Queensland College of Art
Encyclopedia
The Queensland College of Art (QCA) is a specialist arts and design college located in South Bank, Brisbane
, and Southport, Gold Coast, Queensland
, Australia
. It was founded in 1881 and is the oldest arts institution in Australia
.
Current enrolment is approximately 1,000 in subjects including fine arts, animation, graphic, interior design and photojournalism. The College is part of Griffith University
.
in 1849, but while drawing may have been taught there, there does not appear to have been a formal curriculum.
In 1879, Joseph Augustine Clarke
enlisted the School of Arts President to lobby the Queensland Colonial Government to offer formal drawing classes. An accomplished artist from England, Clarke had come to Australia via India, where he had taught topographical drawing at the Military Academy in Poona. In 1881, Clarke began conducting drawing classes from the School of Arts, which was now situated in a refurbished Servants' Home in Ann Street
.
The following year, a public meeting was held to establish a Technical School of Visual Art. The idea won public support and in 1884, classrooms and a lecture room were added to the Ann Street premises. A professional teacher, formal classes and purpose-built rooms came together to form a recognisable art school.
When Clarke died in 1890, the position of Art Master was awarded to Godfrey Rivers, a graduate of the Slade School in London and a painter of international repute.
In 1898, the Technical School of Visual Art was incorporated into the newly established Brisbane Technical College, creating its biggest department.
A shift in emphasis from fine art to applied art saw Rivers resign in 1913. He was replaced by one of his former students, F. J. Martyn-Roberts. By 1916, the Central Technical College had the dual role of training students in applied art and teachers in art subjects, particularly drawing. Martyn-Roberts remained head of the art branch of the Central Technical College until his retirement in 1938. He was replaced by Cyril Gibbs, a painter, teacher and graphic designer from Ballarat.
After the war, Gibbs did much to expand the curriculum. Certificate and then Associate Diploma programs were established and photography and graphic design courses were added. A focus on "useful" as opposed to purely aesthetic art and design ensured that the art branch remained part of the technical education system.
In 1970, painter and critic Alan Warren was appointed director and quickly established a dedicated library and a broader curriculum. In 1974, the College was relocated to its own premises at Seven Hills. Under Warren, the curriculum grew to encompass new media such as printmaking, ceramics and gold and silver-smithing. Film and television and later animation were developed from electives to complete courses. The first Diploma of Arts qualification in Queensland was introduced in 1976.
With the departure of Warren in 1979, leadership of the College passed into the hands of a series of administrators. The College premises were becoming cramped, with close to 1,000 students studying in buildings designed for 300. Despite this, Queensland's first degree courses in art and design were introduced in 1985 and the first postgraduate diploma in 1988. The College of Art became the only institution in the Queensland TAFE system to award degrees and the only remaining TAFE institution in Australia specialising in art education. This set the scene for the separation of the College from the TAFE system, and its incorporation into Griffith University in 1991.
In 2006, the Queensland College of Art celebrated its 125th anniversary. The celebrations included two exhibitions "Colonial to Contemporary", one covering the period from 1884 to 1971 and another one from 1971 to the present. Moreover, there was The Staff Self-Portrait Project, as well as the publication "Colonial to Contemporary" on the history of the college.
ranging from diplomas to doctoral studies.
, Edinburgh College of Art
and the Alberta College of Art and Design
By the late 1950s, the need for formal vocational photographic education in Queensland began to emerge. This requirement was met with the introduction of a two-year part-time Certificate in Photography course. The period from 1960 to 1970 saw the appointment of full-time photography instructors, notably John McKay, and an increasing demand for education accompanied by a steady though painfully slow accumulation of photographic equipment.
The 1970s witnessed the appointment of a second full-time photography instructor and a move from two dark, sparse and ill-ventilated rooms in the old Central Technical College in George Street
to spacious new air-conditioned premises at the Seven Hills
campus. The combination of this modern teaching facility, emerging industry support for photographic education and the extensive groundwork undertaken by John McKay, who had travelled through Europe and America gathering information and visiting photographic teaching institutions, culminated with the introduction of Queensland's first full-time, professionally oriented photographic course of study. While previous courses relied entirely on vocational night schooling for employed students, this tradition was broken in 1978 with the development of a two-year, full-time Certificate in Photography which included a provision for specialist training conducted at industrial locations.
