Contemporary Artist, Independent Curator, Researcher
BIO
Daniel Fountain (he/they) is an artist, independent curator, and researcher of queer craft. They are senior lecturer in art history and visual culture at the University of Exeter. Daniel was awarded a PhD from Loughborough University where he completed a practice-led research project titled 'All That Glitters Is Gold: Queering Waste Through Campy Craft'. Daniel's first book Crafted with Pride: Queer Craft and Activism in Contemporary Britain (Intellect Books and the University of Chicago Press) explores the material cultures of LGBTQ+ activism in Britain since the 1980s and includes a range of contributions from academics, artists, activists, curators and heritage professionals. He is now working on a second publication which will be published with Bloomsbury Academic in 2025. As an artist, Daniel has exhibited on an international level and their work has been featured in several publications including Surface Design Journal, Crafts, and Embroidery: The Textile Art Magazine. Daniel has curated a range of exhibitions and public programmes in collaboration with organisations such as Crafts Council, National Museums Liverpool, Grundy Art Gallery, Tate and Paul Mellon Centre.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Daniel Fountain's artistic practice explores themes of marginality and queerness. It often utilises methods historically associated with craft and textiles to subvert traditional notions of gender and sexuality. They grew up in a working-class household where ‘make do and mend’ was not trendy, but a necessity, and it is a mantra that still informs their life and practice today. Fountain works almost exclusively with discarded objects and found textiles. With a swishy flick of the wrist, these seemingly abject materials are often transformed into a powerful site of self-creation: one which celebrates the unloved, the overlooked, and the forgotten. The resulting works are inherently camp – both playful and political.
CV
EDUCATION
2021 – PhD in Feminism, Sexual Politics and Visual Culture, Loughborough University
2017 – MA in Arts and Cultural Management, Distinction, King’s College London
2015 – BA in Fine Art and English Literature, First Class Honours, Aberystwyth University
EMPLOYMENT
2023-Pr – Senior Lecturer in Art History and Visual Culture, University of Exeter (view staff profile)
2021-23 – Lecturer in Art History and Visual Culture, University of Exeter
2021-21 – Senior Research Assistant (Art & Performance), Manchester Metropolitan University
2018-21 – Lecturer in Art History and Creative Arts, Loughborough University
2018-21 – Lecturer in Art & Design, Nottingham Trent University
2018-19 – Faculty of Arts, Design and Media Employability Tutor, Birmingham City University
2017-18 – Lecturer in Art & Design, South Staffordshire College
Between 2020 and 2023 I also held visiting and guest lectureships at several Higher Education institutions worldwide including the Royal School of Needlework (UK), University of British Colombia (Canada), University of Victoria (Canada), University of Manitoba (Canada), Arts University Bournemouth (UK) and University of Glasgow (UK)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2023
WINK WINK, The Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery
it's a joy to be here, 87 Gallery
TIPPING POINT, Studio KIND
2022
ALPHA, AIR Gallery, Manchester
Diverse Voices in Textiles, Martin Hall Gallery, Loughborough University
2021
Knitting and Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace
Festival of Quilts, NEC Birmingham
Breeding Grounds, Two Queens, Leicester
2020
Two Queens Members Show, Leicester
Touch Me, Online Show
Queer Contemporaries, AIR Gallery, Manchester
Red Flags, Margate Pride
Riposte III, Riposte London, Virtual Gallery X Club
Queer Art(ists) Now, Archive Gallery, Rose Lipman Building, London
LANDED, Loughborough University
Spectral Matter: Slippery and Subversive, Wellington B.Gray Gallery, North Carolina, USA
2019
SWITCH, Loughborough University
Crafting Change, Birmingham City University, Parkside Gallery [Solo Show]
Re-Imagining Citizenship, European Cultural Centre, Venice Biennale
Re-Imagining Citizenship, Martin Hall Gallery, LU Arts
2018
Edinburgh Collage Collective, Edinburgh Central Library, Edinburgh
Edinburgh Collage Collective, Tent Gallery, Edinburgh
HeforShe, University of Leicester and Attenborough Arts Centre
Reactive Maker, Wedge Gallery, Lichfield
2015
Young Wales, Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy
Fine Art Degree Show, Aberystwyth School of Art, Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth Printmakers 10 Year Anniversary, Oriel Q, Narberth
Aberystwyth Printmakers, Minerva Arts Centre, Llanidloes
2013
Winter Show, Aberystwyth School of Art, Aberystwyth
PRESS AND ARTIST FEATURES
Emily Collins, ‘Out and proud: makers celebrate 50 years of Pride at the Crafts Council Gallery’, Crafts Council (2022).
