Sharon Blakey  

Sharon Blakey is a Senior Lecturer in Three Dimensional Design teaching across all three levels of the programme. She is Erasmus Exchange Co-ordinator for 3D Design and a member of the Faculty Worshop Group. She is also part of the supervising team for an MPhil / PhD candidate.

Sharon is a practicing ceramicist and exhibits both in the UK and abroad. Alongside her teaching and practice she is committed to raising the profile of craft education and has presented a number of talks on the subject at conferences nationally. She has delivered a variety of workshops for pupils at Foundation, KS1, KS2 and KS3 level, as well as running CPD short courses for teachers. 



Her current research project ‘Mary, Mary Quite Contrary’ is in collaboration with Hazel Jones (metalworker) and the Manchester Art Gallery, investigating the Mary Greg Collection of Handicrafts of Bygone Times. The project addresses the question of the value of stored collections and explores the multiple meanings and uses of dormant historical collections.

She has presented her research in academic papers at conferences nationally and is published in a number of Journals. She is in the process of writing a book chapter on collaborative research between University and Art Gallery for Berg Publications with co-author Liz Mitchell, freelance curator.

A blog detailing the research is available at

http://www.marymaryquitecontrary.org.uk

She is currently exhibiting collaborative work with weaver Ismini Samanidou at SIT, Stroud International Textiles from April 27th - May 27th 2012 and is speaking at the Symposium on May 5th. For further details please see www.stroudinternationaltextiles.org.uk