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.

Included in

Fine Arts Commons

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