J.R. Campbell

J.R. Campbell is helping to cultivate the Design Innovation Initiative at Kent State University to support design thinking, project-based learning, technology-infused maker communities and the curation of cross-disciplinary collaborative teams to tackle "wicked" problems. Students and faculty from every discipline are encouraged to participate in this intersectional engine for the university. In August 2020, the initiative opened the "Design Innovation Hub” through the renovation of the old Art Building at the center of the Kent Campus.

Campbell’s first degree was a Bachelor of Science in environmental design (1994), followed by a Master of Fine Arts in textile arts and costume design (1996), both from the University of California, Davis. He then taught textiles, computer-aided fashion design and color theory in San Francisco before being appointed assistant professor in the Department of Textiles and Clothing at Iowa State University in 1998. He was tenured and promoted to associate professor there in 2004. In July 2005, he moved to Scotland to become "Research Fellow" at the Centre for Advanced Textiles at the Glasgow School of Art, where he directed research for the Centre, located in the School of Design. While in Glasgow, Campbell completed a postgraduate certificate (PGCert) course in supervising postgraduate (doctoral) research degrees for professionals in art, design and communication from the Centre for Learning and Teaching in Art and Design at University of the Arts London, which was granted in November 2006. He has been a visiting scholar and conducted workshops at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China and the Auckland University of Technology's Textile Design Laboratory in New Zealand. Campbell came to Kent State University to start his position as professor and director of The Fashion School in July 2009. He stepped away from this role in July 2018 to take on the role of executive director for the Design Innovation Initiative.

Campbell has been researching, designing and creating artwork with digital textile/imaging technologies for more than 25 years. His work pushes the limits of imaging technologies as they relate to clothing, our environment and the human form. Campbell's art/design work has been shown in more than 80 national or international exhibitions, receiving 20 awards, including the International Artist of the Year Award for the South Korean Fashion & Culture Association in 2010. Campbell has consulted for a number of academic institutions as they have integrated the technology into their teaching/research labs, and has published on subjects of design methods/issues, controlling color and integrating the technology into the design process for textiles and apparel.

At Kent State, Campbell launched his TechStyleLAB (TSLAB) concept in The Fashion School in 2009. The TSLAB functions as a research, teaching and commercial environment to investigate the broadest range of digital textile and fashion design technologies and their implications for new product concepts, business development and sustainable practices. It has become an integrated component of the successful school’s experiential learning environments. Campbell has also been a champion for building study-away programs for students in the fashion school and across the university. He has served as the university’s representative to the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and, in 2014, partnered with KSU LaunchNET to pioneer the largest national, annual college-based “Fashion/Tech Hackathon,” a competitive, team-based event that has hosted more than 150 students from 30+ universities for each of the last ten years.

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Selected Funded Projects

2008

Beasties Lab: The digital design ecosystem. UK Technology Strategy Board Feasibility Grant – Creative Industries Scheme. Partnership between the Centre for Advanced Textiles – GSA and Timorous Beasties, Glasgow. £20,000.

Digital Art Capture. Technology Strategy Board Fast-Track Collaborative Research and Development Grants – Creative Industries Scheme. Consortium partners consist of the Centre for Advanced Textiles - GSA; International Drawing Research Institute – GSA; Engineering Department – University of Central London; Tate Museums; Henry Moore Foundation; Flowers Gallery Ltd.; Squigee – Natasha Marshall Ltd.; Stevenage Circuits Ltd.;  Autoeye Ltd. £50,000.

2007

Mackintosh Textiles Research/Exhibition Proposal. Exhibition space and support awarded for proposal to install a research-led exhibition into the Charles Rennie Mackintosh textile designs held in the Hunterian Archives at the University of Glasgow. Hunterian Art Gallery and Museums.£18,960 + exhibition space awarded.

2006

Digitisation and Re-interpretation of Charles Rennie Mackintosh textile designs. Monument Trust.J.R. Campbell, Alan Shaw, Vicky Begg; Centre for Advanced Textiles, Glasgow School of Art. £9260 awarded.

