RRoocchheesstteerr IInnssttiittuuttee ooff TTeecchhnnoollooggyy RRIITT SScchhoollaarr WWoorrkkss Theses 5-1-2012 AAnnxxiioouuss ccaarree Shara Burrows Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.rit.edu/theses RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Burrows, Shara, "Anxious care" (2012). Thesis. Rochester Institute of Technology. Accessed from This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by RIT Scholar Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of RIT Scholar Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Rochester Institute of Technology A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The College of Imaging Arts and Sciences In Candidacy for the Degree of Master of Fine Arts Anxious Care by Shara Burrows May 1, 2012 Final Approvals Chief Advisor: Michael Rogers _______________________________ Date: May 1, 2012 Associate Advisor: Robin Cass ________________________________ Date: May 1, 2012 Associate Advisor: Eileen Feeney Bushnell ________________________________ Date: May 1, 2012 Chairperson: Don Arday ________________________________ Date: May 1, 2012 I, Shara Burrows hereby grant permission to the Wallace Memorial Library of RIT to reproduce my thesis in whole or in part. Any reproduction will not be for commercial use or profit. Date: May 1, 2012 2 Acknowledgements This thesis dissertation would not have been possible without the generous guidance of Michael Rogers, Robin Cass and Eileen Feeney Bushnell. I am honored to have worked with them and will never forgot their encouragement, advice and for inspiring me to continue creating. This thesis is dedicated to Joan Elizabeth Dominguez. 3 Table of Contents Title Page………………………………….............……………………………......................1 Permission........................................................................................................................2 Acknowledgements…………..…………………….............……………………....................3 Table of Contents……………………………………………………………….......................4 Abstract.......………......……………………………………………………….........................5 Main Section ……...………………………………………………………...................……....6 Conclusion.……………….......…………………………………………………....................13 References.....................................................................................................................14 4 Abstract The intent of my thesis is to translate objects that relate to our bodies into glass and mixed media. The purpose of this endeavor is to create a dialogue between media and form about the fragile and dependent nature of human relationships. Glass breaks and it can be repaired. Glass objects must be handled with care. The material translation of functional objects into fragile glass forms supports the content of my work. The basic premise of my thesis is the universality of the human experience of loss. Everyone has or at some time will experience the death of a loved one. Unfortunately, I suffered a great deal of loss at a young age. When I was seventeen my mother suddenly and unexpectedly died after a life long battle with drug and alcohol addiction. She was thirty-six. Three years later I became pregnant and experienced the death of my son during the seventh month of pregnancy. The experience of losing a child became a powerful inspiration for this body of work. The work is not, however, a direct representation of a single event. The goals and objectives of my thesis are to generate feelings of discomfort, frustration and loneliness in an audience. The grouping of objects that I create will function both as an emotional narrative and as evidence of past events. 5 I grew up in Massachusetts by the beach. I'm an only child and my best childhood memories are of being at the beach swimming in the ocean and making sandcastles. Growing up I was always creative. I knew that I wanted to attend a private art school but I didn't know what material would be the focus my degree concentration. During my senior year of high school and two months after the death of my mother, I took a beginning glassblowing class taught by Peter Ivy at MassArt for two weeks. The process of making objects out of molten glass made me really happy at an incredibly unhappy and confusing time in my life. Blowing glass was different than any other material in that once you start something you have to finish it without stopping. That was perfect for me because I have difficulty working through ideas and this process forced me to focus and have the confidence to finish the work. It was a very positive and rewarding experience because I was able to focus and accomplish something during a difficult time. The process of glassblowing ultimately inspired me and gave me the drive to attend an art school. Learning to blow glass had also motivated an interest in sculpture. The proximity of the Ohio State University Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio, allowed me to explore contemporary art forms as I continued to develop technical skills with glass. I completed my BFA degree with a solo glass and mixed media undergraduate exhibition at the Columbus College of Art and Design. Although glassblowing is my favorite process, I struggled with my own technical abilities to make the work that filled my sketchbooks. My frustration led me to see casting as a more suitable process. I had taken a glass casting class at Pilchuck Glass School the year before attending RIT and I explored additional mold and casting processes when I moved to RIT for my graduate degree. I learned many new techniques from Michael Rogers and visiting artists Stephen Paul Day and Sibylle Peretti. 6 As I refined and developed the processes that I wanted to work in glass, I also began to focus on the content of my work. Conceptually, I was interested in personal issues relevant to my own history and experience. During my undergraduate education I worked directly with patients for five years at an inner city hospital in the Emergency Department. I witnessed many interactions between families and was affected by those experiences. I found the sterile environment of a hospital and the stainless steel instruments and medical devices to be visually compelling. In addition to working in a hospital, I have had significant experiences as both a patient and a visitor in hospitals. As I put together these events and sensations, I also began to consider the long history of glass as an utilitarian material in hospitals. Bottles were often used as a container to store medicine. Blown glass jars were used to store breast milk. Syringes and IV bottles were made out of glass. Glass was even used for operating tables. I chose to cast a baby bottle because while a bottle requires the interaction of another person in glass, the solid form denies its function. Casting the form allowed me to achieve much greater detail while working with a life sized form, aspects that would have been difficult to achieve with blowing. When I held the cast object it was almost visually identical to the real object albeit much heavier than the actual bottle. I had a strong commitment to that form and explored different possibilities for manipulating it. The conceptual goals, however, continued to remain the same: creating a cold sense of frustration as an indicator of an inability to care. The bottles were successful in conveying the original idea but there were some technical issues with the surface of the glass. The material translation of objects into glass supports the content of my work because of the inherent fragility of the material. Glass breaks and it can be repaired. Glass objects must be handled with care. I think that when we take care of an object we develop a greater connection with that object. The material translation of glass into objects that relate to our bodies also contains the object and removes a personal act. In glass a functional form sometimes becomes useless and is uncomfortable to use. This rigid and uninviting object creates distance between two people. 7 ! Evenflo #1 10"x 2" x 2" cast glass Shara Burrows Evenflo #2 2006 7"x 2"x 9" cast glass Evenflo #3 2006 2"x 2"x 9" cast glass Shara Burrows Through the process of casting I created molds, then wax positives of the object which were then used to make rubber or plaster molds. As the body of work developed and I spent a considerable amount of time in the studio working with wax and eventually began to use it directly as a sculptural material. I had made a rubber mold of a pair of children's crutches which was then made into glass. I then used that rubber mold to 8 create many wax crutches which developed into a separate piece. The choice to make multiple objects speaks of an anxious excessive need to care. The white wax crutches talk about how easily bones break and the disappointment when our bodies have failed us. Fracture 2006 36"x 18" x 10" wax and mixed media Shara Burrows There are a number of artists whose art has been inspirational in the development of my work. Throughout my undergraduate and graduate education Louise Bourgeois was significant and I admired both her subject matter and the honesty with which she discussed her work. She continued making work up until a week before her death, always revisiting the same themes throughout her career. I have chosen to include the following quotes because they resonate with me and summarize many feelings that I have about my own work and process. "The subject of pain is the business I am in. To give meaning and shape to frustration and suffering. What happens to my body has to be given a formal abstract shape. So, you might say, pain is the ransom of formalism." Louise Bourgeois 9