Gretchen Coombs

APrf Gretchen Coombs

Associate Professor of Contemporary Art

School of Art and Design

College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


My research and writing practice uses both traditional and creative approaches. Alongside contributing to academic journals, my continue to build an art writing portfolio. I am the co-editor of Undesign: Critical Practices at the Intersection of Art and Design (2018); Care Ethics and Art (2022); New Materialist Affirmations: Creative research interventions in methods and practice (in press); and my monograph, The Lure of the Social: Encounters with contemporary artists, was published in 2021. 
I work to demonstrate art's value in culture. I was the co-founder of the Cultural Value and Impact Network at RMIT and I currently work as the co-editor for Art & the Public Sphere, a leading journal on art and politics. My external engagement and funding including projects on art evaluation and health futures.
My writing on socially engaged art practices has received national and international recognition. With extensive experience in teaching and researching in art, design and media, I will bring leadership and a wealth of knowledge to UniSA Creative's teaching and research environment.
I recently moved from Melbourne (by way of Brisbane and San Francisco) where I taught into the Design Futures MA at RMIT University, and was a Senior Research Fellow in the Design Health Collab at Monash University. At RMIT I taught taught practice-based research methods across design and media, and at Monash, I worked as a design ethnographer for projects related to health futures.

Courses I teach

  • VSAR 3016 Art and Critical Thinking (2025)
  • VSAR 1106 Contemporary Art Research (2024)
  • VSAR 3016 Art and Critical Thinking (2024)

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Lauren Downton
2025 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Megan Jane Roodenrys
2025 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Marlize De Klerk
2024 Principal Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Kat Bell
2024 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Steph Daughtry

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