Artist Statement
I am inspired by the notion that the arts can help us navigate the journey within our life experience. Art has been the key form of expression and identity throughout my life; as a visual artist, musician, songwriter, free-spirit-dancer, playwright, poet, and explorer of all kinds of play. The arts have fueled my spirituality and connection to nature, my love for creative expression, and formed my identity and life’s passion for understanding and exploring how the arts can heal. This body of work is a continuation of a process that I began during a study abroad experience in Ireland during the spring 2024 semester. While in Ireland, I wrote poetry and reflected deeply upon my writing as I traveled and learned about the nature-rich and artistically nourishing environment that I was in. After returning to Endicott College, I continued my poetic practice and began to engage in artistic reflection, which resulted in this body of work which includes more than 20 poems and artistic responses. The artistic responses include four mixed-media fabric pocket shrines (10 x 7.5 in) Lastly the artistic responses were reflected on to create a final and all-encompassing artistic reflection, a ceramic altarpiece.
Thesis Abstract
This thesis investigates the application of therapeutic poetry and intermodal expressive art-making for stress reduction within the college student demographic. Poetry activates relaxation through its rhythmic structure and evocative language, engaging emotional synergy and an integration of the senses. The method for this research, driven by personal experiences, employed a two-phase protocol. The first phase employed poem writing in an effort to process stress, which yielded 20 personal poetic writings. The second phase created visual responses to the poems with fabric, clay, and paint; thus translating the poetry into physical forms. The art resulted in a collection of four mixed-media fabric pocket shrines and one ceramic clay altar. The use of poetry and visual response for stress reduction among college students is discussed as it relates to this thesis.