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Description
Finding Place is an exhibition that investigates place through personal experience within the in-between. The in-between or liminal is a state I often felt at various moments within my life. This work was developed from a desire to investigate place and liminal states to better understand the psychological connections we all form with our surroundings. I believe that space is experienced as place when one becomes aware of the emotions, memories, and occurrences within that space. I imagine place as residing simultaneously in both physical and emotional landscapes, and the moments experienced in between, offering new perspective and opportunity for discovery. Events leading up to graduate school and my relationship with specific places, form my thoughts and memories for the research of each piece as well as the making process. As a sculptor, my process develops intuitively through material investigations and unearthing these personal memories. My material explorations, process, and research are centered on themes of liminality, loss, place, perception, and ritual. The works included in this thesis exhibition are made of fragmented materials, transformed into organic forms and simplified structures to capture emotions felt from life experiences and beauty from natural phenomena. The abstracted works have subtle shifts in light and detail. A feeling of absence and reflection, in both the literal and metaphorical sense, is evoked through the use of shadow and light with a limited color palette. The shadows created by the tangible objects, have an important role in the work, drawing attention to the surrounding architecture and area between the intangible elements and the physical constructions. The Finding Place virtual exhibition is on San Diego State University’s School of Art + Design website at https://www.sdsu-artdesign.online/mfa-thesis/kline-swonger. This exhibition was originally intended to be viewed within the University Gallery in May 2020, but was shifted to a virtual platform due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The intention of the work is to elicit an emotive response. Through aesthetically quiet sculpture installations, space for reflection is created. The viewer is invited to explore their own thresholds of perception, noticing their engagement with the world through their senses.
