Sculpture as Souvenir: Reportable and Repeatable

Authors

Ashlyn Lee, Southern Methodist UniversityFollow

Abstract

In this paper, an analysis of the site as material, process, and concept for an artwork results in an understanding of the art object as a souvenir. Reportable and repeatable experiences are discussed and remembered in the six works of the Qualifying Thesis Exhibition at the Pollock Gallery. Of the six works is an installation, Catfish Fence, and five small works displayed on the gallery window sill: Bundle, Posted: No Trespassing, Sling, Right Recipe, and Margie Ruth’s Swing Where the Wasp Bit Me. Susan Stewart’s discussion of souvenirs from On Longing (1984) serves as a tool for considering the art object as a souvenir. The souvenir originates from two motivations, to share and remember an experience, which is reporting, and the need to recreate an experience, or repeat it. In my practice, sculptures fluctuate between objects of report and repetition by using rural folklore, personal memories, and place as identity. The site becomes souvenir, and souvenir becomes site.

Degree Date

Spring 5-18-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.F.A.

Department

Division of Art

Advisor

Eileen Maxson

Second Advisor

Melanie Clemmons

Third Advisor

Tamara Johnson

Subject Area

Art

Number of Pages

21

Format

.pdf

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Recommended Citation

Lee, Ashlyn, "Sculpture as Souvenir: Reportable and Repeatable" (2019). Art Theses and Dissertations. 5.
https://scholar.smu.edu/art_etds/5