There Are Still
Date
2017-05
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Abstract
I make these things because they are a release to make. Most people are scared of them. They describe them as haunting. They are aware of them as clay, they relate to the objects as figurative sculptures. For me, these are monuments of my understandings of being here now. Yet I question myself: maybe they are more about my past. They are all naked. I used to be afraid of showing my skin. I went to a Baptist elementary school and even to show a bit of one’s back would get you sent to the principal’s office. When I would get called down, I was teased and reprimanded. It was publically embarrassing. I wanted to hide my skin. I think about classical sculpture, and how from the first moment I saw them, they changed the way I made and thought. They embody victory and memory as monuments. People put them in their homes or in public spaces, like in plazas. My figures are staring back at me. They make me aware of how I am in the world, and maybe they help me understand why I distance myself from people in my life. Through making these forms, I am learning to see myself, and where I am in the world – not at the center , but part of a grouping. They show how I live in the world in 2017.
Description
Thesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree in the School of Art and Design at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY.
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Thesis
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Keywords
MFA thesis, Sculpture, Silk organza, Installations (art), Figurative, Ceramic Art