Artist Biography
I have always held a sentimental appreciation for the environments and objects which have surrounded me throughout my young life. As I have aged, I have found myself coming back to this foundation of the earliest sights, sounds, textures, tastes, and smells that defined my knowledge and understanding of the world around me. A cornerstone of my way of play as a child was a keen interest in exploring the mundane and indulging in the sensory experiences of common objects. I am lucky enough to have also started practicing art forms such as dance, theatre, and music lessons at a very young age. This was immensely formative to who I am today, and allowed me to view my world and all of its sensory wonders through an artist’s eye.
Over the duration of my work on this thesis, I have drawn from three prominent objects from my childhood memories and have created a mixed-media triptych representing the significance they hold in my memory. Additionally, I have produced three poems which emerged from each of these unique art-making processes. In working on this thesis, I have indulged in the grounding and explorative qualities of sensory-based art-making, as well as reflected on the sensory memories of my youth.
I invite you to interact with these three pieces I have crafted. Please feel free to touch (gently!) and to read these poems. I invite you to reflect on your own memories—when reflecting on the sensations of your childhood, what emerges for you? I have felt a sense of coming further into myself in the act of looking back on my memories, and I invite you to do the same.
Thesis Abstract
Early childhood is a quintessential time for sensory development. Engaging in the arts (paint, sketch, music, dance, and writing) from a young age produces unique sensory experiences which accelerate and enrich the processes of sensory development. Sensory integration, when working in tandem with sensory development, offers a young person the ability to process and integrate external stimuli into their sensory vocabulary. The arts provide amodal stimulation, and more effectively inform sensory integration and development than that of unimodal stimulation. This thesis investigates the ways through which artistic engagement and sensory exploration can hold an impact on the growing individual’s sensory-developmental experience. In a personal process, the author drew upon childhood memories with the senses to cultivate three forms of expression, integrating sights, sounds, and textures produced from reflection on three varied and distinct sensory-based memories from childhood, completed through mixed-media three-dimensional art and iterative free-form writing. This research contributes to evidence that engagement in arts in early childhood feeds and fosters a richer sensory development experience in the earliest stages.