of Western Australia Perth WA

City of Fremantle Art Collection WA

Hyatt International Hotel Singapore.

Malaysian Institute of Art Collection Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.

Curtin University Art Collection Perth WA

Gallery-Gallery International Textiles Collection Kyoto Japan

Private collections in Australia and overseas.

Julie Montgarrett Annette Seeman Craft Victoria August 1984 p4

Ken Turnbull A Vibrant Selection The West Australian September 16 1984 p14.

John Corbett & Brian Seidel Fibre Focus 1984 p10.

Video Annette Seeman: Artist in Residence W.A. College of Advanced Education 1984.

For Art's Sake Daily News 8 November 1984 p21.

Not Just for Show Fremantle Gazette 14 November 1984 p13.

Close to the Edge The Fremantle Times 13 November 1984.

Jean Goldberg Textiles in Australian Craft 1986 Fibre Forum Vol 5 1986.

James Giddey Tamworth National Fibre Exhibition Catalogue 1986. p31.

Tamworth National Fibre Exhibition 1987 Touring Exhibition Poster Craft Arts No.7, 1986 p4.

Jeannie Keefer-Bell Challenges 1987.

Jennifer Sanders Tamworth National Fibre Exhibition 1986. Craft Arts No.8 1987 pp36-40.

Ted Snell Fibre Works 88 Praxis M 21 1988 pp34-35.

David Bromfield PICA'S Gamble Falters in Flight of Fancy West Australian March 9 1989.

Pilasters Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts Newsletter No.2 1989

The Australian Directory of Academics. 1991

Public Art Directory Perth Western Australia 1991

Phil McNamara Contrasts and Dreams Fremantle Herald, February 24th 1992.

Focus on Sleep The West Magazine March 1992.

Nikki Miller Dreaming Together Dreaming Apart Craft West Autumn 1992.

Artforce Issue No.77 September 1992 P.8.

National Association for the Visual Arts Newsletter March 1993 P.10.

Marco Marcon Textiles and Praxis Craftwest Summer 1993

Margaret Ainscow Textiles and Praxis Craftwest Autumn 1993,P.12.

Margaret Ainscow Textiles and Praxis Craft Arts International 27/1993

David Bromfield A Golden Thread Feminisms Artlink Vol 13/ May 1993

Angel is Heavier Than Air Curtin News Vol 18 May 1994.

Adrian Montana Textiles Image Analysis The Visual Diary Vol 2/4 1994

Nickie Miller Cultural Exchange is Painful for Some West Australian 30 March 1995.

These Cats Will Catch On Fremantle Gazette 30 June 1995

Torque 95 Video ARX 4 Perth 1995

John Teschendorff Wangsa Melawati & Sebatu: An Australasian in SE Asia Craftwest 2/3 1997

Michael O’Ferrall First Off Exhibition review Craftwest 2/3 1997

Practice: Annette Seeman Craftwest 2/3 1997

Visual Arts Fremantle Gazette 8 April 1997

Western Australian Artists AGWA Collection WA Curriculum Design Centre Schools of Isolated & Distance Education 1999

David Bromfield On Show West Australian 2 October 1999

Virginia Rigney Small Works From a Big State Miniature Works Catalogue Essay Gallery Gallery Kyoto ISBN 0/646/388/15/0

David Bromfield On Show West Australian 19 May 2001

Patara Danutra The Fabric of Life Bangkok Post 12 June 2001

1984 Set designs for Umbisi by George White WACAE Perth.

1986 Commissioned by the Craft Council of Australia Sydney to represent Western Australia National Touring Fibre Exhibition

1987 Drawings commissioned by Greenhill Galleries Adelaide for Hyatt Hotel, Singapore.

1988 City of Fremantle Bicentennial Commission.

1989 Invited Submission St John Of God Hospital Commission Bunbury for Silver Thomas Hanley Architects.

1988 Consultant W.A. Department for The Arts Basel Artist-in-Residence Programme [1988-1993]

Designer Curtin University Academic Regalia Gowns and Hoods [1988-1992]

Awarded HECS Scholarship for Postgraduate Diploma in Art and Design Curtin University WA

1990 Consultant Craft Realities Project Craft Council of Australia and Australia Council [1990-1993].

1992 Curtin University Artworks Commission School of Business & Administration Building.

1994 Curtin University New Researchers Grant to establish the WA Women’s Art Register.

Consultant OLMA South East Regional Tourism Project City of Gosnells WA.

