DOI

https://doi.org/10.25772/AHGZ-NR08

Defense Date

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Interdisciplinary Studies

Department

Interdisciplinary Studies

First Advisor

Sara Clark

Abstract

My work deals with loss and the emotions entangled with grief. To do this, I incorporate text, found organic imagery, bound fibers, and hand-spun threads into my work. I relate these objects and materials to the stages of a woman’s life, which is a symbolic reference to the nymph, mother, and crone and the transformation from life to death. The background surface of information in my two-dimensional work serves as a cryptic guide to the actual meaning of things. All the excerpted information comes from medical or general knowledge dictionaries. This ground of text is methodically planned but also spontaneously created by tearing through one layer to expose what lies beneath. The rough surface of the torn paper conceals and dilutes the imagery I place upon it. I see my surfaces as an artifice, constantly masking information and obscuring meaning. By hiding my imagery behind the words or hiding the text within my work I do not have to confront their emotional implications or full meanings. They are seen as visual imagery based on their aesthetic appearance as well as to be read literally. I approach my three-dimensional work with same destructive manner. By letting the material and construction of piece guide my process I am forced to think only of the brevity of its existence in various stages of life. The forms are transformed and shaped by the elements of water, fire, and air leaving only a memory, whisper, or shadow of the organic shape they represent to me.

Rights

© The Author

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

April 2011

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