Date of Award
5-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Art
Committee Chair/Advisor
Todd McDonald
Committee Member
Anderson Wrangle
Committee Member
Alex Schechter
Abstract
My thesis Interweaving: Play, Craft, and Femininity pulls from the visual language of Craft materials and practices to generate large-scale, often colorful works that reflect on my current understanding of being a woman in America. Raised in the conservative South, this body of work arose out of an attempt to understand the American political climate with respect to women’s bodies and where my artistic voice is present in that conversation. My research for my thesis exhibition began with an investigation into the matriarchal history of craft-based fiber practices in my family. Soon thereafter, I actively wove traditional Craft processes in wood, clay, and fiber into my painting practice, considering my conceptual education in painting and sculpture and trying to reconcile it with my lineage of Craft practices. This exhibition interweaves the themes of weaving as a metaphor for women’s history, the seriousness of play, monumentalizing the domestic, and weight of social tradition. As I pursued this body of work, the pieces in this exhibition began to evoke the tension I felt throughout its production between my desire to preserve and honor the traditions of making by the women in my family and the social and cultural histories interlaced with those materials that have been oppressive for women. This exhibition presents works addressing my value of material heritage and simultaneously considering the problems interwoven with that history.
Recommended Citation
Loflin, Glory, "Interweaving: Play, Craft, and Femininity" (2023). All Theses. 4048.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/4048