The University of Tasmania’s art school is marking 40 years on the Hobart waterfront with a one-night student exhibition tonight.
The Centre for the Arts on Hunter Street opened in 1986 after the school moved from Mt Nelson, now the site of Hobart College.
The anniversary will be celebrated with a student-led festival called Creative Lab, featuring work from Fine Arts, Music, Media and Theatre courses.
Bachelor of Media and Communication student Dylan Whitehouse has created video for a collaborative piece called The Wire.
“I love participating in the arts, I do a lot of theatre as well,” he said.
“I just love working with people of similar interests because as a media practitioner, we’re constantly working in different areas, whether it be arts, corporate or other areas.”
The art school joined the university in 1981 from the former Tasmanian College of Advanced Education.
It started moving into the old Henry Jones and IXL warehouse in the early 1980s, with the renovation finished in 1986.
Retired former head of painting Paul Zika joined the school in 1979.
He said staff and students had to clear out the old warehouse themselves in a series of working bees to convince the state government to let them move in.
“They were exciting times, very much triggered by the enthusiastic merger with the university and the expansion into postgraduate programs,” Zika said.
“The offer of work spaces and facilities was second to none in the country. We became the ‘blueprint’.”
Some students even began squatting in and decorating nearby buildings while they studied, he said.
The school created Australia’s first postgraduate courses in Fine Arts, drawing students from around the country and producing artists including Julie Gough, Megan Walch, Pat Brassington, Raymond Arnold and Neil Haddon.
Current head of the School of Creative and Performing Arts Lex Lasczik said the location was world class.
“There is simply no better place to learn, make, perform and create,” Lasczik said.
“We have the river, the mountain, the city and one of the most spectacular settings imaginable.”
Creative Lab runs from 5.30pm to 7.30pm on Friday September 18.
