Dr Maxine Bristow

Associate Professor
+44(0)1244515722
School for the Creative Industries
m.bristow@chester.ac.uk
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As an artist and academic with a history rooted in textiles, Maxine’s teaching, research, and creative practice are informed by the multiple, complex and often contradictory social, historical and cultural conventions of the medium and the positioning of these conventions within a contemporary fine art context. This relationship between textile and fine art contexts provides a point of departure for a multi-media expanded artistic practice that variously takes the form of wall based objects, sculpture and installation.

She has exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in the permanent collections of the Crafts Council, London; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; and Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery (work purchased by the Contemporary Art Society Special Collection Scheme with funds from the Arts Council Lottery, 2004). She was selected for The Jerwood Textiles Prize in 2002, and in 2008 was one of the nominated artists for the Northern Arts Prize. She has held external examining positions at Goldsmith’s College, University of London; Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton; University of Huddersfield; University of Hertfordshire; University of Bedfordshire, Northumbria University, and University of Bolton. She was a member of the Art and Design Sub-Panel in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise and is a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer-Review College.

Maxine has taught in the department of Fine Art since 1993. She is programme leader for MA Fine Art and teaches across all levels of the BA Fine Art course. Having initially trained in textiles, the dialogues between the medium specific conventions of textile and the post-medium condition of contemporary art have developed as a distinctive feature of the curriculum. Her teaching interest and expertise, however, extends beyond the expanded field of textiles and is more broadly concerned with a material sensibility that transcends media boundaries. This includes the wealth of interdisciplinary discourses (material culture, feminist agendas and poststructuralist theory, issues of subjectivity, materiality, objecthood and embodiment, the poetics and politics of space, the decorative, and relationships between fine art, design and craft) that are both particular to textile and inform the hybridity and heterogeneity of contemporary practice. Her PhD supervisory experience includes the supervision/co-supervision of three doctoral projects to completion, the external examination of five practice based theses and the current supervision of four practice based PhD candidates.

Maxine’s research takes as its starting point the complex material and semantic conventions of textile and the everyday functioning environment, modernist legacies and postmodern discourses with which the medium is entangled.

Her early work harnesses the processes, materials and associated contexts of needlework/plain-sewing within the conventions of a minimalist aesthetic and in relation to the discourses of modernist autonomy. However, any attempt at formal autonomy is continually disrupted by the somatic sensuality of cloth and by the social and historical connotations of the needlework techniques employed in its production.

More recent work emerged out of a practice-based PhD awarded by University of the Arts London and Norwich University of the Arts in 2016. Entitled Pragmatics of attachment and detachment: medium (un)specificity as material agency in contemporary art, the initial stimulus for the research was a creative, critical and professional challenge: whether a practice and knowledge base that is historically grounded in the medium specific conventions of textile can continue to be viable within the richness, hybridity and heterogeneity afforded by the post-medium condition of contemporary art. The thesis, however, developed into a much wider philosophical and phenomenological interrogation of the consequences of this process of centring and decentring and the tensions between aesthetic and extra-aesthetic contexts and subjective and material agency that arise in negotiating these positions. Taking the form of a quasi-catalogue of sculptural components which are variously (re)configured in a series of staged mis-en-scenes, the research proposes a ‘constellatory opening up of textile’ where medium specificity is re-inscribed in terms of material agency. Within this expanded (inter)relational model of practice, textile is seen to be a dynamic medium of convergence and divergence that has the capacity to mobilise a dynamic network of connections and temporary coalitions, blur disciplinary boundaries and destabilise fundamental categorical divisions between subject and object.

Informed by Theodor Adorno’s conception of the constellation and mimetic comportment, this new work marks a shift from a rhetoric of negative opposition and predetermined critical frameworks to a more affirmative approach that actively opens up to alterity and heterogeneity. Acknowledging the socio-political critical currency afforded to textile, the work is distinctive in returning authority to aesthetic experience and privileging the ambiguous resonances of an abstract sculptural language over more overt strategies of representation. The aim is to attest to both the agential capacity of textile and the productive indeterminacy of aesthetic experience as a formative and sensuous mode of knowledge production. This is manifest in the work through a range of practice strategies - ‘thingness’, ‘staged (dis)contiguity’ and the tension between ‘sensuous immediacy and corporeal containment’ - which are employed as a way of reaffirming subjective stability but at the same time give rise to an ambiguity of feeling that puts this stability at risk.

