Still Point: Personal Essays Inspired by Andy Goldsworthy's Ephemeral Art

<p>This project is a creative interpretation of Andy Goldsworthy's ephemeral art in the form of personal essays that combine memoir, story-telling, and reflection on themes, inherent in his sculpture, that inspire exploration of universals of human nature. These essays concern themselves with Goldsworthy's collaboration with nature and time in creating site-specific sculpture, which, in its essential ephemerality, is about constant change: change in the world around us and change within us; and, also those characteristics in nature and our human nature that endure: the unseen world, expressed throughout time within the Humanities. Initially, I was drawn in by shapes -- circles, meanders, arches, cairns; then materials -- blossoms, leaves, twigs, trunks, stones, river mud, silt; then tools -- hands, spittle, thorns, the exact temperature at which freezing occurs. My engagement shifted to process, the human being creating: time, structure, intention, control, response, suspension, release. Interwoven with shapes, materials, and tools, a fuller human experience ensues, such that touch, intimacy, perseverance, daring, listening, speaking, and joining beyond the finite come into play. Thus, the unseen world, the world we all inhabit in our humanness, the world we all live in distinctly and long to live in, in our humanity together, becomes the driving force of my reflection. The collection as a whole speaks to the message that our natural environment, its beauty and wisdom, is intrinsic to the world of humankind, our lives, and the sustainability of our species. Its nature is our nature.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Graduate Humanities

Year dc:date.available

2016

Author dc:creator

• Greene, Jane

Contributors dc:contributor

• Thomas Burke, MFA
• Chase Clow, PhD

• Andy Goldsworthy
• Environmental Art
• Art Practice
• Arts and Humanities
• Creative Writing
• Fine Arts
• Nonfiction
• Theatre and Performance Studies

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.dominican.edu/masters-theses/236

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.dominican.edu:masters-theses-1243