During the early 1980s, a three-year, full-time Diploma of Arts (Photography) course was developed to complement the existing Certificate course which continued until 1987 when it was consolidated into an Associate Diploma (Applied Photography) Course. By 1984, the Diploma of Arts course was itself extensively revised, upgraded and accredited to become the Bachelor of Arts (Photography). During this period, the Department of Photography expanded substantially, employing ten full-time and eighteen part-time staff and occupying two floor levels, while the student population grew steadily to stabilise at approximately the two hundred currently enrolled in Degree and Postgraduate programmes.
Overall, the eighties were a time when traditions and activities such as the trade show, conducted at the beginning of each academic year, the (now defunct) annual Birdsville Races
excursion and the combined Graduating Students Exhibition and Awards Presentation Night were established.
The Queensland College of Art was the last major tertiary institution to amalgamate in accordance with the Dawkins
reform of higher education in Australia. The amalgamation with Griffith University in 1991, which has ensured a continuation of long-standing traditions and the existence of the Queensland College of Art and its constituent departments, only resulted as a consequence of intense lobbying and repeated street demonstrations by committed staff and students.
The Australian Photojournalists Association, formed by graduates in 1994, continues to grow as well. The Australian Photojournalist, originally a quarterly newsletter, is now a full-colour journal, published yearly. The journal is brought out by an editorial board consisting of photojournalism students under the guidance of David Lloyd and Earle Bridger. The Australian Photojournalists Association also organised and co-sponsored the Hurley
Awards for Suburban and Regional Photojournalists. The Hurley Awards were a national photographic competition organised by the APA which ran annually from 1995 until 2000, when they were mothballed due to the move to South Bank and lack of a sponsor.
In 1995, the Department established its first Digital Imaging room equipped with modern scanners, computers and printers.
The Bachelor of Visual Arts (Photography) Programme was completely re-written the following year. It became the Bachelor of Photography, incorporating a foundation year followed by studies in one of four major areas. Students studying photography could now major in Applied Photography (which became Commercial Photography in 2001), Creative Advertising Photography, Photo Art Practice or Photo Journalism.
In 1996, the Department of Photography also embarked on a successful campaign to internationalise its programme, becoming the first non-Chinese educational unit permitted to offer a Master of Arts in Visual Arts Photography course from the Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA) in Beijing
, China
. The Department now runs exchange programmes with Miami University
and Ohio University
in the United States and supports a strong international student contingent, in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
The Department also has a long history of involvement in community-based projects, which have benefitted both the students involved and the organisations sponsoring the projects. Projects which students have collaborated on include:
Other areas of involvement include support for the Queensland Centre for Photography
, a non-profit organisation formed in 2002 by graduates of the Department of Photography, who identified the need for a Queensland-based organisation similar to the Centre for Contemporary Photography
(Melbourne) and the Australian Centre for Photography (Sydney) to cater to the needs of both photographers and a photographic exhibition-hungry public. The QCP, which is now based on South Bank, offers exhibition spaces for photographers, artist talks, slide nights and other photography-related events. In addition, staff of the Department of Photography are actively involved in producing work for exhibitions and publications as well as ongoing involvement with industry.
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, and Southport, Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It was founded in 1881 and is the oldest arts institution in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Current enrolment is approximately 1,000 in subjects including fine arts, animation, graphic, interior design and photojournalism. The College is part of Griffith University
Griffith University
Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...
.
19th century
The beginnings of the Queensland College of Art are not clearly defined. A School of Arts was established in Brisbane's Queen StreetQueen Street, Brisbane
Queen Street in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia, is one of the city's major streets. It is the city's central road, partly covered by a pedestrian mall called the Queen Street Mall. Queen Street ends at the Victoria Bridge and is bounded by two of the Brisbane River's central reaches...
in 1849, but while drawing may have been taught there, there does not appear to have been a formal curriculum.
In 1879, Joseph Augustine Clarke
Joseph Augustine Clarke
Joseph Augustine Clark early Queensland artist, painter, journal illustrator and arts-teacher.'J.A. Clarke', as he commonly signed himself, was responsible for the famous 1880 oil painting 'Panorama of Brisbane from Bowen Terrace' and also for all of the famous front pages and title-illustration...
enlisted the School of Arts President to lobby the Queensland Colonial Government to offer formal drawing classes. An accomplished artist from England, Clarke had come to Australia via India, where he had taught topographical drawing at the Military Academy in Poona. In 1881, Clarke began conducting drawing classes from the School of Arts, which was now situated in a refurbished Servants' Home in Ann Street
Ann Street, Brisbane
Ann Street runs parallel to Adelaide Street and is the northern-most street in the Brisbane CBD in Queensland, Australia. It is a major thoroughfare, running straight through the city and linking the suburb of Fortitude Valley with the Riverside Expressway....
