Anxious Totems

<p>Throwing clay on the potter·s wheel, I feel a wave of calm, like I am finally in control of something. Carving and creating texture on clay after a piece is thrown, is the ultimate release. Carving is obsessive, compulsive, and even ritualistic. Each mark that I make has a purpose or thought behind it. This is something that is definitely different from my daily cycle of panic and unease. Anxiety. I worry too much, I can't tum this off. Clay has been the only outlet I found to help me hush these racing thoughts. By creating ceramic sculptural works my anxious thoughts are released. Living with anxiety is the hardest thing I do every day. Panic hits me when I first wake up, planning the day in my head; what obstacles am I going to face today? Who can I possibly run into? Getting out of the house is an ordeal in itself; going to get gasoline for the car, getting groceries for the fridge. Facing people is the worst. What if I can't articulate my thoughts to another person? What if I can't even get a word out? What if ... what if ... what if ... The body of work that I have created for my Masters of Art Thesis Exhibition is my anxiety in ceramic form. I make art to cope with my anxiety, and the amount of stress and anxiety I went through is depicted in my first solo exhibit. Through my work, I want to get the viewers to feel my anxiety walking among the sculptures. I want the viewers to make the connection that these sculptures are actually a representation of me, in everyday life, uneasy, precarious, and anxious.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Art

Year dc:date.available

2017

Author dc:creator

• Wraczewska, Katherine

Contributors dc:contributor

• Leanne McClurg Cambric, M.F.A.
• Gretchen Jankowski, M.F.A.
• Jeffrey Stevenson, M.F.A.

• Ceramic Arts

Repository record dc:identifier

https://opus.govst.edu/theses/102

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:opus.govst.edu:theses-1104