This writing is an experiment in combining the two most important frameworks through which I understand the world, the storytelling traditions of my people, the Mvskoke(Creek), and the rational tradition that began with European Enlightenment era thinking. By weaving allegorical narrative (much of it personal) into theoretical speculation, I draw connections between recollection, truth, and the act of making. This examination of the gaps and connections between seemingly disparate worldviews, runs in parallel to the purpose of my work, wherein I construct fictive symbiotic and parasitic relationships between jewelry and wearer. This work takes advantage of the wearer as environment, resource, and propagator. By abstracting from real-world biological structures, this work conflates genetic and memetic dissemination. I am creating systems and models of systems using individual jewelry pieces for specific wearers that reflect the structure of arrangements that are repeated throughout nature. Ultimately I am raising questions about the hard lines that we draw between things in nature—including ourselves—and our place in biological, cultural, and personal systems.

My thesis, Condensation, is centered on seeing and the limits of our perceptions. I’m interested in the psychological and emotional effects of visual phenomena and am exploring this area through glass’s ability to reflect and obscure. I’m also experimenting with photography because it’s simply documentation of reflection. The solidity of reflection whether on glass, photography, or water is something that I’m questioning. The viewer assumes its physicality, but what we accept as conclusive is at times a construct. The palpability of reflection then disintegrates into the residue of sight. I’ve been contemplating our eyes perceptual limits and what our mind sees in relation to what’s shown. The act of seeing works as a catalyst to initiate doubt in our perceptions and reminds us of our eyes ability to reveal and conceal information. Visual shifting has led me to question the idea of boundaries in both physical and mental spheres.

THIN TIME by Jonathan Benjamin, MFA in Sculpture + Extended Media A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture + Extended Media at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2012. Major Director: Corin Hewitt, Assistant Professor, Department of Sculpture + Extended Media This thesis is an honest attempt to put language to a non-lingual practice. It describes my studio process, my thoughts on materials and surface, and outlines some of the images and things out in the world that inform my work.

Through an analysis of my adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida”, I will deconstruct the artist’s studio within an institution as a paradoxical heterotopic space.

A collection of life experiences, and inter-monologues that attempt to shed light on my artistic process.

This thesis follows the trajectory of my artistic practice over the past two years which has led me to the creation of the installation REVERB. While incorporating performance, installation, and video into my modes of creation, I’ve likewise expanded my conceptual research regarding the influential capabilities of touch, gesture, and environment. By focusing on the relationship of REVERB to a broader discussion regarding these themes, I hope to situate the work among its art, cultural, and scientific referents.

A sequence of short stories both fact and fiction leading to, resulting from, or having nothing to do with the three sculptures that comprise The Crescent Club, an installation for the Anderson Gallery.

The following monologue examines the personal, cultural and ethical viability of abstraction in a contemporary painting practice, conducted on the eve of my thesis exhibition.

The goal of this paper is to examine some ways in which BEHAVIOR, POTENTIAL ENERGY, and EMPATHY are critical components in my thinking and work. The impetus for my work is an investigation of how these three components can be manifested in visually expressive and powerful states. My masters thesis, The Three Odalisques, is an attempt at making a space and world which privileges these components and the potential for art to express these ideas. This paper is divided into two parts. The first section is a formal analysis of the pieces in my work from my MFA thesis show. The second section is a compilation of disparate content that has resonance with my work.

My thesis is about the dualistic connotation of the cage. The original intention of a cage is to create a boundary to enclose a target. However, a cage has a positive intent for protection. With this idea, I created kinetic sculpture and installation pieces referencing cages. While I understand the negative association of cages, I made them seductive through the careful consideration of lightness, fragility, and sheen. I have been exploring forms and material qualities to express the contradictory connotation of cages. Most of my work is made of wire because I have a great interest in the delicate nature of wirework. I use silver as my primary material for its impression of duality. Silver is desirable with its economic worth, but also it attracts our senses with its ability to be shiny and reflective. Conversely it could be manipulated to have a cold distant industrial look. In the end I wanted my audience to have unsettling desires.