Date of Graduation

5-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Art (MFA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Art

Advisor/Mentor

Bethany Springer

Committee Member

Renata Cassiano Alvarez

Second Committee Member

Kes Efstathiou

Keywords

Arkansas; Art; Drawing; Kentucky; Queer; Sculpture

Abstract

Passages is a collection of wood sculptures and drawings by Arden Carlson, exploring a mesh of southern intimacies and queer musings; underpinned by the logics of belief, grief, and love. The result is a tender field of angelic birds fixed in flight over gnawed surfaces of grain and graphite. The following dissertation details the artist’s logic during the construction of the visual art thesis exhibition, Passages. The writing is composed in an autoethnographic format, backed by supporting anecdotes and creative methodologies that help to route the operational modes used. Near the end of this writing, you’ll find an additional addendum for the thesis’ lack of criticism proper, containing a provision of supplemental texts regarding wider viewpoints on the American South and / or the queer life within. This list is meant to be an ever-evolving addendum, despite its momental capture due to the nature of a scholarly deadline. A selection of the artist’s work and this thesis writing from 2024 makes up the degree requirements for the Master of Fine Arts in Art degree program at the University of Arkansas. The visual work was displayed March 25-30, 2024 in an installation-based format at the SCUL gallery on Hill Avenue in Fayetteville, AR. More installation photographs and associated writings are available for viewing through a simple navigable page on the artist’s website.

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