Exhibitions and publications

Solo Exhibitions:

2016   Attach/Detach, PhD Exposition Contemporary Art Space, Chester

2013   Concordance, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.

2006   Sensual Austerity, The Hub: National Centre for Craft and Design and Bolton Museum and Art Gallery

2004   Serial Repetition, Grosvenor Museum, Chester.

1999   Maxine Bristow, Southern Arts Touring Exhibition Service. Maidstone Library Gallery.

1999   Maxine Bristow, Kunstindustrimuseum, Copenhagen.

1997   Maxine Bristow, Southern Arts Touring Exhibition Service. Banbury Museum, Oxfordshire; Viables Craft Centre, Basingstoke; The Winchester Gallery, Hampshire.

Group Exhibitions:

2016    Art_Textiles, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.

2013    Cloth & Memory {2}, Salts Mill, Saltaire, Shipley.

2012    Transformations, Smiths Row Gallery, Bury St Edmunds.

2011     Z Depth Buffer (joint exhibition with Sally Morfill), 5 Years Gallery, London.

              Bite-Size: Miniature Textiles from Japan and the UK, Japan House Gallery, Daiwa Anglo Japanese Foundation.

              PGR Exhibition, Norwich University College of the Arts, Norwich.

2010    Thinking Practice, Norwich University College of the Arts, Norwich.

              Material Evidence, Corsham Court Centre, University of Bath

2009     4°: Intro, Cube Gallery, Manchester Encounter, Contemporary Urban Centre. Greenland Street, Liverpool

2008     Cloth and Culture NOW, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.

2007     Unbound (Group exhibition with artists Caroline Broadhead, Susie MacMurray and Elizabeth Smith), Turnpike Gallery, Leigh.

              Business as Usual, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham.

2005     Reveal, Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery

              Hands Across the Border. Ruthin Craft Centre; The Hub, Sleaford; Mission Gallery, Swansea: The Black Swan Gallery, Frome.

2004/2005   Through the Surface, Collaborating Textile Artists from Britain and Japan.   James Hockey and Foyer Galleries, The Surrey Institute of Art & Design University College, Farnham; Brighton and Hove  Museum and Art Gallery; The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art, Norwich; Bankfield Museum, Huddersfield, and Piece Hall, Halifax; Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery; Kyoto Museum of  Modern Art, Kyoto.

2002     The Gaps Between, International Textile Biannual 2002. Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast.  Jerwood Applied Arts Prize 2002: Textiles. Crafts Council, London; Salford Museum and Art Gallery, Manchester; Crafts Council of Ireland, Kilkenny; Ulster Museum, Belfast.

2001     The 10th International Triennial of Tapestry. Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland.

              Dovetail. Travelling Gallery, City Art Centre, Edinburgh.

2000     The Contemplative Stitch. H&R Block Artspace at The Kansas City Art Institute, USA.

1999     The 6th International Textile Competition ’99 - Kyoto. Museum of Kyoto, Japan.

              (Un) Limited. Diversity and Change in International Contemporary Craft. Crafts Council, London.

              Textures of Memory: The Poetics of Cloth. Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham; Pittshanger Gallery, London; Piece Hall, Halifax; MAC, Birmingham.

1998     Knot as They Seam: Puns and Permutations in Fibre Arts. Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, USA.  Contemporary Embroidery: An International Perspective. The Arts Centre at Dockland, Bermuda.

               Joint exhibition with Claire Curneen. MAC, Birmingham.

               Stitch. Bury St. Edmunds Art Gallery.

               Natural Resources. Ruthin Crafts Centre, Oriel 31, Newtown.

1997      Flexible 2 Pan European Art. Nederland Textielmuseum, Tilburg, Netherlands; Galeria Awangarda, Wroclaw, Poland; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, Great Britain.  British Art Textiles. Bury St. Edmunds Art Gallery; Watermans Art Centre, Brentford; Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate; Braintree District Museum, Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham; Orleans Hose Gallery, Twickenham; MAC, Birmingham; Durham Art Gallery.  Leinen. Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany.