2000                     

Manipulating Ethnicity in the Development of Apparel Products. International Textile and Apparel Association Faculty Grant. J.R. Campbell, Mary Littrell, Nancy Miller, Iowa State University. $2000 awarded.

Selected Recent Exhibitions

2009

Textile Fusion: An Interactive Fashion Performance. Surface Design Association. Kansas City, Missouri. May 30, 2009. Juried by Dr. Jessica Hemmings, Associate Director, Centre for Visual Learning and Teaching, Edinburgh College of Art.

Awaken. New textiles inspired by the Archives & Collections at The Glasgow School of Art

24th January – 28th February 2009.  Mackintosh Gallery, The Glasgow School of Art. Drawn Out displayed.  New work shown by all members of the GSA Textiles faculty.

2008

"Re-evolving Patterns" International Textile and Apparel Association Design Exhibition. Schaumburg, Illinois. November 5 – 8. Walking in a digital space displayed.

Creative Design Award '08. The Mackintosh Church, Queen's Cross, Glasgow. Open competition to contemporary visual artists, fashion & textile designers, graphic artists, 2D & 3D makers. The brief called for each artist to combine Charles Rennie Mackintosh inspiration with unique interpretation of the traditional Japanese Kimono. April 4 – 20. CRM Fingerprint displayed.

*Wearable Expressions. International Wearable Art exhibition. Palos Verdes Art Center, California. Curated by Gabrielle.  February 22 – April 13, 2008. Two works accepted: Oops, Sorry by Campbell and Transformation: Circle Squared by Campbell and Parsons.

2007

Communicating the transitions: Relationships of image and form in digitally printed 2D to 3D textile art. New Craft Future Voices. Paper submitted to support juried exhibition proposal for exhibition to be installed during the New Craft Future Voices conference held at Duncan of Jordanstone College, University of Dundee, Scotland from 04 - 06 July 2007. ISBN: 1 899837 54 X. Published online at http://www.newcraftfuturevoices.com (available at http://www.lulu.com)

2006

*Digital Perceptions. International Invited/Small Group Exhibition. Collins Gallery, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland. January 7 – February 19, 2006. Exhibition Catalogue (with critical essays) and DVD interviews of the artists were produced. ISBN 0 94764904706

2005

Artwear Celebrated. National Juried Art Exhibition. Studio Channel Islands Art Center, Camarillo, CA. June 4 – July 30, 2005. Antonplant Kimono displayed.

Taking Flight. International Juried Wearable Art Exhibition, sponsored by the Surface Design Association. June 4, 2005. Transformation:Water/Fire and Transformation: Icarus (collaborative with Jean Parsons) displayed.

Fiber Directions 2005. National Juried Exhibition. Wichita Center for the Arts. May 6 – June 20, 2005. Spring, Summer and Transformation: Overload (collaborative with Jean Parsons)

Selected Curatorial Activity

2009

Campbell, J.R.,Begg, V. & Shaw, A., Mackintosh Re-interpreted: Original Sketches to Digitally Created Fabrics. From the Centre for Advanced Textiles, The Glasgow School of Art. Travelling exhibition; Charles Rennie Mackintosh Interpretation Centre, Chateau de Palalda. Amelie-les-Bains-Palalda, Pyrénées Orientales, France. 1st April, 2009 – 1st April, 2010.

2008

Mackintosh Re-interpreted: Original Sketches to Digitally Created Fabrics. From the Centre for Advanced Textiles, The Glasgow School of Art. Hunterian Art Gallery and Museum, University of Glasgow, Scotland. 5th September – 6th December, 2008.

2007

2007 International Textile and Apparel Association Juried Design Exhibition. Invited by ITAA Executive Board as Curator of the ITAA Design Exhibition and Chair of the ITAA Mounted Exhibit, Installation at the gallery on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles, California in conjunction with the annual ITAA conference. Exhibition dates: 30th October – 30th November, 2007. Exhibition catalogues produced; Ist edition ISBN: 978-1-885715-07-4. Second edition (available on http://www.lulu.com) ISBN: 978-1-8857-1505-0.

