Martin Studios: Paul and Viv Martin: About Paul Martin

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Viv Martin

About Paul Martin

Artist's Statement
Biography
Qualifications
Exhibitions
Career Summary
Publications

Artist's Statement
For me, the art process is a form of dialogue with the outside world, a way of exploring ones relationships with it and distilling in visual form, tentative interpretations of things understood. It is a personal meaning making process, through which some of the visual manifestations hopefully have meaning for others too.

I have always been an artist, a sort of outsider observing the world and interpreting it through visual means. As a child I loved drawing and was lucky enough to be encouraged by my parents and art teacher to take it seriously. While others played he gave the discipline of still life's to study and he introduced me to oil paint at the age of 13 and I was in heaven. The smell, the texture, the intense colours and expressive range- I loved it and still do nearly fifty years on. My early work was basically realistic and by my mid of 20's i realised that I was stuck interpreting the world in a personal but faux photographic way so I went to art college to learn what becoming an artist was really about.

The main challenge at college was to my preconcieved ideas about the world around me. I learnt to observe the world from an almost dispassionate standpoint, to control my passions and draw and paint only what I understood in an accurate figurative manner. These skills have been useful but sometimes limiting. As I explored the realms of quantum physics I became aware that reality is not fixed and that how you look is what you really find. Reality is changed by the viewer and what Melot-Ponty called their 'veils of perception'. The struggle for the artist, me, is therefore to put aside my existing knowledge and perceptions and open myself up to new possibilities of understanding, to enter what Ehrenzweig called a state of fragmentation, a sort of chaos. This is unnerving yet a way to understand things anew. Thus I struggle to subdue my training and past, long enough to swim in apparent chaos in order to see things with fresh eyes. Only then can I bring the judgements of formal values of line, tone, texture, colour etc. in order make manifest new creations, new work.

My source of inspiration is my wonder at the world around me and my endless challenge is to explore this world and create visual work which has meaning.

References
Ehrenzweig, A (1984ed) The Hidden Order of Art. California. University of California Press.
Merlot–Ponty, M (1968) The Phenomenology of Perception. Trans Colin Smith. London. Routledge and Kegan Paul

Biography
Paul drawing in Brittany (pictured right)

Paul was born at Poole in Dorset, and his innate interest in art was encouraged at the age of 13 when his art teacher Cyril Shackleford introduced him to the magic of oil painting. He studied fine art at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art under the sculptor Paul Fletcher and painter Alan Denley, from 1976 to 1980, gaining a Diploma in Environmental Art and Design.

In the early 1970's his interest in yoga was encouraged by his teacher Valerie Gaten and he studied to become a yoga teacher which set off a lifelong interest in teaching. When he left Art College he moved to Brighton, married Viv and formed a lifelong art partnership. Together in the eighties they were founding members of the Open House movement in the Brighton festival with the Fiveways Group. In 1988 this group won ZAP award for the best visual arts event in the Brighton Festival. They have continued with the Open Studios tradition in Worthing.

Paul has maintained being a practicing artist, balancing this with a varied art teaching career in adult education, colleges and universities. he has been a Programme Manager for Visual Arts, co-authored a degree in painting and been a course leader of a part-time pinting degree and a large, modular, Open College Networks art and design programme for mature students. More recently he worked as a Senior advisor supporting national learning and teaching projects and was a Senior Lecturer in Creativity at the 'Creativity Centre' in the University of Brighton. His Masters and PhD both with Professor Peter Jarvis at Surrey University were focused on aspects of learning and teaching in fine art.

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Qualifications

1993-99	PhD. in Adults Learning University of Surrey. Title-'Artist Teachers in Contemporary Adult Education: A Case Study'. Research set in the context of aults making meaning in a rapidly changing society of Late/Post Modernity and ethical and practical dilemmas of artist/teachers and managers in adult education caught between the different values of the fields of practice of Fine art and Adult Education and the often conflicting expectations of mature students in a markets led sector.(part-time)
1992	MSc. in Educational Studies in Adult and Continuing Education University of Surrey (part-time)
1984-86	Post Graduate Certificate in the Education of adultsUniversity of Surrey (part-time)
1982-86	Bachelor of Arts Open University (part-time)
1977-80	Diploma in Environmental Art and DesignFine Art, Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, Art History etc. Bournemouth College of Art
1976-77	Art Foundation CourseBournemouth and Poole College of Art