1995 Project Development Grant Visions Australia National Touring Exhibitions Programme [Principal Researchers: Annette Seeman Roz Porter & John Kean].

Consultant Asialink Touring Exhibitions Project Symbol and Narrative-Contemporary Australian Textiles

Awarded FCCWA [Fellow of the Craft Council of WA] for services to Education Fibre/Textiles and Curatorship.

Coordinator SAFTI Banner Project [Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute] MGT Architects Canberra and Singapore

1998 Short listed Designer Peel Health Campus Public Art Project

1999- University of Western Australia HECS Scholarship MFA by Research

1999 Innovative Teaching Practice Award Centre for Educational Advancement Curtin University

WEL Banner Commission 100 Years of Female Suffrage (Emily’s List)

2000 Division of Humanities Curtin University Travel Grant to visit art schools & universities Kyoto & Osaka Japan

2001 Design Consultant: Curtin University Academic Regalia Design Project

2003 Video Commissioned by Outside Learning Australia. Sanctuary a Place of Unmaking.

1983-1986 Member: Craft Council of Victoria.

1983-1985 Member: Textile Advisory Committee Meat Market Craft Centre Melbourne Victoria

1983-1984 Member: Selection Committee Hoescht Textiles Award.

1985-1985 Member: Design Council of Australia, Western Australian Branch.

1985-1989 Member: National Association for the Visual Arts.

1985-1996 Member: Craft Council of Western Australia.

1985-1987 Member: Committee Craft Council of Western Australia.

1986-1990 Founding Member: Artemis.

1988-1989 Member, Fremantle Arts Foundation Board.

1989- Expert Examiner: National Cultural Heritage Commission Canberra.

1990-1993 Editorial Panel: Australian Craft Realities Project Sydney.

1990-1992 Committee Member: Artists' Regional Exchange Perth.

1991-1995 Member: Project Committee Public Art Programme

Western Australian Department for The Arts.

1992-1995 Member of the Visual Arts/Craft Board of the Australia

Council Sydney.

1992-1994 Member: International Programme Committee Visual Arts/

Crafts Board of the Australia Council Sydney.

1993-1995 Member: Professional Development of Artists Committee

Visual Arts/Crafts Board of the Australia Council Sydney.

1993-1995 Member: Multicultural Advisory Committee of the Australia Council Sydney.

1994-1995 Chair International Programme Committee VACB Australia Council Sydney.

1994-1995 Member Asialink Arts Advisory Board Melbourne

1994-1995 Member National Craft Exhibition Centre Planning Committee Sydney

1994-1995 Member CEAD [Community, Environment Art and Design Committee] Community Arts Board of the Australia Council Sydney.

1995- Member Textile Arts Australia-Japan Exchange Project Perth.

1995- Member West Australian Fibre-Textiles Association.

2000-2002 Appointed Member Craft Australia Board Sydney

1981 Director Garb Shop: wholesale and retail fashion design [1981-1982].

1984 Artist-in-Residence Art and Design Department W.A. College of Advanced Education Perth WA.

1986 Chairperson Education Committee Craft Council of Western Australia [1986-1988].

1986 Secretary Craft Council of Western Australia [1986-1987].

1988 Curator Fibre/Works Craft Council of Western Australia Perth Western Australia.

1991 Artist in Residence & Visiting Fellow Malaysian Institute of Art Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

1998-1999 Consultant ARX 5 Processes Perth/Singapore/Hong Kong

2001-present Member Management Committee Australia Indonesia Malaysia Visual Arts & design Research Group

2001- 2003 Planning Committee International Textiles Symposium for Curtin University & Textiles Exchange Project WA

2003 –2004 Member Conference Committee International Textiles Symposium for Curtin University & Textiles Exchange Project WA

1984 Lecturer Felting Workshop Churchlands Campus W.A. College of Advanced Education

1986 Invited Speaker Western Australian Artist Program Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Tertiary Textile Education Fibre Forum Vol.5 1986.

