The Everywhere Chronicles is a body of work that has been perambulating through my mind since the halcyon days of childhood. It is not intended as any sort of catharsis, metaphorical or otherwise, nor is it any forum of self discovery, accidental or intentional. These Chronicles are quite simply a journey into imagination, an exercise in "what ifs?". They confront the theory that Columbus was actually on a munchies run to an Indian Takeaway in Ipswich and simply took a wrong turn at the Antilles, and that the Lost City of Atlantis is alive and well somewhere outside of Duluth and counts among its major exports-lumber, ale, and peanut based prophylactics. In the end, I did not want to write this thesis, but I had to. It seems to be some sort of requirement. And it has left me wondering if Michelangelo would have been a much better artist if he too had had to find out what an "Abstract" was and how to write it. Enjoy my nervous breakdown.

My work is inspired by my immediate environment. I am especially interested in places which exhibit visual evidence of history, of industrial, natural and human life and the corresponding cycles of building, abandonment, destruction and salvage. In Baton Rouge, these relationships are dramatic, the lush vegetation, birds and overwhelming presence of industry make this interplay constantly tangible. My current work began with the phenomenal concerns within the struggle of nature and industry. Newly built industry is highly ordered, the perfect symbol of not only technology, but also control. However, older industry is more chaotic, with the initial order obscured over time. Nature rusts components, plants grow wildly around the wires and repairs and odd added parts disrupt perfect patterns of the original designs. Older factories are no longer symbols of technology and control, but technology and nature and their interaction over time. My work, modular ceramic building blocks or bricks, is a response to this environment. Their design integrates many aspects of both nature and industry, geometry, repetition and fitting parts. The bricks vary reflecting the various stages of erosion or entropy. While working and investigating, I have become interested not only in natural phenomenon but also in landscape and the built environment. In these spaces, it is impossible not to think about why something was built, abandoned or destroyed. The larger social issues, including class and environmental issues, have come to the surface. With this new focus, a series of exploratory, temporary, collaborative, site projects were executed at various sites in Baton Rouge. In these projects, the work exists in the same spaces in which it was inspired.

The narrative oil paintings in this show illustrate one or two female characters set in domestic interior spaces. The scenes bring with them allusions to suggest that something unusual has just happened or is about to happen by heightening the psychological emotional moments. The subject matter is intimate and painted on small supports to reinforce these feelings. The images go beyond the observed visual aesthetic or representation by shifting the picture plane and using dramatic color palettes and lighting to create deeper interior spaces, adding to the tension.

It is difficult to imagine that others do not perceive and react to the cultural stimuli as I do when dealing with everyday sensory situations. Unlike most, I have struggled with many different responses to commonplace sensory events during my life. A recent diagnosis of certain symptoms has helped to explain not only my lifelong reactions to sensory stimuli, but also the resulting environments I have created for myself in which I live and work. The four terms I use that most fully describe the affects of this condition are; too fast, too tight, too loud and too bright. Although the first, too fast, is not necessarily considered a sense, it results in an internal reaction to an external visual event. The others are directly related to the sense of touch, the sense of hearing and the sense of sight. I will describe my efforts to construct environments in my Thesis Show where each of these areas of my difficulty are presented to the viewer so that he or she may feel, to a greater or lesser extent, how I perceive my environment.

This body of artwork is centered on the idea of a garden as a space in between the two systems of human and natural order. The ambiguities of this in-between space tie together ideas pertinent to both worlds, using the ancient doctrine of signatures as an intermediary. These ideas are explored in fourteen artworks, including large-scale and smaller drawings, lithographs, and etchings.

