Lesley Raven
Senior Lecturer, Fashion Art Direction
I joined Man. Met in July 2015. Prior to this I was a lecturer and freelance consultant in London for over twenty years. I have wide-ranging experience in Learning and Teaching in Arts Higher Education with extensive knowledge spanning fashion, design and fine art disciplines. I have managed and directed wide-ranging projects with industry and community partners.
Collaboration and design thinking are central to my work, previously leading the Fashion Communication programmes in the Manchester Fashion Institute, the cross-disciplinary Unit X within the Manchester School Art and establishing Fashion Art Direction as a new undergraduate programme. During employment at London College of Fashion, I co-ordinated numerous Widening Participation Outreach projects, developing partnerships with local borough councils, charities, Further Education providers and schools, fashion brands, hospices, museums and more. This resulted in nomination for a Green Gown Award and a UAL Sustainability Award that acknowledged she ‘created the means for wide ranging engagement with stakeholders whilst confronting challenging issues; dealing with sensitive issues constructively to challenge notions of both sustainability and mortality’.
My creative practice is located in fashion and textiles. I have designed and curated numerous conceptual artworks and interventions for public display in galleries and museums.
I am a member of the Society for Research into Higher Education
Academic and professional qualifications
2014-(2024) Doctorate in Education. Staffordshire University.
2009-2012 PGCE (Post-compulsory education). Institute of Education. London.
2004-2006 Post-graduate Diploma. Occupational Therapy. London South Bank University.
1992-1994 MA Fine Art Tapestry. Royal College of Art. London.
1989-1992 B. Des. (Hons) Constructed Textiles. University of Dundee. Scotland.
Previous Employment
2014-2015 Senior Lecturer and Programme Co-ordinator. International Foundation Year. INTO Manchester in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University.
2014 Guest Lecturer. MA Sustainability, Salford University.
2006-2013 Senior Lecturer and Outreach Project Co-ordinator, London Colllege of Fashion, University of the Arts London.
2007-2009 Associate Lecturer. BA (Hons) Applied Arts, London Metropolitan University.
2006-2008 Associate Lecturer. London College of Communication, University of the Arts London.
2003-2007 Project Co-ordinator and Workshop Lead, Saturday Art Club. Shape Arts, London.
2002-2004 Associate Lecturer. BA (Hons) Textiles. Goldsmiths College.
2000-01 Associate Lecturer. BA (Hons) Applied Arts. University of Hertfordshire.
Academic service (administration and management)
Programme Leader for Fashion Art Direction (2015-2022)
Programme Leader for Fashion Communications (Fashion Promotion and Fashion Art Direction) (2021-2022)
Admissions Tutor (Fashion Art Direction)
Personal Tutor (Fashion Art Diection, Level 5 and Level 6)
Wearing Practice - an investigation of the relationship and impact of dress in Higher Arts Education
Poster and image from the workshop at the ELIA Academy Conference, Exploring Situatedness, University of Evora, Portugal. 10-12 May 2023
Drawing Practice - a methodology for reflective practice
A collaboration with Textbook Studio to promote the visualisation of tacit reflective practice. This was an installation, workshop and website presented at the International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference, 2019.
Interdisciplinarity and Reflective Practice
Innovation through Collaboration
2017 An interactive workshop facilitated by academics from the Manchester School of Art: Kirsteen Aubrey, Dr Alice Kettle and Lesley Raven. Participants used paper to reflect on making, materials and how their own craft practice's distinctive characteristics and attributes can address, inform, challenge or bring solutions to social challenges, environmental issues and benefit our health and wellbeing. Make Shift Conference. Crafts Council. Museum of Science and Industry.
A Response to Stock
A collaboration with Dr David Cooper, Senior Lecturer in English. Part of Made in Translation, an exhibition by MMU academics from the Arts & Humanities faculty, the Craft Research Group and the Portico Library. June 2017.
A Response to Stock, with spoken word
The Institute of Imagination's First Creative Lab Pop Up
2013 A collaborative consultancy with James Blaze, architect, Vicky Cave, Children's Museum London, and the Bromley-by-Bow Centre to co-create a interactive cultural space for the local community.
Research
Conference organisation
Textile and Place Conference April 2018
Forum chair and facilitator of interactive reflective practice, sponsored by GF Smith paper. This work informs doctorate research into increased understanding of reflection to support professional development. Manchester School of Art and the Whitworth.
Projects and initiatives
Bags for LIfe
2013 University of the Arts London (UAL) Sustainability Award, in partnership with St. Joseph’s Hospice Hackney, LCF BA (Hons) Bespoke Tailoring students and Hackney schools. An intergenerational, fashion sustainability project with aims to raise community awareness of the role of the hospice through developing young people’s sewing skills and knowledge to construct bags from re-cycled garments for sale to raise funds for the hospice.
Bring and Fix
2013 University of the Arts London (UAL) Centre for Learning and Teaching (CLTaD) Curriculum Development Award. The project used an ecological model of practice involving LCF post-graduate and undergraduate students and Hackney schools, families and small businesses to promote fashion sustainability awareness, higher education progression, knowledge-skills-exchange between HE, local businesses and schools and inter-discipline exchange between post-graduate and under-graduate students.
Improving Employability for Widening Participation Students; a cross-college and cross-discipline initiative.
2013 University of the Arts London (UAL) Teaching & Professional Fellowship Award undertaken by Lesley Raven, London College of Fashion, and Darren Raven, London College of Communication.
Exhibitions
Cocchiarella, F., Shaw, A., McCullagh, J., Stephens, M., Grimshaw, D., Mulhearn, E., Kettle, A., McCullough, I., McCullagh, J., Hitchen, J., Egan, K., Aubrey, K., Raven, L., Gannon, L., Biggs, L., Setterington, L., Beecroft, M., McLeish, M., Threlfall, S., Platt, S., 2019. Radical Response exhibition in partnership with the International Association of Design Research (IASDR) Conference, Manchester School of Art, Manchester, 2/9/2019 - 5/9/2019.
Raven, L., 2017. Intersections exploring collaboration in textile design research, Loughborough University in London, 13/9/2017.
Raven, L., 2017. Suite@Horsfall, Horsfall Gallery, Ancoats. Manchester, 6/7/2017.
Raven, L., 2017. Made in Translation, Portico Library, 27/4/2017.
Conference Papers
Raven, L., 2023. 'Wearing Practice, an investigation of the relationship and impact of dress in Higher Arts Education.', Exploring Situatedness, University of Evora, Portugal, 10/5/2023 - 12/5/2023.
Raven, L., 2019. 'The complexities of collaboration through a lens of reflective practice.', Living Research: The Urgency of the Arts., Royal College of Art. London,Uk., 15/3/2019 - 15/3/2019.
Raven, L., 2018. 'Interdisciplinarity and reflective practice: supporting skill development in art and design Higher Education learning and teaching', SRHE Newer and Early Researcher's Conference: The changing shape of higher education: Can excelle nce and inclusion cohabit?, Celtic Manor. South Wales, 4/12/2018 - 4/12/2018, in http://www.srhe.ac.uk/conference2018/downloads/SRHE-NR-Conference-Programme-Abstracts.pdf, pp. 45-45.
Presentations
Raven, L., 2018. 'Interdisciplinarity and Reflective Practice: 21st Century Crafting', Northumbria University.
Raven, L., 2016. 'Investigating the theory and practice of 'meta reflection': developing skills for higher-order thinking to enhance how learning is processed and organised.', Staffordshire University.
Office Location
Room 248
Cavendish South
Manchester Fashion Institute
Manchester Metropolitan University
Cavendish Street
Manchester M15 6BG