Professor Mary Modeen
Professor
Contemporary Art Practice, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design
Contact
Biography
Mary Modeen is an artist/academic whose research links creative practice with interdisciplinary academic studies in the humanities, particularly philosophy, literature, feminist and indigenous studies. Her research has several threads: perception as a cognitive and interpretive process, and place-based research, which tends to connect cultural values, history and embodied experience. As such, this work usually combines creative art practice and writing. Her PhD supervision is also characterised by these interdisciplinary investigations, linking studio practice with academic enquiry. International research networks, three of which Modeen co-convenes, are central in conducting the critical discourse which address, challenge and strengthen these research insights. She has been the leading figure in interdisciplinary collaboration between DJCAD and Humanities at all levels. She is also the DJCAD Associate Dean (Internationalisation).
Research
Modeen’s research links creative practice with interdisciplinary academic studies in the humanities, particularly philosophy, literature, feminist and indigenous studies. Her research has several threads: perception as a cognitive and interpretive process, and place-based research, which tends to connect cultural values, history and embodied experience. As such, this work usually combines creative art practice and writing.
Teaching
Professor Modeen is the Coordinator of PhD studies and supervises six students currently. As the founder of the MFA in Art and Humanities, an interdisciplinary postgraduate course that combines creative practice with academic modules in any area of the Humanities, she supervises and lectures across a broad range of subjects as they coincide with studio practice.
Key teaching initiatives
Modeen has been central to the development of interdisciplinary studies in DJCAD and the School of Humanities. She was the Course Director for Art, Philosophy and Contemporary Practices(now simply Art and Philosophy) for over seven years (2003-2010), developing this unique undergraduate course, liaising with the Humanities faculty, recruiting, teaching, advising and assessing, for the first early years through its first five years of graduates. She handed this course to the next course director with over 70 students. Following this, she designed, coordinated and developed the interdisciplinary Master of Fine Arts in Art & Humanities (for which she was Course Director, from 2012-2018).
Her Ph.D. supervision is also characterised by these interdisciplinary studies, linking studio practice with an academic investigation. Modeen’s supervisory input and interdisciplinary collaborations with Humanities staff were also vital to several of their successes in obtaining PhD studentships in the Scottish Graduate School for Art and Humanities (SGSAH) consortium. She is the DJCAD Joint Coordinator of PhD Studies, for 39 doctoral students currently. To date, Modeen has six completed PhD students, and six current doctoral applicants, and served as External Examiner to 6 PhD students across the UK. Additionally, she founded the international Global Summer Experience programme for international participants, which has run annually since June 2016.
Media availability
I am available for media commentary on my research.
Professor Modeen's research has several threads – perception as a cognitive and interpretive process and place-based research connected to cultural values, history, and embodied experience. This work typically combines creative art practice and writing. Her focus on place-based investigations, decolonisation, ecological concerns, and geo-locational identities are key themes in contemporary art.
Contact Corporate Communications for media enquiries.
Areas of expertise
- Art and design