<p> My work has a sense of artifact with a raw natural appearance. I respond to artifactual qualities of my work on a visceral and conceptual level. I see the artifact as being able to speak not just about change, but also about the history of civilizations. The connection of the natural to mechanized systems speaks of the current state of the landscape. I am interested in our civilization in the 21st century and how we interact with the landscape. We often have the best intentions in mind but in actuality we cause more harm than good. Through the tangible experiences that shape our lives we see death, decay, and rebirth. These extremes in life and nature reveal the perception of my own impermanence. I create objects representative of natural processes of time and life and depict a depleted barren future of our fragile landscape. </p>

<p> My Master of Fine Arts project exhibition, <i>What is Lost Along the Way</i>, presented seven paintings that used landscape and fire as metaphors to investigate the-ubiquity of presence and absence in life. What is lost along the way in life and how does loss allow for growth and understanding? My work explores the emotions and thoughts that are stirred when something is taken away. Illusionistic images of smoky forests were subjected to a torch and the chemical reaction of burning was used to create paintings that had a tragic beauty. The creation of the images utilized an additive and subtractive process between painting and burning away layers of paint. The process was controlled but not confined. The accident of the fire and the cyclical nature of creation was important to the larger theme of loss in the paintings.</p>

<p> <i>One Full Moon Night</i>, my MFA Project Exhibition, is a series of surrealistic drawings. The main inspiration of my exhibition stems from memories of my childhood fantasies. My subject matter portrays children exploring a surrealistic world and growing from this new experience. Despite their young age, my characters are often unafraid of the odd setting they find themselves in. The different kinds of animals in my drawings explore the places alongside the children. </p><p> For this MFA exhibition, I presented thirteen graphite pencil drawings on illustration board, ranging in size from nine inches by fifteen inches to eighteen inches by twenty-seven and half inches. I chose graphite as the primary medium because it allows me to accentuate details. Additionally, I intended to make people focus on my fantastical settings and stories by creating black and white scenes.</p>

Malsch, Carmen, M.F.A., Summer 2014. Fine Art Currents of Time and Universe Chairperson: Professor James Bailey Abstract Currents of Time and Universe explores personal awareness and connection to the universe. Large woodcut and intaglio prints describe a visual vocabulary for universal themes. In this vocabulary, a current is the image for awareness, connection, and motion in space and time. Bird forms frequenting the images represent the habitation of both earth and sky. Less grounded and more of the air than the human, the bird image identifies with the inner life of a person more than with the physical body. However, as with the bird, definite and necessary aspects of each do not exist without the other. A concept of motion pervades the images. Motion of both the universe and of an individual traveling through it, refer to the experience of time. Contrast and luminosity, as well as positive/negative relationships, become part of the visual vocabulary of universe awareness. In night skies appearing black and white, luminosity and contrast define what we know as the universe. Dark is when we see it most vividly. Constellations, galaxies and stars, even our moon are most defined in contrast, lit in the absence of overall light. Contrast is also a metaphor for the related concept of traveling. The space between cities viewed from a car or plane at night is dark; the objects of departure or arrival are lit in glowing centers of light. A journey between points describes time as distance. The subject matter is almost entirely portrayed in black and white contrast. A visual interplay of positive/negative space refers to the Escher-like quality of awareness, and to the nature of human experience. Time/space is defined by both memory and distance. Distance is external space; memory is internal space. A conceptual universe exists both within the person and outside of them. Each of these universes continue to be investigated as they have since our earliest beginnings, yet each largely escapes definition. What we know about the universe is rapidly changing in unexpected ways. On a forefront of possibility, visual thinking does not necessarily preclude scientific, or vice versa.

Aporia refers to a problem without an identifiable solution. The application of the term aporia to social behavior is essentially the subject of this exhibition; specifically, these paintings react to my personal experience of maintaining outward positivity that frequently disguises less desirable personality traits. The series presents the residue of my own internal frustrations, which are physically recorded through my painting practice. In the process of painting, I am engaged in an act of psychological purging, leaving behind the character and emotional vibrations of experiences that occur on a regular basis. For me, painting is catharsis. The physical act itself is as important as the visual record of the event.

Contemporary life requires a complex interfacing with systems. The artwork that I produce specifically explores an interface with technological systems. Such systems contain two primary elements: the analog and the digital. The human element in these systems relates to the analog portion; the technological element relates to the digital portion. I portray these systems in my work through representational and abstracted elements. I utilize simplification of forms and limitation of color to depict these systems. I strive to transcribe my personal understanding of these systems in my artwork. My work describes the structure of these systems and provides them with a physical presence. Within my practice, I offer a theoretical and visual framework, or a model, for these systems that is not easily understood. I question the individuals and societys roles within this system, and our relationships with technology.

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.