Dr Rowan Bailey

I graduated from the University of Essex in 1999 with an honours degree in Sociology and Art History, and then completed an MA and PhD in Sculpture and Philosophy at the University of Leeds (awarded 2009). I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Historical and Theoretical Studies and PGT MA Coordinator within the School.

Teaching Responsibilities

I am part of the Historical and Theoretical Studies Team at the University of Huddersfield, and provide contextual studies support to students specialising in art, design, and architecture.

My current research interests include art school pedagogies, histories and theories of textile craft, and sculptural thinking. I am currently exploring how sculptural processes such as carving, moulding, shaping and forming provide philosophy with the rhetorical tools it needs to think. Do sculptural processes shape the aesthetic? How does philosophy use sculpture as a pedagogical tool for instruction? What is sculptural thinking? My research shows that whilst sculpture is often registered as an explicit object-example in philosophy the implicit use of sculptural processes signals modes of productive activity not yet accounted for in existing research on the philosophy of sculpture.

Research areas include:

• Sculpture studies, aesthetics, and art theory;
The aesthetics of craft practice - differentiating modes of making and meaning in contemporary craft;
• Philosophies of art (Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Marx and Heidegger), themes of art and politics (Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Georg Lukacs, Bertolt Brecht and Ernst Bloch);
• Shifting conceptions of the city, new forms of technology (industrial and virtual), work and the workplace, post-industrial modes of capitalism and new configurations of identity;

2013

Bailey, R., Tinker, A. and Hill, P. (2013) ‘Ensuring Progression in Learning Development’. In: 10th ALDinHE Conference 2013: Celebrating Learning Development, 25th – 27th March 2013, Plymouth University, UK

Abbott, A., Bailey, R., Ronalds, D., Rowson, E., Thomas, D., Welding, P., Bradshaw, A., Bristow, L., Brown, N., Carmichael, Y., Crouch, A., Drozd, L., Hill, J. and Lloyd, C. (2013) Are you the enemy? Are you losing it? Black Dogs Quarterly [Artefact]

2012

Bailey, R (2012) ‘Five steps toward a radical pedagogy’ Radar , 1 (3), pp. 6-10. ISSN 2049-4327

Bailey, R., Taylor, A. and Lewis, L. (2012) ‘Themes of drawing and digital context: student engagement with theory and practice using the tool of the integrated learning portfolio’ Networks (18). ISSN 1756-9648

2011

Bailey, R (2011) ‘The Sculpture of Philosophy - The Philosophy of Sculpture’ Radar , 1 (2), pp. 5-6. ISSN 2049-4327

Bailey, R (2011) Art Collaboration between Phil Welding and Rowan Bailey: The Effects of Involuntary Thinking in the Workplace [Show/Exhibition]

Bailey, R (2011) ‘Book Review - Andrew J. Mitchell, Heidegger Among the Sculptors – Body, Space and the Art of Dwelling Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, 2010, 144pp., 32 illustrations, £44.50. ISBN 9780804770224’ Sculpture Journal , 20 (2), pp. 284-286. ISSN 1366-2724

Bailey, R (2011) ‘Herder's Sculptural Thinking’ Parallax , 17 (2), pp. 71-83. ISSN 1353-4645

2010

Bailey, R (2010) Lost in Transition - Exhibition by the art collective Fictional Museum [Show/Exhibition]

Bailey, R (2010) ‘Herder’s Sculptural Thinking – A Philosophy for the People?’. In: Guest Lecture, April 2010 , University of Leeds

2009

Bailey, R (2009) The philosophy of sculpture: the sculpture of philosophy Casting Bodies of Thought Doctoral thesis, University of Leeds.

Bailey, R (2009) ‘Monochromatic Productions: The Ends of Photography and the Beginning of Writing’. In: The object of photography: exhibition catalogue. Leeds: Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery. .

Language/Copy editor for Kivimma, E. (ed.) (2012) Working with Feminism: Curating and Exhibitions in Eastern Europe. Tallin: Tallin University Press.

Editorial Board Member for Evental Aesthetics - http://eventalaesthetics.net/

I am willing to supervise PhDs on the following topics related to my current research activity:

Histories and theories of sculptural making, with a focus on: a) Intersections between sculpture and textiles, sculpture and photography, sculpture and the other arts. b) Sculpture and explorations of identity – class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality. c) Sculptural thinking - historical and contemporary approaches to sculptural production.

Histories and theories of textile craft practice, with a focus on: a) The aesthetics of craft practice - modes of making and modes of meaning in the production of contemporary textile craft. b) Metaphors of cloth – the languages of textiles and craft making. c) Socially engaged craft practices – practices of community engagement, political activism, environmental issues, identity, etc.

Histories and theories of art and design education, with a focus on: a) Art School models and the formation of alternative pedagogical spaces. b) The educational turn in art and design practice. c) Intersections between practice and pedagogy.

Bailey, R. and Tinker, A.(2013)Second Year Blues: Developing Interactive Resources for Progressive Curriculum Design (TALI funded project).

Garside, J., Graham Omrod, Annie Topping, Moira Tyras, Graham Stone, Rowan Bailey (2013) Developing a Culture of Publication (TALI funded project).

I currently teach undergraduate history and theory to students in Textile Craft, Textiles with Surface Design, Contemporary Art and Costume Design. I am also responsible for the coordination of the Taught Cross Disciplinary Masters Programme within the School of Art, Design and Architecture