Passionate about art? The university Bachelor of Visual Arts at AUT prepares you for the demands of a career in contemporary art, whether as an artist or in the many other roles within the art sector.

Study visual arts and enjoy a student-centered and studio-based program where you can follow your interests in art - including drawing, printmaking, digital art, sculpture, moving images, analog, and digital photography, installation, sound, painting, performance, art and technology, social and community-based art practices.

Pathways & minors

In the Bachelor of Visual Arts degree you can specialize in one of three pathways (Year 2):

Sculpture and Intermedia pathway 

Explore the breadth of the expanded field of sculpture in contemporary art. 

You'll be encouraged to develop individual approaches to your making through experimental and open-ended investigative methods.

There's a strong focus on the exploration of sculptural concepts and ideas driving contemporary art; object making, installation, performance, and social art practices.

Painting and Printmaking pathway 

You'll approach image-making as a process that involves the interaction between visual qualities, ideas, technologies, and media. Using media and technologies to suit your inventive purposes, you'll develop a territory of interest for art making.

Participate in workshops and seminars on painting concepts and techniques, printmaking concepts and techniques, studio practice and how to work with ideas and images, and the critical analysis of works of art.

Photography and Lens-Based Media pathway 

Develop an independent lens-based direction from a foundation of learning in photographic theory and technical learning.

You'll work with a broad range of high-end equipment and facilities, including large-format analog photography, studio lighting, and digital processes that include moving image work. 

By questioning what photography is and how it operates in the world today, you'll develop a photographic art practice that is critical and current.

• Certified copy of your birth certificate or passport
• Certified copy of marriage certificate (If required)
• Official academic transcripts
• English Language Proficiency (If Available)
• CV/Work experience (If required)
• A copy of the document(s) in the original language/and official English translation
• Portfolio of art work

1_ All applicants need to meet AUT’s minimum entry requirements qualification equivalent to New Zealand year 13 or University Entrance.

High school qualifications from different countries:

India: 

• 12 years of schooling with an overall average of 75% in four academic subjects, including a min 60% in English from the All-India Senior Certificate (AISSC).
• All other Higher Secondary State Board Examinations require an overall average of 80% in four academic subjects with a min 65% in English.

China:

• Senior High School graduation plus one year of successful study at bachelor's level; or
• Senior High School graduation plus completion of a two-year diploma, with good grades, at a recognized university.
• A Tier 1 score in the National University Entrance Examination (Gaokao) at a recognized institution

2_ They must have portfolio of art work.

Don’t meet the entry requirements?

Consider starting with AUT's Certificate in Science and Technology.

Foundation programmes

If you don’t have the academic qualifications needed for direct entry into an AUT programme, you can enroll in a foundation programme.

If you successfully complete the foundation programme and get the required grades, you are guaranteed entry into an appropriate AUT programme.