Claire Wellesley-Smith

My doctoral research focuses on community engagement and heritage and asks if involvement in slow textile projects can craft resilience in post-industrial textile communities. I am based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, once a centre of the wool textile industry and my multi-site ethnographic research focusses on projects here and in East Lancashire. 

This project explores aspects of my working life: I am an artist and writer specialising in long term socially engaged textile-based projects working with communities. These projects explore health and wellbeing, heritage and community-cohesion. Funders for this work include Arts Council England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, The Kings Fund and others. I also teach and lecture in textiles internationally. I studied Politics as an undergraduate at Newcastle University and have a practice-based MA in Visual Arts from Bradford School of Art.