2003

Digital Wanderers: Scratching the Surface with Technology and Fabric. Online Exhibition of International Artists using digital fabric printing technology. Shown online at www.fiberscene.comMay 1 – July 15, 2003. (continues online in the fiberscene "archives" section of the website.

2000

Digital Connections in Imagery, Cloth and the Human Form. Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery, University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Lincoln, Nebraska. January, 2001. Show can be viewed online at: http://www.design.iastate.edu/IDRO/digicloth.html. Campbell created 20 new art pieces to display in this exhibition, 4 of which were collaborative works.

Selected Refereed Publications

2008

Campbell, J.R., Whittet, C., Britt, H.Inkjet4Tex: Creative implications of 3D inkjet printing technologies for textiles. Undisciplined! Proceedings of the Design Research Society Conference 2008. Published 2009 by Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK. ISBN: 978-1-84387-293-1

2007

Campbell, J.R.,Communicating the transitions: Relationships of image and form in digitally printed 2D to 3D textile art. New Craft Future Voices. Conference held at Duncan of Jordanstone College, University of Dundee, Scotland from 04 - 06 July 2007. ISBN: 1 899837 54 X. Website at http://www.newcraftfuturevoices.com (available at http://www.lulu.com)

Campbell, J.R.,Digital Craft Aesthetic: Craft-minded application of electronic tools. New Craft Future Voices. Duncan of Jordanstone College, University of Dundee, Scotland, from 04 - 06 July 2007. ISBN: 1 899837 55 8. Website at http://www.newcraftfuturevoices.com (available at http://www.lulu.com)

2005

Miller, N., Campbell, J.R., Littrell, M., Travnicek, D., (2005) Instrument Development And Evaluation For Measuring USA Apparel Product Design Attributes.  Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management. Vol. 9 No. 1, 2005, pp. 54 – 70.DOI: 10.1108/13612020510586406

Hynek, J.S., Campbell, J.R., Bryden, K. M., (2005) Application Of Digital Textile Printing Technology To Integrate Photovoltaic Thin Film Cells Into Wearables. Journal of Textile and Apparel Technology Management (JTATM). Volume 4, Issue 3, Spring 2005; Education in Action Section

Campbell, J.R.,Parsons, J.L., (2005) Taking Advantage of the Design Potential of Digital Printing Technology for Apparel. Journal of Textiles and Apparel, Technology and Management (JTATM). Volume 4, Issue 3, Spring 2005

2004

Parsons, J. & Campbell, J.R. (2004) Digital Apparel Design Process: Placing a New Technology Into a Framework for the Creative Design Process. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, Special Issue on Design. Volume 22,(1/2), 88 – 98. DOI: 10.1177/0887302X0402200111

2002

Campbell, J.R.,Parsons, J.L., & Stieglitz, M. Collaborative Integration of a New Technology Into the Textile and Apparel Design Process. Design Research Society: "Common Ground." Edited by David Durling and John Shackleton; Chris Rust and Alec Robertson (Exhibition Committee Chairs). ISBN # 1-904133-11-8. Published as an online interactive component to the printed text at: http://nelly.dmu.ac.uk/4dd//CG-2002.html/Exhibits-frameset2.html

2001

Campbell, J.R. & Parsons, J. Intersecting Two Design Problems to Create Multiple Points of Exploration. Exploring the Visual Future: Art Design, Science and Technology. Selected Readings of the International Visual Literacy Association. January, 2001. ISBN: 0-945829-11-13. Pg. 51 – 56.

Chapters in Books

2007-08

Campbell, J.R. Digital printing of textiles for improved apparel production. Advances in Apparel Production. Edited by Catherine Fairhurst, Manchester Metropolitan University. Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge, England. ISBN: 978-1-84569-295-7. Ch. 11, pg. 222-248 

Campbell, J.R. (2006) Controlling Digital Colour Printing on Textiles. Chapter written for Total Colour Management. Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge, England. ISBN 1 85573 923 2. Chapter 9, pg. 160 – 190. (CRC Press ISBN: 0849392071)