Diploma in Arts

at Massey University - Wellington Campus New Zealand

Expressive arts is unique in New Zealand and was created in response to student demand. As part of your study, you will be able to choose from a range of activities such as devising, directing and writing theatre, writing creative works including fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, writing for children, and screenplays, or filming and producing digital video.

In the Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours – BFA (Hons) – you’ll spend two-thirds of your time in the studio, experiencing different approaches to making art, and developing your own unique practice.

The qualification isn’t media-specific so you can focus on the methods and ideas of contemporary art production, and make bodies of new work that are responsive to a variety of contexts. Work, learn, and collaborate alongside students across disciplines and year levels. You can work across a range of media, such as:

• Sculpture
• Painting
• Drawing
• Performance
• Installation
• Moving Image
• Photography
• Printmaking
• Site-Responsive Work
• Curatorial Activities
• Art Writing.

The BFA (Hons) will stretch you, ground you in art theory and immerse you in art-making, with the support of some of New Zealand’s most notable fine artists.

The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) has a strong collective philosophy. By bringing together students from design and fine arts, the MFA fosters intense conversations and exploration. Embed yourself in a rich dialogue about your creative practice in Massey’s transdisciplinary MFA qualification for artists and designers.

For designers and artists
Choose whether you want to graduate with an MFA in design, in fine arts or without endorsement if you believe your work cannot be framed in terms of either discipline.
We have had students join the qualification whose undergraduate training is in fashion design, photography, textile design, industrial design, graphic design, fine arts and even music.

The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) has a strong collective philosophy. By bringing together students from design and fine arts, the MFA fosters intense conversations and exploration. Embed yourself in a rich dialogue about your creative practice in Massey’s transdisciplinary Master of Fine Arts (Fine Arts) qualification, for artists and designers.

For designers and artists
Choose whether you want to graduate with an MFA in design, in fine arts or without endorsement if you believe your work cannot be framed in terms of either discipline.
We have had students join the qualification whose undergraduate training is in fashion design, photography, textile design, industrial design, graphic design, fine arts and even music.

This unique degree is for those who love being creative, writing and the performing arts, but also want to discover how the media shape our identities and our world.

In this unique composite major, you’ll study courses in both media studies and expressive arts. You’ll blend theory with creative practice.

Expressive arts is unique in New Zealand and was created in response to student demand. You’ll get to study a combination of the three creative discipline areas of theatre, creative writing, or digital media production.

In the media studies part of your study, you will learn about the production, consumption and content of media and their social, cultural, political and economic implications.

You will learn how decisions are made on what is communicated, how media forms and industry structures shape those messages, and how this impacts our lives and understanding of the world.

Discover how the media shape our identities and our world. Massey will help you create, critique, and connect with the media world, building skills to understand and make media for a wide range of professional communication roles.

Media studies is an exciting discipline that will prepare you for the challenges of an information-rich society.

Media studies is taught through an innovative qualification that blends theory with creative practice. It analyses the production, consumption and content of media and their social, cultural, political and economic implications.

You will learn how decisions are made on what is communicated, how media forms and industry structures shape those messages, and how this impacts our lives and understanding of the world.

Media studies will help you become a flexible and critical thinker and maker, equipped to be a digitally literate, politically-engaged citizen.

Specialise in Visual Effects for your Bachelor of Screen Arts with Honours at Massey
The Visual Effects major teaches you the skills to develop an exciting professional portfolio of work that you can carry into your visual effects career.

Design and control visual destruction, explosions, fluids – you name it – using both procedural and keyframed motion, and fully integrate your visual effects into live-action footage from concept to postproduction.

Gain skills that will help you create fantastic characters and scenes using traditional techniques and advanced technology. Study character design, 3D modelling, texturing and rigging, storyboarding, compositing, particle generation and dynamics. You’ll work with motion capture, virtual production, and a green screen stage.

Specialise in Game Development for your Bachelor of Screen Arts with Honours at Massey

Encompassing a broad range of disciplines, including game design, art, audio, coding, and production. Game development is a field that truly embraces interactive screen media.

You will develop skills in critical thinking, logic, design, 3D modelling and texturing, animation, and team-based production while building fun, engaging, and challenging worlds, experiences, and adventures.

You’ll be ideating, designing, and developing games. Using industry-standard software and real time engines and techniques, you'll will work through game design, art and aesthetics and programming to create unique and original experiences for desktop, console and mobile platforms.

Explore and develop fashion design concepts, garments, accessories or systems that respond to the times. Consider the global impact of the multi-billion dollar fashion industry and explore how fashion can have a more sustainable future.

You’ll learn skills in idea generation, fashion communication, patternmaking, construction, materials, historail and contemporary fashion analysis, and critical thinking.

Degree-level study of fashion design teaches innovative and creative design of apparel, skills in producing patterns and prototype garments, knowledge of textile materials, market and trend analysis. This qualification will help you develop the ability to position fashion products in the marketplace.

The Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Arts gives you the opportunity for advanced study in contemporary art. It is the entry point into fine arts postgraduate study at Massey University.

The programme combines theoretical inquiry with studio-based practice. It focuses on identifying, exploring and developing research methods that are relevant to current art practices and enquiry.