Originally from the States, I worked in printing and publishing in NYC before settling in Manchester, though sadly arriving within weeks of the Hacienda club shutting its doors! I trained as a graphic designer for print and screen, obtained a qualification in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing and am a consultant to fashion start ups. I continue to lecture in critical theory, brand development, and graphic communication practice within fashion communication and across multi-disciplinary areas in the School of Art.

My practice-based doctorate, The Artist’s Book: Making as embodied knowledge of practice and the self, considered the role of creativity and the pedagogy of making in the development of identity via working through personal and cultural memory with visual practice. My handbound artist's books have been exhibited in the UK, Ireland, Germany, and the United States. I have been recognised by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) for my leadership in teaching and learning by earning the recognition as a Senior Fellow of the HEA (SFHEA).

Academic and professional qualifications

• PhD: The Artist's Book: Making as emodied knowlege of creativity and the self (2017), University of Chester (pass with no corrections)
• MA Visual Culture (2008), MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University (Distinction)
• Postgraduate Certificate of Eduation (2004) Higher, Further & Adult Education
• BA (Hons) Graphic Design (2003) Manchester Metropolitan University (First Class Honours)
• Awarded Senior Fellow recognition from the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA, 2015)
• Awarded Associate Professional status from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (APCIM, 2018)

Previous Employment

2018-2019 Senior Lecturer, Academic Professional Development, University Teaching Academy, MMU

2017-2018 Staffordshire University, Head of Department of Art & Design

2009-2017 University of Chester, Senior Lecturer in Fashion Marketing and Communication, Graphic Design, MA Design, MA Fine Art and Senior University Teaching Fellow

Academic service (administration and management)

2013-2016 Senior University Teaching Fellow for the Faculty of Arts & Media, University of Chester

Undergraduate teaching

BA(Hons) Fashion Promotion

BA(Hons) Fashion Art Direction

Manchester School of Art interdisciplinary collaborative visual practice units of study

Postgraduate teaching

Previous institutions:

• MA Design
• MA Fine Art
• MA Education

Postgraduate research supervision

I support research students in their postgraduate enquiry, particularly the interdisciplinary spaces and intersectionality of practice as research and practice-led study.

• Practice-based PhD candidate
• Practice-based MRes candidate

External examiner roles

MA Creative Direction (Fashion),  Southampton Solent University

Projects and initiatives

Forthcoming Bloomsbury publication:

Kealy-Morris, E., Slater, A., Atkin, S. (Eds.) (2021) Memories of Dress: Recollections of Material Identities, London, UK: Bloomsbury Press.

Exhibitions

Please visit my portfolio website for further information on the exhbitions below:

http://www.ekealymorris.com/exhibitions.html

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Solo

December 2016 – Foyer Gallery, University of Chester, Chester, UK

The Artist’s Book: Making as embodied knowledge of practice & the self
http://www.ekealymorris.com/exhibitions.html

June-July 2010 -- People’s History Museum, Manchester UK
Chorlton-on-Medlock: remembering a destroyed Manchester community
http://www.phm.org.uk/whatson/chorlton-on-medlock-remembering-a-destroyed-manchester-community/

Collaborative
July 2016 – Galway, Ireland
Clarke, S. and Kealy-Morris, E. (2016). a strange field. Handbound artist book. Impressions Art Book Exhibition, Galway International Arts Festival. 11-24 July.

July 2016 – Euskirchen, Germany
Dilworth, A. and Kealy-Morris, E. (2016). Sailm. Handbound artist book. Förderkreis Contemporary Art Gallery, Euskirchen, Germany. 8 July – 21 August. 

Group

• October 2012 University of Chester Department of Art & Design Exhibition, Contemporary Art Space Chester Gallery, Chester, UK
• June 2010 University of Chester Department of Art & Design Exhibition, CUBE, Manchester, UK
• October 2008 MA Graduate Show, Holden Gallery, MMU, Manchester UK
• June-July 2008 Testing Time, MIRIAD, Chatham Gym, MMU, Manchester, UK
• June-July 2006 Testing Time, MIRIAD, Holden Gallery, MMU, Manchester UK
• July–October 2006 0161 Manchester, Urbis, Manchester, UK

Consultancy and advisory roles

The Manchester Fashion Network

Fashion Careers Fair: Panel Presentation: Social Media: Making your presence count, Manchester, United Kingdom

Other distinctions

Recognition as a Senior Fellow from the Higher Education Academy for my leadership in Teaching and Learning (2015).

Membership of professional associations

Affiliate Professional membership with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (APCIM)

Professional membership of the Business of Fashion

Research

Research Interests

• Practice as research / research as practice (the handbound artist book)
• visual communication
• visual methodologies and methods
• performative autoethnography
• visual ethnography
• visual culture
• cultural memory
• cultural memory and dress
• 'The American Look' -- the historic and contemporary expression of "Americanness" through dress
• Dress and belonging
• Dress and exclsuion
• Dress and health

Academic collaborations

Forthcoming Bloomsbury Arts text co-edited with Dr Alison Slater (School of Art) and Dr Susan Atkin (Manchester Fashion Institute) Memories of Dress: recollections of material identities to be published in 2021.

Invited Papers

2021

• January: Who is the Sick One Here?: Mask refusal and ambivalent social identity in America 
• October: Impact of International Virtual Mobility and Collaboration on Fashion Students' Practice.

Invited Discussions

MASTERCLASSES

July 2020

• Collage: visually connecting the disconnected
• From the PDF to Instagram TV: Broadening your fashion campaign's reach 

March 2021

• Handbound bookmaking: Introduction to Folded Book Structures

Conference organisation

January 2021: Face Off: The provocation and possibilities of the face mask and head scarf (international online symposium, Co-organiser)

Expert reviewer for journals and publishers

Reviewer: International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education