In this creative project, I investigated the combination of photographic images with more spontaneous visual elements in collaged drawing and monoprints in order to produce both visually strong and personally meaningful works.

The Untidy Story of Goldie Showers is a collaborative paper written by Lee Murray and me with the approval of the Graduate School and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of both degrees. Chapter Four is different in each of the two papers which we have submitted to the Graduate School. Since this chapter contains the overall conclusion to the project we considered it best to present our individual impressions rather than to attempt a joint statement. The video tape produced in connection with this project is on file in the North Texas State Art Department slide library.

This project was designed to afford me the opportunity to work with the possibility of combining painting and music through the creation of narrative art. I endeavored to produce a body of work in which the individual paintings and songs would also stand on their own as autonomous works, and still function as components of a work that was larger in scope. The challenge was to develop the visual and verbal elements into a unified whole.

I decided to simplify the composition of my work in subject matter, color, size and style without destroying its visual impact. Experimentation in surface quality gave variety to the simplified content. My main commitment to the accomplishment of this problem was to avoid complexity in any form. I wanted to give as much information as possible using minimal means.

In the monotypes I have done, a third figure has emerged in the spontaneity of the process as a simple face shape and element of composition. Virtually ignored by the others the third figure becomes a puzzle as to its complete role. As this third figure came about from a natural development in the monotypes, I have explored its meaning in my paintings for the creative project in lieu of thesis. I have investigated the role of the third figure in meaning and content as I introduced it to the interaction of the two figures in my paintings.