.
The following year, a public meeting was held to establish a Technical School of Visual Art. The idea won public support and in 1884, classrooms and a lecture room were added to the Ann Street premises. A professional teacher, formal classes and purpose-built rooms came together to form a recognisable art school.
When Clarke died in 1890, the position of Art Master was awarded to Godfrey Rivers, a graduate of the Slade School in London and a painter of international repute.
In 1898, the Technical School of Visual Art was incorporated into the newly established Brisbane Technical College, creating its biggest department.
20th century
In 1908, the technical colleges that had sprung up around Brisbane were amalgamated into the Central Technical College. This College was given new premises in George Street between the Houses of Parliament and Old Government House.A shift in emphasis from fine art to applied art saw Rivers resign in 1913. He was replaced by one of his former students, F. J. Martyn-Roberts. By 1916, the Central Technical College had the dual role of training students in applied art and teachers in art subjects, particularly drawing. Martyn-Roberts remained head of the art branch of the Central Technical College until his retirement in 1938. He was replaced by Cyril Gibbs, a painter, teacher and graphic designer from Ballarat.
After the war, Gibbs did much to expand the curriculum. Certificate and then Associate Diploma programs were established and photography and graphic design courses were added. A focus on "useful" as opposed to purely aesthetic art and design ensured that the art branch remained part of the technical education system.
In 1970, painter and critic Alan Warren was appointed director and quickly established a dedicated library and a broader curriculum. In 1974, the College was relocated to its own premises at Seven Hills. Under Warren, the curriculum grew to encompass new media such as printmaking, ceramics and gold and silver-smithing. Film and television and later animation were developed from electives to complete courses. The first Diploma of Arts qualification in Queensland was introduced in 1976.
With the departure of Warren in 1979, leadership of the College passed into the hands of a series of administrators. The College premises were becoming cramped, with close to 1,000 students studying in buildings designed for 300. Despite this, Queensland's first degree courses in art and design were introduced in 1985 and the first postgraduate diploma in 1988. The College of Art became the only institution in the Queensland TAFE system to award degrees and the only remaining TAFE institution in Australia specialising in art education. This set the scene for the separation of the College from the TAFE system, and its incorporation into Griffith University in 1991.
21st century
In 2001, the College relocated to a dedicated purpose-built facility at South Bank. The facility comprises public exhibition spaces, a cinema, conference rooms, a multimedia art gallery and the most modern and versatile studio facilities in Australia.In 2006, the Queensland College of Art celebrated its 125th anniversary. The celebrations included two exhibitions "Colonial to Contemporary", one covering the period from 1884 to 1971 and another one from 1971 to the present. Moreover, there was The Staff Self-Portrait Project, as well as the publication "Colonial to Contemporary" on the history of the college.
Courses
The college offers a range of courses in conjunction with Griffith UniversityGriffith University
Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...
ranging from diplomas to doctoral studies.
Undergraduate
Fine Art (B.F.A), Animation (B.Anim), Design (B.Des), Contemporary Indigenous Australian Art (B.ContempAusIndigA), Digital Media (B.DigitalMe), Film and Screen Media (BFScrMePr), Multimedia (B.Mm), Photography (B.Photo).International Experience
The College has exchange partnerships with a number of the world's leading art and design schools including the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and DesignDuncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design is an integral part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom and has an outstanding reputation in both practice and research.-History:Attempts were made to...
, Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art is an art school in Edinburgh, Scotland, providing tertiary education in art and design disciplines for over two thousand students....
and the Alberta College of Art and Design
Alberta College of Art and Design
-History:The Alberta College of Art & Design is a Canadian degree-granting, publicly-funded art and design college located in Calgary . It was known as the Provincial Institute of Technology and Arts, which was part of SAIT until 1985...
Photographic Education at QCA
Photographic education at the Queensland College of Art originated from the photographic needs of Commercial Art students attending art studies conducted by the art branch of the Central Technical College in the early 1950s. Photography, as a subject in its own right, steadily grew to become a structured evening studies programme conducted by Jack Geddes, then a technical officer with Kodak Aust.By the late 1950s, the need for formal vocational photographic education in Queensland began to emerge. This requirement was met with the introduction of a two-year part-time Certificate in Photography course. The period from 1960 to 1970 saw the appointment of full-time photography instructors, notably John McKay, and an increasing demand for education accompanied by a steady though painfully slow accumulation of photographic equipment.
