Teaching: 2009 - 2016 (programme leader)
I ran the BA (Hons) Art & Design, and FdA in Art & Design programmes from validation in 2009 through to 2016 when I took a three year hiatus from teaching. With the course now closing I wanted to pay tribute to the incredible work of the students, and to remember the lessons that I personally learnt from being involved in their creative processes.
“As an educationalist, I see the pedagogic role as accepting responsibility for creating and adapting student-focused learning environments. A practice in its formative stages of development is potentially vulnerable, being critically very fluid and prone to fantastic uncertainties. This requires the teaching to be equally adaptive and resonant to multiple needs and demands. Students should be challenged and supported through the process of defining their own research, discovering suitable equivalences within a culture of research-informed teaching and opportunities presented by collaborative research activities” robm.
Each programme was delivered from a trans-disciplinary perspective, in which artists, designers and makers negotiated both their core motivating concerns and external ventures. From challenging off-site exhibitions to selling artefacts in commercial spaces, students learned to tackle real-world situations involving teamwork, client expectations and locating new audiences (images below selected from the 2015/16 end of year shows).
