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Between Material And Landscape, Martin Mcdermott

Masters Theses

Clay is a binary material. It is soft and malleable and yet becomes as hard as rock when subjected to immense heat. Its responsiveness to manipulation makes it well suited to recording touch in landscapes of surface. Its versatility makes it the ideal material for expressing other types of antipodal concepts: dark and light, banal and profound, temporary and durable. The sculptural objects in this body of work represent many of these contrasts through an investigation of various historical concepts within a broad definition of landscape art. The hollow clay “rocks” reference caves and grottos through apertures in the surface …