Olmec iconography was a product of close observation of the natural world as well as shamanic trance visions. The Olmec transmitted their knowledge of the natural world in their naturalistic imagery and their knowledge of shamanism in depictions of precise ecstatic trance postures and supernatural composite imagery. Inherent to both artistic traditions is an understanding of the transformative processes of both the natural world and of the shamanic visionary experience. Additionally, the Olmec used their carving technique to inform and educate their intended viewers about the performance of transformative shamanic practice.

<p> My MFA project exhibition Longing Limned consists of 29 watercolor paintings on clayboard ranging in size from 3.5 inches by 5 inches to 16 inches by 20 inches. </p><p> In this body of work I address the themes of emotional attachment to objects and places and how the accumulated memories we carry with us affect our lives and shape our personalities. The paintings in this exhibition range from representational to abstract and explore different aspects of memories, emotional connections, and behaviors associated with them. </p><p> Using watercolor on clayboard led me to develop a very fluid and often minimally controlled painting technique. I chose this medium because it is also very receptive to ink, graphite and acrylics, and can be used as scratchboard. This allowed me to work reductively to reveal the white surface of the board underneath the pigment, creating intricate detail.</p>

<p> This group of paintings was informed by an investigation of the complex linear matrix of wires within telecommunications networks and data centers. As most of these processes are automated, I took interest in how they continue operating without our knowledge or attention, much like the functions of our own human bodies. I began to regard this wiring as the nervous system of our technologically driven modes of communication. With this as a metaphor, I began to question how the greater system of daily operations played into contemporary life, both physically and psychologically.</p><p> Often, it is not until we encounter a glitch or malfunction in these processes, that we even become aware of the system that generated them. I decided to take these faults in the wiring as visual metaphors and departure points to begin the intuitive process of painting. While my work has been instigated by a metaphorical investigation into technology, its core reflects the handmade; intuitive, and off-line. These paintings have evolved from an abstract relationship with technological transmission to an embodied metaphor for technology within human experience.</p>

For my Senior project as a Fine Arts Major at Scripps College, I spent the fall semester exploring the history and possibility of the digital and analog artist book form. After going through a number of foundational changes, my project concept was eventually grounded in the form of a web-based hypertext artist book. Based on my pre-existing interest in storytelling and my previous study of mental immersion in possible worlds, I started the process by compiling an artistic representation of what it means to be a young girl discovering the possibilities for creation and empowerment available to her through storytelling. Wonder/Wander is the culmination of my experimentation with digital art, hypertext, and visual storytelling. It is my contribution to the artist book form as I have considered it and its evolution into the digital age.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1938. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

The goal of this independent exploration is to present a cogent thesis on the limitations of language and visual representations of anxiety in contemporary art. Using the structuralist thinking of Roland Bathes as a conceptual and theoretical fulcrum, I explore human reliance on semiotics and referents.

<p> My Thesis exhibition is an exploration of site specificity; mitigated through technological media with the intention of re-contextualizing extracted, site specific material. This exhibition featured two sculptures, a video work, and a group of photographs. Technology played a major role in the creation of the work in this exhibition, numerous digital processes were employed including 3D scanning, CNC milling, computer modeling and photography. The final result was a staged landscape like installation that was composed of three main works that, together created a scene while also functioning as independent artworks based on separate, specific sites, forms and information. The connection between landscape, site specificity, technological replication and the pursuit of the sublime was a central theme and investigation in my work. </p>

<p> My thinking once privileged the logical path as my architecture training had taught me to do, has grown to include equally the emotional influences of my lived experience. The unique contributions of each of my parents have come to bear on this change in thinking and in my development as a sculptor. My mother was a maker of textiles. Within her works, she clearly communicated a message of appreciation to the wearer, as represented in the multitude of carefully crafted stitches. My father is an architect. In his drawings of buildings, I see order, form, and the expression of space clearly articulated. Together, my parents imparted their lessons to me during my formative years. These influences carried me forward, yet I always viewed them distinct from one another. The self-reflective experience of graduate school revealed a relationship between these different ways of making that I had not initially realized. This has had a direct impact on the type of work I produced in which I tried to expand these boundaries. </p><p> This thesis speaks to my journey from being an architect to becoming a sculptor.</p><p>

Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the locked Download file link and fill out the appropriate web form. / N/A / 2031-01-01

abstract: The poems in The Only Living Boy in Omaha tell the story of Simon, who, after his mother dies giving birth to him, is raised on passenger trains by his father, a conductor. Set in the 1940s and '50s, the book follows Simon as he travels across the American West, back and forth between California and his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. Along the way, Simon gets to know other passengers, falls in love with radio and California's past, befriends an inventor, and discovers the story of his miracle birth. Blending lyric and narrative, history and fable, these poems revisit a time when passenger trains were popular, and explore the unique childhood that took place there. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.F.A. English 2012