Profiles
Mr Russell Evans
Visiting Specialist
School of Humanities and Performing Arts (Faculty of Arts and Humanities)
Role
I teach on the English and Creative Writing undergraduate course as an AL. I’m from a working class background in Cardiff and so I'm keen on supporting the ethos of the foundation year in the School of Humanities and Performing Arts as a route to encourage diversity.
I am also a PhD student in Creative Writing at Plymouth, currently in my second year. I have a particular interest in spatial approaches to poetry. My research dissertation is 'diagramming innovative poetry.' It looks at visualisations and diagrammatic ways to understand and engage with poetry. The visual aspects of the research tie in with my creative work as a practising artist, working in a mix of photography, drawing and performance. My artwork is at www.russellevansart.com. My most recent exhibited work was in New York and Italy.
The main creative element of my PhD is my poetry practice. I am currently writing work on three themes: state violence; class and exclusion; and Welsh landscape.
I was a freelance magazine writer for ten years, working for UK consumer magazines as well as The Guardian, focusing on film and media. I had two books about filmmaking published in the US for Routledge imprint Focal Press, both of which were translated into Spanish.
Qualifications
BA (hons) Fine Art, 1986-90, University of Plymouth
Certificate of Education, Exeter University, 2002
Programme manager, FdA Journalism, Exeter College (Plymouth University partner college), 2007 - 2018
Lecturer on critical studies modules, Plymouth Marjon, (AL, Journalism), 2017-18
Responsible for establishing and writing courses for approval: FdA Digital Video (2006) and FdA Journalism (2007)
Professional membership
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Roles on external bodies
External approval panel member, University of Gloucester, 2017
Teaching interests
Professional writing, employability, poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction.
In 2019-20 I am contributing to
HUM001 Stories that Changed the World
ENGL615 Professional Writing
Research interests
Creative practice:
In creative writing my interests are in innovative poetry and in how language is used outside of the mainstream. My work focuses on issues around urban experience, class, and also very much on language itself. I am also in the latter stages of completing a novel with the assistance of Cornerstone's literary agency.
In my artwork I use clay and performance to create photographic prints which explore space, experience and the self.
Research:
My research interests lie in two main areas. I am exploring visual methods to engage with poetry. I am also working on translating poems by medieval Welsh poets and am interested in getting closer to the source by applying the work of translation theorist Lawrence Venutti. Aside from these areas, I am also interested in quantum physics concepts -- for the clarity they can offer space-time ideas in spatiality in literature, and also their visualisations.
Key publications are highlighted
JournalsOver eighty articles published in national magazines including Practical DV; Computer Arts; DSLR User; Digital Filmmaker; The Guardian; Digital Arts, Green Parent between 2002 and 2015.
Practical DV Filmmaking (Focal Press, now Routledge), 2002
Second edition, 2005. Translated into Spanish 2006.
Stand Out Shorts (Focal Press, now Routledge), 2010
Translated into Spanish 2011
Selected exhibitions:
Rotterdam Akademie van Beeldende Kunsten, 1989
Exe Gallery, 1990
University of Exeter, 1996
Ark Gallery, Oxford, 1998
Wigan Arts Centre, 1998
Arnolfini, Bristol, 2016
LoosenArt, Cagliari, Italy, 2016
Blue Door Gallery, New York, 2017