Mary Evans appointed as Director of UCL Slade School of Fine Art

She will succeed Slade Professor Kieren Reed, who has served a five-year tenure as Director since September 2018, leading the Slade through a period of extraordinary challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mary Evans is coming to the Slade from Chelsea College of Art, University of the Arts London (UAL) where she has been BA Fine Art Course Leader for five years. Prior to that, Evans taught on the BA Fine Art course at Central Saint Martins, UAL. As an educator, she is invested in challenging barriers to education and widening access to the arts.

Having studied at Goldsmiths, University of London and the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, Mary Evans is an artist with a national and international reputation, having exhibited extensively as a solo artist and in group exhibitions. She has received numerous significant commissions, awards and residencies, including a Smithsonian Artists Research Fellowship at the National Museum of African Art, Washington DC in 2010.

Her research centres on the social, political, geographical and historical frameworks of diaspora, migration, global mobility and exchange. In her practice Evans uses brown kraft paper and other disposable materials to interrogate sites, stories, place and belonging, often in the form of large-scale site and research responsive installations. She explores the power relationships between Africa and Europe while moving across the real and imagined, mapping the ephemeral and unmappable. The silhouette, a well-known European visual device, is utilised to make the black body visible as a site for historical and contemporary narratives of resilience, mobility, geography, and memory.

Executive Dean of UCL Arts & Humanities, Professor Stella Bruzzi said,

"I'm absolutely delighted to be able to welcome Mary Evans as Slade Director from 4 October, and very much look forward to working with her as part of our Faculty leadership team. Mary brings with her a wealth of experience in terms of her own prolific and celebrated art practice and in her current leadership role at Chelsea. Her Directorship of the Slade will support both the Faculty and wider UCL in our world-leading and interdisciplinary arts and humanities disciplines.

"I'd also like also to extend my heartfelt thanks to Professor Kieren Reed for his directorship of the Slade over the past five years, during which time he has overseen and led the Slade to some really notable achievements, particularly while under extraordinary circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic."

On her appointment, Mary Evans comments:

“I am delighted to have been appointed Director of the UCL Slade School of Fine Art. I relish the opportunity afforded me with this appointment to lead staff and students in the community of practice at the Slade and contribute to maintaining and advancing its position as a world leading art school. It will be a privilege to work in an environment that offers a transformative education to emerging artists where students and staff can express themselves and take risks in an increasingly equitable environment at this important moment when diverse knowledges are relevant and necessary.”

Professor Kieren Reed, the current Slade Director, said:

“On behalf of the entire artistic community in the Slade School of Fine Art, I extend my sincere congratulations to artist Mary Evans who has been appointed as the new Director. Mary’s dedication, expertise, and vision have been evident throughout her career, and the Slade community is thrilled to have her lead our School into an exciting new chapter. Mary’s leadership will inspire both staff and students alike, fostering a vibrant academic environment where excellence will thrive.”

Links

• Mary Evans website
• UCL Slade School of Fine Art
• UCL Arts & Humanities

Image

Credit: Christa Holka