Another way up: QUT Visual Arts: Honours Graduate Exhibition 2017

The Honours year at OUT has been the launching pad for a wide variety of dynamic artists, curators, writers and arts professionals. For numerous emerging visual arts practitioners, it has been the year for grappling with, and discovering, the meanings behind their practices . It is a year of truly understanding for the first time what drives them to make art , and ask fundamental questions about the world of which they are a part. As a concentrated period of self-motivated creative development , the Honours program is an opportunity for each to embrace and expand their identities as artists, with an empowered sense of focus and determination. This graduating group of students has tackled the challenge of this year with aplomb. The personal resilience and collegial bonds developed during their undergraduate training has helped to shape these artists into insightful, generous, and thoughtful practitioners. With this in mind, this cohort would like to pay particular tribute to the impact of Mark Webb 's studio supervision during their undergraduate years. Mark 's innovative and rigorous approach to art practice continues to be felt in the OUT studio program and the national creative landscape. While the forms and ideas presented in these practices are wide-ranging, each graduating artist is deeply invested in exploring their experience of the world and sharing this with others. From popular culture , to sport, the environment, and the everyday world around them, these artists are all dedicated to reimagining the world as a different and more inspiring place. The myriad critical and creative skills required for an imaginative art practice , will also serve them well as they continue to engage with the world in all manner of meaningful roles in the future. On behalf of the staff at OUT Visual Arts , we wish them every success in their future and reassure them that they will always have a philosophical home in the Creative Industries. We will be watching them keenly as they progress through their professional lives and we advise you to keep an eye on them also . Between them they have devised another way up. Rachael Haynes, Daniel McKewen and Courtney Pedersen Visual Art Honours teaching team