Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies

Photo of Dr Daniel Fountain

Dr Daniel Fountain

Senior Lecturer in Art History and Visual Culture (E&R)

D.Fountain@exeter.ac.uk

Overview

Dr Daniel Fountain is Senior Lecturer in Art History and Visual Culture. Daniel is a practitioner, curator and historian of modern and contemporary art, specialising in feminist, queer and transgender approaches. They are the editor of Crafted with Pride: Queer Craft and Activism in Contemporary Britain (University of Chicago Press and Intellect Books, 2023), and their monograph Queer Crafts is forthcoming with Bloomsbury Academic.

Daniel has been commissioned by a range of institutions such as Crafts Council and National Museums Liverpool to curate exhibitions and develop impactful public programmes. They have delivered research papers and keynote presentations at various museums and galleries, including the Whitworth Art Gallery, the Museum for Art in Wood, and Tate. Daniel has extensive experience with practice research and outputs have been exhibited internationally including at The Whitaker Museum and Art Gallery, Alexandra Palace, and The Wellington B. Gray Gallery. Their work has been featured in leading publications such as Surface Design Journal, Crafts, and Embroidery: The Textile Art Magazine. Daniel is a widely published art critic and their writing has appeared in journals such as TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture, Art History, Burlington Contemporary, as well as in exhibition catalogues such as Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH (Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, 2023).

An experienced educator with numerous visiting lecturer affiliations, Daniel has taught across art history, theory and practice from undergraduate to doctoral level at fifteen institutions in the UK, US, and Canada. They hold a PhD in Feminism, Sexual Politics and Visual Culture from Loughborough University, where they also taught prior to joining Exeter in 2021. Daniel's research has been supported by grants and fellowships from the Association for Art History, Paul Mellon Centre, Pasold Research Fund, The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities, UK New Artists, and Arts Council England, among others.

At Exeter, Daniel is an elected Senator, a member of the Sexual Knowledge Unit, Non-binary Representative for the Gender Equality Group, and Co-ordinator of the LGBTQ+ Staff Network.

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Research


Research through practice

Curatorial experience

2022    Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, 20 September–20 November.

2022    Pride at Crafts Council, Crafts Council, London, 2–4 June.

2022    Pots with Pride: Angus Suttie, Crafts Council, London, 6 June–3 September.

2022    WE ARE HERE, Exeter Phoenix, Exeter, 1 November–1 December.

2021    First Outing, Grundy Art Gallery and Abingdon Studios, Blackpool, 26 September–9 October (Arts Council England Funded)

2019    Re-Imagining Citizenship, Venice Biennale, European Cultural Centre.

Exhibitions

2023

WINK WINK, the Whitaker Art Gallery and Museum, 18 May – 23 July

it's a joy to be here, 87 Gallery Hull, 25 March – 1 April

TIPPING POINT, Studio KIND, 7–28 January

2022

We Are Here, Exeter Phoenix, 1 November – 1 December

ALPHA, AIR Gallery, Manchester, 23 September – 22 October

Knitting and Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace, 6 – 9 October

Diverse Voices in Textiles, Martin Hall Gallery, 6 June – 29 July

2021

Breeding Grounds, Two Queens, Leicester, 16 – 18 July

Festival of Quilts, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, 29th July – 1st August

2020

Two Queens Members Show, Two Queens, Leicester, 22 October – 31 October

TOUCH ME, Online, 19 September – 8 November

Queer Contemporaries, AIR Gallery, Manchester, 27 August – 19 September

Riposte X Club, Virtual Exhibition and Club Night, 9 May

Queer Art(ists) Now, Archive Gallery, London, 13 – 22 March 

LANDED, Loughborough University, 28 February 

Slippery and Subversive, Wellington B. Gray Gallery, North Carolina, 6 – 26 January

2019

Personal Structures – Identities, 2019 Venice Biennale, Palazzo Mora, European Cultural Centre, 11 May – 24 November

Crafting Change, Parkside Gallery, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, 12 – 29 March

Re-Imagining Citizenship, Martin Hall Gallery, Loughborough University, 13 – 29 March

2018

Vinylism 2.0, Tent Gallery, Edinburgh, 3 – 14 July 

Vinylism, Edinburgh Central Library, Edinburgh, 11 – 30 May

2017

Equal/Human, University of Leicester, March

2016

Aberystwyth Printmakers, Minerva Arts Centre, Llanidloes, 4 – 19 April 

Aberystwyth Printmakers, Oriel Q, Narbeth, 20 March – 25 April 

The Open: Young Wales, The Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy, 9 – 20 January 

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Supervision

I have experience with supervising and examining a range of PhD projects. I will consider proposals from prospective students that directly relate to my research interests. These include: modern and contemporary art, craft and design (c.1950s to present); feminist, queer and transgender studies; textiles, fashion and dress history; the visual and material cultures of activism; LGBTQ+ history and culture; practice research (curatorial and/or creative practice).

