Announcing the Thesis Defense of Olivia Van Natta for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Emerging Media, Studio Art & Design track.
Through a merging of ruminative thinking as a driving force in drawing and painting with watercolor pencil, this thesis body of work engages with the process of sublimation. Repetitive processes and hand-rendered detail channel obsessive cyclical thoughts. Based on my experience living with the bodily effects of a hyperactive mind, symbolic botanical life communicates impressions of the physical sensations associated with rumination. Connections between repetitive wandering thinking and multiple definitions of the sublime as described in art history, linguistics, and cultural studies are contextualized against historical and contemporary art, with an emphasis on speculative fiction. As a result of this visual exploration, I successfully transform my ongoing experience with rumination into a quantifiable framework for my creative process.
Thesis Committee:
Jason Burrell, Senior Lecturer (chair)
Shannon Lindsey, Lecturer
Laine Wyatt, Associate Professor
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