1989 ABC Radio Interview Perth International Craft Triennial [Michael Iwanoff Edward Lucie-Smith and Annette Seeman]

1990 Public Lecture In And Out Of Context The Presence and Absence of Tradition. Traditional Indian textiles Seminar

1991 Invited Speaker Seminar Training Artisans or Educating Artists. Artists Foundation of WA.

Faculty of Art & Design MARA Institute of Technology Shah Alam Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Public Lectures: [Annette Seeman1988-1991 and Contemporary Australian Fibre/Textiles

1995 Invited Speaker Cutting to the Quick Gains and Losses in Cultural Exchange Torque Symposium ARX 1995 PICA Perth

Invited Speaker VACB Asia Forums Visual Arts and Crafts Strategic Futures With Asia VACB Forum Australia Council Sydney.

1998 Member Exhibition Sub Committee for Craftwest Gallery Craftwest Centre for Contemporary Craft Perth

1999 From Within: considerations of flesh in the textile works of Jane Whitely Object Magazine 3/1999 Sydney

2001 Material Sensibility Catalogue essay for Transitions: Unravelling Tradition. An exhibition in two parts by Moira Doropoulos Craftwest Gallery and Verge Gallery Perth.

2002 The Unmaking Catalogue Essay for Trish Little Transient Monuments. Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts St Kilda Victoria.

Transitions (2001) cited in Wada Yoshiko Iwamoto Memory on Cloth: Shibori Now 2002 Kodansha Publishing Tokyo & New York

Seeman Annette Sanctuary – A Place of Unmaking MFA Exhibition Catalogue 2002 Uniprint University of Western Australia

2004 Refereed Conference Paper Space Between International Textiles Symposium Perth.

Redefining Teaching & Learning Strategies in a Contemporary Art School Environment: Two Models for Discussion.

Annette Seeman

Department of Art, Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U 1987, Perth Western Australia 6845. a.seeman@curtin.edu.au

Abstract

This paper will introduce a brief historical overview of structural change in art & design at Curtin University during two decades. In an environment of change, fibre/textiles has developed challenging student centered learning programs, questioned the traditional language of materials and provided for the examination of marginal practice. The presentation will include selected images of student work and conclude with a description of the current attitudes to inclusive curriculum planning within the Department of Art.

Keywords

Education, Teaching & Learning, Language of Materials, Textiles

The ability to change has been a basic requirement for the Australian tertiary sector since the now much mythologized ‘Whitlam years’. Whilst the majority of the structural change has been in response to the political agendas imposed by the particular government of the day (new universities, new funding models, amalgamations, quality audits, research performance indices, newer funding models), there is no doubt that many faculties, schools and departments of art and design have seen philosophical change as a more important strategy for survival within the sector.

This is not to say that structural change, to a greater or lesser degree, has not been imposed on most of our art schools during this time (and that some schools are better for it!), or that the traditional studio based/fine art teaching models have been challenged in every school. This paper will examine the role of a fibre/textiles area in confronting the traditions of studio-based programs and of the redefinition of teaching and learning strategies within a dynamic environment of continuous, significant, structural and philosophical change.

One of the first ‘new’ universities, the Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT) became Curtin University in 1987. The School of Art & Design was a foundation school of the institute, featuring the usual Departments of Fine Art, Craft & Design with the usual interdepartmental infighting and power struggles that characterized many Australian schools at that time. A separate School of Design was formed in 1986 and the Departments of Craft & Fine Arts became the School of Visual Arts and later the School of Art. As a department within the School of Art, Fibre/Textiles was a major studio area alongside other disciplines (painting, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics & glass and jewellery and 3D design).

This basic structure, complete with ongoing discussions about ‘who are we?’ ‘what do we teach?’ and ‘why do we teach it?’ remained in place until 2002/2003 when the most recent developments were put in place. (more of that later!).

The structural separation of disciplines or areas of studio practice in Australian art schools has been largely predicated on the historical model of the English Art School and on the tenets of Modernism. Whilst increasing interest in cross-culturalism, new media, installation, performance, photography and electronic art has seen the emergence of the multi-disciplinary art student and of hybrid art forms, it still remains that huge numbers of painting students make paintings in painting studios under the watchful eyes of painters employed as painting lecturers. (so too for sculpture, ceramics, printmedia, jewellery, etc. etc.). The gradual shift away from linear/regional art history to a supposedly more socially aware cultural theory as the standard for curriculum content and teaching has resulted in Post Modernism emerging as the dominant current theoretical discourse. There is, however, little evidence available to support the view that the pluralistic nature of this theory has greatly influenced the structure of Australian art schools or the context of their studio based courses.

