Strangers in the night

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edu/etd/6240 Recommended Citation Palmer, Kassandra Boehm. "Strangers in the night.

1 University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations Spring 2018 Strangers in the night Kassandra Boehm Palmer University of Iowa Copyright 2018 Kassandra Boehm Palmer This thesis is available at Iowa Research Online: Recommended Citation Palmer, Kassandra Boehm. "Strangers in the night." MFA (Master of Fine Arts) thesis, University of Iowa, Follow this and additional works at: Part of the Art Practice Commons

2 STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT by Kassandra Boehm Palmer A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Art in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa May 2018 Thesis Supervisor: Professor Emeritus John Dilg

4 Graduate College The University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL This is to certify that the Master's thesis of MASTER'S THESIS Kassandra Boehm Palmer has been approved by the Examining Committee for the thesis requirement for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Art at the May 2018 graduation. Thesis Committee: John Dilg, Thesis Supervisor Laurel Farrin Andrew Casto Susan White Sue Hettmansperger

5 To my husband, Greg. Your love makes me braver than I am. ii

6 HORATIO O day and night, but this is wondrous strange! HAMLET And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. -Shakespeare, Hamlet And then kerjillions of stars start to shine And icy comets go whizzing by And everything's shaking with a strange delight And here it is: the enormous night -Laurie Anderson, My Eyes (Strange Angels) 1989 Doo-dee-doo-bee-doo Doo-doo-doo-dee-dah, dah-dah-dah-dah-dah, ia-ia -Frank Sinatra, Strangers in the Night (Strangers in the Night) 1969 iii

7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am beyond grateful to have had the opportunity to study and to make work at the University of Iowa for the past three years. Thank you to every person who has made this experience possible. To each of the artists and educators that I have met along the way, thank you. So much of what my work has become is due to your candor and friendship. I have learned more than I ever could have imagined from being around you and your work. I feel lucky to know each of you. I would especially like to thank John Dilg, Laurel Farrin, Neal Rock, Andy Casto, Sue Hettmansperger, Susan White, Tameka Norris, and Hannah Givler for their patience and generosity as instructors. Last, but never least, I owe more than I can repay to my family and friends. You can t know how grateful I am for your love, for your humor, and for your endless support of my strange endeavors. iv

8 PUBLIC ABSTRACT Presented here are small predicaments that freely oscillate between figuration and abstraction. Made from combinations of wood, clay, paint, paper, and graphite, each of these constructions is an excavated artifact from the wilderness of a mind. Reaching confusedly to a great possible nothing, these things are dirty windows carriers for reflections that dare to dance themselves across a dull surface. Lonesome and silly, these discovered objects exist only for the hope of seeing the shadow of an unseeable thing. v

9 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures vii Artist Statement 1 Strangers in the Night...2 vi

10 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Missing Untitled Only Women Untitled (Reach) Close Enough to Touch Hopeful/Can t Go Home Again Untitled (Eyes) Miners Untitled Shadows! Untitled (Circle Arms) Untitled (Beach Sock) Untitled Untitled (Dumbbell Cloud) Where You Go in the Night Between You and Me Untitled vii

11 ARTIST STATEMENT Making is a hopeful act, and these feeble beacons were made to be hopeful. Born from a story retold in the wrong order by someone who probably wasn t there, these simple relics beckon believers and are made for eyes willing to see the invisible. Images are evidence of a stumble inward toward the electric cave that is a mind folded in on itself. Uneven surfaces and frames become like bodies: protecting, extending, and undulating endlessly through an improbable timeless present. In spite of themselves, volumes lacking in purpose sink weightlessly into a history boundless and unnamed. Each of these resurrected objects is made from dust; each, a friendly stranger trapped in an enduring conundrum. A shadow of awareness follows each one of these tumbleweeds, and still, none of them know what they are. Imbued with fears, humor, and a dim sense of their own tragedy, these paradoxical propositions spend their nights howling at the moon. They cry for the chance of getting close enough to touch, and they revel in the unlikely thrill of simply being together. In getting to know these things, I save room for the survival of the unexpected, and I listen for echoes that ring true but do not compute. 1

12 STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT Figure 1: Missing, oil on panel, 20 x 21,

13 Figure 2: Untitled, Wood, wood ash, ceramic, and oil paint, 8 x 1 ½ x 1 ½,

14 Figure 3: Only Women, Oil paint, wood, wood ash, and ceramic, 8 x 11 x 1 ½,

15 Figure 4: Untitled (Reach), Graphite, paper, wood, oil paint, and ceramic, diameter approximately 8,

16 Figure 5: Close Enough to Touch, Oil on panel, 11 ¾ x 11 ¾,

17 Figure 6: Hopeful/Can t Go Home Again, Oil on panel, 11 ¾ x 11 ¾,

18 Figure 7: Untitled (Eyes), Graphite, paper, wood, oil paint, and ceramic, 8 x 16 x 1,

19 Figure 8: Miners, Oil paint and wood ash on panel, 8 x 8,

20 Figure 9: Untitled, Oil, ceramic, wire, gouache and photograph, diameter approximately 12,

21 Figure 10: Shadows!, Oil and ceramic on panel, 11 ¾ x 11 ¾,

22 Figure 11: Untitled (Circle Arms), Oil on panel, 48 x 48,

23 Untitled (Beach Sock), Oil paint, wood and ceramic, 7 x 4 x 1 ½, 2018 Figure 12: Untitled (Beach Sock), Oil paint, wood, and ceramic, 6 x 4 x 1 ½,

24 Figure 13: Untitled, Clay and ceramic, 12 x 10 x 4,

25 Figure 14: Untitled (Dumbbell Cloud)), Latex paint, flashe, and ceramic on panel, 11 ¾ x 11 ¾,

26 Figure 15: Where You Go in the Night, Oil paint and silicone on panel, 30 x 30,

27 Figure 16: Between You and Me, Oil on panel, 8 x 8,

28 Figure 17: Untitled, Oil paint, hide glue gesso, and ceramic, 6 x 6 x 4,

Paleo-Sentio. Iowa Research Online. University of Iowa. Arden Roessler Hendrie University of Iowa. Theses and Dissertations.

Paleo-Sentio. Iowa Research Online. University of Iowa. Arden Roessler Hendrie University of Iowa. Theses and Dissertations. University of Iowa Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations Spring 2014 Paleo-Sentio Arden Roessler Hendrie University of Iowa Copyright 2014 Arden Roessler Hendrie This thesis is available at Iowa