The Calls from Beneath
Session Title
Creative Expressions 2
College
College of Visual and Performing Arts
Department
Fine Arts
Faculty Mentor
Claudia O'Steen, M.F.A.
Abstract
The exhibition features objects that blend drawing and sculptures into pieces that fluctuate between recognition and ambiguity. Like a front-cover illustration, the objects weave the images, tones, and themes of unusual fiction into singular, all-encompassing experiences. Many of my favorite stories involve characters desperately struggling to describe the most basic characteristics of their horror. Rather than drawing or sculpting such unspecified strangeness from scratch, this body of work blends the unique forms of found objects to create new, unusual configurations nearly impossible to describe. Each branch, flower, or stone has specific physical characteristics that are impossible to invent. When the lines between flowers, paper, and plastic objects have been erased, the resulting forms are entirely unique, composed of the chaotic structures of nature and the identifiable structures of manmade objects. The found objects are covered with a skin of gypsum cement, creating surfaces of undefined gestures and textures to be interpreted. I scan the ambiguous sculptural surfaces for echoes of the stories I wish to depict, recording gestures and references to embrace a more intuitive and interpretive process of image-building. The interpretations are used to create drawings and or pieces of writing. The drawings and writings are then used as guides to excavate an image from the sculptural surface with charcoal, graphite – any tools of mark-making. This mode of working provides an opportunity to work within multiple realms, allowing one form of a narrative to influence another. This body of work permits an alternative way to think about drawing. I am forced to reconsider the illusionary tricks of two-dimensional media and relief sculpture. I rearrange traditional value structures to pull two-dimensional forms forward in space and force three-dimensional forms to recede in space. The works are filled with these conflicting spatial relationships, culminating in objects and images that broadcast an ever-present blur between comprehension and obscurity.
Type of Presentation
Oral presentation
The Calls from Beneath
The exhibition features objects that blend drawing and sculptures into pieces that fluctuate between recognition and ambiguity. Like a front-cover illustration, the objects weave the images, tones, and themes of unusual fiction into singular, all-encompassing experiences. Many of my favorite stories involve characters desperately struggling to describe the most basic characteristics of their horror. Rather than drawing or sculpting such unspecified strangeness from scratch, this body of work blends the unique forms of found objects to create new, unusual configurations nearly impossible to describe. Each branch, flower, or stone has specific physical characteristics that are impossible to invent. When the lines between flowers, paper, and plastic objects have been erased, the resulting forms are entirely unique, composed of the chaotic structures of nature and the identifiable structures of manmade objects. The found objects are covered with a skin of gypsum cement, creating surfaces of undefined gestures and textures to be interpreted. I scan the ambiguous sculptural surfaces for echoes of the stories I wish to depict, recording gestures and references to embrace a more intuitive and interpretive process of image-building. The interpretations are used to create drawings and or pieces of writing. The drawings and writings are then used as guides to excavate an image from the sculptural surface with charcoal, graphite – any tools of mark-making. This mode of working provides an opportunity to work within multiple realms, allowing one form of a narrative to influence another. This body of work permits an alternative way to think about drawing. I am forced to reconsider the illusionary tricks of two-dimensional media and relief sculpture. I rearrange traditional value structures to pull two-dimensional forms forward in space and force three-dimensional forms to recede in space. The works are filled with these conflicting spatial relationships, culminating in objects and images that broadcast an ever-present blur between comprehension and obscurity.
