Tamara Laird

Ms. Laird has a wide range of experience, teaching and studying internationally.
In 1985 she moved with her young family to Nairobi Kenya, where she worked at the National Museums of Kenya on a United Nations Preservation project for the Island Community of Lamu, and as Professor of Art [Ceramics] at Kenyatta University. In 1994, Ms. Laird relocated to Bangkok, Thailand, where she carried out extensive research, visiting individual artists, traditional village production practices, and full-scale industrial ceramic factories. Sponsored by the Thai Government, Ms. Laird joined an educational tour of Industrial Production Facilities. Ms. Laird has also traveled through Mexico, documenting production methods that integrate traditional and contemporary industrial production. Her frequent travel throughout Italy, researching Italian Majolica from Deruta in the north to Vietri in the south, continues a life long habit of documentation, focusing on connections between local culture, artistic development and traditional practice. These experiences have been integrated into her teaching practice, bringing universal craft education practice to the classroom.

Current travel includes teaching a Majolica workshop at ‘The Amalfie Coast Music and Arts Festival’ based in Veitri su Mare, Italy, during the summer recess.