Exhibitions

2010	Worthing Artists Open Houses Exhibition
2009	Martin Studios; Worthing Open Houses
2009	Brighton Independent Printmaking. Brighton Festival Exhibition
2008	Martin Studios; Worthing Festivals Open Houses
2007	Martin Studios Open Studios Brighton Festival Fringe
2006	Artists Houses Open for Christmas, Worthing
2006	Islington Comtemporary Art and Design fair at the Candid Art Gallery London (with Archipelago)
2006	Martin Studios Open Studios Brighton Festival Fringe
2006	Spring fair, National exhibition Centre Birmingham
2006	St Mary de Haura, Shoreham, Adur Festival Exhibition
2005	Brighton Art Fair (with Archipelago)
2004	Open Studios, Worthing
2003	Fiveways Artists Group Open House, Brighton Festival
2002	Fiveways Artists Group Open House, Brighton Festival
2001	Sussex Artists, St Leonards, Mayfield, the Old Palace
2001	Fiveways Artists Group Open House, Brighton Festival
2000	Fiveways Artists Group Open House, Brighton Festival
2006	Islington Contemporary Art and Design Fair, Candid Arts Galleries (with Archipelago Gallery) London
1999	Mixed Exhibition at Indian Kings art Centre, Camelford, Cornwall
1999	Sussex Artists, St Leonards, Mayfield, the Old Palace
1999	Fiveways Artists Group Open Hous Retrospective at the University of Brighton Gallery
1999	Fiveways Artists Group Open House, Brighton Festival
1998	Open Studios
1996	Northbrook College Gallery Degree staff show
1992-6	Martin Studios, Open Studios, Brighton Festival
1990	Art at Work in Liberty's and Royal Bank of Scotland, Brighton
1989	Five at Fiveways Artists Group Open House, Brighton Festival
1988	Fiveways Artists Group Open House, Brighton festival-joint winners of ZAP Club prize for Visual Arts in the Festival
1987	Fiveways Artists Group Open House, Brighton Festival
1986	Harvey Road Gallery, Guildford (joint exhibyion with Viv Martin)
1983	United Society of artists, Mall Galleries, London
1980	Group Exhibition at Poole Arts Centre

Career Summary

2007-2010	Senior Lecturer in Creativity in Education at the University of Brighton Creativity Centre
2005-07	Consultant Education Adviser for the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Deanery
2005	Regional Development Consultant for Open College Networks South east Region
2000-05	Senior Advisor for the Higher Education Academy in York
1997-2000	Curriculum Co-Ordinator for the Adult and Continuing Education, Northbrook College, West Sussex, with aditional responsibilities to the Visual Arts Programme Area and Leadership of the part-time Fine Art Degree
1996-97	Programme Manager for Visual Arts at Northbrook College
1987-96	Assistant Head of Adult and Continuing Education, Northbrook College
1994-96	Development and validation of BA Fine Art plus course leadership of Open College Networks Art Programme
1991-95	Visiting Lecturer in Management Education at the University of Brighton
1989-90	Marketing Manager for Brighton and Hove Training Association
1988	Assistant Organiser of 'Commuter Study Clubs' better known as the 'Brain Train'.
1987-95	Lecturer in Further Education. Part-time posts with Brighton College of Technology and Northbrook College, teaching YTS, City and Guilds and BTEC courses.
1985-86	Head of Centre for Art at Guildford Adult Education Institute
1984-85	Head of Adult Education for Crowborough and District
1978-81	Courier and Guide-regular part-time for various language schools
1975-99	Tutor in Adult Education for Dorset, Surrey East and West Sussex County Councils. Subjects include; Yoga, Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Interior Design, A'Level Art and Art History, Tutor training

