Joseph Burton

Whilst studying an undergraduate degree at the University of Salford in visual arts, I was lucky enough to study abroad for six months in Porto (Portugal) while also receiving the Salford Scholarship Award at the end of my third year of university. This award enabled me to carry on my artistic practice of creating musical instruments from found materials in a studio provided by the university, as well as a generous production grant. This award also enabled me to participate in the 2017 Manchester Contemporary Art Fair where I promoted and even sold my work.  

Around this time I took up a post as a sculptural technician in a bronze casting foundry based in Liverpool. From this, I have gained a grounded practical knowledge of sculptural fabrication; particularly in metals and resins.

I still continue my creative work by producing fantasy inspired music that I publish and share on various mainstream platforms (links to be found in ORCID).

However, In 2018 I decided to make a transition into academic work to see what my artistic and practical knowledge could contribute to the scholarly world. I was able to explore these notions at the University of York where I completed a master’s degree in Medieval Art and Medievalism.

My MA degree certainly sowed the seeds for my current research interests as a PhD student at Manchester. My current research examines the presence and absence of tool-use within a quadrant of multimedia case studies. These are as follows: The Old English poem "The Ruin", The Exeter Book Riddles (specifically riddle 37, “The Bellows”), and two sculptural examples, the Halton Cross in Lancaster (sandstone) and the Franks Casket (whalebone). This project reads between the lines and investigates tools as the bridge between mind and material manifestation and what that can entail in an Old English context; seeking to become the scholarly mortar that fills, reinforces and reveals new and unexplored aspects of the interwoven and complex wall of early medieval craft studies already established.

PhD research title: With Shape and Purpose: Sensing the Presence and Absence of Tool-use in Early English Medieval Litrature and Material Culture.

Email: joseph.burton@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk