The content of my work focused on examining the relationship between certain elements of nature and of human beings and was also based on the question of what true life is. The woodcut process - combined with the other printing techniques such as intaglio, collagraph, and monotype - was adopted as a potentially successful medium for conveying the content of the work. Overlay printing techniques and repeated textures were utilized as well.

I wished to explore ways to introduce my futuristic symbols in my work that have a relevant universality, support a primordial mysticism, and maintain a personal spirituality. This would be achieved by utilizing imagery with both contemporary and futuristic connotations. This type of imagery would require specific sculptural techniques more refined than was previously present in my work. The sculpture would consist of solitary, tensely postured, monumental figures composed according to a classically proportioned totemic model.

I believe the frame or housing of a printed image plays an integral role in the context of the work. It functions as a vehicle for possible interpretation. It should respond to and complement the concept of the central image. The image presented in a vessel or reliquary format should instill a meditative or religious response.

I believe that an artist needs a mechanism(s) built into his or her working method out of which the greatest number of options may arise. I suggested that, for me, painting on paper could be one such mechanism. I wanted to pursue paper as a viable surface on which to paint and discover to what extent it would influence my choices in the working process.

The purpose of this problem-in-lieu of thesis is to explore the effect of scale in my sculpture, on me as an artist as well as the viewer. My work addressed the following questions: 1. Can smaller-than-life-size sculpture communicate with the same intensity as my previous life-size work? 2. How does scale affect the ability of the work to communicate ideas and feelings? 3. Can the sculpture be as confrontational without occupying space as we do? 4. Does a larger-than-life-size piece gain intensity in any of these questions due to its scale? 5. How does scale affect my feelings toward the work and my method of working?

The focus of the problem was to challenge the more traditional. Western approaches to jewelry as adornment in respect to areas such as placement and scale. Approaching adornment as sculptural forms interacting with the human body could possibly challenge the individual's awareness of jewelry as wearable art. This approach brought up the issue of using the human body as a pedestal for adornment.

My proposed objective was to create eight illustrations using Fusion as a tool to communicate concepts. I posed the following questions for evaluation. 1. Can I create two-dimensional illustrations effectively when applying the knowledge and techniques I have studied? 2. In what way will the use of multiple techniques affect the concept?

Just as packaging in its most mundane, pragmatic sense refers to the commercial and traditional aspects of jewelry, so also does display. In addition to being a mere vehicle for presentation, the idea of display creates an intriguing set of design and conceptual problems which seem to be a natural extension of my current and ongoing concerns.

The gum bichromate print offers the potential of allowing me to combine different media in my work, while reducing the cumbersome scale and retaining the visual impact of larger scale pieces. However, there are numerous problems to be solved in executing gum bichromate prints in a scale large enough to have the powerful visual impact that I feel is essential for the content of my work. I propose to refine the gum bichromate process to accommodate the scale of my work and to combine a variety of media.

My interest in the patterns of nature and culture has led me on a long journey through studies of math, sciences, and religions culminating in my current studies in art. Continuing my inquiry into processes of human perception and conception of time. My intention was to incorporate the "process" aspect of the printmaking medium into the final work by creating hybrid works that would take the "print" out of its traditional two-dimensional form. Finally, I planned to utilize the "multiple" aspect of printmaking to address ideas of patterns and evolution.

The problem I have addressed this year revolves around my search for a means to visually challenge mankind's present concepts and ideology concerning the wolf and the cheetah. At the same time, it was essential that I find a way to visually challenge previous artistic interpretations of these animals. This involved the discovery of a new form of animal representation relevant to modern societies' problems concerning the future of wildlife and the significance of the predator.

For my Problem in-lieu-of-thesis, I proposed to execute a related body of work using "horse" as subject. It was my intent to investigate what effects the limits of "horse" instead of "figure" had on the content of my work.

It was those problems and possibilities I wished to explore in my problem in lieu of thesis. While the simple, geometric images were very satisfying to that part of myself that craves order and rationality, it was all too easy to make work that was dull and uninteresting. I wanted to find a way to produce rich, sensuous, engaging work using only simple geometric forms.

My work attempted to examine the emotional and psychological relationships between humans and the relationship of a human being with their inner self. I adopted the human figure as a potentially successful means of expressing these relationships. The language or symbolism I used in my work was derived directly from body language. This universal language is direct and immediate. Body language, posture, attitude, and tension of the figure are primary perceptions observed by the viewer. The immediacy of communication and directness of emotions through the use of body language were my main concerns. The major issue I dealt with was trying to invest those same emotions into my sculpture. My intention was to endow the sculpture, which consisted of a static unchanging pose and was created from an inert material, with a recognizable emotion and expressiveness that the human figure inherently carries.

Each of the pieces in this study was a single room structure which incorporated a window. The scale varied depending on whether the piece as a whole or in part was to be worn.

I proposed to base my thesis work upon an exploration of the ideas of the strength, power, and tenuous quality of metals, using a variety of metals in combination with appropriated and deconstructed forms to create cultural narratives. In this exploration, I addressed the materials of metalsmithing and their traditional use.

The triumphs over daily conflicts correspond to monuments that commemorate specific events of my life as a woman. The monuments commemorating these events necessitated an intimate format because the events depicted deserve close personal attention. The intimate scale offers the option of being presented as a sculpture with a base that has a detachable, wearable part.

As the Chair-Woman series has progressed, I have explored the various means to enhance its interpretation. I have determined that materials such as wood and fabric result in a more intimate reading than bronze. However, I have not explored how scale and proximity to other objects will affect the reading. The questions I am seeking to resolve relate to possibilities for expanding the meaning and significance in the Chair-Woman series.

I proposed that two factors could be adjusted in a series of rings in order to achieve total control of implied movement: Proximity and angulation of components. Through careful adjustment of these two factors, I theorized that the implied motion in a ring series could be accelerated, slowed, or omitted altogether.

The large scale format allows the images I created to have a more pronounced impact on the viewer. Self-reflective subject matter exhibited within the large attention-getting style allows an audience to better connect and identify with the figures in my work. The piece is a series of large scale paintings butted together both side by side at one hundred thirty-five-degree angles that provides a vehicle to surround the viewer. The paintings, when placed together, form a continuous image and present themselves as one extensive piece.

For centuries, books have been a traditional way to display prints. Contemporary artists' books have become more than simply a method of displaying prints and have, in fact, become a relevant medium for artistic expression. It has been important to my work that each of my artist's books have functioned as a unified whole, all parts of complementing each other and strengthening the overall concept.

While I worked, I made a number of pieces that followed a common theme, each relating to the piece made before and after. This way of working revealed new possibilities for expression. During this particular body of work, I explored a specific series of forms that could be used in the preparation and presentation of food and drink.

My premise was the marriage of two forms, book and sculpture. My goal was to determine if these two unique types of work could be joined as one. In each oth the proposed works, I focused on an element of design as well as the challenges present when works are produced for a particular space (the Cora Stafford Gallery).

Using this conflict between death and dying versus hope and new life, I searched for an undogmatic way to convey a Christian antidote to the despair and ugliness of post modern art. The struggle was to find the imagery, format, and media combinations to express a vision, with realism and hope, for the late twentieth century, in a unique and interesting context.