So, you’re thinking about doing Honours? A Q&A with Courtney

Why I chose to do postgraduate studies 

As I approached the end of my undergraduate degree, I felt like the research I was doing really deserved more time to be developed. I had a desire to focus more directly on glassblowing and my research practice rather than being spread out across different theoretical classes and electives.

Why I came to ANU to do Honours

I completed my undergraduate studies at the Sydney College of Arts but decided on ANU for my Honours year. There are more classes involving the honours year group, and more opportunities in my workshop for discussion with peers and academics.

Coming from interstate, I decided to visit the workshop at ANU before I applied to have a chat with the academic staff. I had arranged to meet my supervisor and we started a promising dialogue. Raquel Ormella, the Honours convenor was very helpful in giving me feedback on my proposal as part of my application. 

My experience so far

The glasswork studio here is well established with a lot of connections across the region. The support here also means that I can meet with my supervisor and workshop group once a week for critiques and discussion. 

The honours year is much more self-directed and experimental. It’s a chance to explore your own ideas unconfined by general class themes or direction. There is a lot of freedom to decide how you want your research to develop, and having the support of a personal supervisor for the whole year really pushes you to develop your practice in a way that is different from semester to semester projects.