In The End We All Will Be Trees
Date
2017-05
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Abstract
The western landscape has sparked the imagination of writers, musicians, and artists since the first Europeans left their footprints in the bush. Explorers, cowboys, and prospectors have left their mark on the land and in the imaginations of those of that have followed them. The vastness, danger, and resources are even today something to be tamed, tested, and used. Young men cut their teeth on the wilderness, and grizzled, leathery, graybeards continue to prove their worth through domination over peaks and beasts alike. These adventurers lust after the sublime: that fear and awesomeness that makes you quake in your boots, and knocks the breath out of your lungs with force of an avalanche.
What if we were seduced into something more intimate than such needs for dominance over the land? By way of example, in ways that might parallel the lived experiences of indigenous peoples. John Muir recognized rocks, sequoias, and streams as kin; and Henry David Thoreau lost himself in the woods in order to find himself. Instead of lusting for an enormous sublime what if we fell into the minutia by sinking into the dirt, sending roots into the darkness, and absorbing the past buried beneath it while watching the patterns of light change on the ferns or moss.
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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MFA thesis, Electronic Integrated Arts, Public art, Installations (art), Video, Time based, Sound, Sculpture, Interactive, Live stream