Search for books/eBooks using Library Search. Your Course Readings list will also have mandatory and recommended texts that will help you with your research.
See here for details on borrowing, requesting digitized chapters scans, renewing or finding out how to join other university libraries near to you.
Artspeak
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Art to Come
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Themes of Contemporary Art
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Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art
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Identify key journals in your area of research by selecting Journal Title Search from the Library Advanced Search page.
Find research articles from the most prominent journals in your field by narrowing down your results by selecting the Peer Reviewed filter option on the left side of your results.
Some peer reviewed journals are listed below.
Art Monthly Australia is a dynamic visual arts magazine containing lively commentary, news and reviews on the visual arts, which is distributed throughout Australia and internationally. It covers Arts, Arts (General), drawing & decorative arts, painting, sculpture, ceramics & metalwork.
International Journal of Art & Design Education (iJADE) provides an international forum for research in the field of the art, craft and design education. It includes research in craft, design, creativity and art history across all phases and of formal and informal education including museum and gallery education and community-based initiatives.
World Art is a peer-reviewed journal for scholars, students and art practitioners which considers art across time, place and culture. It aims to bring new insights and analysis to a wider, global audience. The journal promotes experimental and comparative approaches for studying human creativity, past and present.
See here for a list of highly relevant databases that have a subject focus within the area of visual arts.
Some additional highly recommended databases are listed below.
Design & Art Australia provides information for 'Australian artists, designers, craftspeople and curators covering artworks, event histories and collection details'. Features biographical data, works, exhibitions, collections, references, groups and associates of practicing artists in Australia.
JSTOR provides back issues of sources (archived) in arts, education, humanities, social sciences with access to over 600 journals.
Kanopy is a leading supplier of DVD and online video on all subjects, with special emphasis on Australian content. View and preview videos, see transcripts, create playlists and embed into courses
Oxford Journals provides full-text access to journal articles covering Arts, Business, Education, Health Sciences, Humanities, Social Sciences.
VADS is a portfolio of visual art collections (largely British, some African and European) of over 100,000 images available for use in teaching, learning and research.
Below is a list of State and National creative arts bodies, initiatives and workshops that may assist with your research, creative works or future as a professional in the arts.
| Level | Organisation / Program | What they offer |
|---|---|---|
| National |
Australia Council for the Arts
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National arts funding body with artist profiles, grants, and project directories
Membership organisation which brings together the many voices of the contemporary arts sector to improve fundamental conditions of work and practice. |
| State |
Funding, grants, scholarships, innovation support. Funding options to support new projects. |
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| Regional |
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Arts education, networking, Regional Arts Fund, providing creative arts opportunities, workshops, performances to remote and regional areas. |
| Local (Brisbane) |
Creative Sparks (BCC) |
Grants, venue access, project support. Small and large venues showcasing wide range of creative arts talent. |
| Cultural training |
Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts (ACPA)
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Indigenous-focused performing arts training |
| Networking & philanthropy |
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Philanthropy development and mentoring. |
| Artist collectives |
ProppaNOW (Arts collective for Indigenous Australian artists), Half Dozen Group (HDG) |
Community, exhibitions, artistic workshops. Drawing and painting skills and workshops. |
Initial searches in Google to find background information is best searched within quotation marks to ensure the results include the full name. This search strategy is also useful when searching the library and library databases.
A simple search on Google may result in a Wikipedia entry with a list of references and links to further information. These can be helpful in finding more information or locating sources where information may be kept and may offer insights into where to locate further information e.g. biographies, or representations in art galleries and exhibitions .
Try a simple Library Search strategy such as an "Artist name" e.g. "Joanna Braithwaite"
Or add in their specialty, for example:
“Joanna Braithwaite” AND artist
To focus the search on names that appear in Australian art context, try:
“Joanna Braithwaite” Austra* art*
Using quotation marks keeps the phrase together.
Using * (an Asterix) helps the search to identify core parts of a word and any derivatives from it. Example Austra* = Australia, Australian, Australians; Art*= Art, Artist, Artists etc.
This is a quicker way to find a number of variations on a word.
Many local councils promote artists and events through:
Check the "Arts & Culture" or "What's On" section of your local government or city website.
Example:
Local galleries, venues, and festivals including local art and music festivals
Example:
Social media & platforms
Magazines
If you are conducting research on international artists it is advisable to utilise a combination of specialised art databases, museum and gallery websites, and academic resources to ensure access to both authoritative and current information.
Artfacts have been collecting data on the Primary Art Market worldwide since 2001. When an exhibition is added to the database, so are all the participants with a profile automatically generated. Search the database for over a million artists profiles and exhibitions. This database provides real time openings and exhibitions worldwide.
artnet is the leading online resource for the international art market. Browse over 300 000 artists including biographies, their news, events and works of art.
MutualArt offers access to auction prices, personalised updates, and data on over 876,000 artists.
National Gallery of Australia is Australia’s national visual arts institution dedicated to collecting, sharing and celebrating art from Australia and the world. The national collection comprises over 155,000 works of art, including the world’s largest collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. See all States, Territories and other major galleries in Australia.
Centre Pompidou (France) is a centre for art and culture capable of housing both the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, with an international dimension, a large public library (the future Bpi), a centre for industrial creation and a centre for musical research and creation (Ircam), all together in one and the same building situated in the heart of the capital.
Guggenheim collects, preserves, and interprets modern and contemporary art, and explores ideas across cultures through dynamic curatorial and educational initiatives and collaborations.
MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) connects people from around the world to the art of our time with the aim to be a catalyst for experimentation, learning, and creativity, a gathering place for all, and a home for artists and their ideas.
