Andrew Proctor

History

Career Path: Andrew Proctor has a background in museums and heritage. He developed a specialised interest in ethnography and worked for several years on the ethnography collections in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Later on he worked at the McManus Galleries and Museum in Dundee and published a fully illustrated catalogue of the entire collections entitled Peoples of the World. Over the years Andrew developed an interest in contemporary practice (arts and crafts) and now works for the Arts Council as a visual arts officer. He has recently taken on regional responsibility for the Crafts and is interested in generating opportunities to promote the work of South West based practitioners abroad and opportunities for international artists to engage in collaborations, exchange or residencies in the South West. Andrew has a strong personal interest in ceramics but is keen to engage with a variety of media particularly textiles and glass.

Curator Visit Expectations: This trip is both a challenge and an adventure. There are lots of questions and uncertainties and I am sure there will be surprises. How does the individual maker find and assert a creative voice within a culture that seems dominated by history and tradition? What does contemporary culture in Egypt mean? I definitely need to know more!