Dr Lisa Busby
Lisa Busby studied Popular Music (BA Hons - Barnsley College/University of Sheffield, 2000-3) followed by Masters study in Electro-acoustic Composition (University of Huddersfield, 2004-5) for which she was awarded the institution's Postgraduate Music Technology Prize. At doctoral level (Oxford Brookes University, 2005-10) she examined interdisciplinarity within the arts as it relates to popular music, specifically exploring methodologies and contexts for the integration of popular music and other arts practices.
In her capacity as a practicing musician, artist and researcher Lisa's works span the audio, visual and tactile/interactive; and in the past have incorporated a variety of media including music & sound, textiles & needlework, photographic collage & digital image manipulation, text & story, illustration, video, and use of found objects. Her work deliberately challenges notions of discipline specific categorisation and dissemination, placing itself across the boundaries of fine art, performance and pop music/culture. Her work has been released by record labels but has also been commissioned by various arts venues. As such she has presented work in locations as diverse as nightclubs and music festivals to galleries and shop windows. Her work may be presented under her own name, as part of the project Sleeps in Oysters, or under artist pseudonym Mary and Polly.
Presentations and exhibitions
Sleeps in Oysters perform Lo!
- Double Dot Bash Festival, Reading, July 2011
- O3 Gallery, Oxford, April 2011
- Modern Art Oxford, November 2010
- Optica Festival, Gijon - Spain, October 2010
In show 'Anniversary', O3 Gallery, Oxford, July - August 2011
In show 'Editions of You', O3 Gallery, Oxford, March - April 2011
Moths Wings
Installation and performance, in show 'Horticulture', O3 Gallery, Oxford, June - July 2011
Installation and performance, in show 'Obsession', Modern Art Oxford, March 2008
The Brambles in Starlight
Solo installation and performance, Prick Your Finger Gallery, London, November 2010
Solo installation and live interactive sound work, The Vaults, Oxford, December 2007
Sleeps in Oysters - DJ sets
- In show 'David Dixon: Entangled Practice', Art Jericho Gallery, Oxford, September 2010
Familial
Release of Sleeps in Oysters commissioned artwork for the new album by Philip Selway (Radiohead) with Bella Union (UK) and Nonesuch (US), August 2010
What if you were already as important as the person you are trying to be, or The incredible adventures of M. Courage
Installation and performance, in show 'Oxford Cultural Olympiad', July 2010
Installation and performance, in show 'Plus 1', Dray Walk Gallery, London, July 2009
Mary and Polly - DJ sets
Sonic Art Oxford Festival, February 2010
Sleeps in Oysters perform We kept the memories...
- Incubate Festival, Tilburg - The Netherlands, September 2009
- Poortgebouw, Rotterdam - The Netherlands, September 2009
- South by South Street Festival, Reading, July 2009
- Support for Max Tundra, South Hill Park Recital Hall, Bracknell, February 2009
- Sonic Art Oxford Festival, Oxford, February 2009
- Support for Efterklang, South Hill Park Recital Hall, Bracknell, July 2008
- Support for Cibelle, Carling Academy, Oxford, April 2008
- Luminox Festival, Oxford, March 2007
Lustrous Chemistry vs.Sleeps in Oysters - The Room of Strange Folk
Installation and performance, Big Day Out Festival, Bracknell, July 2008
Song for Nettie
Installation, intervention and performance, in show ‘Paisley: Exploding the Teardrop’, Pitz-Hanger Gallery, London, November 2007 - January 2008
Sleeps in Oysters - I’m Queen Elizabeth I, How do you do? Compositions from self released recorded edition presented as part of ‘Toyes, Dreames & Fancies: Elizabethan music realised anew’, St Paul’s Hall, Huddersfield, November 2005
Grants & awards
'Arts for all' Grant, 2011
Awarded by Arts Council England to support the research project Editions of You, as part of the collaborative funding bid by Audioculture Oxford.
AHRC Doctoral Award, 2005
Awarded to support postgraduate study at PhD level
PRS Foundation, 2004
Awarded to support postgraduate study at MA level
Recorded works
Sleeps in Oysters: Lo!Seed Records, April 2011
Sleeps in Oysters: ‘The Brambles in Starlight’ Special Edition Single
Seed Records, December 2010
Made of Oak/Sleeps in Oysters: Wolf002 Tape Split
Wolf Interval, November 2010
Mary and Polly:‘Ice Cream’ on Seed X - The 10th Birthday Compilation
Seed Records, Spring 2010
Sleeps in Oysters: We kept the memories locked away in matchboxes like the beetles of our childhood, or How to appreciate someone who’s always around
Seed Records, November 2008
Sleeps in Oysters: ‘New pressed pennies’ on Seed Volume 2
Seed Records, June 2008
Sleeps in Oysters: ‘Sea Flowers Blossom’ on Summer gate. Sun made of gave.
Luvsound Recordings, September 2006
Papers presented
‘Two people in a clock by the digital sea: Reconciling research methodology with creative practice’, Conference proceedings of In Theory? Encounters with Theory in Practice-based PhD Research in Art and Design, April 2008.
Professional development
Lisa is an Associate Member of The Higher Education Academy
She also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Oxford Brookes University, 2011 and Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Oxford Brookes University, 2007.
Research interests
Lisa leads the ongoing Popular Music Research Unit projects 'Editions of You', which explores the phenomenon of self-publishing and self-releasing musicians/artists and the handmade editions/releases they create, and 'Shit! I can DJ' which seeks to investigate and promote experimental DJ practices.
Her other research interests include:
- The place of popular music in arts interdisciplinary and its interaction with other media and disciplines
- Exploring and expanding the precedents of popular song form
- New methodologies and frameworks for collaborative practice
- Issues in contemporary electronic music