Dr Gretchen Coombs

My research and writing practice uses both traditional and creative approaches. Alongside contributing to academic journals, my continue to build an art writing portfolio. I am the co-editor of Undesign: Critical Practices at the Intersection of Art and Design (2018); Care Ethics and Art (2022); New Materialist Affirmations: Creative research interventions in methods and practice (in press); and my monograph, The Lure of the Social: Encounters with contemporary artists, was published in 2021. 

I work to demonstrate art's value in culture. I was the co-founder of the Cultural Value and Impact Network at RMIT and I currently work as the co-editor for Art & the Public Sphere, a leading journal on art and politics. My external engagement and funding including projects on art evaluation and health futures.

My writing on socially engaged art practices has received national and international recognition. With extensive experience in teaching and researching in art, design and media, I will bring leadership and a wealth of knowledge to UniSA Creative's teaching and research environment.

I recently moved from Melbourne (by way of Brisbane and San Francisco) where I taught into the Design Futures MA at RMIT University, and was a Senior Research Fellow in the Design Health Collab at Monash University. At RMIT I taught taught practice-based research methods across design and media, and at Monash, I worked as a design ethnographer for projects related to health futures.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosopy California Institute of Integral Studies

• Master of Arts California College of the Arts