East Carolina University : Research and Creative Achievement Week 2012
Traditional Bronze Casting, Contemporary Art, Cathy Perry, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858 My research and sculptural approach deals with my memories and daily activities. I am using the lost wax method; a historically traditional technique of casting bronze. This method and the direct burn out using a kiln has allowed me to experiment using natural materials such as blossoms, twigs, seedpods, and flower buds that I work into contemporary art. Alternative methods such as ceramic shell are also applied to determine which will result in a more detailed piece. My research concentrates on the viability of casting small intricate work out of these processes also larger artwork that requires more detail The dynamics of a domestic environment and the cycles of the natural world are explored though the use of plant materials captured in bronze. Materials I use must be in a state of transition; on the verge of bloom, at full flower or going to seed. These plants flow through their natural process, remembering the forms they need to achieve to create new life. Complexities within the natural world and the sociality of human existence combine to create ties that bind me to both. This work is an exploration of humanity seen through a natural lens and functions, for me, as a vehicle for understanding change.
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Overlapping Legacies and Contemporary Companions: Cartography and Art, Kathryn Cole, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858 What is a map? How do we map a place? The fields of surveying and cartography are dedicated to the scientific documentation of land and sea. But as we all know, there is much more to a place than what is described on a map or chart. There is the political, social, historical, cultural character, subjective elements not easily measured and charted. Art and cartography have highly intertwined histories. Both have the capacity to communicate cultural information and have been used to display messages of status and power. Many of the famous renaissance artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht D端rer turned their hand to mapmaking. Examples of these artist-made maps not only captured the structure of their geographic subject but went further to communicate something more of the culture and time. In this presentation I discuss the history of mapping and its close association with the visual arts. I also address the affect developing technology has played on this relationship in the last three hundred years and where the contemporary disciplines of art and cartography stand in relationship to one another today.
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My Diabetic Body, Mike McAteer, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858 Being a newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic, I have experienced the effects of high and low blood sugar on my body; the daily diabetic routine of checking blood glucose levels, administering insulin, being mindful of what I eat and how much I eat, counting carbohydrates, everyday being reminded of the fragility of life, coming to terms (or taste) with my mortality. The pursuit of control over my condition has influenced my pursuit of control over the processes used to make my decomposing sculptures; control over the process of decomposition is representative of controlling the passage of time (mold and growths) and the effects of diabetes on my body. My choice of materials (foam, polymer clay, resin, latex rubber, flocking, etc.) allows for control over the aesthetic value, durability, and representational qualities of the work. My work serves as a dark yet humorous metaphor for all things sugary, sweet, and loaded with impending doom. 65
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