It is within the context of these histories and the consequent restrictions inherent in traditional art school values that two models of practice emerged at Curtin University. The first model, specific to Fibre/Textiles, evolved during the School of Art period, the late 1980s through 2000. Regardless of the problems associated with philosophical & structural change, but often in response to some of the more reactionary studio environments, the identity and context of Fibre/Textiles was based on an inclusive and flexible approach to teaching & learning, integrating the best of art, design and craft theories and practice.

The resultant academic and intellectual flexibility enabled marginal practice to be equally positioned within the school. Regardless of the subversive nature of implications regarding the hierarchical value of craft practice as opposed to fine art, the area prospered, attracting students seeking an open ended, academically challenging studio environment.

Fibre/Textiles lecturers were committed to the place of cloth as a prime descriptor of the human experience in a range of historical and contemporary cultural and social settings. This belief informed a shift towards a student centered learning environment, where non-hierarchical choice became the empowering element in developing each students’ studio program. (1) Personal choice became the primary requirement for art making.

It soon became evident that students operating within such an environment need not necessarily be contained by the expected demand to work with fibre or with textiles. However, a recognition of the materiality of cloth and its attendant lexicon of processes and techniques saw the exploration and application of the language of materials become a key element in the work of the department. Making things and establishing an informed intellectual position for their making, challenged and extended students some years before ‘thing theory’ was acknowledged as an academic reality. (2)

It must be stated that this environment did not emerge overnight, and that there were not problems for staff & students in its establishment. (One particular concern that emerged early in the program was the difficulty experienced by staff & students outside Fibre/Textiles to discuss outcomes, particularly in the context of assessment reviews & critiques). The tendency to devalue outcomes and to attempt to compare and contrast them with the more formal processes of making exposed weaknesses in the use of language to describe things, particularly when a fibre/textiles major does not use fibre or textiles in the production of his or her final folio. Whist this matter has been largely resolved by way of informed discussion, emotional argument and more than a little self-education during a decade or so of meetings, and seminars, there is still difficulty with the matter of skills acquisition. This can best be summarized by a question: ‘Does the introduction of a pluralist attitude of choice and relativism inhibit or even deny the acquisition of skills?’ I suggest that this will remain a problem for many who operate on the edge of the space between. It will not be a problem for those who have already moved inside. For focused individuals, prepared to be proactive about their area(s) of specialization, the new system offers an opportunity to confirm & broaden textile practice. For others, unable to negotiate the multitude of possibilities and of choices, it can result in no choice at all

The second model describes a new structure for school based learning within the Curtin School of Art, and is the result of a series of carefully articulated strategies designed to move the school and its community into a new millennium.

It is interesting to note that the School of Art had established this framework for sweeping philosophical change before the Division of Humanities formalised a new faculty structure in 2002. The need and the desire to argue for philosophical change are often, unfortunately, predicated upon economic necessity or economic crisis, not the best reason for change, but usually a major factor at this university. In a positive sense, the notions of otherness (3), and a familiarity with the politics of marginality that textiles have for so long embraced, have enabled us to contribute strongly to these new scenarios. A contribution that is often left field, but always positive and non-oppositional.

As noted above, the last two decades has seen the ideas inherent in the exploration of the language of materials, and in the examination of the relationship between cloth and human experience, emerge as the dominant framework for the specifics of textiles studio practice. Workshops have changed regularly to reflect student choice, fashion, fads and staff expertise. Some years have seen textiles process & technique dominate, whilst others have offered more general studio art skills with students encouraged to apply textile sensibilities to more generic art production.

Such flexibility necessitates regular review & reinvention. With my colleague Pam Gaunt and with input from technical staff & part-time teachers I have attempted to establish a studio where the very best of art, craft & design were possibilities for all students. Attitudes from diverse sources, such as the work of Professor Fazal Rizvi, ZONE, Third Text, and Critical Enquiry contributed to the establishment of a postmodern framework for textiles in which to think, to seek new alignments. Students were encouraged to choose a personal philosophy of practice, acknowledging art, craft & design; taking strength from all areas, and not positioning their work in a predetermined hierarchical sense. This inclusive approach to making has, in many ways, been our greatest strength.

