Introduces a range of the material processes available to painting. Water colour, acrylic and oil based media are explored along with their appropriate supports such as canvas and specialist papers. Each process is considered within the context of its traditional and contemporary use. Thus conceptual approaches are always linked to subject matter and ideas about representation. Students are challenged to develop a personal position on these issues which can be observed in their work.
Artist and teacher, Penny Mason works in a variety of media including Painting, Lithography and mixed media installation. Her work is often presented in the form of reversible wallpaper to question several longstanding hierarchies, such as the convention that the fine arts (in this case represented by painting) are valued more highly than the decorative arts (such as wallpaper) as well as notions of ownership of public spaces. Penny is Head of Painting Studio at the School of Visual and Performing Arts, University of Tasmania.