This page may contain additional navigation below.
Personal Profile For Dr Graham McLaren
Head of Department: Research Combined and Critical Studies. Bath School of Art and Design.
BA(Hons) [North Staffordshire Polytechnic], PhD [Royal College of Art].
Personal Statement:
My role at Bath Spa University is Head of the Department of Research, Critical and Postgraduate Studies in the Bath School of Art and Design. I joined the University in September 2004 having previously worked at the University of Wolverhampton (2004) as Head of Learner Support and Equal Opportunities, and Staffordshire University (1989-2004) where I was course leader for the BA (Hons) History of Design and the Visual Arts degree and the MA History of Ceramics course.
Professional Qualifications:
Membership of Professional Bodies/Subject Associations:
2001-Contemporary Glass Association
1990- The Glass Association
1987- The Design History Society
2006- Design Research Society
Teaching Specialism:
History of Art and Design specialising in Graphics, Ceramics, Glass.
Postgraduate Supervisions to completion:
2006 M.Phil (Staffordshire University)
Ceramics and the Earls of Bradford 1762-1915: A case study of database analysis and its value to
the ceramic historian
2006 Ph.D (Staffordshire University)
The Impact of Screen Printing on the British Ceramics Industry 1946-2002: A
case study of its implementation at Capper Ratauds Ltd
2005 (Doctor of Philosophy by Published Research)
Archaeology of the Staffordshire Ceramics Industry
2005 (Doctor of Philosophy)
Pots in Use. Ceramics, Behaviour and Change in the Early Modern Period, 1581-1700
1995 (Doctor of Philosophy)
An investigation and assessment of the influence of foreign artists at the Minton firm in the second
half of the nineteenth century
Staffordshire University
1999 (Doctor of Philosophy)
The Design Process in British Ceramic Manufacture 1750-1850
Staffordshire University
Key Publications/Exhibitions/Performances:
Studio Glass 1960-2000
Shire, Princes Risborough 2002
ISBN 0-7478-0527 X
Ceramics of the 1960s
Shire, Princes Risborough 2001
ISBN 0-7478-0486-9
Toby and Character Jugs
Shire, Princes Risborough 2000
ISBN 0-7478-04486
"Utility Forgot: Shaping the Future of
the British Pottery Industry 1941-1945"
IN Attfield, J (ed) Utility Reassessed: The
Role of Ethics in the Practice of Design
Manchester University Press 1999
ISBN 7-1905-2277
"Moving Forwards but Looking Backwards: The
Dynamics of Design Change in the Early Post-War
Pottery Industry" IN Maguire, PJ and Woodham JM
Design and Cultural Politics in Postwar Britain:
The Britain Can Make It Exhibition of 1946 Leicester UP 1997
ISBN 0-7185-0073-3
Ceramics of the 1950s
Shire, Princes Risborough 1997
ISBN 0-7478-0336-6
Articles on "Chinese Export Wares" and "Porcelain Rooms"
IN The Encyclopedia of Interior Design
Fitzroy Dearborn 1997 ISBN 1-884964-19-2
"Shaping the Future: The Ceramics
Department and Industry After the Second
World War" IN Frayling, C and Catterall, C
(eds) Design of the Times: 100 Years of the
Royal College of Art pp29-57 Richard Dennis
1996 ISBN 0-903685-42-6
Tobv Jugs And Related Wares
Shire, Princes Risborough 1994
ISBN 0-7478-0259-9
"Maker of Beauty: The Work and Legacy of Harry
Trethowan"
In Wood nee Hughes (ed) The Cream of Cornish
Writing Domain l994
ISBN 1899 30605
Published Papers: "Bernard Leach: One View"
Ceramics, Art and Perception
Autumn 2003
"'Cyber-Clay': Ceramics and the Internet"
Outline No 2 February 1997 pp3-7
"Netting Clay"
Ceramics Monthly (U.S.)