Even so, many non-fibre/textiles academics and their students maintained a view that the area of practice was defined by uninformed and essentially conservative attitudes: a kind of intellectual colonization of textiles. Everyone else knew what textiles were, although the knowing was based on narrow, modernist, structural definitions. On the other hand, sculpture really was the area where ‘you could do anything’! Whilst pluralism had allowed for sculpture to shift ground & to explore & to merge with other areas of practice, it appeared that fibre & textiles were not able to do the same, remaining in the minds of many observers a site for printed surfaces, or weaving, or all that embroidered stuff.

In a time when post-structural theories increasingly influence contemporary art practice, there is still a tendency to attach this theoretical privilege to selected studios. The perception that fibre, textiles, ceramics and jewellery remain in spaces defined decades ago, and may not really belong in art schools is an often unstated reality for certain colleagues. Where does their understanding of post structural theory place them? Whilst this sounds specific and oppositional, it is not the specifics of what is essentially an art/craft argument that interest me. It is the fact that such thinking still exists within an art school environment that is the issue.

We are all familiar with power relationships, with academic hierarchies and the need for dominant structures to dominate something – the simple binary. As an academic, I am presented with the dilemma of how to teach textiles in a university culture redolent with an expectation of creative research and aware of the contemporary writings & theories of our field. Such post-whatever notions are expansive and inclusive when confined and defined to ‘traditional’ areas of art. For art is still narrowly defined. Anything can be art in the art school as long as it has links to painting & sculpture!

How can such a basically dumb contradiction still pervade an academic environment? How do areas like textiles (forget the fibre…that became breakfast cereal!) jewellery & ceramics coexist intellectually with areas that adopt an anti intellectual stance in regard to making? Whilst differences may be a useful basis for dialogue, by 2004 the value of deconstructing the politics of conflict & difference is limited.

For twenty years I have waited & watched for the academic reality of the day to embrace plurality, & whilst the rhetoric of the recent past, our courses & their objectives certainly anticipate this end, I suspect that the old modernist dogma of what is right & what is wrong, what is good & what is bad, still determine much of the content and context of what our students learn. Terms are still defined by the need to exist through an inverse relation to some other. We would surely reject this out of hand as culturally inappropriate, yet it still has credence in contemporary art education.

Notwithstanding the these occasionally discursive comments, the Curtin Department of Art now offers broadly inclusive, generic studio programs that enable students to privilege a specific studio specialization or to acknowledge maximum diversity. The latter choice enables students to use the department, and by implication, the faculty of Built Environment Art & Design and the Division of Humanities as a resource base. In this environment it is still possible for a student to construct a study program located solely in one studio area. Such students will typically have a work space in the chosen studio and elect to complete studio (major), workshop (major) and visual research (minor) studies from those offered by the area. This pattern may be repeated in second & third year. Those students with a more multi-disciplinary requirement or an interest in the hybrid or exotic may establish a workspace in one studio area and complete unit requirements anywhere in the department, or by negotiation, anywhere in the faculty or wider university. In both case scenarios, the student must develop a negotiated study program & meet regularly with his or her tutor to discuss progress or amend programs as research proceeds.

The negotiated study program is an individual study pro-forma, developed by all second & third year students in a cross disciplinary tutorial environment. Students meet with tutors in a formal tutorial session each week. Students are also able to book seminar & review time with any member of the teaching staff during the academic year. Semester & final reviews engage all students and studio staff in a dynamic, holistic assessment setting.

The occasional failure of language to adequately handle the needs of review situations as noted above is minimised, and students are no longer exposed to the public devaluation of outcomes on the basis of art form superiority. What is yet to follow is real evidence that our students and their staff are able to move outside the old structures and embrace a genuine curiosity & respect for different areas of practice, to demonstrate a passionate belief in one area of practice whilst teasing out the relationships that may exist across all forms of creative thinking.

Whilst strengths have emerged and weaknesses are noted, the new departmental model and its fibre/textiles precursor have established what we hope will be a successful and challenging 21^st century context for learning. As reflective models, they may in time allow the space between to become the dominant space for contemporary art practice. This will, of course, create a future need for a new, as yet unknown, space between!

