Michael Eden

Biography

I am an academic support lecturer at UAL and as such I assist students with their writing, planning and research skills. I have a particular interest in helping students to develop their voice in relation to the subjects they study, build confidence and a sense of ownership in their area. My own areas of experience are eclectic: art practice, academic research, journalism and philosophy and I would hope that this brings a useful perspective for students seeking advice and guidance especially since I privilege none of the above.

My art practice is concentrated on painting where I have tried to explore themes of change, rupture and reconfiguration often incorporating figurative and landscape elements. Recently I am preparing installation and sculptural features which will incorporate painted works into larger immersive spaces allowing for the development of narrative according to my current interest in monstrous intrusion, trauma and rationalisation.

I studied BA Fine Art at Wimbledon School of Art and my MA in Fine Art at UAL, I have also studied psychoanalysis at Birkbeck University and have a teaching qualification from Oaklands College in Hertfordshire. My education experience includes working as learning support for autistic and dyslexic students, acting as a pastoral support officer regarding the welfare of students and more recently teaching art history and contextual studies to Foundation and undergraduate students. I believe in the transformative potential of arts education as a form of social mobility, increased criticality as well as personal cultivation and self-awareness.

My PhD research is mixed mode incorporating equal written and made elements. This research entails an exploration of the relationship between landscape, monsters and subjectivity. The title, a reference to the medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is: The High Wasteland, Scar & Form in the English Landscape: what is the function of the monster in the English landscape? This project is in part directed as a critique of what has been called ‘proto-fascist’ thinking and draws heavily on the medieval poem, the practice of Wyndam Lewis and contemporary art practice concerned with ‘hauntology’ to explore these themes.

I have written for and acted as the Arts Editor for Trebuchet Magazine since 2016 where I am able to explore less formal journalistic writing practice, including writing: criticism, opinion pieces, interviews and fact based news about a multitude of arts and culture subjects. I have in this capacity been able to promote emergent practices and research as well as interview established artists and thinkers regarding their work.

I would like to think that I can be useful to any student seeking help with their projects and my own particular areas of strength would include; debates around art practice, painting, 20th century art movements, genres of writing, and the application of psychoanalytic methodologies in written and made works, I might add to this that I am rather good at making incongruous connections!