November 1996 pp16-20
"Can a Marriage be Arranged?: The Decorative Arts and the Design Historian"
SODAC Newsletter August 1994 pplO-12
"Facing the Fax"
Writer's Monthly September 1993 pp34-35
"A Complete Potteress-The Life and Work of Dora Lunn"
The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1990 No 13 pp33-39
"The 'Belhus Barometer', its owners and makers"
The Burlington Magazine June 1990 pp407- 410
"A Special Relationship"
Crafts March/April 1993 pp40-43
Reviews: de Waal, E Ceramics
Thames and Hudson 2003
Journal of Design History Vol 18 No 1 2005
Venable, Denker, Grier and Harrison
China and Glass in America 1880-1980: From Tabletop to TV Tray
Journal of Design History Autumn 2001
'Containment': Paula Andrews
CGS Newsletter Spring 2001
Smiles, S (ed) Going Modern and Being British
Journal of Design History 1999
'Splendours of Imperial China' (CD-ROM)
Outline Issue 7 Spring 1999
McCullough, M Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand
Journal of Design History 1997
"The Critic and the Crafts"
Design History Society Newsletter October 1993
"British Artists in Glass Exhibition 1993"
Crafts September/October 1993
"Contemporary Glass" by Susan K Frantz
British Artists in Glass Journal 1990
Obituary: Professor Robert Baker
The Times Feb 20 1992
Current Scholarship:
Work Towards: The Culture of Ceramics: Europe and America From 1660 (Manchester University Press)
The study of ceramics forms a crucial approach to understanding past cultures. The near indestructibility of the material, having been made and consumed by almost every society from the Neolithic period means that ceramics form the basis of much archaeological research and many museum collections. The fascination with the Classical past, together with the huge value placed upon Oriental porcelain established ceramics as an area of scholarly enquiry and public interest from the late seventeenth century onwards.
In many ways developments in the design and use of ceramics mirror the growing sophistication of Western culture. In the twentieth century changing approaches to using and making ceramics have challenged our understanding of terms such as 'Art', 'Craft', and 'Industry', paralleling the changing attitudes of Western society towards both design and lifestyles. This is true in technological terms as well. Whether in the 18th century experiments of Josiah Wedgwood, or the present day development of metal-ceramics and the ceramic super-conductors that will undoubtedly play an important role in our future lives, ceramics have historically been a 'leading edge' technology.
Ironically a strong scholarly background, arising largely out of the twin traditions of industrial archaeology and of connoisseurship has been as much a hindrance as a help to writing on the subject. There has been a tendency to concentrate on attribution, on the producer and the product, rather than the function of ceramics as a consumed item. Very little has been published which attempts to place ceramics in a social or cultural context, or indeed to analyse the historiography of the subject to any degree. The book will directly address these shortcomings.
External Examiners:
2006- External Advisor
London College of Fashion
University of the Arts
2006
External Examiner (Ph.D)
University of Brighton
2006
External Examiner (Ph.D)
Royal College of Art
London
1997-1999
Chief External Examiner
BA (Hons) Design
University of Brighton
1997-
External Examiner
MA Design and Cultural History
University of Central Lancashire
Other External Roles:
2002- Member, Editorial advisory team, Interpreting Ceramics (eJournal)
2001-Chair, Reginald Haggar Memorial Lecture Committee
2000- University of Northumberland
(Ph.D Advisor)
1993 Limerick School of Art, Eire
(advisor on History of Ceramics/crafts courses)
1996 Journal of Design History
1991-6 Keele University Press
1991 Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts
1984-1985 Brighton Musum and Art Gallery
(Willett Collection)
1986 Reform Club, London
1986-7 Departments of Ceramics and Furniture
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Recent Professional Updating:
History Plain or History Decorated? The Battle for the Past in the 19th Century Staffordshire Pottery Industry
Design History Society Conference, Delft, 2006
National Identity and the Problem of Style in the Post-War British Ceramic Industry
Design Research Society Conference, Lisbon 2006
Last Updated: 07 January 2008.
This page is created by the above named individual. The views expressed are theirs and are not those of Bath Spa University. BSU is not responsible for the content of any external sites referenced.