Torrence, Virginia Rose2016-07-152016-07-152016http://hdl.handle.net/10829/7264Thesis 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.There are certain symbols, types of touch, and a personal aesthetic that emerge from this process of searching. Some reoccurring symbols within my work are hair, fabric, holes, eyes, impressions, fruit, jewelry, and flesh. All of these objects reference the body, but they are devoid of the presence which once employed them, so now point to an absence. I portray the presence of absence. The objects I use act as a metaphor for an intense desire for something lost. The way in which the imagery is rendered, from intangible abstraction, to carefully sculpted elements, to a piece that is a cast of an object itself, mirrors the way in which a memory recedes into darkness and ambiguity or how it may come into a tight and stunning focus. The process of remembering and forgetting is always in flux. Even when a presence does come close, it will skirt around the perimeter of clarity within the mind’s eye. I objectify the obscurity of fleeting memory images, creating a monument to unattainable desire for the past.26 pagesen-USThe author has granted Alfred University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other rights.MFA thesisSculptureCastsBody in artNegative spaceCeramic ArtThesis