Date of Graduation

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts in Art (MFA)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Art

Advisor/Mentor

Thompson, Jody

Committee Member

Young, Chase

Second Committee Member

King, Sam

Third Committee Member

Chae, Su A

Keywords

Adult female autism; Artist frame; Disability; Mixed-media; Painting; Semiotics

Abstract

Inherent Frames of Mind is a mixed-media painting series that serves to investigate and celebrate the intersections between the artist and the family, friends, and places that have shaped her. These people and environments are embodied abstractly in the artwork by inanimate objects, flora and fauna, patterns, colors, and materials that are shared between them. It investigates the phenomenon when otherwise peripheral items are transformed into cornerstones of the artist’s history. These items are juxtaposed within hybrid compositions of floating imagery, ready to be scrutinized and cherished. This thesis also outlines the artist’s return to her most inherent ways of creating, thinking, and encountering the world following many years of disruptions and diagnoses that revealed the artist’s disability. Every mark and move strategically illustrates the artist’s unique perception of her relationships, rooted in her identities as a neurodivergent and chronically ill maker. The role of the artist frame as a conceptually and formally inseparable object is illustrated through the use of sentimental materials that serve as outlets for these rediscovered creative methods. The Inherent Frames of Mind body of work and exhibition elevates object into familial relic, color into unmasked emotion, and material into unforgettable story.

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