Biography
Michael Brennand-Wood (b. Bury, Lancashire, UK 1952) is an textile artist and art consultant who attended Bolton College of Art (1969–72), Manchester Polytechnic (1972-5) and Birmingham Polytechnic (1975-6). In 1977 he established a studio in Bedfordshire, where he settled at Sandy. He has lectured at Goldsmiths' College, London and has taught at included University of Ulster, Royal College of Art, Glasgow School of Art, Middlesex Polytecnic and Trent Polytechnic. He has also held residencies at universities in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Belgium. He has been on many committees, notably for the Crafts Council and Eastern Arts Board. He was appointed Professor of Art - Politics in Ornament at Wolverhampton University in 2013.
Among awards received were medallist, Munich Exempla Exhibition, 1980; British Council Award and Travel Grant and a Major Award, Visual Arts/Crafts Board of the Australia Council, all 1988; and Distinguished Visiting Fellow, British Council, Kyoto City University, Japan, 1990–1. He was curator for the Japanese Fibre Exhibition Restless Shadows, which toured the United Kingdom, 1991–2. Commissions have included Law Courts, Ilkeston Council, 1975–6; Cheshire County Council, 1980–2; LRC International, 1987; and in 1989 Automobile Association, Basingstoke, and Robin Gibson/St Stephen’s Cathedral, Brisbane, Australia. Brennand-Wood has taken part in numerous group shows and solo exhibitions including at Galerie RA, Amsterdam, Netherlands (1990 and 2019), and Gallery/Gallery, Kyoto, Japan (1990), Canberra Institute of Arts, Australia (1991), and The Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire; Wolverhampton Art Gallery, UK (both 2017), La Fonderie Kugler, Geneva; Galerie RA and Galerie Handwerk, Munich (2018) and Two Temple Place, London (2020). He had a retrospective exhibition at the Piece Hall, Halifax, Yorkshire in 1999 and exhibitions at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Crafts Council and National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Many local authorities, hospitals, public museums and corporate collections hold examples of his work including, You Are Here (1997), at Nottingham Castle Museum and Return to Origin (2022) at the Williamson Art Gallery, Birkenhhead, both donated by the Contemporary Art Society.
