Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Degree

Master of Arts

Program

Art and Visual Culture

Supervisor

Kelly Jazvac

Abstract

This dossier is an accompanying document to my MFA thesis exhibition, (Title of show). Within the dossier is a casestudy that undertakes a close reading of the material choices and processes present in two works by Canadian sculptor Luanne Martineau, Parasite Buttress and Brickmaker. Here I propose that a visual encounter between industrial and needle felt achieves the polarity that is necessary in her work for “double-coding”---the embedment of recognizable but contradictory codes--- to occur. Martineau is interested in a historical moment where fiber-based artists working with traditional materials and processes struggled to be recognized on the same level as other artists. By using industrial felt as a code for references to abstract avant-garde artworks, such as Robert Morris’s Felts series, alongside eccentric felted forms that refer to craft’s connotations of the decorative, feminine and bodily, Martineau uses craft as a tool to question the historical ideals and canon of modern art.

Accompanying this case study is an expanded Artist Statement of my sculptural practice, wherein I undertake a close reading of my chosen materials and processes in order to provide insight into the artwork’s operation and potential reception.

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