Dr Daniel Fountain (they/he)

Dr Daniel Fountain is Senior Lecturer and Director of Postgraduate Research in Art History and Visual Culture. An internationally recognised artist, curator, and scholar of queer contemporary art and craft, Daniel has been described by Apollo (the international art magazine) as one of “the most influential and talented people working in the space between art and craft,” and by the Crafts Council (the UK's national charity for craft) as the “world-leading authority on queer craft.”

Daniel's first book, Crafted with Pride: Queer Craft and Activism in Contemporary Britain (University of Chicago Press & Intellect Books, 2023), examines the material cultures of LGBTQ+ activism in Britain since the 1980s. The project was developed through international collaborations and supported by funding from the Association for Art History and the Paul Mellon Centre. Their second book Queer Crafts: Material Practices and the Making of Identity (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025) is the first monograph to comprehensively integrate craft studies and queer theory, examining a diverse range of media, and was supported by funding from the Paul Mellon Centre and the Design History Society. Their research has also been published in leading journals including GLQ, Art History, MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture, and TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture. Furthermore, they have contributed to major edited collections such as A Queer Scrapbook: Britain and Ireland Since 1945 (2026), Queer Print Cultures: Resistance, Subversion, and Community (2025), The Cultural Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots (2024), and The Routledge Companion to Gender, Sexuality, and Culture (2023). Collectively, this body of research has established Daniel as a leading figure in the theorisation of queer making and material-led practices, significantly shaping the study of LGBTQ+ art and material culture on an international scale.

Daniel has led a range of innovative, publicly engaged research projects with substantial societal and cultural impact. They have been commissioned by major international organisations—including National Museums Liverpool and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art—to curate LGBTQ+ exhibitions and programming. Their keynote lectures and invited talks span institutions such as the Whitworth Art Gallery, the Museum for Art in Wood, and Tate. Daniel’s practice-based research has been widely exhibited and profiled in prominent art and design publications including Surface Design Journal, Crafts, and Embroidery: The Textile Art Magazine. Through this combined research, practice, and public engagement portfolio, Daniel has generated new knowledge of LGBTQ+ histories and experiences with demonstrable influence across academia, cultural institutions, charities, and government bodies.

Daniel is a dedicated advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). They serve as an elected member of University Senate, Coordinator of the LGBTQ+ Staff Network, and Non-Binary Representative on the Gender Equality Group. They are also the founder and co-Director of the Gender and Sexuality Collective, established with Dr Sarah Bulmer (Politics) and Prof Susannah Cornwall (Theology and Religion), which aims to transform sexuality and gender research and pedagogy across the institution through an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach. Daniel’s extensive EDI leadership has led to invitations to deliver workshops and provide consultancy on gender, sexuality, and diversity across both public and private sector organisations. This work has recently generated a range of business-engagement initiatives, including a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and a professional CPD programme in this area.

An experienced and committed educator, Daniel has taught art and design history, theory, and practice from undergraduate to doctoral levels across fifteen institutions in the UK, US, and Canada. They have extensive experience in PhD supervision and examination (see Education Activities) and currently lead on developments for Postgraduate Research in the Department. Daniel holds a PhD in Feminism, Sexual Politics and Visual Culture from Loughborough University, where they also taught prior to joining the University of Exeter in 2021.