Maureen Gamble (MA, PgDip Fine Art, FHEA) is head of the Division of Art, Design & Creative Digital Media, University of Worcester, where she lectures in Fine Art and Professional Practice on both the BA and MA Fine Art programmes. Initially she studied Graphic Design in Bristol before going on to do postgraduate studies in Fine Art Printmaking at Wimbledon School of Art, and Art Education at Coventry University. She has taught in higher education since 1996 and was appointed a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2006.
After graduating from Wimbledon School of Art in 1984, Maureen actively pursued ways of developing her own fine art practice, sometimes through exhibitions, residencies, commissions, consultancy work or research. Her research interests include research into art and design practice, and her personal art practice is concerned with the role of ‘Transcription’ and our everyday experiences as perceived through found material. She exhibits regularly – her work has been exhibited in the UK, Germany and Italy and is held in many private collections in Europe, America and Australia. She has recently been appointed as the University of Worcester’s artist in residence at Worcester Cathedral (2009).
Maureen first began teaching Professional Practice when she joined the University of Worcester in 1996, teaching art and design students how to develop portfolios for a career in the arts, so they could continue their own art practice after graduation. Her commitment to and belief in supporting art students in the development of their applied practice, both during and after graduation, led to the development of an MA in Art & Professional Practice (validated 2007).
What do you do every day?
Manage the Art, Design & Creative Digital Media Department at the University of Worcester.
What are you doing today?
Preparing to meet the Dean and Chapter and volunteers at Worcester Cathedral to talk about my artist residency there.
What’s the best thing about your job?
Being able to develop new courses and being able to contribute to the successful future career opportunities of students throughout their studies.
And the worst thing?
Having to write all the course documents.
What’s the most important thing that students can take away from a university course in Art and Design?
Confidence in their skills and abilities, a good portfolio and some knowledge of where they are going next, whether it be to post-graduate study or into a professional career.
Tell us something about the work you produce and exhibit.
I enjoy working with a particular site or space and am influenced by what is around me at that moment, and combine it with what went before and how the space is used. I sometimes appropriate objects or use transcriptions of visual information housed there to represent my ideas.
Who has been the biggest influence on you, career-wise?
In my teaching practice, educationalist Paulo Freire, who introduced a literacy programme to Brazil and taught language using pupils’ everyday experiences. In my art practice, Marcel Duchamp, who first began to recognise the artistic value of everyday objects.
What do you think has been your biggest achievement in your career so far?
Obtaining an MA while teaching full-time and looking after two small children!
Any advice for anyone thinking about an academic career in the arts?
Continually look for opportunities to make and exhibit your work alongside PhD study.
Have you any unfulfilled ambitions?
I would like to be able to paint.
Which particular artist/s do you most admire and why?
Eva Hesse for her ability to turn everyday materials into beautiful objects, and Louise Bourgeois because she is still making art in her nineties.
