Address: Pam Briggs, National Glass Centre, Sunderland, SR6 0GL
email: glassanimals@aol.co.uk or: clayanimal@outlook.com
About Me:
I’m a final year student of glass and ceramics, based at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland. My artistic work, largely using recycled materials, reflects themes of urban decay and renewal, social injustice and the erosion of social values. Alongside my artistic practice I work as a researcher and designer, exploring the presentation of self in digital life. In addition to my artistic practice, I work as a research professor and Co-Director of the Centre for Digital Citizens where I’ve both commissioned film-makers and also curated digital work for exhibition.
Education:
University of Nottingham 1975-1978 BA (Hons) Psychology,
University of Nottingham 1979-1982 Ph.D. (Awarded 1983)
University of Sunderland 2019 – BA Artist Designer Maker (Glass and Ceramics)
Employment:
University of Northumbria 1992– Director, Centre for Digital Citizens
Non-Executive Director 2012-2015 Chair, Ouseburn Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne
Exhibitions:
- Unwelcome (Recycled and fused glass cullet) shown at Ordinary to Extraordinary – a virtual exhibition curated by the Contemporary Glass Society (7th march – 22nd April 2022). https://www.cgs.org.uk/onlineexhibition/ordinary-to-extraordinary-7th-march-25th-april-deadline-for-submissions-2nd-march-2022/
- No Money To Burn (Saggar-fired earthenware and stoneware clay) shown at Dry Run 2023, Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead, 26th May – 10th June, 2023.
- Cold Comfort (Saggar fired earthenware and stoneware clay) shown at
Collaborative Projects and Performances
THE POWER OF THE IMAGE (Explorations in Reality Monitoring). This Wellcome Trust SCIART project (£15000) was a performance piece on the theme of false memories. The work was conducted in collaboration with Northern Stage, Newcastle and resulted in a Northern Stage production of Stone, Paper, Scissors in 2002.
IMPRINTS (2011-14) explored public attitudes to new forms of digital identity, designed in collaboration with jewellers at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design. The project was shortlisted for the Novay Digital Identity Award in 2013. As part of the project I worked with The Forge to organise participatory art workshops with teenagers in the North East of England, that explored public and private aspects of self. I also co-designed an interactive ‘digital identity’ installation for the British Science Festival 2015.
REEL LIVES (Explorations of the digital self) (2013-17). I directed this project, with £1.14m funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and support from the British Film Institute. I worked with academics and filmmakers to create biographical documentaries solely based upon existing social media, with no original footage. The resulting films were selected for National and International Festivals, including the Wimbledon International Short Film Festival; Sheffield DocFest’; The SoCal Creative & Innovative Film Festival; Edinburgh International Film Festival and Cork Film Festival and the London International Animation Festival.