Professor Alan Male

Membership of external committees

• Chair & Scientific Committee: CONFIA International Conference in Illustration and Animation, Polytechnic Institute of Cavado & Ave, Portugal
• Expert Advisory Committee: CRITIQUE 2013 International Conference Reflecting in Creative Practice, University of South Australia
• Expert Advisory Committee: Science, Imagination and the Illustration of Knowledge, University of Oxford Museums and Collections
• Editorial and Advisory Board, 'Journal of Illustration' (Intellect)
• Judging Committee, 'Focus on Nature XIII' International Illustration Awards, New York State Museum

Research interests and expertise

All research and authorship outputs are in the public domain, subjected to review and in an international context. This includesbook authorship, exhibitions, consultancy, papers, magazine/journal commentaries, public lectures and keynotes, web/live media.

The approach to research covers boththeory and practice.

The former (research into the discipline of illustration) is exemplified by the authorship and publication of two internationally distributed reference books about illustration; both providing detail for context, theoretical approaches, intellectual processing and research.

A keynote in Portugal, 2012 presented a provocative thesis for visual communication multi-tasking ('The Polymath Principle') which advocates a need for practitioners to acquire a greater knowledge base through focussed higher learning and an increase in intellectual capacity. This will form the basis for a possible international, collaborative Fellowship project with the presentation of another international keynote and the publication and delivery of a paper at a conference in Australia. A TV documentary is also in the initial stages of development and has the working title 'Illustration, Irreverence and Revolution: The Power of the Political Cartoon'. The main theme exemplifies a focussed interest in historical and cultural aspects for illustration practice with an emphasis on propaganda and sensationalism.

Practice based research (research through the discipline of illustration) is determined by the thematic agenda of 'Science as Culture:aninterface between science and visual arts practice', the production and presentation of imagery new to science and not previously visualised. Thisfocusses on the creation and interpretation of new and original knowledge related to elements of'evolution'and 'palaeo-ecology'; the exemplification, by illustration, scientific phenomena made ontological with reference to the morphology and diversification of emergent organic life.

This project started in 1996 and has resulted in numerous journal and paper publications, television broadcast, lectures, international exhibitions and consultancy. Collaborations include the Universities of Yale, Ghent, Warsaw, Liverpool, Cambridge, Birmingham, Leicester, Bristol and University College London. A forthcoming output includes a proposed exhibition at Yale University Art Gallery in 2015-16.

Current themes are narrative driven and focus on two particular case studies:

• The representation of previously unknown invertebrate taxa from early Ordovician geoligic deposits of Morocco
• A visual analysis of a seabed, fauna-bearing ecosystem first examined by the 'HMS Challenger' expedituions of 1873 and produced in collaboration with the British Museum of Natural History, London.

A theoretical aspect is also covered by a paper revealing how the visual presentation of a fact bearing discourse for ontology or phenomena can be challenged by fantasy and taboo avoidance. This reveals significant dilemmas facing contemporary illustrators when divulging scientific material to a regional and culturally diverse community.

Research topics

• Drawing: Creative Practice for Conceptualisation and Ideas Generation
• Drawing: Research Documentation and Knowledge Exchange
• Evolution and Palaeo-Ecology
• Historic and Archaeological Reconstruction
• Illustration: History and Contemporary Practice
• Illustration: Politics Propaganda and Commentary
• Illustration: Professional Practice Process and Visual Language
• Illustration: Scientific and Knowledge Bearing
• Taxonomic and Morphological Biology

Current research students

Katie Pamment 2009- to date, PhD, 'Illustration, Young Audiences and the Environment'

Areas of teaching

• Historical and Cultural Studies: Dissertation Supervision
• Illustration

Courses taught

• Research Degree Supervision
• Guest Lecturer: MA Lecture Series
• Dissertation Supervision: BA (Hons) Illustration
• Final year lectures and tutorial supervision: BA (Hons) Illustration

Engagement with organisations which contribute to the development of educational, cultural or socio-economic policies in Cornwal

Chair, Cornwall Branch: Chartered Society of Designers

Consultancy and facility services

Illustration, Visual Communication and Art Direction: Consultancy and commission for national and international publishers and agencies

Independent professional practice

Illustrator, Visual/Graphic Artist with international and national client base
Publishing, Advertising, Media.
Representation in New York by American Artists Reps Inc. 1996- to date www.aareps.com Clients include:

• Time Warner (New York)
• Scholastic (New York)
• World International Publishers (Chicago)
• Harcourt Science (USA)
• International Masters Publishers (Switzerland)
• Bayard Presse (Paris)
• Lingen Verlag (Germany)
• Curtis & Murray Advertising (San Francisco)
• ICI
• The National Trust (UK)
• Friends of the Earth (UK)
• Atlas Copco Ergoline (Sweden)
• Time Magazine (USA)
• Discover Magazine (USA)
• The Sunday Times (UK)
• The Observer (UK)
• BBC Enterprises (UK)

Engagement with professional associations and societies

• Society of Illustrators, New York
• Guild of Natural Science Illustrators, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC 
• Chartered Society of Designers