The 1970s witnessed the appointment of a second full-time photography instructor and a move from two dark, sparse and ill-ventilated rooms in the old Central Technical College in George Street
George Street, Brisbane
George Street is a main street located in the Brisbane CBD in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. A major thoroughfare, George Street connects to the Queensland University of Technology as well as the state Botanical Gardens, to the commercial centre of Brisbane, Queen Street and Queen Street Mall.The...
to spacious new air-conditioned premises at the Seven Hills
Seven Hills, Queensland
Seven Hills is a suburb located on the inner eastern side of Brisbane, surrounded by the suburbs of Norman Park, Morningside and Carina.Between 1912 and 1926 the southern edge of the suburb was serviced by a steam tram which connected with the Queensland Government Railway at Norman Park. ...
campus. The combination of this modern teaching facility, emerging industry support for photographic education and the extensive groundwork undertaken by John McKay, who had travelled through Europe and America gathering information and visiting photographic teaching institutions, culminated with the introduction of Queensland's first full-time, professionally oriented photographic course of study. While previous courses relied entirely on vocational night schooling for employed students, this tradition was broken in 1978 with the development of a two-year, full-time Certificate in Photography which included a provision for specialist training conducted at industrial locations.
During the early 1980s, a three-year, full-time Diploma of Arts (Photography) course was developed to complement the existing Certificate course which continued until 1987 when it was consolidated into an Associate Diploma (Applied Photography) Course. By 1984, the Diploma of Arts course was itself extensively revised, upgraded and accredited to become the Bachelor of Arts (Photography). During this period, the Department of Photography expanded substantially, employing ten full-time and eighteen part-time staff and occupying two floor levels, while the student population grew steadily to stabilise at approximately the two hundred currently enrolled in Degree and Postgraduate programmes.
Overall, the eighties were a time when traditions and activities such as the trade show, conducted at the beginning of each academic year, the (now defunct) annual Birdsville Races
Birdsville Races
The Birdsville Races are horse races held each year in September in the Queensland, Australia, town of Birdsville. Funds are raised in aid of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia. The population is swelled from about 100 to around 6,000 people for the two-day event.As Birdsville is very...
excursion and the combined Graduating Students Exhibition and Awards Presentation Night were established.
The Queensland College of Art was the last major tertiary institution to amalgamate in accordance with the Dawkins
John Dawkins
John Sydney "Joe" Dawkins, AO , Australian politician, was Treasurer in the Keating Labor government from December 1991 to December 1993...
reform of higher education in Australia. The amalgamation with Griffith University in 1991, which has ensured a continuation of long-standing traditions and the existence of the Queensland College of Art and its constituent departments, only resulted as a consequence of intense lobbying and repeated street demonstrations by committed staff and students.
The Australian Photojournalists Association, formed by graduates in 1994, continues to grow as well. The Australian Photojournalist, originally a quarterly newsletter, is now a full-colour journal, published yearly. The journal is brought out by an editorial board consisting of photojournalism students under the guidance of David Lloyd and Earle Bridger. The Australian Photojournalists Association also organised and co-sponsored the Hurley
Frank Hurley
James Francis "Frank" Hurley, OBE was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces during both world wars.His artistic style produced many memorable images but he also used staged...
Awards for Suburban and Regional Photojournalists. The Hurley Awards were a national photographic competition organised by the APA which ran annually from 1995 until 2000, when they were mothballed due to the move to South Bank and lack of a sponsor.
In 1995, the Department established its first Digital Imaging room equipped with modern scanners, computers and printers.
The Bachelor of Visual Arts (Photography) Programme was completely re-written the following year. It became the Bachelor of Photography, incorporating a foundation year followed by studies in one of four major areas. Students studying photography could now major in Applied Photography (which became Commercial Photography in 2001), Creative Advertising Photography, Photo Art Practice or Photo Journalism.
