Date of Award

Spring 5-14-2026

Author's School

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Author's Department

Graduate School of Art

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art

Degree Type

Thesis

Abstract

The foundation of Levi Walker’s artistic practice relies on the use of natural materials that reference the landscape. The materials within his sculptures, in combination with sculptural processes, create a conceptual language that is in conversation with the land and the ways that we engage with it as a community. As a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, his work addresses the relationship that Indigenous tribes have with the federal government, and the ways the tribe must navigate colonial systems in order to support their communities without erasing their identities or beliefs. Influenced by his upbringing, a strong appreciation for the land was formed from a young age, spending time with his grandparents in southern Missouri. Through his work, he explores how personal memories and experiences are represented in material and process. Walker’s representation of the physical landscape pushes back against 1960s and 70s Land Art movement as he reframes the view of land and its memory within the context of an Indigenous lens.

Language

English

Program Chair

Tiffany Calvert

Thesis Text Advisor

Jack Risley

Thesis Text Advisor

Jack Risley

Faculty Mentor

Jack Risley

Committee Member

Sage Dawson

Committee Member

Tiffany Calvert

Committee Member

Jack Risley

Artist's Statement

The foundation of my artistic practice is the use of materials that are commonplace such as plaster, wood, and site specific collections of natural material and reserving traditional materials like bronze to represent everyday, common natural elements like pinecones and acorns. Conceptually I’m investigating how colonial structures can be retooled to support and promote indigenous communities without erasing or replacing identities and beliefs. By working with materials that are easily understood and explicitly labeling the locations of the material, such as water from the Lumbee river, I create a visual language that can quickly be understood. This in turn allows the conceptual ideas within my materials and process to be understood and seen.

Material operates as a direct index of place. Soil and water sourced from specific locations function as one-to-one analogs, embedding geography into the work itself. However, this information is often not immediately visible, instead revealed through titles or accompanying material listed text. This creates a delay in the work allowing a 1:1 connection to the material locations as well as a conceptual entry point for why these materials are present in the work. By separating these modes of engagement, I ask viewers to construct meaning and concept themselves rather than receive it passively through more direct methods of representation.

These ideas of material and process can best be seen in Roadwork. Roadwork both celebrates and represents the retooling of colonial structures as well as uses materials specific to the Lumbee tribe within its creation. Pinewood, plaster, natural pigments and water collected from the Lumbee river. The material elements that make Roadwork are the summation of my travels and experience visiting my family in Robeson County, North Carolina. The dark water of the Lumbee River winds through my tribal homeland. This same water, chemically changes the plaster within my work, giving permanence to the form and creating the water troweled polish upon the black plaster, again referencing the river's dark color from tannins. Recently the Lumbee tribe has become the 575th tribe to be recognized by the federal government. Gaining this recognition has given the tribe access to govern their land and solidify stability within Robeson County. Through this work, and many others,  I aim to bring attention and represent my tribe's actions and efforts as our leaders best use these new resources to support and provide for members of the tribe. 

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