Art and Design Commons^™

Mother Water, Crystal J. Hammerschmidt

Master's Theses

Water is life. That which nurtures, sustains and nourishes. My mother is truly my water. The one who gave me life and has supported and nurtured me though and through. While wading through the challenges and adversity of graduate school, she has been there every step of the way; and while I struggled to find what I was trying to say, I was quietly toiling over thoughts of my own fertility, maternal instincts and desire to nurture something and I began to acknowledge the mortality of my own mother.

The materials and images I combine are deeply connected to my …

Mfa Thesis Exhibition - Enormous, Wendy (Suat Huay) Tan

Master's Theses

Artist Wendy (Suat Huay) Tan

MFA Sculpture

Artworks Statement

We all see the world in different ways and we all see it from a human scale. Observing small creatures in nature has always fascinated me. There is a small world that exists just below our feet which is full of beauty and excitement. These seemingly insignificant little creatures such as ants can represent a microcosm of human existence.

Ants live with us on every continent and their existence may seem valueless but in fact their lives have enormous ecological importance. One in every thousand insects is an ant. Their total …

Human Nature, Mary Robb

Master's Theses

Human Nature explores my personal observations and life experiences through the use of my narrative ceramic sculptures. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics or behaviors to non-human entities, such as animals. Some animals are more desirable than others, but all have value and purpose. They exist for a reason. They all bleed. They just want to be. People are like that. I became untrusting of humans after a childhood trauma and began relating more to animals than humans. I observed many similarities in wild animals with my experience. They are continually on alert searching for food and watching for …