Amanda McCavour

Thesis Exhibition: March 26 - 29, 2014

Opening Reception: Friday, March 28, 6 - 8:30pm

“The wayfarer has no final destination..there is always somewhere further he can go.”
-Ingold, Lines: A Brief History, 77

The space of the garden influences my work in the idea that gardens are a place of discovery where one walks and looks to find new points of interest. In her book “Wanderlust: A history of Walking” Rebecca Sonlit states that “The garden is more cinematic than pictorial.  It is experienced in motion as a series of compositions dissolving into each other rather than a specific picture (Solnit, 90).”  I am motivated by an interest in the natural formations of plant life and mineral structures which manifests in my creation of artificial interpretations of these phenomena.  These mimicked forms act as the marks of drawings where the lines are sculptural and exist in three dimensions. In this way, they surround and enfold the viewer and force them to navigate space.   In this way, I invite a cinematic, experience of dissolving sculptural compositions.  I invite the viewer to become a wayfarer within the space of the gallery.

I too, am a wayfarer. 

I make installations and objects by folding, cutting, coating and stacking different types of materials.   I create systems of combining materials and processes within my studio while I embrace the wandering thoughts and actions of the wayfarer vs. a goal oriented approach.  The space of the studio becomes a place of improvisation, testing, and questions.  I am simultaneously making and unmaking in my constant rearrangement of objects and materials.  Through incorporating elements that have a range of my intervention at different states of completion, I seek to disrupt the illusion of the final polished artwork, leaving room for possibility.  The “unfinished” gives room to imagine the potential in materials, highlighting the idea that a piece could grow and evolve.  In this way, the work remains active.

Ingold, Tim. Lines: A Brief History. New York: Routledge, 2007.

Solnit, Rebecca. Wanderlust: A History of Walking. New York: Penguin Books, 2000.

Material Tests

Material Tests
2013
Glue, ink, flocking, paper, thread, pencil crayon, straws, mylar
120" x 60"
 

Material Tests (detail)

Material Tests (Detail)
2013
Glue, ink, flocking, paper, thread, pencil crayon, straws, mylar
120" x 60"