Defense Date
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts
Department
Interior Design
First Advisor
Kristin Carleton
Abstract
Relevance to Interior Design Research
In Richard Sennett’s The Craftsman, he starts from the premise that thinking and feeling are contained in the process of making. This thesis builds on that premise, arguing that through the embodied process of glassworking, making constitutes a form of interior knowledge—where perception, memory, and bodily awareness are formed through material resistance and responsiveness. Drawing on Sennett and Juhani Pallasmaa, this work positions glassmaking as a mode of thinking-through-doing, in which interiority is produced through sustained material engagement.
Research Question
What does interiority embodied through the making process look like? This question will be investigated through the process of glassworking.
Method of Investigation
Investigation includes empirical making with glass as the medium; photographic and diagrammatic analyses of the human body in the glassworking studio,and theoretical exploration on the topic of craft. Precedents in which the human body is central to art, design, or performance will be examined, including Rebecca Horn’s bodily extension experiments (late 1960s - early 1970s) and Janine Antoni’s performance, Loving Care (1992).
Findings/Outcomes
The outcome of this research was a theoretical exhibition design whose form was inspired by the empirical research on glassworking as a form of interiority. The exhibit showcased contemporary glass art concerned with themes related to perception.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-8-2026