Curtis Tappenden

Curtis Tappenden began to question the identity of mavericks having been labelled a maverick by a work colleague twelve years ago. His belief in autonomous, wilful self-expression is deeply embedded in his vocations as university senior lecturer, editorial artist at a national newspaper in London, performance poet, painter, illustrator and author. He is currently completing a PhD entitled Explorations of ‘maverick’ educators within the institutional Arts and Art and Design Higher Education, an autoethnographic-constructivist study of self in relation to other similar educators, which seeks to define maverick identities and their impact on arts higher education. Curtis is also a renowned circus artist, visually recording the life of international circuses; their performers and performances, from a ringside view! The Victoria & Albert Museum recently acquired 39 circus drawings for the nation, for their importance to the theatre and circus collection. His V&A collection can be found here: bit.ly/2LzgnlJ