In 1996, the Department of Photography also embarked on a successful campaign to internationalise its programme, becoming the first non-Chinese educational unit permitted to offer a Master of Arts in Visual Arts Photography course from the Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA) in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The Department now runs exchange programmes with Miami University
Miami University
Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...
and Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
in the United States and supports a strong international student contingent, in both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
The Department also has a long history of involvement in community-based projects, which have benefitted both the students involved and the organisations sponsoring the projects. Projects which students have collaborated on include:
- The Back O' BourkeNew South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
Project with the Back 'o Bourke Tourist Centre, documented the region over five years, with yearly exhibitions - Creative Advertising and Design students collaborated on a campaign for Sirromet Wines
- Image resource for website and large image displays with Creative Advertising students photographing for Santos Corporation
- Social Documentary students have photographed and exhibited images for the Annual Art Exhibition as part of SchizophreniaSchizophreniaSchizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
Awareness Week in conjunction with the Schizophrenia Fellowship - PhotojournalismPhotojournalismPhotojournalism is a particular form of journalism that creates images in order to tell a news story. It is now usually understood to refer only to still images, but in some cases the term also refers to video used in broadcast journalism...
students produced an exhibition on refugees living in Brisbane with the assistance of Austcare as part of Refugee Week - Photographic Art Practice students worked with South Bank Corporation to produce art works for the Arbour Exhibition
- In collaboration with the Brisbane City Council, photography students were involved with both photographing and working with high school students to produce an exhibition of Women of Brisbane, called Holding Up the Sky
- Photojournalism students produced an exhibition, Enlighten, and catalogue for Wesley MissionWesley MissionWesley Mission is a name used by several Uniting Church congregations which are a part the Uniting Missions Network of UnitingCare Australia. Wesley Missions grew out of the inner city missions of the pre-union Methodist Church of Australasia...
Brisbane on the lives of people with disabilities - Creative Advertising students produced images for the 2004 Doggett Calendar
- Photographic Art Practice students, working with Architecture students from QUT, produced art works for the South Bank Parklands as part of the Art and Architecture project.
- News and Creative Advertising students worked with the Stanwell Corporation to produce a website highlighting their corporate activities and community-centred activities
- News students have worked with the Queensland Government as part of the International Conference on Engaging Communities
- The Queensland Arts Council, through their QAC Photographer for a Year Scholarship, offers work to an honours student in Photography photographing artists and events throughout Queensland for their publications
Other areas of involvement include support for the Queensland Centre for Photography
Queensland Centre for Photography
The Queensland Centre for Photography is an artist-run photographic institution. Previously located in 33 Oxford Street, Bulimba, Queensland, Australia, it has recently relocated to a newly built venue in South Bank, Brisbane...
, a non-profit organisation formed in 2002 by graduates of the Department of Photography, who identified the need for a Queensland-based organisation similar to the Centre for Contemporary Photography
Centre for Contemporary Photography
The Centre for Contemporary Photography , in Fitzroy, Victoria, Melbourne is one of Australia's premier venues for the exhibition of contemporary photo-based arts, providing a context for the enjoyment, education, understanding and appraisal of contemporary practice.-History:Established as the...
(Melbourne) and the Australian Centre for Photography (Sydney) to cater to the needs of both photographers and a photographic exhibition-hungry public. The QCP, which is now based on South Bank, offers exhibition spaces for photographers, artist talks, slide nights and other photography-related events. In addition, staff of the Department of Photography are actively involved in producing work for exhibitions and publications as well as ongoing involvement with industry.
Notable alumni
- Davida AllenDavida AllenDavida Frances Allen , is an Australian painter, film maker and writer.-Career:Allen studied under Betty Churcher at the Stuartholme School, Brisbane and later under Roy Churcher at Brisbane Central Technical College...
- Anthony BennettAnthony Bennett (Australian artist)Anthony Bennett is an Australian artist born in Mackay Queensland in 1966. He has lived and worked in Tokyo, Rome and London and has exhibited nationally in Australia and internationally. He was a finalist in the Archibald Prize in 2009 for the second year running and was also a finalist in both...
- Gordon BennettGordon Bennett (artist)Gordon Bennett is an Australian artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Gaelic descent. Born in Monto, Queensland, and now working in Brisbane, Bennett is a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art.-Biography:...
- Ben FrostBen Frost (artist)Ben Frost is a visual artist whose work seeks to challenge contemporary norms and values of Western culture and society...
- Peter HegedusPeter HegedusPeter Hegedus is an award winning writer, director and producer of both documentary and short fiction films. He is also the grandson of the former Prime Minister of Hungary, Andras Hegedus.-Early Life:...
- Tracey MoffattTracey MoffattTracey Moffatt is an Australian artist who primarily uses photography and video.Born in Brisbane in 1960, she holds a degree in visual communications from the Queensland College of Art, graduating in 1982....
- William RobinsonWilliam Robinson (artist)William Robinson AO is an award-winning Australian painter and lithographer.Robinson studied art at the Central Technical College from 1955 to 1956. After graduating, he began working as an art instructor, eventually becoming head of the Painting Department at the Brisbane College of Advanced...