Authored (chronological)

  • Gray, C., Malins, J., & Bristow, M. (2018).  ‘The ‘Epistemic Object’ in the Creative Process of Doctoral Inquiry’. In R.W. Prior (Ed.), Using Art as Research in Learning and Teaching: Multidisciplinary Approaches Across the Arts.
  • Medium (Un)specificity as Material Agency: The Productive Indeterminacy of Matter/Material. Textile: Journal of Cloth and Culture. Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis, 2018. 
  • Pragmatics of Attachment and Detachment: Medium (Un)specificity as Material Agency. Unpublished PhD thesis. Norwich University of the Arts and University of the Arts London. 
  • Nasreen Mohamedi, Tate Liverpool, 6 June–5 October 2014. Journal of Contemporary Painting, 1(2), 360-365, 2015.
  • ‘Continuity of Touch: Textile as Silent Witness’. In J. Hemmings (Ed.) The Textile Reader (pp.44 - 51). Oxford, New York: Berg, 2012.
  • Personal Reflection. In. P. Barnett, A Tribute to Rozsika Parker (1945-2010), Textile: Journal of Cloth and Culture, 9(2), 200-211. Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis, 2011.
  • ‘Materialising the Grid Correspondences, Contradictions and Conventions’. Material Evidence Symposium, Corsham Court Centre, Bath, 29.9.10.
  • ‘Maxine Bristow’. Statement reflecting on the importance of my cultural roots to my practice as part of Cloth and Culture NOW exhibition, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, 2008.
  • ‘Materially Measured’. In: M. Bristow, M. & E. Oliver, E. (Ed.) Repeat Repeat – Negotiated Positions, 2007. Catalogue to accompany ‘Repeat Repeat’ Conference, University of Chester, 19-20 April 2007.
  • Bristow, M. (2005). ‘Sustaining 7 Square Metres’. In Revealed (pp.38-39), Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery, ISBN 0 905634 72.
  • Surfacing: Retrospective and New Work by Polly Binns. Textile, 2(2), 208-217. Abingdon, UK: Taylor & Francis, 2004. 
  • ‘Material Trace - Marking Time and Defining Space’. In Through the Surface Collaborating Textile Artists from Britain and Japan, (pp.58-59). The Surrey Institute of Art and Design, 2004. ISBN 0-9546285-2-7.
  • Reflective journal documenting contribution to Through the Surface Collaborating Textile Artists from Britain and Japan, 2004 
  • ‘Three Weeks to Turn 348, Three Years to Turn Intuition Towards Understanding’. In Ideas in The Making: Practice in Theory, 1998. University of East Anglia/Crafts Council. ISBN 187014581X.
  • Material Culture - The Language of Textiles. In The World of Embroidery, pp.308-310, 48(6), November, 1997. ISSN 1351-9603.