Nia Thomas, ‘First Outing’, Corridor8, (2021).
Matt Lambert, ‘Détournement: Daniel Fountain’, Surface Design Journal (2021), pp. 12-17.
Francesco Ferranati, ‘The Beauty of the Discarded: recycling and queerness in Daniel Fountain’s work’, Gender is a construct (2020).
Ellen Bell, ‘Beyond the Boundaries of Stitch’, EMBROIDERY: The Textile Art Magazine (2021), p.44-48.
‘Daniel Fountain’, The Art of Being Queer (2021).
‘Daniel Fountain: Faggoting’, Festival of Quilts Magazine (2020), p.9.
‘Art and Pride: 7 LGBTQ+ Artists Challenging the Canon’, Rise Art (2020).
'Craft and Gender Artist List’, Craft Conscious (2020).
COMMISSIONS, RESIDENCES, ART AWARDS
Queer/Disrupt (Runner Up), 2021
Vlieseline Fine Art Textile Award (Shortlisted), 2020
Pride in London Art Competition (Shortlisted), 2020
Bridgeman Studio Award, The Art of Diversity (Shortlisted), 2020
REACH Space, Arts & Humanities Research Institute, King’s College London, 2019
Queer Museology Pop-Up Residency, King’s College London, 2019
HeforShe Artwork Campaign, University of Leicester and Attenborough Arts Centre, 2017
CONFERENCE PAPERS & PUBLIC TALKS
‘The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt’, Norfolk Makers Festival, 13 March 2023
‘Chase of The Wild Goose’, University of Exeter and Bookbag, 14 February 2023
‘Queer + Metals’, Midlands Art Centre (mac), Birmingham, 2 February 2023
‘Collecting Trans and Non-Binary Material Culture’, Queer History and Heritage Workshop, King’s College London, 27 June 2022
‘Queering Craft: Stitching Identity’, Critical Crafting: Textiles, Universities of Alberta, Manitoba and Victoria, 25 February 2022
‘A Stitch in Time: Fashioning Queer Identities’, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, 14 March 2022
‘First Outing’, The Coast is Queer, a-n Assembly, 28-29 September 2021
‘Queering Collage: The Camp Cut-Ups of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell’, Cutting Edge: Collage in Britain, Tate Britain, 13 October 2021
‘AIDS Quilts’, Histories of Making During States of Emergency, Peopling the Palace Festival 2021, Queen Mary University of London 2021
‘Affect and the Abject: Trash(y) Desires in Queer Artistic Practice’, Association For Art History Annual Conference, 16 April 2021
‘Faggoting: Crafting The Queer Body’, A Not Unruffled Surface: Contemporary Sculpture and Dress, Henry Moore Institute, 24 February 2021
‘Queer Cut-Ups: The Collaged Library Books of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell’, Queering Collage, Collage Research Network, 4 December 2020
‘Queer Craft: Sexuality, Textiles and Art Practice’, LU Arts, Loughborough University, 15 July 2020
‘All That Glitters Is Gold: Queer Worldmaking Practices and Trashy Textiles’, Craft(ing) the Body, University for the Creative Arts, 22 May 2019
‘Cut and Paste: Hannah Höch and the Queer Art of Collage’, Queer Modernisms, University of Oxford, 25-26 April 2019