Research students

Hao Tian (AHRC Funded), 'China is Burning: Fashion, Bodies, and Gender in Chinese Ballroom'. Secondary supervisor, co-supervised with Dr Shaun Cole and Professor Louise Siddons (University of Southampton). PhD in Design.

Sam Godfrey (AHRC Funded), 'Creeping Into Myself: Smocking, Pleating and Folding as a Transgender Orientation'. Primary supervisor, co-supervised with Dr Conor Wilson (Bath Spa University). PhD in Art History and Visual Culture by Practice.

Chloë Edwards, 'Listen Without Prejudice: Queer Masculinities in the Popular Music Cultures of Thatcher's Britain'. Secondary supervisor, co-supervised with Dr Benedict Morrison. PhD in Art History and Visual Cutlure.

Cecilia Neil-Smith, ‘Mermaids, Sirens and Androgyny in Victorian Art and Literature (1860-1910)'. Secondary supervisor, co-supervised with Dr Patricia Zakreski. PhD in Art History and Visual Cutlure.

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

| 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |

2024

  • Fountain D, Hughes A. (2024) Long Live The Queen: The Afterlife of Mary, Queen of Scots in Contemporary Visual Culture, The Afterlife of Mary, Queen of Scots, Edinburgh University Press, 343-369. [PDF]

2023

  • Fountain D. (2023) Stitching Together: The UK AIDS Memorial Quilt and Its Oral Histories, Crafted with Pride Queer Craft and Activism in Contemporary Britain, University of Chicago Press and Intellect Books, 104-120.
  • Fountain D. (2023) Crafted With Pride: Queer Craft and Activism in Contemporary Britain, Intellect Books and University of Chicago Press.

2022

  • Fountain D. (2022) On The Queer Horizon: 'Welcome to Faggot Land', Paul Yore: WORD MADE FLESH, Art Ink and Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, 264-315.
  • Fountain D. (2022) How the Activist-Ceramicist Angus Suttie Made Pots With Pride, Crafts. [PDF]
  • Fountain D. (2022) Constructed Masculinities: Unpicking Working- Class Masculinities through Knitting, Textile: The Journal of Cloth and Culture, pages 1-8, DOI:10.1080/14759756.2022.2043518.
  • Fountain D. (2022) On Faggots and Faggoting: Trash-Talk and Reclaiming the Abject Through Art Practice, The Routledge Companion to Gender, Sexuality and Culture, Routledge, 424-437. [PDF]
  • Fountain D. (2022) Queering Needlework?, Art History, volume 45, no. 1, pages 204-207, DOI:10.1111/1467-8365.12625.

2021

  • Fountain D, Gratrix G, Hughes W. (2021) Why, I’d Trash Him From Top to Bottomus!, pages 1-5.
  • Fountain D. (2021) Survival of the Knittest: Craft and Queer-Feminist Worldmaking, MAI: Feminism and Visual Culture, volume 8, no. 8. [PDF]

2020

2019

  • Fountain D. (2019) Representing Race and the Politics of Display, Engage: The International Journal of Visual Art and Gallery Education, volume 43, no. 42, pages 21-28.
  • Fountain D. (2019) Vitamin T: Threads & Textiles in Contemporary Art, TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture, volume 7, no. 4, pages 459-461, DOI:10.1080/14759756.2019.1621073. [PDF]
  • Fountain D. (2019) Kiss My Genders: Gender Identity at the Hayward, Burlington Contemporary. [PDF]
  • Fountain D. (2019) Sampling the Subversive Stitch, Re-Imagining Citizenship Activity Book, Footprint Workers Cooperative, 32-34.
  • Fountain D. (2019) Patrick Staff’s ‘On Venus’, MAP Magazine. [PDF]

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External impact and engagement

Professional Membership

  • British Art Network; Queer British Art Research Group Member
  • Design History Society
  • Association of Art History
  • College Art Association

