Date of Award
12-2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Legacy Department
Ceramics
Committee Member
Valerie Zimany, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Beth Lauritis
Committee Member
David Detrich
Abstract
My work explores the empathic connections between humans and the physical landscape and investigates the phenomenon of psychological distress associated withclimate change. I use memories of my itinerant shifts between landscapes to createabstracted ceramic sculptures; for these I reference mountain and glacial forms, anextension of my own experience growing up in Alaska. Ceramics is a medium whichreadily records the hand of the maker while making forms permanent through the firingprocess. I use this aspect of the material to freeze moments in time where the clay splitsand cracks, implying a slow collapse. This reflection of time’s effect on materials elicitscorrelations between the temporality of flesh and ice and stone. Combining materialssuch as lumber, plastic, and polystyrene with the ceramic creates an environment thatreferences the sublime in nature and its corruption due to the waste of industry. Usingthese material contrasts and metaphors, my sculpture work aims to engage viewersemotionally while allowing for a broader discourse regarding the changing climate.
Recommended Citation
Abrams, Deighton, "Solastalgia" (2016). All Theses. 2586.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/2586