Penetrating the undercurrent [slide]
by Katie McLeod Harvey
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts
Montana State University
© Copyright by Katie McLeod Harvey (1991)
Abstract:
no abstract found in this volume PENETRATING THE UNDERCURRENT
byKatie McLeod Harvey
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree
of
Master of Fine Arts
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY
Bozeman, Montana
December 1991
Mill
'7
ii
APPROVAL
of a thesis submitted by
Katie McLeod Harvey
This thesis has been read by each member of the thesis
committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding
c o n t e n t , English u s a g e , format, c i t a t i o n s , bibliographic style,
and consistency, and is ready for submission to the College of
Graduate Studies.
^ % dll
Date
GrJadi^ate Committee
hairperso
Approved for the College of Graduate Studies
Date
-n
II
4* LA
Th ri
Graduate"Dean
/Th
/C l
iii
STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO USE
In presenting
this
thesis
in
partial fulfillment of the
requirements for a master's degree at Montana State University, I
agree that the Library shall make it available to borrowers under
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of
allowable
the Library.
without
Brief
special
quotations from this
permission,
provided
thesis are
that accurate
acknowledgment of source is made.
Permission for extensive quotation from
this thesis may be granted by
or reproduction of
my major professor,
or in his/her
absence, by the Dean of Libraries when, in the opinion of either,
the proposed use of the material is for
scholarly purposes.
copying or use of the material in this thesis
for financial gain
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Signature_
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Any
ARTIST'S. STATEMENT
When
encountering this body of w o r k , one is aware
of a persistent repetition of imagery ' and drama evoked
by the movement of paint,
light and dark.
describe what is visible in my work and
course
of.
historical,
how
this
imagery
then share, the
evolved,
touching
visible is
v i g o r o u s ' markmaking
nests, whirlwinds,
raw
depicting
swirling paint
images
long ' sweeping
The i m a g e s !
and interact,
amorphous
shapes'
and
sometimes
spherical
masses.
My color is intuitive and often muted.
alludes
to
darkened • inner-world ' space.
this
collide.
place is not still.
Energy
surface
is
wound
markings-.
A
these
images,
combining
.energy
a
and
ambivalent
in
visible
directional
and" turbulent
which
struggle
forces.
relatipn
My art
Although
Images spin and
coils
exude
and
which resemble
spirals and vortexes.
use represent personal symbols
dark,
bn
personal and theoretical issues.
Immediately
with
I will first
of
occurs
.such
This
to
paint and
when
different
provides., an
space.
These
2
images appear' to want to
break out of
thelimitations
of the surface and framework.
The particular images which persist . in this work
have
been
in my work
for nearly
symbols began to
unfold,
son— a
turbulence,
time
of
connections and
and art
struggle
soon
intense
between
aspirations,
after the
'
follow.
arid
had impact
subject matter
before.
Working small
arid
theme,
kind of
cocoon-like image
art which
I had no
desire to
had intrigued me"
at . h o m e , • I
to flourish "in my larger
spinning form
enveloped
look,like an encircling nest.
delved into
In .the development
the child became a
Eventually the embrace of
blending of
on the
that
and child subject matter.
of this
'female
:
After the birth,
with
arms.
male
and an occasional harmonious
continue
mother
biological
a frenzied sense of time, a
responsibilities.
was to
of my
Integrating motherhood
traditional '
'This life experience
These
birth
inexplicable
love.
created anxiety,
three y e a r s .
in
— a
the mother's
the mother
began to
Nests and cocoons began
paintings.
of these nests and cocoons were more
The implications
powerful than any
3
of my previous mother and child i m a g e r y . - This relates.
->
to what Georgia O'Keefe referred
to when she
said, "I
..
found I could say things
had no
words
allowed for
for."
with color and
This
emerging
shapes that I
abstract imagery
some " visual - ambiguity
and psychological
complexity that was unavailable to.me in the way that I
approached the figurative world.
