Mel Brown is Principal Lecturer and Assistant Head of School (Design + Communication) at Plymouth College of Art.

Mel’s skills and experience are consolidated in her role as Principal Lecturer on the BA (Hons) Illustration programme at Plymouth College of Art, having long since decided that working alongside the next generation of Illustrators & Image-makers was exactly where she wanted to be. As the Illustration provision at Plymouth College of Art has grown from strength to strength, Mel has built a team of dedicated staff to help shape the identity and curriculum of the programme and deliver a high quality HE experience to our undergraduates.

While studying in Bath for her BA (Hons) in Graphic Design and MA in Visual Culture, Mel became obsessed with discarded books, abandoned photographs and seemingly random pieces of ephemera, and a recurring theme in her own practice is the exploration of juxtaposition to transform the use, meaning and interpretation of the things she finds. One of the co-founders and members of Bread & Butter – a Bath & Bristol based collective of Artists, Illustrators, Printmakers & Ceramicists working together to promote and exhibit their work - the power and potential of the collective and creative collaboration has remained an interest ever since.

Mel Brown (and research partner Elaine Garcia)'s research around experiential and collaborative learning investigated the potential of blogs to extend opportunities for peer critique outside the classroom, and their papers were presented in the UK, Europe and the US. Mel's current research interests explore play and the role of curiosity in creative learning.