My doctoral project is entitled Kissing the Cold Goodbye: Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain in Painting Practice, an Ecocritical Analysis. In it, I re-imagine Shepherd's text in context of present-day anthropogenic damage to northerly ecosystems. The artwork itself is the research, while the thesis forms a critical theoretical account of the work.
The PhD was about far more than submitting a thesis: I walked and climbed in Iceland, Finland and Scotland, gradually developing a voice with which to speak about the living world and process my experience of melting glaciers, loss of seabirds, marine debris, destructive forestry.
The research led to exhibitions, residencies, conferences and ideas-exchange with other artists and researchers. I had brilliantly supportive supervisors and viva examiners, while Researcher Development programme and writing group kept things on track throughout. I look forward now to practising the practice the research is about.
Dr Patricia (Patti) Leino was awarded her PhD in February 2025.
Thesis links:
https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/8632/
https://doi.org/10.17635/lancaster/thesis/2642
Funder: University of Cumbria
Supervisors: Robert Williams, Professor Emeritus, Fine Art, University of Cumbria
Dr Penny Bradshaw, Associate Professor of English Literature, Institute of Education, Arts and Society, University of Cumbria
Image: Patti Leino, permissions given.
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