Dr Eleanor Morgan is a Lecturer in Fine Art. She uses printmaking, drawing, performance, sculpture and video to examine materials and processes of making across species. This has included making a diamond from the dead creatures of the River Thames, serenading a spider and rubbing fish. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in venues such as Jerwood Space, Standpoint Gallery, dOCUMENTA(13) and Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver. Her book ‘Gossamer Days: Spiders, humans and their threads’ examines the history of the human uses of spider silk, from royal underwear in Europe to sticky silk tunics in the South Pacific. See the book review in The Guardian and a BBC radio interview with Eleanor here.

Eleanor is on the editorial board of the journal Printmaking Today. She often uses printmaking to collaborate with other artists, which has included the on-going project ‘How to Rub a Fish’ funded by Artquest and Daiwa project grant and the radical women’s print group 'Printers’ Symphony' . She was co-curator of the ‘Life of Clay’ exhibition at RIBA in London, which examined how traditional and digital clay processes can be combined to create new forms in art, design and architecture. 

Eleanor carried out her doctoral studies at the Slade School of Fine Art and the UCL Department of Anthropology. She has been awarded funding from the AHRC, The Leverhulme Trust, the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and Artquest.

Eleanor’s research comprises three areas: making across species, traditional and digital technologies, and printmaking as an interdisciplinary research tool. These themes are linked by a focus on how things are made, which combines investigating the behaviour of materials, different ways of thinking and doing, and the activities of nonhumans.

Her research has been funded by the AHRC, the RIBA, the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and The Leverhulme Trust. Outcomes of these projects include peer-reviewed journal and conference papers, books and book chapters, exhibitions and public workshops. Her recent book ‘Gossamer Days: Spiders, humans and their threads’ tells the story of the human uses of spider silk and what happens when one making animal meets another.

Keywords: animal studies, material culture, printmaking, traditional/digital technologies, interdisciplinary research, practice-led research.

  • SAA123 Introduction to Fine Art 
  • SAA124 Developing Fine Art Practice 
  • SAC116 Professional Fine Art Practice

Eleanor currently supervises practice-based postgraduate students on themes ranging from women’s labour, sound art and nonhuman animals. She is happy to discuss possible proposals on related topics including animal studies, material culture, printmaking, and traditional/digital technologies.

Current PhD supervision:

  • James Bowen (co-supervised with Deborah Harty and Johanna Hallsten)
  • Zoe Petersen (co-supervised with Gill Whiteley and Johanna Hallsten)
  • Assunta Ruocco (co-supervised with Gill Whiteley)