Dr Matthew
Partington
Director, Recording the Crafts
V&A Museum Senior Research Fellow, Applied Arts
You can contact
Matthew on:
0117 3284746
Or write to him at:
University of the West of England, Bristol,
Bower Ashton Campus, Kennel Lodge Road,
Off Clanage Road, Bristol, BS3 2JT.
e-mail: matthew.partington@uwe.ac.uk
Matthew's
research interests can be seen in detail at academic.edu: http://westengland.academia.edu/MatthewPartington
Date of
Birth:
29.05.1971 (Douglas, Isle of Man)
Education:
BA (Hons) History of Art, Warwick University 1992
MA Museum Studies, Leicester University 1994
PhD: 'London Coffee Bars of the 1950's', 2008.
Career:
June 2004 - : Victoria and Albert Museum Senior Research Fellow in
the Applied Arts and Director of National Electronic & Video
Archive of the Crafts (UWE, Bristol).
September
2001 – June 2004: Victoria and Albert Museum
Research Fellow in the Applied Arts and Acting Director of
National Electronic & Video Archive of the Crafts.
June 1998 – September
2001: Research Associate, Digital Archiving and the Applied
Arts, University of the West of England
and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Oct 1994 - May 1998: Curator, Nature in Art, Wallsworth Hall,
Glos., GL2 9PA
Recent Publications:
Video Commission: ‘The Shape of Things’ exhibition,
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, 6th February – 18th
April 2010, commissioned by ‘The Shape of Things’ organiser
David Kay and Julia Carver at Bristol City Museum, including
interviews with the two artists Rosa Nguyen and Alinah Azadeh.
The video is playing in the gallery as part of the exhibition.
Paper in
conference proceedings: ‘A blurred photograph
of Jesus is better than no photograph at all’ – the
practicalities of using video as an oral history tool’,
International Oral History Conference, University of Guadalajara,
Mexico, 26th September 2008.
Paper in conference proceedings: ‘Ceramics of South West
England’, in Explorations and Navigations, Proceedings
of the NCECA 40th Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon, 2006,
pp.97-101. ISSN 0739-1544.
Paper in journal: ‘Ceramic Points of View: Video Interviews,
the Internet and the Interpretation of Museum Objects’,
Journal of Design History, 2006, 19, pp.333-344. ISSN 0952-4649.
Journal exhibition review: 'Neil Brownsword: Collaging History',
in Ceramic Review, 216, November/December 2005, p.65.
Online
publication: ‘Ceramic Points of View’,
oral history site on the V&A website featuring video, transcripts
and images. www.vam.ac.uk/ceramicpointsofview
Paper published
in online journal: ‘Espresso, Exoticism
and Earthenware: the coffee bar ceramics of the Picassoettes,
1952-1960’, ‘Interpreting Ceramics’ online
journal, 2005, issue 6, http://www.uwic.ac.uk/ICRC/issue006/articles/02.htm
Paper in
conference proceedings: ‘The London Coffee
Bar Problem of the 1950s – an eclectic design challenge
to the universalism of modernism.’ Futureground, Design
Research Society International Conference, Monash University,
Melbourne, Australia, 19.11.2004. ISBN 0975606026.
Paper in conference proceedings: '1950s London Coffee Bar
Ceramics', NCECA Journal 2003, vol. XXIV, pp.70-75, ISSN 0739-1544.
(Published summer 2004).
Exhibition
catalogue essay: ‘Introductory essay’ to
the catalogue of ‘Jewellery Unlimited’, a national
exhibition of the Association of Contemporary Jewellers, Bristol
City Museum and Art Gallery, April 2004.
Journal
article: ‘Coffee Culture’,
in Ceramic Review, 206, March/Apr 2004, pp.32-33.
Journal
article: ‘Mo Jupp: an army of beautiful figures’,
(exhibition review), in Ceramic Review, 205, January/February
2004, pp.56-57.
Video commission: ‘Show5’,
five edited videos of interviews with Michael Rowe, Ann Sutton,
Jim Partridge,
Carol McNicoll and Richard Slee. Commissioned by the Crafts
Council in 2003 to be played at the museum venues of 5 retrospective
exhibitions.
Article in book: 'Studio potters and design: a case study
on the Whieldon inspired earthenwares of Walter Keeler', in
British Ceramic Design (1600-2002), published by the English
Ceramic Circle, 2003.
Video commission: ‘Containing Ceramics’, a video
to accompany the Craft’s Councils exhibition of the same
name at the SOFA Design expo. in Chicago, October 2002.
Online paper: 'Producing an on-line undergraduate module for
the Distributed Network of Electronic Resources', in http://www.brighton.ac.uk/designingbritain/,
published online by the University of Brighton, September 2002.
Recent presentations & papers:
Panel Chair: Applied Arts Panel, Impact 6 - International Print
Conference, Bristol Council House, 18th September 2009. Organised
by the Centre for Fine Print Research, Faculty of Creative
Arts, UWE, Bristol.
Paper: 'The London Coffee Bar of the 1950s - teenage occupation
of an amateur space?’ Occupation: Negotiations with Constructed
Space, conference at the University of Brighton, July 2nd 2009.
Consultancy: Interviewed and Directed an interview with Gordon
Baldwin (May 2009) for a DVD to run alongside a retrospective
exhibition of the artists’ work at York Art Gallery in
2010.
Consultancy: co-authored a report in 2009 with Professor Paul
Gough on the Otter Gallery and Collection for the University
of Chichester, West Sussex.
Paper: ‘A blurred photograph of Jesus is better than
no photograph at all’ – the practicalities of using
video as an oral history tool’, International Oral History
Conference, University of Guadalajara, Mexico, 26th September
2008.
Lecture: 'Walter Keeler: Designer/Maker', Glynn Vivian Art
Gallery, Swansea, 30th May 2008.