TATE Modern holds the national collection of British art from 1500 to the present day and international modern and contemporary art. British art is represented by artists chosen for their contribution to its history and development, rather than their nationality alone.
By MichaelPhilip - Own work, Public Domain, Wikimedia
UniSQ’s curriculum in visual arts theory blends historical understanding (Modernism, Post-Modernism) with contemporary approaches (critical theory, identity, representation), paired with reflective study of artists’ studio processes and their communication to audiences.
To search for any of theories and cultural study areas within creative arts, use these terms in your search string.
Example question: Examine a key 20th Century art movements/ideas and discuss how they impacted a selected contemporary artist.
Search: modern* AND "Georgia O'Keefe"
Results from library search include:
Or search directly within the databases recommended for Creative Arts for deeper dive into the research content.
| Focus area | Description |
|---|---|
| Modernism & post-modernism | Modernism in the early 20th century embraced innovation, abstraction, and universal truths in art and culture. Postmodernism, emerging later, reacted with skepticism, mixing styles playfully and emphasising cultural context and multiple perspectives. |
| Contemporary visual cultural theory |
Studies how images, media, and art shape and reflect social, political, and cultural contexts today. It draws on fields like art history, cultural studies, and media studies to explore meaning, power, and identity in visual culture.
|
| Critical theory & cultural criticism | Critical theory, rooted in the Frankfurt School, examines society, culture, and power to challenge inequality and oppression. Cultural criticism applies these ideas to issues like identity, representation, and cultural politics, while imagining alternative social possibilities. |
| Indigenous art |
The study of Indigenous art centres on both its aesthetic qualities and its deep cultural, historical, and political significance. With a focus on understanding the forms and politics of Indigenous artistic expression, the ways it communicates identity and connection to Country, and how it is represented or misrepresented in broader contexts. |
| Everyday art practices |
Includes creative expressions like craft, street art, community projects, and digital media that blend art with daily life. They reflect identity, tradition, and community, making art accessible, participatory, and socially embedded.
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| Artists' intentions & viewer reception |
This explores the relationship between what artists intend to express and how audiences interpret or respond to their work. It highlights how meaning shifts between creation and reception, making art a dialogue between maker and viewer.
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A Creative Works research project at the level of 4th year, Masters level and above usually involves a creative component (e.g. installation, exhibition), as well as an exegesis or critical written component, which situates the creative work within scholarly contexts. Your work should demonstrate originality, critical engagement, and contribution to knowledge in musicology or related fields (e.g. ethnoaesthetics, visual anthropology, performance, art theory, or cultural studies).
In the field of artistic practice as research, the predominant methodologies encompass the following approaches:
For higher level research projects, ensure you visit the library guides for Research Support for comprehensive help in publication planning, data management and complex literature reviews.
Handbook of the Arts in Qualitative Research: Perspectives, Methodologies, Examples, and Issues
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Advances in Visual Methodology
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Qualitative Inquiry: Thematic, Narrative and Arts-Based Perspectives
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Systematic-type reviews include systematic reviews, systematic literature reviews, scoping reviews, rapid reviews, systematic quantitative literature reviews, and many more (Sutton et al., 2019). The common theme is that they follow a systematic, structured process.
To see examples of literature reviews in the field of music:
"Literature review" AND
Subject: art
Note: may need to limit further by adding a line to remove health related articles e.g. NOT health OR nurs* OR medic*
Examples:
For higher level research projects, ensure you visit the library guides for Research Support for comprehensive help in publication planning, data management and complex literature reviews.
The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success
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Project Planner: Reviewing the Literature
Citing artworks and creative works in APA 7 can get tricky because these sources don’t always fit neatly into standard categories like books or articles.
Multiple versions or performances exist, raising questions about which to cite.
Properly crediting contributors beyond just the “author” or “artist” can get complex.
The UniSQ APA 7 Referencing Guide has a section on Artwork in Chapter 13 Audiovisual. The general advice is to indicate the format in square brackets [artwork]. See here for more information on referencing artworks in the APA 7 style including museums and museum plaques.
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Citing original artwork (paintings, sculptures, etc.). In exhibitions, galleries
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In text (Artist Surname, Year) Example: In The Cypriot (Dobel, 1940) … |
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Reference
Artist Surname, Initial. (Year). Title of artwork [Description]. Name of Gallery, Gallery Location.
Example:
Dobel, W. (1940). The Cypriot [oil on canvas]. Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.
Andrew, B. (2012). Time [Mixed media print]. Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane.
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Clip art or stock images
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In text (Artist Surname or Company, Year) Example: (GDJ, 2018) |
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Reference
Artist Surname, Initial. (Year). Title of image [Description]. Name of company/publisher. URL (if provided)
Example:
GDJ. (2018). Neural network deep learning prismatic [Clip art]. Openclipart. https://openclipart.org/detail/309343/neural-network-deep-learning-prismatic
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Photograph
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In text (Artist Surname, Year) Example: (Rinaldi, 2016) |
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Reference
Artist Surname, Initial. (Year). Title of image [Photograph]. Source. URL (if provided)
Example: McCurry, S. (1985). Afghan girl [Photograph]. National Geographic. www.nationalgeographic.com
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Realia In the UniSQ APA 7 Guide, Chapter 21, Point 6 provides examples for Realia. Realia encompasses physical objects used in everyday life, historical events, or as artistic expressions. Sculptures, models, and even some paintings or drawings can be considered realia, especially when they are part of a collection or museum display.
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In text (Author Surname, Year) OR (Title, Year) Example: Hands-on activities … (Measuring Cylinders, n.d.). |
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Reference
Author Surname/Organisation, Initial. (Year). Title [Format]. Producer.
OR
Title [Format]. (Year). Producer.
Example
Measuring cylinders [Realia]. (n.d.). Gradplex.
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