Louise's current area of research is concerned with a previously undiscovered archive of historical dress bequeathed to the school of art by Kate Elizabeth Bunce. She is specifically researching the wearers mark, multi-sensorial curatorial practices, aestheticism, the makers mark, and how to reinvigorate dress using artistic interventions. Louise has recently collaborated with Gres Portela School of Samba alongside design for performance students to design and produce costumes for the ‘Final’ which is an event that selects the samba for the Rio de Janeiro carnival.
MA History of Art and Design 2015
HND Theatre Design( Costume) 1996
- BA Hons Costume Design and Practice
- BA Hon Fashion Design with Design for Performance
- BA Hons Fashion Design
I currently teach on modules including, Dissertation, Costume and Special Effects, Final Major project at level 6 (degree year) I also contribute to teaching across level 5 and 4 on both the BA Hons Fashion Design programme and the BA Hons Costume Design and Practice programme.
As a specialist in costume and historical dress, Louise primarily teaches at level 6 on the performance modules. She Ieads on all of the design for performance modules, including final major project, as well as sharing module leadership on the dissertation. At level 5 she is module leader and deliver course content to advanced skills - this is a module where students advance their skills to their chosen pathway and Louise also deliver content to the options portfolio. At level 4 she lectures on the history of dress which helps to contextualise fashion within a historical context.
Material Culture, material memories, dress history, marks and scars of wear, the makers mark, historical construction, the spectral presence in dress. Archival research, collection strategies for dress. Birmingham School of Art, Kate Elizabeth Bunce, Myra Bunce, aesthetic dress.
I am currently in the process of undertaking an AHRC funded practice led PhD at London College of Fashion with the title, How can immersive theatre techniques and costume practice interventions be employed to communicate the narratives of the Kate Elizabeth Bunce Collection through dress display? I am also shared co-ordinator on The Costume Society’s Pattern of Fashion Award an award that looks to reward students undertaking pattern making and the development of a garment in response to Janet Arnolds Patterns of Fashion texts. I am also the external examiner for Rose Bruford’s BA in Costume Production.
9th May- 3rd June 2017. Cabinets of Costume, Birmingham City University, exhibition Curator Louise E P Chapman and Co- curator Zoe Robertson
July 2017. Making the Unseen Seen: The Kate Elizabeth Bunce Collection. Culture, Costume and Dress conference proceedings.
May 2017 Culture, Costume and Dress, Birmingham City University, Making the Unseen Seen: The Kate Elizabeth Bunce Collection (member of the convening panel and peer reviewer, and curator for the conference exhibition ‘Cabinets of Costume’)
16th April 2016 Performing Aestheticism: Aesthetic Dress as Performance, Reading Art (AHRC Funded project) Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. http://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/bmag/whats-on/performing-aestheticism
May 2015 Gothic Day, Birmingham Library A Beautiful Life, A Beautiful Death, https://gothicinbirmingham.wordpress.com/
September 2015 Dress and Identity, Adornment and Identity, Birmingham Fashion and Textiles Group Colloquium, Founding Moments: Archival Authenticity.
I worked as a theatre costume practitioner for seventeen years working with companies including, The Royal Shakespeare Company, Bristol Old Vic, The Stephen Joseph Theatre, The Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Aardman Animations, The National Trust to name a few. I worked predominantly as a costume maker, cutter and supervisor after completing my undergraduate qualifications.
