Date of Award
5-2007
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Legacy Department
Visual Arts
Committee Chair/Advisor
Vatalaro, Mike
Abstract
Three interrelated themes--beauty, control, and loss of nature--emerge as integral to my artistic examination of humanity's relationship to the web of life. My sculptures explore ideas of control, memory, and loss by contrasting organic ceramic forms that characterize nature with manmade materials such as ropes, chains, nets, or monofilament that represent the control humans exert over nature. All my sculptural forms are bound, wrapped, entangled, or in some way struggling against a physical force of great size and scale that symbolizes humans' domination over nature. My work seeks to reveal the emotion of loss by enlightening the viewer to the nonexistent, the absent, the silhouette, or the impression of what was once there. Ultimately my art provides a faint memory or spirit of the beautiful places, creatures, and experiences forever lost as well as a warning sign for the future if we do not feel, understand, and act.
Recommended Citation
Powell, Eileen, "Extinction of Experience" (2007). All Theses. 106.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/106