Degree Name

MFA (Master of Fine Arts)

Program

Art

Date of Award

5-2020

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Andrew Scott Ross

Committee Members

Vanessa Mayoraz, Patricia Mink

Abstract

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition Holler, held at Tipton Gallery March 2ndto March 13th, 2020. The exhibition features an installation of works on fiber, paper, and found objects tied to her upbringing in Southern Appalachia. A variety of collected materials including bedsheets, chalkboards, and barbwire are taken out of their traditional contexts and brought into a new vantage point through the artist’s alterations.

Gregg re-contextualizes materials, language, and signifiers as a process of decoding formative experiences in domestic and academic spaces. Themes examined in the work include rote learning, tradition, indoctrination, identity, and cultural psychology. Literary references include writings on critical pedagogy by educators Paulo Freire and Bell Hooks. The influence of conceptually driven artworks by Adrian Piper and Bruce Nauman and their relation to language and repetition are discussed, as well as the themes of identity and domesticity as seen in the works of Tracey Emin and Mona Hatoum.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

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