Publications

2010	Martin, P (ed) (2010) 'Making Space for Creativity' e-book published by the University of Brighton. Authored 2 chapters on the 'Purpose of Higher Education' and 'Troublesome Creativity' and co-authored 10 chapters with various colleagues
2009	Martin, P et al. (2009) 'Encouraging Creativity in Higher Education: The experience of the Brighton Creativity Centre' a paper in the book 'Dialogues in Art and Design' ADM-HEA/GLAD publication ISBN 978-0-9558978-1-8
2004	Martin, P and Segal, R (eds) (2004) Learning from Innovations. Open University/Higher Education Academy
2004	Martin, P and Segal, R (2004) 'Meeting the Need' a chapter in Learning from Innovations. Milton Keynes: Open University/Higher Education Academy.
2004	Martin, P and Wilson, C, (2004) 'Making Change Happen' a chapter in Learning from Innovations Milton Keynes: Open University/Higher Education Academy
2004	Martin, P and Segal, R (2004) 'Learning from Innovations Initiative; a chapter in Learning from Innovations. Milton Keynes:Open University/Higher Education Academy
2002	Baume, C., Martin, P and Yorke, M (eds) (2002) 'Managing Educational Development ProjectsLondon. SEDA/Kogan Page.
2002	Martin, P (2002) 'Challenging Perceptions of Adult Learners in Fine Art' a 6000 word article for the journal 'Art, Design and Communications in Higher Education,' Volume One Number Two. Bristol. ADM.HEA/Intellect.

Conferences, Seminars and Workshops

2010	'Making Space for Creativity'-presentation at the final Creativity Centre Conference at the University of Brighton
2009	'New Spaces for New Learning in Higher Education'-paper co-authored with Richard Morris, Angela Rogers and Steve Kilgallon delivered at the Annual Conference of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Newport, Wales.
2009	'Between Chaos and Form: Change Agents in Higher Education'-Keynote speech to HEFCE's Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning Conference, Nottingham
2009	'Encouraging Creativity in Higher Education: The Experience of the Brighton Creativity Centre'-paper co-authored with Richard Morris, Dr Viv Martin, Angela Rogers and Steve Kilgallon presented at the GLAD Conference, York
2009	'Nurturing Creativity in Higher Education'-presentation to the Centre for Learning and Teaching Pedagogic Research Conference at the University of Brighton
2009	'living Life Creatively'-workshop delivered at the Centre for Learning and Teaching Conference at the University of Brighton
2009	'Learning Spaces and Creativity'-presentation delivered at the 'Creativity Conference' run by the centre for Learning and Teaching at the University of Brighton
2008	'Creativity: Can it Thrive in Higher Education'- paper delivered at the Annual Conference of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Liverpool.
2008	'Creativity and the Meaning of Life'-paper presented to the Centre for Learning and Teaching Conference at the University of Brighton.
2008	'Learning Environments'-Keynote speech at Anglia Ruskin University Learning and Teaching Conference
2008	'Learning Spaces'-presentation to the Higher Education Development Group (HEDG) London.
2008	'Open Houses/Open Studios'-seminar given with Viv Martin at the University of Brighton during the Brighton Festival
2007	'Creative Inquiry: A crucial addition to the ways of learningin HE'-paper delivered at the Annual Conference of the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Brighton.
2007	'A Learning Space for Creativity: Early Findings'-paper delivered at the Centre of Learning and Teaching Conference at the University of Brighton- co-authored with Dr Tim Katz, Richard Morris and Steve Kilgallon.
2007	'A Centre for Excellence in Creativity'-paper co-authored with Dr Tim Katz and Richard Morris for the International Conference in Engineering and Product Design in Education.
2007	'The Power of the Visual in Evaluation'-workshop delivered at the Higher Education Academy conference on CETL evaluation.
2004	'Making a Difference to the Scholaship of Learning and Teaching'-presentation at the ILTHE/Higher Education Academy national conference, London
2004	'Networking and Collarboration'-plenary given at the annual conference of the Business, Management and Accountancy Subject Centre.
2003	'growing Knowledge'-presentation/workshop given at the Innovations Conference, London
2002	'The Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning and the Widening Participation Agenda'-plenary given at the National Conference on Student Progression at Plymouth
2002	'Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund and Higher Education Academy Conferences'-I have collaborated in the organisation of these conferences, chaired workshops and plenary sessions and led sessions on project management, team building, staff development, evaluation, dissemination, pedagogic research etc.
2002	'Tapping into Widening Participation Resources'-plenary presentation at the Staff and Educational Developers Association (SEDA) conference, Birmingham
2002	'Education for Emancipation or Profit? The Choice for the 21st Century'-paper delivered at the EDEN conference in Granada June 2002 and published in the conference proceedings.
2001	'Unlearning and Learning'-paper presented at the SEDA Conference in Glasgow and at the Curtin Conference 'Teaching and Learning' in Perth, Australia.

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