Dunedin School of Art
Established over 150 years ago 1870, Dunedin School of Art is New Zealand’s first art school. If you’re in pursuit of discovering your potential, creativity and excellence, this is the place for you.
Create, learn and thrive
The Dunedin School of Art provides an unparalleled experience. Our innovative and expert tuition will foster your pursuit of excellence in visual arts and culture, and encourage you to develop versatility and self-sufficiency as an artist.
You are taught by expert artists while you explore your creativity in our well-equipped workshops. Our school community is welcoming and supportive allowing you to enrich your own unique art practise and to explore career options. We offer flexible teaching methods that are designed for visual thinkers. Our lecturers are working artists with wide-ranging practices.
How you learn
You learn in a model that shifts between shared courses on the development of ideas, concepts and approaches, and more self-directed work on your own artistic development in well-appointed workshops.
You gain the time-honoured artistic skills of developing concepts to give them form, or, in te reo, whaka ahua.
Along with excellent pedagogy, we also provide you with spaces to exhibit your work to the public. The Dunedin School of Art Gallery is the centre of our building and our practices, used by all within the school at different times and by many professional artists.
Every year, our students across disciplines, exhibit their work at our annual exhibition, SITE. It is the best time for the public to visit our spaces as all our students proudly display their work in curated spaces.
Our seminar programme and research projects allow us to invite the public to hear the school’s skilled artists and educators together with significant visiting artists and theorists. Our faculty also regularly exhibit their work, as often overseas as here in Ōtepoti/Dunedin.
Explore the Dunedin School of Art
Postgraduate
Deepen your knowledge and skills with postgraduate study. Access world-class resources, flexibility and hands-on research methodologies.
Art Night Classes
Our Night Classes are enjoyed by many in Dunedin! Choose from a range of different studio disciplines and indulge your creativity. You’ll be taught by a master of their craft and have access to the great facilities at the Dunedin School of Art.
Courses generally run for a term, one evening a week, and cater to varying skill levels; from beginner right through to advanced. We recommend booking your class in advance as there is often a wait-list. Click on the night classes we offer to see term dates and costs.
Art
The Dunedin School of Art at Otago Polytechnic has the largest ceramics department in New Zealand. Benefit from an emphasis on hands-on experimentation in clay-making workshops.
Art
Discover the secrets of what happens during the transformational process of firing and take the opportunity to research finishing processes that interest you.
Art
The Dunedin School of Art at Otago Polytechnic has the largest ceramics department in New Zealand. Benefit from an emphasis on hands-on experimentation in clay-making workshops.
Art
Learn the basics of digital photography! Great for beginners that are looking to get control
of the technical aspects of their camera.
Art
Learn the basic skills and processes of jewellery making.
Art
“I see the entire truth, not only what is on the surface.” – Auguste Rodin
Art
These classes will explore the material language of acrylic paint. Emphasis will be on your discovery of mark-making through painterly experimentation and play. Each lesson has a different theme. Classes are suitable for beginners.
Art
Jewellery classes will have a different skill focus per term. These may include basic ring making or using resin for colour, translucency and embedding.
Art
Life Drawing class is for those with previous drawing experience wanting to develop their drawing technique.The aim of this class is to expand your perception and ability to express that perception through drawing.
Art
These classes will explore the material language of acrylic paint. Emphasis will be on your discovery of mark-making through painterly experimentation and play. Each lesson has a different theme. Classes are suitable for those with previous experience.
Art
The Printmaking class teaches a process-based approach to making art, covering the technical aspects of printmaking, looking at how the processes and functions inform the strategy of making art; at how the medium or technique exists as the means to realise an idea. This class is suitable for both beginners and those with previous printmaking experience.
Art
We deal with printed images every day. Anything that is made in a reproducible format is a print; photocopies, posters, photographs etc. This class teaches a process-based approach to make prints.
Art
Want to learn how to build forms and figures in clay? This night class will introduce you to the hand-building techniques of pinching, coiling and slab building. The workshop is ideal for those with no previous clay experience but also for those who have some experience with clay.
Learn to create small animals in clay using the techniques of coiling, slab building, and pinching to achieve a recognisable likeness of the animal form.
Provide learners with real life experience
Our learners can add value to your organisation through internships and research projects.
Contact us
If you want to know more about what we offer or you would like some guidance, we’re here to help. Feel free to chat to us directly about any questions you may have.
