Date of Award

Spring 5-2017

Author's School

Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts

Author Department/Program

Graduate School of Art

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art

Degree Type

Thesis

Abstract

Nature is a construct inherited from Enlightenment thought. Our culture of nature—the way we construct, teach, communicate and perpetuate our concept of nature—has furthered the false dichotomy of an untamed nature versus a resource-consuming culture. This dualistic thinking has facilitated the current environmental crisis. We thus need a new culture of nature and a system of re-education that enables a symbiotic relationship between ourselves and our environment. A re-negotiation of this relationship is imperative to our continued survival on this planet; thus a reformation of the culture of nature can be viewed as an adaptive strategy. Systems-focused ecological art practice provides a platform for the process of re-education. A hyper-local focus integrating didactic display and community engagement is an effective strategy to re-cast environmental issues as social issues.

Language

English (en)

Program Director

Patricia Olynyk

Program Director's Department

Graduate School of Art

Thesis Advisor

Richard Krueger

Committee Member

Cheryl Wassenaar

Committee Member

Cheryl Wassenaar

Committee Member

Linda C. Samuels

Committee Member

Stanton Braude

Artist's Statement

Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.7936/K7V1237G

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