Prof. Nick Pearce, Head of the School of Culture and Creative Arts
Research Story: Prof. Nick Pearce
I don’t suppose I have had an orthodox career to date, at least in academic terms, having started my career as a museum curator, then freelancing for a period as curator, teacher and consultant, before entering full-time into the university environment.
My first degree was in Politics and Oriental Studies and it was only after graduation that my interest in art – and particularly Chinese and Japanese art – took hold when I volunteered to work with the Curator of Oriental Art at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. It was 6-8 months well spent because when the Victoria & Albert Museum was recruiting for junior curators, I landed a fantastic job working in the then Far Eastern Dept. Four years working there gave me the skills and experience in one of the greatest collections of the world and working alongside some of the major figures in the art and museum world.
I moved to Glasgow in 1987 to take up a post, not in the University, but in The Burrell Collection as Curator of East Asian Art. Working at the V&A was great but being a curator at The Burrell gave me the chance to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond and the opportunity to be part of a new museum. The Burrell had opened with great publicity only 4 years previously and of course it contained a world-class collection – one might say a mini V&A. Beyond this, the Burrell’s opening marked the beginning of Glasgow’s regeneration as a post-industrial City. Being in Glasgow in the late 1980’s-early 1990s was to witness a huge growth in cultural activity and investment in the City. The Burrell was an international magnet; then in 1990 the City was named European City of Culture, followed by European City of Architecture in 1999. Both built on Glasgow’s hugely significant, but not often recognised, art collections, cultural activity in its widest sense and built heritage.
1990 City of Culture was a catalyst. That year the Royal Concert Hall was opened, the Tramway was secured as a performance and visual arts centre and the Arches was launched as a theatre and live music venue. It seemed that year on year there was a new cultural development or capital project in the City – St Mungo’s Museum of Religious Art and Life in 1993, the Gallery of Modern Art in 1996, refurbishment of Kelvingrove Museum & Art Gallery 2003-2006. In 2008, Glasgow was the first city in Britain to be awarded the UNESCO City of Music accolade and now the new Riverside Museum, designed by Zaha Hadid, to showcase Glasgow’s industrial and design heritage is to open next year.
My University career began in 1995 when I introduced an honours option in Chinese art to students in History of Art at Edinburgh University. This was offered for three years while I went part-time at The Burrell and did work at Durham University and was involved in a new gallery project at the National Museums of Scotland. For a period I had a varied and peripatetic life. In 1998 I joined the staff in History of Art here at Glasgow and introduced Chinese art into the curriculum here for the first time. Glasgow still remains one of the few universities where you can study art history beyond the western tradition.