Faculty appointments

At Plymouth College of Art our academics and technical staff are highly-experienced international art, design, craft and media practitioners who teach across our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

With diverse international perspectives and specialisms, our expert staff collaborate in one of the richest ecosystems of materials, technologies, processes and practices that you will find in the form of an art school. Together, we provide a dynamic interdisciplinary environment for students that draws on a wide set of cultural practices from which your work can emerge.

Recent appointments at Plymouth College of Art include Thomas Duggan in the School of Arts + Media and Frédérique Santune in the School of Design + Communication.

Thomas Duggan—BA (Hons) Craft & Material Practices and MA Craft & Material Practices
Thomas is a collaborative and multidisciplinary researcher whose career has explored the intersections between craft, material science, architecture, design, robotics and sculpture.

With specialisms that include biotechnology, Thomas has published work within leading scientific journals including Nature Nanotechnology and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, as well as exhibiting at the V&A, Tate and MoMA.

Thomas said: “The study of crafts at Plymouth College of Art is so broad, mastering traditional materials with opportunities to experiment with glass, ceramics, wood, metals and textiles under the same roof as the advanced fabrication resources housed in Fab Lab Plymouth.”

“Alongside traditional craft practices, we should aspire to find new ways to explore and master the use of biomaterials and develop multifunctional materials and designs that liaise between biotic and abiotic worlds. We’re experiencing the need for interventions that recognise and solve fast developing and multiple environmental, societal, ethical and cultural needs, and this can only be achieved by rethinking questions, identifying opportunities and interventions, and being disruptive rather than adapting to antiquated systems.”

Frédérique Santune—BA (Hons) Graphic Communication and MA Visual Communication
With more than 20 years of experience in print, web and interactive motion design, within her personal practice Frédérique specialises in creating graphics for social, artistic and cultural facilitation. This has included working on collaborative projects in institutions such as the Louvre and France’s National Centre of Immigration History, alongside helping to establish the first iteration of Museomix in the UK.

Frédérique has collaborated on international projects that have been exhibited across Europe, the USA and China. With BA (Hons) and MA qualifications in Graphic and Interactive Design from ESAD Amiens, alongside experience working as a researcher at ARI (Interactive Research Workshop) at EnsAD, Paris, Frédérique is working towards a PhD about the digital poetry experience.

Frederique said: “I’m passionate about the exchange of knowledge. I enjoy helping artists to represent their ideas and identities. Equally exciting is the transfer of knowledge that becomes possible when you design for pedagogical purposes, for example working with museums to increase engagement with their artefacts and make information accessible and inclusive. Working in design gives me a platform to promote cultural curiosity.”

Plymouth College of Art—home of interdisciplinary collaboration
Founded in 1856, Plymouth College of Art is an independent, university-sector art school with an internationally distinctive identity, home to an active, cross-disciplinary community of makers and thinkers. Our programmes are structured to encourage debate, exchange and interdisciplinary collaboration, through a combination of cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary specialist teaching and access to external speakers and projects.

Our postgraduate programmes will give you critical insight into the contemporary creative landscape and empower you to work effectively from your chosen place within it, exploring your creative practice by critically engaging with the cultural, technological and economic challenges that shape our world. 

Our undergraduate degrees demand an energetic and inquisitive approach to critically underpinned practice. As well as producing practical creative outcomes to a range of projects and live assignments, you will be expected to explore the potential of cross-disciplinary approaches in the studio and contextualise your ideas, culminating in an exhibition at our annual Degree Shows.