Date of Award

Spring 3-20-2018

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Art

First Advisor

David Amico

Second Advisor

Michael Reafsnyder

Third Advisor

Julian Hoeber

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Rights Information

© 2018 Jennifer L Simms

Abstract

Jenni Simms - In Visible Grounds - Show Description

I am interested in finding ways to make visual art that positions the viewer between advocation and negation, or possession and estrangement with the natural world and human presence. As an artist I am most satisfied when I can include all of these ideas together: a sense of time, edges of some kind, a sense of mystery alongside just enough of the known and signs of human presence and the natural world.

For In Visible Grounds I began my focus with color, or the visible light spectrum.is includes all of the colors that we are able to see from violet to red. Black and white are perceived by us as color, although they are not; one absorbs light and the other reflects it. I then broadened this focus to the invisible spectrum just outside of this on either side- ultraviolet light and infrared light. I realized that we have actually expanded the visible light spectrum with our use of technology, and can see now more than we were built to. We are able to simulate the vision of bees and birds, both of which are able to see in ultraviolet light in addition to the visible spectrum, but bees are unable to see the color red and thus orange. Infrared filters on cameras can see way out into space, help us to see at night, or illuminate treasure buried underground, like an ancient lost city. Outside of all of the lightwaves described above, we can come back to the simple use of the camera itself. Film negatives invert the light for us, and we are able to see color positives and color negatives of our subjects. In Visible Grounds brings together these ideas and my motivations as an artist.

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