Presentation: 'Participatory digital narratives: crafts and
material objects', Textiles Research Day at the V&A Museum,
organised by Juliet Ash (RCA) and Janis Jefferies (Constance
Howard Resource and Research Centre in Textiles, Goldsmiths,
University of London), 22nd February 2008.
Paper: ‘Recording the crafts: using video in a gallery
context’, Crafts Curators Conference, University of Bristol,
27th November 2006.
Presentation: ‘Using collections and archives to inform
contemporary work, research and oral history’, panel
discussion at Kings College, London in association with Origin,
the London Craft Fair and the London Centre for Arts and Cultural
Enterprise), 3 October 2006.
Paper: ‘The Ceramics of South West England’, National
Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference,
Portland, Oregon, 10 March 2006.
Paper: ‘Ceramic Points of View – using video interviews
and the web in the interpretation of museum objects’,
Show/Tell: Relationships Between Text, Narrative and Image
(conference at the University of Hertfordshire, 12 September
2005.
Paper: ‘The London Coffee Bar Problem of the 1950s – an
eclectic design challenge to the universalism of modernism.’ Futureground,
Design Research Society International Conference, Monash University,
Melbourne, Australia, 19 November 2004.
Seminar: ‘Filming people handling and discussing V&A
pots - an exploration of differing responses to the same objects'.
Ceramics Study Day, V&A Museum, 30th January 2004.
Paper: ‘Using recorded interviews for research purposes’,
19th September 2003, ALIAS Symposium, ‘Practice and Reflection’,
organised by the Arts Council at the Gloucestershire Guild
of Craftsmen, Painswick, Gloucestershire.
Paper: 'London Coffee Bars of the 1950's', 13th March 2003,
San Diego, California.
A paper given at the National Council for Education in the
Ceramic Arts (NCECA) Conference. (Paper published summer 2004).
Seminar: 'Research Interviewing approaches at NEVAC', 28 September
2002, University of Central England, Birmingham. A presentation
given to PhD students and supervisors outlining NEVAC's approach
to oral history interviewing.
Paper: ‘Studio potters and design: a case study on the
Whieldon inspired earthenwares of Walter Keeler’, 21
September 2002, Victoria & Albert Museum. Conference: ‘75th
Anniversary Colloquium: Design and British Ceramics’,
21 September 2002. (Paper published in a book, June 2003).
Paper: ‘Espresso, Exoticism and Earthenware: the coffee
bar ceramics of the Picassoettes, 1952-1960’, 5 September
2002, University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Conference: Design
History Society Conference, 3-5 September 2002.
Paper: ‘Producing an on-line undergraduate module for
the Distributed Network of Electornic Resources’, 3 September
2002, University of Brighton. Conference: ‘Designing
Britain: the visual experience of post-war society’,
3-4 September 2002.
Published online at www.designingbritian.org
Paper: ‘The National Electronic and Video Archive of
the Crafts: Case studies in Craft History’, 28 November
2001, Rajabhat Institute Suan Sunuandha, Bangkok. Conference:
The 4th Annual Seminar for Academic Education Covering New
Technologies and Methodologies in Arts, Media and Design on ‘Teaching,
Learning and Research for the Creative Professions’.
Seminar: ‘Recording Interviews at the National Electronic
and Video Archive of the Crafts’, Victoria & Albert
Museum Research Department, Research in Progress Seminar series,
13 July 2001.
Paper: ‘Michael Cardew at Winchcombe’,
Michael Cardew Centenary Symposium, Arts Centre, University
of Wales,
Aberystwyth, 27 June 2001.
Paper: ‘Preciousness and weight in hand-made ceramics’,
Precious: Objects and Collections, Sheffield Hallam University,
23 May 2001.
Paper: ‘Academia Meets technology: Setting up a web-based
video database at the National Electronic and Video Archive
of the Crafts’, ‘New Directions in Systems Development
2001: Multimedia’, University of Wolverhampton, (sponsored
by the British Computer Society),14 March 2001.
Research Interests:
• As
Director of Recording the Crafts I am responsible for recording
video
interviews with craftspeople across a range
of craft
media.
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/recordingthecrafts
• I am a founding member of the ‘Interpreting
Ceramics’ Journal, www.interpretingceramics.com.
• I
am external examiner for the Contemporary Crafts BA (hons)
degree at University College Falmouth.
http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/201/courses-7/undergraduate-courses-42/contemporary-crafts-bahons-65.html
• I
am Chair of the Faculty of Creative Arts Research
Ethics Sub-Committee .
• I am a member of the University of the West of England,
Bristol’s University Research Ethics Committee.
• I am a member of the University of the West of England,
Bristol’s Academic Board.
• I am a member of the Faculty of Creative Arts’ Faculty
Board.
• I am a member of the Faculty of Creative Arts’ Research
Degrees Committee.
• I am a member of the Faculty of Creative Arts’ Health
and Safety Committee.
• I am a member of the ‘Enamels, Textiles and
Ceramics Applied Arts Research Group’ (etc) at the Bristol
School of Art, Media & Design. http://www.media.uwe.ac.uk/etc/
• I
teach visual culture (levels 1, 2 and 3) in the School of
Creative
Arts, mainly tutoring essays and dissertations.
ADVISORY
PANEL
Recording the Crafts has an advisory panel consisting
of: Alun Graves, Walter Keeler, Kate Malone, Professor Victor
Margrie and Moira Vincentelli.
Matthew's Academia.edu page is at http://westengland.academia.edu/MatthewPartington
My wife's
website can be found at http://www.janinepartington.co.uk
Finally a website called PSDS: a voluntary group whose principal goal is to provide
support for children with Downs Syndrome and their families: http://www.psds.info/Index.htm
