Date of Award

12-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Art

Committee Member

Todd Anderson, Committee Chair

Committee Member

Beth Lauritis

Committee Member

Anderson Wrangle

Abstract

Elegy For a Forest is a body of work that contemplates the potential loss of an ecosystem through an embodied, subjective exploration of a fir forest impacted by human activity. This work examines the dead and dying Fraser fir trees of Mount Mitchell State Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park using a variety of printmaking strategies to reference the environment’s fragile existence and the ephemeral nature of the experience. Processes include woodcuts with monotype, photopolymer gravures, and photopolymer gravure artist books. These techniques are rendered with a reference to romantic sublime landscapes of the 19th Century. These prints thus aim to recall the history of the pictorial language of nature and to highlight both the majesty of nature and the tragedy of our carelessness with it. Overall, these prints are an effort to understand and convey the complex environmental issues surrounding the decline of the Fraser fir and to elicit concern in the viewing public for these issues.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.