Bio:
Dr Laurence Dube-Rushby
Laurence Studied Fine Art in France, her native country, where she gained two degrees in Fashion and Fine Art. She has 26 years of experience working as a freelance artist and art consultant in the UK, developing commissions and projects for the private and the public sector. She was awarded 3 Grants for the Arts by Arts Council, England, and British Council Fellowship to undertake research at Venice Biennale 2019. Her work has been shown in Galleries, Arts Centres and Museums across England, France and Italy.
Laurence has completed a Doctorate of Philosophy of Creative Pedagogies with UAL. She is interested in further research in performance studies, art processes and pedagogy. Additionally, her passion for learning through art has taken her to take a PGCE at Bath Spa University (2024), to deepen her understanding of curriculum design and affect, policy-making, and change-making that can stem from artistic practices in education. Her thesis investigates the potential for artistic disruptions as an emancipatory practice to become moments of deep learning for young people in secondary education. The research includes the development of a new live art methodology called DARE, that offers to reignite a progressive educational debate and acts as a performative professional development for teachers. Her exploration of radical modes of teaching and learning hopes to impact on government educational policies in the long term.
In her previous practice, Laurence has developed public art consultations and residencies in art and heritage venues, for organisations such as the Salisbury International Arts Festival, Stonehenge World Heritage Centre, Swindon Museums and Art Gallery, The National Trust, Winchester City Council, and Winchester University. She has also initiated numerous projects in non-art settings such as farms, landscapes, heritage centres, schools, ex-military grounds, hospitals and city centres. Her major past installations include ‘A Thousand Sheep’, textile installation and social art project, presented at Salisbury International Arts Festival, 2013, and ‘Lifeline’, commissioned by curator Judy Adams, 2010, for Salisbury Arts Centre. She has developed performance-based works for the ‘Laboratory of Dissent’, at the Winchester Gallery, in 2015 and 2018. She took residency in the ‘Observatory’, for SPUD and CAS in 2016. In 2019, Laurence received a British Council research fellowship in 2019, in partnership with a-space, to investigate the place for Social Art at the Venice Biennale culminating into a short film and blog. She is a member of Psi, the Chartered college of education, and an honorary associate for Chapel Arts Studios with whom she is involved in collective research, and is connected with the wider research community for creative learning.