ART ENTERPRISE STAFF PROFILE


Tom Poultney is the Head of Department for Higher Education Creative Arts. Tom has worked across the Art Enterprise and Photography degrees at Leeds City College.
Tom is a practicing artist and is interested in many forms of creative practice; current research is focussed on internet culture, and particularly the creation of online communities through the development of new forms of communication.
Research Interests:
- Memes
- Internet culture
- Folk art
- Surveillance
- Phenomenology
My role involves overseeing the management and delivery of the FD Art, FD Graphic Design & Illustration, FD Fashion & Textiles, FD Concept Art, FD Screen Audio and BA Art, BA Graphic Design & Illustration and BA Fashion & Textiles Courses.
I’ve been involved in teaching on the programme for 4 years and in post as Programme Manager for almost 3 years where I’ve been involved in developing the courses from Art Enterprise to cover further specialisms such as Graphic Design, Illustration and Concept Art.
I specialise in Fine Art particularly painting and multimedia works.
Educational Background
I studied BA (hons) Fine Art at Bradford School of Art and just completed my MA thesis at The University of Leeds.
Experience
I’ve taught for over 12 years working in FE and HE on a range of creative arts courses. Prior to beginning teaching I worked as a freelance artist for 10 years, involved in community projects and art education as well as making exhibiting and selling work.
Practice
My practice began in painting, commercial practice, fine art oil paintings subject matter of domestic, female. More recently sculptural work around domesticity and memory. Current work explores maternal experience and space.
My own female experience informs and inspires my practice and research. My future ambitions include continuing to make work exploring maternal ambivalence and experience.
Notable Exhibitions and Projects
- Joan Day Bursary.
- Hockney fellow.
- Artist in Residence – Craven Museum & Gallery
Recent shows
‘Origin’ MA Group Show, Leeds, July 2019.
‘Pause’ MA Group Show, Leeds, January 2020.
‘Mothering’ Project Space, University of Leeds, December 2020.
Website


Amy Fishlock is Course Leader for the Higher Education Art Enterprise, Art Enterprise (Graphic Design & Illustration) and Art Enterprise (Fashion & Textiles) course at University Centre Leeds.
Amy is interested semiotic and literary theory and her current research focuses on relations between post-structuralist approaches to linguistics and digital reading. Other interests include music, critical theory and deconstruction.
Research Interests:
● Deconstruction
● Sound
● Illustration
● Linguistics
Tony O’Keeffe is a specialist fine art tutor currently working on the Creative Arts and Concept Art for Computer Games courses at University Centre Leeds.
Tony is a practising artist across many two dimensional forms including painting (traditional) and digital applications that focus on drawing. Current research explores CCTV and its ability to provide unique source material.
Research Interests:
● Painting
● Illustration
● Narrative
● Digital applications in traditional practice.
My role involves delivering my subject within the parameters of the courses’ structure. Also providing any pastoral support to the learners dynamically.
I teach FD Graphic and Illustration and FD Art and have taught on the course for 1+ years.
I specialise in Graphic Design (illustration, design and animation).
Educational Background
I studied MA Graphic Arts and Design, and PGCE in Post Compulsory Education at Leeds Metropolitan University.
Experience
Experience brought to the course – I’ve been a Course Team Leader for 12 years on Level 3 Graphics Course for over 10 years.
Industry Experience – I have worked as a studio and freelance designer for well over 20 years, I also worked as an Illustrator and Designer for a design company based in Otley.
Practice
The background of my practice is Vector Based Illustration. Illustration and Sequential Imagery inspires my practice. My future ambitions include to keep developing and refining new and old skills.
Notable Exhibitions and Projects
I have and continue to work with national and international clients such as Warner bros, Hasbro, Peter Jones Foundation, Virgin Atlantic, NHS, Leeds Council.
My role involves preparing and delivering lectures on Art History, Exhibition Practice, and Creative Economies. I facilitate seminars, and conduct tutorials. I provide feedback and set targets for learners, alongside assess their assignments.
I teach Art, Graphics & Illustration, and Fashion, L4 & L5. I have taught on the course for just over a month!
I specialise in Contemporary Art Practice, in the specialism of sculpture. I am also a writer for YAC.
Educational Background
I studied Fine Art (BA), Art & Design (MA), PGCE at Leeds Beckett and University of Huddersfield.
Experience
Experience brought to the course – I also teach Foundation Diploma Art & Design, and I have taught across all specialisms. I have taught level 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and MA. I have been progress tutor. I currently teach on another course also for 2 days a week, teaching Contemporary Art Practice and Communication Design.
Industry Experience – I am a practicing artist, represented by Mark Devereux Projects. I have been regularly exhibiting for the past 8 years, and had a solo in Seager Gallery London, 2019. I am soon to be having a solo in Manchester, in which I was awarded Arts Council Funding for.
Practice
My work makes observations of popular aesthetics and internet culture through the medium of sculpture. My practice co-opts the crispness of online formats with a hand-crafted touch, hinting at smartphone addiction, meme culture, and early memory of objects. My sculpture is ambiguous, though aims to pick up on – and visually start to unpick – trends in art, fashion and pop culture, mapping the direct impact aesthetic shifts in contemporary culture have on visual artists. I make work to inhabit a space, to twist and curl around it playfully, ‘serious play’ being intrinsic to my practice. I use nostalgia as a tool, with gentle humour, and give a nod to a time where things seemed simple. I allow the work to have vulnerabilities, making many small works that fit into a family of forms.
Memory, smell, play, fun, materiality, choreography, participation informs and inspires my practice.
My future ambitions include embarking on a PhD and to continue teaching at HE level.
Notable Exhibitions and Projects
Solo at Seager Gallery London, April 2019.
Sluice Biennial London Sep 2017
Recent shows
‘FUN’, GRAFT Projects, October 2019, Lancaster.
‘LGM-1’ The Function Suite, February 2020, London.
‘Much Too Shy’, Air Gallery, July 2020, Manchester.
‘A City of Two Tales,’ April 2018, Depot Studios, Manchester.
Tough Matter X Site Gallery, July 2018, Sheffield.
‘Empty Vessels’, Scaffold Gallery, Bankley Gallery, August 2018, Manchester.
‘Extended Call’, Subsidiary Projects, September 2018, London.
‘Sense’, Spanish City, November 2018, Newcastle.
‘FIG.1 LIMELIGHT’, Muddy Yard, December 2018, London.
‘The Ball of My Foot’, Seager Gallery, London, April 2019.
Website
My role involves teaching pattern cutting, garment construction & Textiles subjects.
I teach L5 FD in Art Enterprise and I have taught on the course from January to April 2020, and since January 2021.
I specialise in Fashion.
Educational Background
I studied Creative Pattern Cutting MA at The University of Huddersfield.
Experience
Experience brought to the course – I have taught a wide range of age groups age levels from Key stage 3 in schools to BA in both Fashion & Art subjects.
Industry Experience – I worked as a designer and patterncutter for Courtaulds & Arcadia Group before moving to Australia where I worked for a company called Serry International as a designer. I also taught BA Fashion students at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) part -time.
Practice
The background of my practice is in Fashion. I am researching Adaptive clothing and my ambitions for the future include producing a range of clothing for ladies with disabilities.


Jaime is the technician for HE Creative Arts department. Graduating with a Contemporary Arts Degree in 2013, she has developed her practice both on her own and previously as part of a collective. She enjoys large scale installation projects and has worked closely with the local venues and the local music scene to create site specific environments.
Interests:
● Squinting and peepholes
● Immersive environments
● Fabricating strange worlds