Dr Eirini Boukla

Profile

My background is Fine Art for Design, with a specific focus on Drawing as an expanded practice. I joined the University of Leeds in 2009 as a PhD candidate, gaining my doctorate in 2013 from FAHACS, thesis title, 'Ichnographia: Arrogation and Alteration'. I took up my current position as an Art Practice Lecturer in SOD in 2014. I hold an MA in Drawing, 2006, thesis title, 'Drawing as a sculptural activity' from Camberwell College of Art, UAL. Since 2006 parallel to my art practice, I have developed, organised, and curated art projects and residencies in the UK and Europe. I have received research funding from various sources, including the AHRC, Art Council England, the AHRB and the private sector. My work is exhibited internationally at galleries, museums, art festivals and public art projects. For specific information regarding biography and work, visit my website.

Research interests

A focal point in my practice is the relationship between material and imagination. This connection, for me, brings together intention and intuition, invention and execution in ways that impact one another. This way, the work develops from a process where action, investigation and continuous exploration of materials take shape from one doing to another. Each one responds to the previous one and guides the work to completion.
My research is studio centred, reaction to material in my immediate environment activates space between intention and decision to form a dialogue between the present as it unfolds in my studio. This informality, I accept, is the most important to me and my methods. In this, I give sway to freedom, flexibility, and spontaneity to distance myself from given categories and paradigms restricting the mind.

Further, a recurring question emerging from my research practice is how new technologies impact earlier processes of making and how these affect reconstructing new meanings of authorship.

Qualifications

• 2013. PhD Fine Art. University of Leeds.
• 2006. MA Drawing. Camberwell College of ArtS, University Arts London.
• 2005. BA (Hons) Fine Art for Design. Batley School of Art & Design. Huddersfield University.

Professional memberships

• SAR (Society for Artistic Research)

Student education

I teach Art and Design across all levels at the School of Design, with a focus on both theory and practice. I supervise undergraduate dissertations, MA projects, and PhD research, supporting students in developing practice based and interdisciplinary inquiries. My supervisory expertise includes subjects within the expanded field of drawing, materiality, and experimental animation, exploring their intersections across art and design contexts.

Current postgraduate researchers

• Ebtisam Alotaibi
• Hannah Sabapathy
• Linnan Zhang
• Wei Wang