I owe all of who I am to the incredible number of individuals who have cared for and supported me throughout my life. Below follows an incomplete list of some of those individuals. May they all forgive me for dropping off the map to complete this program!
My deepest gratitude to the members of my committee, who have provided invaluable mentorship, intellectual conversations, artistic inspiration, and emotional support: professors Tonia Matthews, Jack Livingston, Dr. Jenn Figg, and my thesis advisor Bridget Sullivan, Thanks also to the others who have served on my committee during my time at TU: Dr. Nancy Segal, Kyohei Abe, Stuart Stein, Amanda Burnham, and James VonMinor. My thanks also to Tonia Matthews and Carrie Fucile for the work they have done as MFA Chairs, and to Erin Lehman, Kottie Gaydos, and Michael Bouyacas for their assistance on the Holtzman Gallery side. Thanks to Alyssa Imes for the indispensable assistance with the CNC, and Josh DeMonte for assistance with the laser cutter.
To my housemate Jabari Weathers, thank you for putting up with my periodic anxiety spikes aligned with every midterm and final. Thanks to my North Carolinian Burn community, especially Lynn Gromatzky, Jessica Imel, Amanda Woade, Kalyn Ruth Howard, Ethan Mungal, my burn parent Hannah Pertalion, my Slow Rainbow Fade family, and the Southeastern Burn community at large for your support and enthusiasm for all my projects, and for inspiring *gestures* all of this. This community really is special, and finding it changed my life.
Thanks to the other MFA candidates at Towson, especially Tara Youngborg and Kat Navarro for their early guidance, my thesis show partner Annie Tamini, and everyone who came to my meetups over the years–it’s been a pleasure to be a part of this generous community!
Thanks to the Office of Graduate Studies and the Graduate Student Association for the grants that made this research and exhibition possible. Thanks to neon artist Eve Hoyt at Evening Neon for her guidance and expert hand in creating the neon halos. Thanks to Josh Brusca for his assistance formulating Motivational Interviewing-inspired questions.
Endless thanks to my partners Aral Olgun and Kyle Steely, for their endless support, creative collaboration, skill, intelligence, aesthetic, troubleshooting, and patience. Most especially Aral for show installation, printmaking, airbrushing, participating, and brainstorming, and Kyle for 3D modeling, 3D printing, carpentry, technical assistance, and audio engineering.
Thanks to my parents for instilling in me a love of creativity and exploration from an early age. Thanks to my brother Kevin for instilling in me a love of play, silliness, and weird music. Thanks to my family for their enthusiastic support of my art practice, especially my cousin and aunt Jenn and Sarah Cormier.
Thanks most of all to my participants—everyone who contributed a handprint, an interview, a Corner Mary box, their image, their thoughts, their effort, and their actions to all of the pieces in this show. I literally couldn’t have done it without you.