External Roles

  • Advisory Board Member, The Journal of Dress History
  • Industry Patron (MRes Arts), Arts University Bournemouth
  • Peer Reviewer; TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture, Craft Research, Bloomsbury Academic

Media and Press

My work has been featured in a range of publications including Surface Design Association’s issue on Spontaneity and Play in Fiber Art, the Festival of Quilts Magazine, and Embroidery: The Textile Art Magazine. Alongside artists such as Catherine Opie and Zanele Muholi, Rise Art selected me as one of seven world-leading LGBTQ+ artists 'challenging the canon' of art history and I am also a featured artist on Craft Conscious as part of their ‘Craft and Gender’ series alongside artists including Harmony Hammond, Sheila Pepe and Faith Wilding. I have written a range of art criticism for a range of popular journals and magazines such as Decorating Dissidence, Arts Professional, Burlington Contemporary, Crafts, and MAP Magazine.

Public Engagement and Impact

I have extensive experience engaging different publics with my research with lasting impacts relating to social action, health and wellbeing. Recent highlights include:

Come As You Are Festival: since 2021 I have been involved with the co-ordination of the annual Come As You Are Festival at Exeter Phoenix which explores issues around gender identity and celebrates the local trans, non-binary and genderqueer community. Events have included craft workshops, drag performances, discussions, poetry, art exhibitions, comedy, stalls, and more

Pride at the Crafts Council: in 2022, Crafts Council, the UK’s national charity for craft, commissioned me to curate a series of workshops for LGBTQIA+ audiences to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pride. This was delivered in collaboration with artists Liaqat Rasul, Al Hil, and Jacob V. Joyce. I have since acted as an special advisor and have published work on their website and in the publication Crafts  about the activist-ceramicist, Angus Suttie.

First Outing: a multi-site exhibition at the Grundy Art Gallery and Abingdon Studios in Blackpool in 2021, funded by UK New Artists (UKNA) and Arts Council England. I established a funded residency for LGBTQ+ artists Claye Bowler, Dan Chan and Matthew Rimmer to explore marginality and research findings were presented at the 2021 a-n Assembly, titled ‘The Coast is Queer’. We also received a range of national press coverage, including a feature in Corridor8.

Crafted With Pride: the Queer British Art Research Group (funded by Tate and Paul Mellon Centre) commissioned me to curate a symposium around queer British craft history, which is often excluded from research into queer British art history. It featured workshops, talks, and in-conversations with artists, heritage professionals, curators, activists and academics. With many of these collaborators, I produced an edited collection of the same name in 2023. This received funding from the Association for Art History, Paul Mellon Centre, and the Pasold Research Fund. The book is stocked in major museums and galleries such as the Whitworth, the Barbican Centre, the Arnolfini, and was a no.1 bestseller on Amazon for LGBTQ+ books.

Being Human Festival: collaborating with Dr Freya Gowrley and Dr Cath Feely on producing a series of events with Derby Museums, Derbyshire Record Office, Derby Local Studies Library and the National Trust. In 2020, I was commissioned to run a series of collage workshops and these were cited as a case study for exemplary creative pedagogy in E. Bassett et al.,‘Getting Scrappy in the Classroom During COVID-19: Collaboration, Open Educational Resources, and Hands-on Learning for Humanities Students’, KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination and Preservation Studies, 6 (1), pp. 1-18.

Re-Imagining Citizenship: In 2019 worked with members of the Politicised Practice Research Group at Loughborough University to organise exhibitions, installations, performances and events that sought to redefine ideas of citizenship and nationhood that are not prescribed or restricted by the language of the political establishment or the media, but rather opened up and expanded by practice research methods. This led to the publication of the Re-Imagining Citizenship Book (2019) and an exhibition at the European Cultural Centre - Pallazo Mora as part of the 2019 Venice Biennale.

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Teaching

I am module convener for Common Threads: Art, Craft and Activism (AHV2019) and Contemporary Visual Practices (AHV2007). I also teach on the MA Curation: Contemporary Art and Cultural Management and have co-led the AHVC field trip to Florence. I am a Fellow of Advance HE. Prior to joining Exeter, I held fixed term teaching and research posts at Loughborough University, Nottingham Trent University, Birmingham City University and Manchester Metropolitan University. I have also held visiting lecturer positions at the University of British Columbia, University of Victoria, University of Manitoba, University of Alberta, Kent State University, Arts University Bournemouth, University of Southampton, University of Glasgow, and the Royal School of Needlework.

Modules taught

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