contact details
email: a.peach@rgu.ac.uk
tel: 00 44 (0)1224 263692

web site:
http://jdh.oxfordjournals.org/

ANDREA PEACH

Biographical Statement

Andrea Peach completed her undergraduate degree in the United States and pursued a ten-year career in the graphic arts, where she was based in the United States, Brussels and London. She completed her MA in Design History and Material Culture at the Royal College of Art in London in 1998. She worked as a part-time lecturer in Design History at Nene College of Art and Design (now Northampton University College) while completing her MA, and became a full-time lecturer in Contextual and Critical Studies at Gray’s School of Art in 1998. She currently teaches across all years of the BA (Hons) degree in Design and is coordinator of the first year BA Contextual and Critical Studies programme. In 2009 she began a part-time PhD at RGU on the subject of Contemporary Craft and the Commodification of National Identity in Scotland after 1970.

Personal Statement

As a craft and material culture historian, I am interested in exploring the idea of 'craft' and the craft object as a cultural commodity and signifier of national identity. The 'souvenir' as a cultural signifier, as well as the consumption of souvenirs, is of particular interest. My current PhD research specifically addresses the Scottish context in craft history, which has been missing from recent British craft historiographies. My work examines socio-economic and cultural reasons why Scottish craft and has evolved differently from the rest of Britain, by considering material culture, souvenirs and the Scottish heritage industry. This inquiry investigates the tension between sustaining indigenous practice and the pursuit of contemporary practice by examining the impact of tourism and public policy on forming attitudes and practices. I have written widely on Scottish craft in the past and have delivered related papers at international design history conferences. My work is currently published in the Journal of Design History.

Professional Affiliations:

1998-Present: Member of the Design History Society
2000-Present: Member of the Scottish Society of Art History

External Academic Appointments:

2005-2009 External Examiner
Design Culture Modules, Three-Dimensional Design, School of Architecture and Design, Faculty of Arts, University of Plymouth

Recent Publications:

Peach, A. "Thinking Through Craft by Glenn Adamson" Berg Publishing, Journal of Design History, Volume 22, Number 1, 2009, pp. 82-84.

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