BIO
Dr Daniel Fountain (he/they) is an artist, creative producer and Lecturer in Art History and Visual Culture at the University of Exeter. Daniel is currently working on various publications exploring queer craft and the material cultures of LGBTQIA+ activism, with an edited collection forthcoming with Intellect and a monograph forthcoming with Bloomsbury Academic. They have also curated a range of exhibitions and public programmes on themes of queer craft in collaboration with organisations such as Crafts Council, National Museums Liverpool, Tate and Paul Mellon Centre. Before taking up post at Exeter, they lectured on programmes in Art History, Art and Design, Textiles and Fashion at a range of institutions including at Nottingham Trent University, Loughborough University, Manchester Metropolitan University.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Fountain's artistic practice explores themes of marginality and queerness. It often utilises methods historically associated with textiles in order to subvert traditional notions of gender and sexuality. With a swishy flick of the wrist, discarded objects and found textiles 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
2018 - 2021
PhD in Feminism, Sexual Politics and Visual Culture, Loughborough University (practice-led).
Supervisors: Professor Hilary Robinson and Dr Mary (Mo) White
External Examiner: Professor Gavin Butt
2015 - 2017
MA Arts and Cultural Management, King's College London, Distinction.
2012 - 2015
BA (Hons) Fine Art and English Literature, Aberystwyth University, First Class.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2022
Diverse Voices in Textiles, Loughborough University
2021
Knitting and Stitching Show, Royal Albert Hall
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, Welcome Mat Gallery
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
2017
Summer Exhibition, Janet Bassett Gallery, Northamptonshire
2016
Winter Showcase, Janet Bassett Gallery, Northamptonshire
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
COMMISSIONS, RESIDENCES, ART AWARDS
Queer/Disrupt (Runner Up), 2021
Vlieseline Fine Art Textile Award (Final Shortlist), 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
EMPLOYMENT
2021 - Present
Lecturer in Art History and Visual Culture, University of Exeter
2021 - 2021
Senior Research Assistant, Manchester School of Art
2020 - Present
Visiting Lecturer at eight HEI's worldwide
2018 - Present
Tutor in Creative Arts, Loughborough University
2018 - 2021
Lecturer in Fine Art (Short Course), Nottingham Trent University
2018 - 2018
Lecturer in Fine Art, Adult and Community Education, South Staffordshire College
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS & PUBLIC TALKS
A Stitch In Time: Crafting Queer Identities, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, 14 March 2022
Queering Collage: The Camp Cut-Ups of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell, Cutting Edge: Collage in Britain, 1945-Now, Tate Britain, October 2021
Affect and The Abject: Trash(y) Desires in Queer Artistic Practice, Association For Art History 2020 Annual Conference, 16 April 2021
Contemporary Craft: Crafting identity and Communities, Watt's Gallery London, 8 March 2021
Faggoting: Crafting the Queer Body, A Not Unruffled Surface: Contemporary Sculpture and Dress, Henry Moore Institute, 24 February 2021
Queer Cut Ups: The Collages Library Books of Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell, 1959–1962, Queering Collage, Collage Research Network, 4 December 2020
'The worst pandemic in human history'? Queer waste and the politics of (in)visibility, from HIV/AIDS to COVID-19, COVID-19 Waste Colloquium, 27 November 2020
Queer Craft: Sexuality, Textiles and Art Practice, LUArts Week, Online, June 2020
There’s No Place Like Home: Queer Worldmaking with Trashy Textiles, Textile and Place, Manchester School of Art, 23-24 April 2020*
Affect and The Abject: Trash(y) Desires in Queer Artistic Practice, Association For Art History 2020 Annual Conference, 1 April 2020*
All that Glitters is Gold: Queer Worldmaking Practices and Trashy Textiles, Craft(ing) The Body, UCA Farnham, May 2019.
Cut and Paste - Hannah Höch and the Queer Art of Collage, Queer Modernism(s) III, University of Oxford, April 2019.
Crafting Change: Interweaving Queer Identity and Dissent in Contemporary Art Practice, Loughborough School of the Arts, English and Drama Symposium, December 2018.
Crafting Change: Interweaving Queer Identity and Dissent in Contemporary Art Practice, Loughborough Doctoral College Annual Research Conference: The Agile Researcher, Loughborough University, November 2018.
*Papers peer reviewed and accepted, but cancelled due to COVID-19.