Although I have always been interested in the origins of my thought processes and the methods and compulsions that motivate my work, in past work I have avoided self portraiture, or blatant explorations into my own sense of self. With my thesis project I wanted to conduct an express exploration into the psychology of my motivations. My initial goal was to create an environment, a sense of place, where both the viewer and myself are drawn into the work, and confronted with a unique experience of personal expression. The focal point is a bath enclosed within a grotto, which symbolizes a wide range of personal issues: spirituality, sexuality, sensuality, privacy, cleansing, honesty, shame, health, taboo, perversity . . . all things that embody my sense of self and self-esteem. The bath is the center of a triptych, and each piece is embellished with imagery that reflects a system of personal mythologies. These tableaus will further expand the nature of the Chemistry of My Affections and their importance to my artistic exploration.

THIS IS WHAT I MEANT WHEN I TOLD YOU is a quest to visually decipher the complexities of "self." The goal is to form a relationship of honesty between my mind and my hand, the art and the viewer. The work investigates reoccurring ideas, threaded through each day, in order to create narratives based on the immediacy of emotion, and the struggle between self-realization and uncertainty. Or as one commented during my show, "A celebration of the dark side of life."

A Books of Hours refers to a personal prayer book that was used by the laity, rather than the clergy. The laity's version of these texts is often accompanied by enchanting illuminations. Although the text and subject matter of the images within each codex remain similar, no two Books of Hours are alike. In the Middle Ages the popularity of Books of Hours was such that today they form the largest extant category of illuminated manuscripts. This thesis concentrates on one particular manuscript: a yet uncatalogued Book of Hours that is currently within the collection of Louisiana State University's Hill Memorial Library. Although a large amount of scholarship exists in which Books of Hours are discussed in general, most of this work tends to focus on the more ornately illuminated manuscripts, and/or manuscripts which have since been attributed to named artists. However, many extant codices, including the Book of Hours owned by Louisiana State University, do not fall into these two categories. Examples of tests and methods that can be used to extrapolate information pertaining to Books of Hours can be found in various books and articles in the body of scholarly literature, though not all together in one source. Since no in-depth discussion of the Louisiana State University's Book of Hours exists, the thesis is the first detailed investigation devoted to it. The context within which Books of Hours were made is discussed, followed by a description of each section of this particular codex. Investigations of the provenance combined with various tests and stylistic analysis led this writer to conclude that the manuscript is probably of Parisian origin dating from circa 1450 to 1475 and was made on speculation rather than commissioned. As such, the LSU Hours is a wonderful example of a typical French fifteenth-century manuscript. It is hoped that the methodology presented here would be helpful to others investigation late medieval Books of Hours.

My work is largely autobiographical and the way I express myself is the product of memories and life experiences. I grew up as one of a family of ten children and learned early the values of sharing and helping others. We were also taught not to waste anything. We learned to recycle as part of our daily life. As you will see in my work almost all of the materials I use are found objects or recycled materials. In growing up as part of a large, rural, southern family, there was also a tradition of womens work. Nearly all of my female relatives did some kind of handiwork, such as tatting, knitting, sewing, or quilting, oftentimes as part of a larger family gathering. I often feel that when I am working there is a direct cultural connection to the women I admire. Over the last five years I have been spending a week at a time on Louisianas barrier islands and I have come to realize how similar our lives are to the lives of the barrier islands. While both lives endure hardships and great loss, they are also filled with moments of extraordinary beauty and creation. Collecting found objects is both a physical and spiritual release for me. The objects I select are special finds that I associate with both loved ones and memories, and the process of collecting evokes primeval memories of man as a hunter and gatherer. The materials I work with have similar qualities that I associate with women. My use of these materials, in conjunction with found objects, symbolizes a release from the past, the transformation of the present, and prayers and good wishes for the future. I use reliquaries to symbolize the fusing of memories, past experiences, and the process of the transference of life. My enjoyment of process and simple, repetitive movements are a source of peace and tranquility in my daily life. My hope is that the viewer will take away a sense of spiritual connection, peace and healing.

The Still Beat is an exhibition that combines still-life painting with original pop music in a gallery setting. This written thesis examines the process of developing these two distinct bodies of work into a unified exhibition.