Stephen Atkinson is Program Director of the Bachelor of Contemporary Art at UniSA Creative, lecturer in art theory and history, and studio instructor in printmaking. He also facilitates projects on sound art and the creative possibilities of everyday life and materials. As an educator, Stephen is committed to the wider benefits of art education and the creative and critical thinking outcomes of learning through making. While the Bachelor of Contemporary Art is focussed on how to make and conceptualise artworks, these processes open up other ways of thinking that are transferable across all areas of life and work. Most tertiary programs assist students to develop problem solving skills, but art education emphasises the importance of asking new questions to conceive the world differently and reimagine our place in it.
Outside academia, Stephen has worked in a range of occupations from gardener and labourer to ghost-writer, artist, musician and set designer, and he continues to write, play music, and make art.