Notes:

1. Teaching staff in the then Department of Fibre/Textiles received the Curtin University Innovative Teaching Practice Award in 1999 for establishing the student centered learning environment. The award citation from the Centre for Educational Advancement acknowledges the reflective nature of curriculum development, the establishment of a challenging & supportive learning environment and flexibility of programs.
2. Thing Theory: for an introduction see Brown B., 2001, Thing Theory, Critical Enquiry, vol. 28 no1, pp 1-22.
3. The concept of otherness as a corollary to marginalization is discussed by Marcon M. Excessive Beauty in Pam Gaunt Selected Works 1989-1996 (Perth Curtin University Press) 1997

Biodata:

Annette Seeman is an artist and arts educator who has been co-coordinator of the Fibre-Textiles studio at Curtin University since 1986, and more recently the co coordinator of the Honours degree programme in the Department of Art. Since 1982 she has participated in major local and national exhibitions, and also exhibited in Japan, Laos and Malaysia. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Ararat Regional Gallery, Tamworth Regional Gallery, Edith Cowan University, City of Fremantle Art Collection, Curtin University, City of Box Hill Art Collection, Malaysian Institute of Art Kuala Lumpur, Australian High Commission Kuala Lumpur and Gallery-Gallery Tokyo. In 1984 she was Artist in Residence at the Western Australian College of Advanced Education (now Edith Cowan University), and in 1991 Visiting Fellow at the Malaysian Institute of Art in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. She has served on numerous arts advisory boards including the Australia Council VACB, Chair of the VACB International Program Committee, member of the Asialink Advisory Committee and member of the Management Committee of the CCWA. Her current research interests explore the public and private influences that constitute meanings for domesticity and for the domestic object.

REFER TO CV

Books (Authored, Research)

• Seeman, A. 2009. The Domestic Muse: male artists reflect on private spaces. Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Verlag.

Fully written papers (Refereed Conference proceedings)

• Seeman, A. 2004. Redefining Teaching and Learning Strategies in a Contemporary Art School Environment: Two models for discussion. thespacebetween textiles_art_design_fashion, 01/04/2004. Western Australia: thespacebetween, Faculty of BEAD, Curtin University.

Minor Creative Works

• Parfitt, M, and Seeman, A. 2008. Dimensions Variable; Can be Cut Down to Size. Fremantle, WA, Australia: City of Fremantle.
• Seeman, A. 2008. Pam Gaunt - selected works 2005-2008. Perth, Australia: Pamela Gaunt.
• Seeman, A. 2007. The Politics of Abstraction: A Reflection on John Teschendorff's History of Ideas Series IV 2006-2007. Perth, WA, Australia: Galerie Dusseldorf.
• Seeman, A. 2006. Paul Caporn Modified. Osborne Park, WA: Art on the Move.

Individual Exhibition of Creative Works

• Seeman, A. 2005. Strange Days: Strange Ways. North Fremantle, Perth: Gallery East.
• Seeman, A. 2003. Sanctuary: A place of unmaking. WA, Australia: Annette Seeman.

Group Exhibition of Creative Works

• Seeman, A. 2011. "...by any other name" & "Making the ordinary unknown". Perth, Australia: Textile Exchange Project & KICTAC (Kyoto International Contemporary Textile Art Centre).
• Seeman, A. 2011. Melancholia Series 1, 2, 3. Mundaring, WA, Australia: Mudaring Arts Centre.
• Seeman, A. 2011. Same Old Shit. Perth, Australia: School of Design and Art, Curtin University.
• Seeman, A. 2010. Domestic Muse IV. Australia: John Curtin Gallery.
• Seeman, A. 2010. Melancholia 3. Australia: Curtin University.
• Seeman, A. 2010. Melancholia I/II and III. Australia: Curtin University, Department of Art.
• Seeman, A. 2006. I want all those things. Perth: Textile Exchange Project (TEP) & Curtin University of Technology.
• Seeman, A. 2006. Needlework ll. Bentley, WA: Curtin University of Technology.
• Seeman, A. 2006. Still Lives Series, Hammer Love, Sponge Love, Switch Love, Book Love, Hinge Love. Fremantle WA: mooresbuilding contemporaryartgallery.
• Seeman, A. 2004. Supermart: aesthetics to suit every taste. Western Australia: Breadbox Gallery.

Curating an Exhibition

• Seeman, A, and Teschendorff, J. 2010. Home Open: Fremantle Artists and their Collections. Fremantle, Australia: Fremantle Arts Centre.
• Seeman, A. 2006. MATTEReality & MATTEReality 2. Bentley, WA, Australia: Fibre Textiles, Department of Art, Curtin University.
• Seeman, A. 2006. Reality 2. Perth: Fibre/Textiles Dept, Curtin University of Technology.