Other Author publications and Exhibition Catalogues

  • Harris, J (2015) Art Textiles, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. 96 page full colour catalogue with a forward by Maria Balshaw and essays by Dr Jennifer Harris, Julia Bryan-Wilson and Pennina Barnett. ISBN9780901673916. Cornerhouse publications. 
  • Millar, L. (2013) Cloth and Memory {2}, Salts Estates Ltd, Saltaire. 120 page colour publication includes introductory essay by Lesley Millar and self-authored artist statement. ISBN 9780951695074.
  • Concordance (2013) Whitworth Art Gallery. Includes essay by Dr Antoinette McKane, Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow, Museum and Heritage Studies, Liverpool Hope University.
  • Millar, L. (2011) Bite-size: miniature textiles from Japan and the UK. University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK. ISBN 9780956416094
  • Millar, L. (2008) Cloth & Culture Now University College for the Creative Arts, Farnham, UK. ISBN 9780955116629.180 page colour publication includes catalogue essays by Astrida Berzina, Keiko Fujimoto, Jennifer Harris, Kai Lobjakas, Lesley Millar, Leena Svinhufvud, Virginija Vitkiene. Also includes edited extracts from an interview with Lesley Millar and Maxine Bristow. www.transitionandinfluence.com
  • Unbound (2007), Turnpike Gallery. Pamphlet catalogue including images and text on each of the four contributing artists
  • Business as Usual, (2007) Angel Row Gallery. Exhibition pamphlet including texts by Deborah Dean and Adam Caruso.
  • Negotiated Positions, (2007) catalogue to accompany ‘Repeat Repeat’ Conference, University of Chester, 19th, 20th April 2007, ISBN 978-1-905929-21-4
  • Sensual Austerity (2006). The Hub: National Centre for Craft and Design and Bolton Museum and Art Gallery. ISBN 0-9548015-2-0. Essays include ‘Articulate Silence’ by Elisa Oliver and ‘Clothing the Grid: Alterations and Alternations’ by Victoria Mitchell.
  • Revealed (2005) Nottingham Museum and Art Gallery. ISBN 0 905634 72. Forward by Kate Stoddard, Introductory essay by Dr Jennifer Harris. Essay on works in the collection (Doing Without: Sustaining 7 Square Metres, 2003, and Pockets/Ventillation Grill, 2004) by Maxine Bristow and Lesley Millar respectively.
  • Hands Across the Border (2004) Ruthin Craft Centre. ISBN 1 900941 77 5. Introduction by Philip Hughes, essays by Amanda Fielding and Judy Dames.
  • Through the Surface Collaborating Textile Artists from Britain and Japan. (2004) The Surrey Institute of Art and Design. ISBN 0-9546285-2-7. Introductions by Ian Dumelow and Takeo Uchiyama; foreword Professor Marie Conte-Helm; essays by Lesley Millar, Keiko Kawashima, Jay Merrick, Gerry Diebel, and the 14 project artists.
  • Jerwood Applied Arts Prize 2002: Textiles. Crafts Council, London, 2002ISBN 1-903713-07-2. Essay by Lesley Millar and Pamela Johnson.
  • The Gaps Between, International Textile Biannual (2003) Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, Essay by David Brett.
  • The 10th International Triennial of Tapestry. (2001) Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland. ISBN 83-913224-0-8.Introduction by Norbert Zawiskza, essay by Irena Huml.
  • Textures of Memory: The Poetics of Cloth (1999) Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham. ISBN 0 905 634 39X. Essays by Pamela Johnson and Pennina Barnett.
  • (Un) Limited. Repetition and Change in International Contemporary Craft (1999) Crafts Council, London. ISBN 1 870145 85 2. Foreword by Dr Louise Taylor, introduction by Emmanuel Cooper, and essay by John Tozer.
  • The 6th International Textile Competition ’99 - Kyoto. (1999) Museum of Kyoto, Japan.
  • Natural Resources (1998) Ruthin Crafts Centre, ISBN 1 9000 941 14 7.
  • Knot as They Seam: Puns and Permutations in Fibre Arts (1998) Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, USA.
  • Maxine Bristow, Catalogue to accompany solo exhibition (1997) Southern Arts Touring. ISBN 1 873451 31 8. Essay by John Gillet
  • British Art Textiles (1996) Bury St. Edmunds Art Gallery. ISBN 0 9528639 0 1. Foreword by Barbara Taylor, essays by Linda Theophilus and Judith Ellen Duffey (Harding)
  • Flexible 2 Pan European Art. Nederland (1996) Textielmuseum, Tilburg, ISBN 90-70962-27-6.

Collections:    

  • Crafts Council, London.
  • Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.
  • ‘Doing Without: Sustaining 7 Square Metres’ purchased by the Contemporary Art Society Special Collection Scheme on behalf of Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery with funds from the Arts Council Lottery, 2003.
  • Collaborative piece ‘Pockets/Ventillation Grill’ [produced as an outcome of Through the Surface, Collaborating Textile Artists from Britain and Japan] purchased by the Contemporary Art Society Special Collection Scheme on behalf of Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery with funds from the Arts Council Lottery, 2004.

 

2016     PhD Pragmatics of attachment and detachment: medium (un)specificity as material agency in contemporary art, Norwich University of the Arts and University of the Arts London.

1985     MA Textiles, Manchester Metropolitan University.

1984     BA (Hons) Fashion/Textiles (Embroidery) (First Class), Manchester Metropolitan University.

1980     Art Foundation Course, Bolton College of Art and Design.