Rachel McKenna MFA Applied Craft + Design Practicum 2015

Blitz

Blitz examines the role of an intense, athletic — and female — body in the artistic process through science, sport, and making. Standing on the shoulders of action-based artists Matthew Barney and Richard Serra, I apply material science explorations to making; throwing freezing water over molten wax in a process that, through phase change and the collision of forces, creates graceful, organic sculptures that formally reflect the vigorous kinesthesis with which they are made. Blitz is not about physicality solely as performance, nor is it exclusively a method of making. Rather, the process and product exist in a symbiotic relationship, wherein the process imbues the sculptures with meaning, and the sculptures imbue the process with purpose.

Blitz explores elements of identity. I am a woman, and equal parts process-driven artist, material-inspired scientist, and hard-hitting football player. Blitz studies these aspects of identity through making and the expression of physical self.

Blitz recognizes the powerful role of the body in making creative objects. It develops direct relationships between the movements and actions within process, and the form and character of the objects that process creates. Further, Blitz underscores the personal importance of living with undaunted physicality; integrating and expressing elements of identity regardless of obstacle.

91 albums

Spring 2015

125 albums

MFA in Applied Craft + Design Thesis Works