Susan Cross

Job title:

Reader, Jewellery and Silversmithing

s.cross@ed.ac.uk
0131 651 5755

Office:

Room Q28

Office hours:

Mon, 9am - 5pm; Tue, 9am - 5pm

Research Output:

Edinburgh Research Explorer link

Biography

Susan Cross was born in 1964 in Herefordshire. She studied at Hereford College of Art & Design (1980-82) and specialised in Jewellery at Middlesex Polytechnic, London (1982-86).

After leaving college, Susan was awarded a Craft Council Setting-Up Grant to establish her studio, and took up a part-time teaching post at Crewe & Alsager College of Higher Education (later MMU Cheshire).

At this time, Susan made work for the Electrum Gallery, the Craft Council at the V&A and for numerous exhibitions. She entered work for the Platinum Awards, for which she was awarded second prize two years in succession; these pieces are now held in the collections at the V&A and Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery.

In 1989, Susan moved to Edinburgh, re-establishing her studio and taking up the role of part-time lecturer in the Jewellery and Silversmithing department at Edinburgh College of Art. Susan has been represented by The Scottish Gallery since her move north and has been invited to show in six solo exhibitions and several group shows at the gallery.

Susan has exhibited in numerous national and international exhibitions and has received awards for her work, including: a Scottish Arts Council Grant for Individual Development (1995), a Scottish Arts Council Travel Award (1999) to study textiles in Japan; and the Inches Carr Trust Bursary (2001).

In 2007 Susan was joint winner of the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize, Jewellery. In consequence, she was appointed Reader in Jewellery by Edinburgh College of Art and made an Honorary Fellow of Hereford College of Arts.

Susan has been invited to lecture at UK academic institutions and to be a member of judging panels. She has taught by invitation in Finland, India, New Zealand & South Korea.

Her work can be seen in the following public collections: V&A Museum; National Museum of Scotland; V&A Dundee; Crafts Council; Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths; Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery; The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh; The Alice & Louis Koch Collection, Switzerland; Spencer Museum of Art, Kansas; Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts; Fuller Craft Museum, Massachusetts.

Research interests

Jewellery
Materiality & Process
Drawing
Historical & Contemporary constructed textiles
Natural forms

Teaching

Susan teaches design and technical instruction at Undergraduate and Postgraduate level on ECA’s Jewellery and Silversmithing course. Susan has also been external examiner for London Metropolitan University for the Jewellery BA (hons) course 2008-2012.

Alongside teaching commitments, Susan is also invited to sit on selection committees for new graduate bursaries and exhibitions.

Research

Susan's current research enquiry focuses on developing a body of jewellery for an ECA Design School research project titled 'Lace Innovations - Re-imagining Heritage and Innovation in Scottish Lace' that will culminate in a group exhibition at the V&A Dundee, Scotland Autumn 2027. Susan’s proposal for Lace Innovations addresses two of the three research strands: Lace Heritage and Contemporary Applications.

This research project connects with Susan's recent sabbatical study (Jan-May 2025) that explored both the visual qualities of lace related plants through observed drawing at the Herbarium, Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh whilst also investigating the extensive pattern/design archives of MYB Textiles Ltd., an Ayrshire based company that since 1900 has been weaving machine made lace. During this time she also visited Nottingham exploring archives and museum collections at Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham Castle, Newstead Abbey, Nottingham Industrial Museum and the Framework Knitters Museum talking to curators and historians about the local lace-making industry.

Following the REF 2021 submission Tracing Time – Tracing Threads this research project focuses once more on shining a light on historical archives. Susan aims to create a collection of jewellery designed to communicate the beauty, intricacy and delicacy of MYB Textiles’ machine-made lace. The aesthetic and technique of the collection would be contemporary and future facing, intended to engage and appeal to a wider public and disseminate an appreciation of the significance and skilled craftsmanship of this heritage industry.

Susan will explore materials such as fired vitreous enamel on steel alongside silver wire and sheet.

Research questions include:

How can drawing underpin the design and making process?
How can the exploration of materials and technical methods best translate the visual qualities achieved through drawing?
How can digital technologies such as laser engraving be used alongside analogue techniques and process?
What are the symbolic references of jewellery as depicted in historical portrait painting and how can this inform contemporary practise?