Rate My Professor Stephen Felmingham

Professor Stephen Felmingham serves as Professor of Artistic Research and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Arts University Plymouth, where he is a key member of the Vice-Chancellor's Executive. He earned a practice-led PhD in Drawing, Place and the Contemporary Sublime from the University of Leeds in 2014, an MA in Drawing in Fine Art Practice from the University of the Arts London (Wimbledon) in 1999, a BA (Hons) in Fine Art from Middlesex University in 1991, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Leeds in 2008, and a Foundation Diploma in Art and Design from Norwich School of Art in 1987. Felmingham joined Arts University Plymouth, formerly Plymouth College of Art, in 2013 as Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Painting, Drawing and Printmaking, a role in which he grew the programme into one of the institution's most successful degrees. He later became Senior Lecturer with remit for Academic Partnerships in 2018, overseeing strategic partnerships nationally and internationally, and leading academic development across undergraduate, postgraduate, and pre-degree portfolios. Prior to this, he lectured extensively in drawing, painting, print, and contemporary art practice on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at Falmouth University, Norwich University of the Arts, and Leeds Arts University. His appointment as Professor of Artistic Research in 2022 recognized his outstanding contributions to academic leadership, teaching, and research.

Felmingham's research specializations include creative pedagogies, research-led learning, alternative art school models, and socially-engaged art and education. He leads community-focused projects connecting artist-led initiatives, community organizations, and funders through the agency of creativity, with recent outputs in social practice including work with refugee communities that align with the university's aims in creative pedagogy and social justice. He co-founded Beyond the Now, a syndicated online platform fostering creative, cultural, and political affinities across Europe, the MENA region, and the Global South in a post-pandemic context. Notable collaborations encompass British Art Show 9, Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Tate Exchange projects, and the China/UK FutureLab Art and Design Education Expo in Shanghai. He is Co-PI on the AHRC-funded 'The Power of Print' with the University of the West of England and research convenor for the Society of Artistic Research. Awards include shortlisting for the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2009, finalisting the Celeste Art Prize in New York in 2010, and membership in the LAND2 Research Network since 2009. Key publications feature contributions to Access and Widening Participation in Arts Higher Education (2023), 'Drawing Out: Encounter, Resistance and Collaboration' in Drawing, Research, Theory, Practice (2019), 'Figures of Speech: Can conversation be a democratic mode of drawing?' (2019), and 'Approaching the Bunker: Bodies, Materiality and Meaning-Making in Cold War Ruins' (2017). Felmingham exhibits widely in the UK and Europe, with works in national and international collections, and delivers public lectures such as 'Drawing on Common Sense' and talks on art and design pedagogy.