Deirdre Feeney

Dr Deirdre Feeney

Senior Lecturer

School of Art and Design

College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Available For Media Comment.


I am an artist and senior lecturer of Contemporary Art at UniSA Creative with research interests in the materiality of image making, optical image systems as mediators of experience and media archaeology. My research collaborates across STEM, in particular with Physics and Engineering. My creative works are hybrid systems incorporating old and new technologies and technological ideas, from Renaissance natural magic to 19th century optical mechanics and are made using digital fabrication and traditional making skills. With a background in glass-making and the projected moving image, I use materials such as glass and mirror to develop image systems that physically and emotionally engage the viewer.
In 2020 I was an ANAT Synapse Residency recipient, for which I collaborated with the Australian National University Research School of Physics to develop a new optical image system. In 2021 I completed a Research Fellowship at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney investigating an astronomical device used in Australia for the 1874 the Transit of Venus and later employed in early cinema technology. My works have been exhibited in Australia and internationally, for example the ANU School of Art and Design Gallery (2019), Bornholm Museum in Denmark (2012) and William Traver Gallery, Tacoma, USA (2012). My work is held in public Australian and international collections such as the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the National Museum of Ireland.

Year Citation
2025 Authors: Feeney D. Title: Plateau's Dream. Description: Link to a related website: https://www.deirdrefeeney.com/plateaus-dream, URL of visual art work. Extent: 'Plateau's Dream' consists of three optical image system artworks featuring three projected moving image installations based on the colour perception experiments by the nineteenth century Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau. Each work has a bespoke armature made from micro-milled aluminium and brass, with a ‘creaturely’ aesthetic based on the anatomy of spider legs, suggesting agency and possibility for the devices to move through the gallery space. The armatures support the optical components of the image system (condensing lenses, LED, heat sink, light collar, LCD and objective lenses), and are housed in 3D-printed translucent miniature architectural structures. The electronic devices controlling the LCD and LED are held underneath the optical components in a bespoke aluminium casing. All components (lenses, armature etc) have been specifically designed for each image system and were fabricated by the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF). Each work projects a unique video-animation of the artist’s contemporary creative re-enactments of Plateau’s colour disc experiments..
2025 Authors: Feeney D. Title: The art and science of light, colour and motion. Extent: Catalogue essay.
2024 Authors: Feeney D. Title: Hallway. Extent: 1400 x 900mm rotating optical aspparatus.
DOI
2024 Authors: Feeney D. Title: The hidden image life of lenses. Extent: 1 exhibited artefact/optical image system artwork.
DOI
2023 Authors: Feeney D. Title: A partnership for uncertain times. Extent: N/A.
2023 Authors: Feeney D. Title: Intention and process: how artists make glass visible. Extent: 2 pages.
2023 Authors: Feeney D. Title: Depth of Field. Extent: This creative output consists of two moving image system artworks, which include an electronically controlled optical image device, a projected moving image and a viewer. The device is made up of a rotating 48-faceted mirrored polygon, image carousel containing 48 translucent 3D printed objects, light source and series of condensing and objective lenses..
DOI
2020 Authors: Feeney D, Campbell G. Title: ANU Vice Chancellor's Creative Research Fellowship Output. Extent: 3D printed image/objects.
2019 Authors: Feeney D. Title: Visibilities and Invisibilities of Wonder. Extent: optical image systems.
2019 Authors: Feeney D. Title: [dis]appearance. Description: First Showing. Extent: installation, mixed materials.
2009 Authors: Feeney D. Title: That evening. Extent: installation, Dimensions: 31.5 x 25.0 x 35.5cm.
  • Joyner Scholarship Scholarship, Joyner Scholarship, 01/02/2024 - 01/08/2027

  • Crossing disciplines with Creative Practice: South Australian artists working at intersections of art, science and technology, Arts SA, 13/06/2022 - 31/07/2023

Courses I teach

  • CREA 5001 Research Practices (Creative) (2025)
  • VSAR 1106 Contemporary Art Research (2025)
  • VSAR 2069 Black and White Photography (2025)
  • VSAR 2105 Jewellery Materials and Techniques (2025)
  • VSAR 2108 Processes and Forms in Jewellery and Sculptural Objects (2025)
  • CREA 5001 Research Practices (Creative) (2024)
  • VSAR 1106 Contemporary Art Research (2024)
  • VSAR 2018 New Media Art (2024)

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Principal Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Lauren Downton
2025 Principal Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Marlize De Klerk
2024 Principal Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Loren Orsillo
2024 Principal Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Megan Jane Roodenrys
2023 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Lorraine Joy Marchioro
2023 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Agarrid Mahdi

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