A thesis project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Fine Arts in Art.

This thesis includes the work of Robert Allen Anderson for a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture.

The group of works that I am presenting as my Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition is a selection of my best work from the past three years. It is made up of two different artistic forms: fairly small sculptures comprised of aluminum channel and plexiglas, on the one hand, and lithographs and watercolors, on the other.

This text is a written articulation of my MFA thesis show entitled Corporeal Thresholds. It aims to share the poignant moments that inspired the work and contextualizes my practice within the framework of metaphysics and the phenomenology of perception. Specific topics include the body and the visceral, doubt and certainty, love and loss, and the defining spaces that influence our lives.

This M.F.A. thesis paper and exhibition explore the ephemerality of relationships as they are redefined by contiguity and recontextualization. My work derives from an investigation of alternative interpretive structures while retaining an overarching sense of narrative. This approach to painting relies on the human propensity to create organization in order to contend with chaos or overwhelming amounts of information. Traced back to curiosity cabinets or wunderkammers and forward through museums and encyclopedias, the organization of knowledge in both its diachronic and synchronic forms serves to collapse time and space. Geography and chronology become obsolete as relationships between images and objects gain new contexts. This recontextualization is not momentary but continual, as objects and images move through time and are replicated, appropriated and assimilated. Particularly in this digital age, that distance from the original is expanded in such a way as to make relationships truly ephemeral. A painting that derives from a print-out of a JPEG, which was beamed across the globe after being digitized from a photograph of an object already taken out of time and geography by those who placed it in a museum is extraordinarily distant from its original context. The ensuing abstraction changes the image irrevocable; it is a new thing entirely and only an echo of the former context remains. These paintings are filled with echoes but the true narrative is that of the ephemeral relationships that are fixed on the page for a just a moment and then disappear into the continuously shifting stream of context.

I Don't Share Spirit Animals is presented in conjunction with a visual art exhibition that is made up of mixed material sculpture and painting. Primary ideas explored within the body of work are the uncanny, personal mythology and material transformation.

My watercolor paintings on paper is a surrogate portrait of a migrant, both estranged by and familiar with the hybrid cultural predicament symbolized by IKEA and my own distant “ethnic” culture. My intention is to explore my individual identity as a female Korean artist in relation to the complex (visual) histories of different worlds.

Including the Arts in the Generalist Classroom is an integrated arts curriculum within a 6th grade classroom in Eagle Mountain Utah. This project describes the process of putting an art curriculum into an elementary 6th grade where there is no art specialist and no means of getting one. This project focuses on four lessons that have been written using the 6th grade Science and Social Studies Utah Core. Each lesson is written to ensure that a teacher and/or a parent volunteer can give instruction without any prior knowledge of content and/or technique in art.The Appendices describe the curriculum and more fully include essential information for proper lesson instruction. They include background information, websites, vocabulary, studio techniques, etc. are all there for the convenience of the teacher. The ultimate goal in creating these lessons is to help create an art curriculum for a school without an art specialist and have the instruction be not only art based, but also integrated withother core subjects in ways that enrich student learning through art instruction.

Why "igolf"? I love golfing, especially enjoying the gigantic space of the golf course. More importantly, this is the place where I dream and get inspiration for my art. I imagine filling my own global golf course with monumental golf sculptures in the future. This motivation and enthusiasm has modified my direction in creating sculpture. I named my final MFA exhibition "igolf". The idea of the name comes from modern terms we find in popular devices, such as the iPhone, iPod, and the iMac that reflect our technological world. In addition, the sound for "i" shares the same sound of the Chinese Mandarin word for "love." The content of my art represents a dialogue of love similar to the dialogue between men and women who are in love. I have discovered that human beings share many common conversations in daily life, which contain either positive or negative meaning. These conversations might contain hope, excitement, humor, despair, sadness and so on. I decided to use dialogues such as "Can we Start over Again?", "Love is Blind" or "You are my Last Hope!" as the titles of my sculptures. These dialogues help build a mutual understanding between my works and my audiences. When the audiences look at my works and the titles, hopefully they will be reminded of their memorable experiences, whether it be good or bad, with their loved ones. Choosing golf as my subject matter in creating sculptures was inspired by Murakami Takashi, the famous Japanese artist, and Zaha Hadid, an outstanding architect. They are well acknowledged by their incredible works, which symbolize the luxurious life. Therefore, the famous brand Louis Vuitton invited both artists to design for their brand. Events such as these made me realized the potential trend for commercial art. In addition, my 15 year experience as a graphic designer has also helped generate many ideas that relate to golf and its associated products. The practical principles of graphic design have been applied in my "igolf" exhibition. I will proceed to explain the creative process behind each of the works in the exhibition.

Research has shown that the use of technology in curriculum, and art classrooms in particular, can benefit students. This thesis outlines these benefits which include the potential for technology to make learning more personal, assist students in their future careers, and allow opportunity for collaboration. Still, several obstacles impede the full-fledged realization of that potential, often leading teachers to avoid or ignore technology in their pedagogical strategies. This thesis addresses these obstacles and provides practical and theoretical solutions. Once these obstacles are overcome, teachers will be better able to incorporate new technology in their lessons, such as social media, podcasts, open-source websites, and online programs. As an example of art teaching that uses technology, this thesis also provides a sample lesson plan for secondary students, incorporating elements of interactive Web technologies that have been recommended by art education scholars.