•’
The struggle for meaningful imagery is a continual
endeavor 'for me.
the
physical,
. I must,
social
respond to
and
the elements of
aesthetic
worlds
while
seeking forms . and symbols which express ■my particular
reality.
This reality in
situation. As a painter,
flow
of
humanity,
no
way
presents
a static
I must move within the ebb and
while
struggling
with
a body of
aesthetic.and physical notions involved in paint.
Exemplifying
developed into
this
a symbolic
nowrsymbolizes larger
refuge,
evolution,
abstract
my imagery"has now
form.
My artwork
elements of life ■ such as water,
confrontation,
turbulence,
sexuality,
biological matter, planetary orbits and birth.
4
It is paradoxical that a s ■I struggle honestly with
personal.imagery
embody such
Imagery
diverse and elemental components
which■
motherhood
that interpretations of the work can
and
began ' with
art,
. anxiety
male and female roles,
realities'
of
connections
led to
struggles
of life.
integrating
regarding
t r a d i t i onal■
experiencing woman's biological
giving
birth
and family
and
l actating,"
turbulence
the subsequent
art.
'— all these i s s u e s •
Pablo Picasso once said,
"It is not what a man D O E S , but who he IS."
it is of value to note that
perspective and female
loving
it is a
turbulence
In my case,
particular female
which inspired this
work.
Two
associate
Susan
contemporary 'women
conceptually
Rothenberg.
I
are
respond
domestic scenes and "mucky"
surfaces,
and
painters
Elizabeth"
to
both
motion,
.whom
Murray
Murray's
.(her description)
I
and
turbulent
built up
R o t h e n b e r g 's spinning figures-, describing
mysteries of motion with the act of
of
with
artists
evokes
energized
involvement with
an
surfaces
paint.
painting.
The work
' incredible - mastery
and
of
actual - physical
The w a y these-
artists.handle
5
the
the
physicaiity, of paint leads to an
medium
admire.
which
The word
presents
qualities
"immersion"
immersion into
and
content I
alludes to all sorts of
connotations such as immersing oneself in water
unconscious.
or the
This is an element with which I struggle
to give form and content to my work. To further develop
^-his
connection,
1 1d like to
cite the
words of poet
Robert Duncan:
I do not speak here of that river
you read to be an allusion
to ancient myth and poetry,
though it too belongs to a story,
..
but of a rushing underground of the
very
life-flow,
a sinking-back,
a loss of the essential in the
shadows and undertow--!
In
thought,
struggle to penetrate
with
essential"
there
my
this
amidst
exists
the
focus
life's
an undercurrent of
on
more
the
"loss
obvious
possibility
of
the.
real3 ties,
that . something
of
significant human value will emerge.
!Robert Duncan "The Quotidian." New Directions 40
New Directions Publishing Company, 1980) 43.
(New York:
6
LIST OF SLIDES
I.
Life Cycle
48"x72"
acrylic on p a n e l , 1991
2.
Nest
48"x72"
acrylic on p a n e l , 1991
13 . Al I In One Sweep
22"x34"
woodcut, 1991
3.
Split I
48"x 72"
acrylic on p a n e l , 1991
14. Two Forms Collide
16"x24"
w o o c u t , 1990
4.
Tainted Eggs
48"x72"
acrylic on p a n e l , 1991
15. Merging Images
19J,x2 2"
woodcut, 1990
5. ' Interaction
3" panels 48"x72" each
a c r y l i c , 1991
6.
Diptych
.2 panels 22"x34" each
a c r y l i c , 1991
7.
Going Through The Red Fog
4 panels 24"x48" each
acrylic, 1991
8.
Uplifting Images
2 panels 24"x48" each
acrylic, 1991
9.
Cycle Spin
22"x3-4"
woodcut, 1990 ,
1 0 . Ochre Spinning
1 7 "x2I"
w o o d c u t , 1990
11. Waves
3 4"x2 2"
w o o d c u t , 1991
12. Nourishment
2 2 "x3 4"
woodcut, 1991
16. Vortex.
18"x2 6"
woocut, 1990
MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES