East Carolina University : Research and Creative Achievement Week 2012
Click: a craft artist's response to emerging technology, Joshua Craig, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858 In “Click: a craft artist's response to emerging technology� I investigate how emerging technology has shaped the way that studio artists make art and ways they may in the future. From conception to production to postproduction, emerging technologies such as Photoshop, cad drawing software, 3D modeling, rapid prototyping/manufacturing methods, freeware, and cloud sourcing will have a substantial impact on the way professional craft artists live their lives and make art in the future. I will discuss the impact of these technologies on my own work and reference other artists who are using these technologies to great effect.
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Pond Life: A Landscape of Sustainability for the Table, Catherine Stasevich, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858 Carved and painted utilitarian vessels have been around for centuries, but turning a vessel into a sculptural display is a relatively recent development. The first dishes we would recognize as sculpted casseroles were crafted by Josiah Wedgwood in response to a wheat shortage during the late 1700's, which caused a ban on the use of flour to make pie crusts. These dishes were made to mimic the elaborately decorative pie crusts which had previously graced the tables of England. The animal and vegetative forms referenced the hunt or cultivation that went into gathering the foods which were used to fill the pies. In this body of work, I am appropriating this highly decorative vessel as a tool to create an idealized landscape of native North Carolinian life in a cultivated pond ecosystem. The creatures in these vessels are representative of those that are planted there by man, and those who take advantage of man's cultivated landscape as their own home and food source. I am abandoning the medieval theme of consumption in this work, and instead present a message of sustainability and preservation in an ecosystem which can benefit mankind and nature.
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Invisible Masque, Alison Flegel, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 27858 In Invisible Masque, I am exploring different areas in which prejudice, stereotyping or discrimination on the basis of sex is present in our culture, accepted and treated as natural. My research of feminism and gender roles has led me deeper into womens issues where I am becoming more and more intrigued about the subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways in which sexism shows up in simple acts as well as the words we use. With the help of the media, the Fine Art practice, and both state and federal laws an idea has been created for both men and women that sexism does not exist. Or even worse, sexism is recognized but usually the attitude is that there is nothing we can do to change it because it seems to be a natural part of our world. This is our cultural mask. A man makes more money than a woman to perform the same job: natural. Women are represented in MOMAs permanent collection by 3%: natural. The U.S is one of only a handful of countries that does not require paid benefits for maternity leave: natural? In my current body of work I am making a point to show that I am not outside of the culture, but part of the problem as well. I am exploring ways in which my work will be relevant to the current art world. There are many things done to battle sexism and sometimes these acts become regressive. I hope my sculpture will start a positive movement and help people to become more aware of their own actions and words in this hidden ideology of sexism.
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