Honors Thesis: Meditation in Gesture

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Ever since my childhood, I have been practicing various organized, highly repetitive, and rhythmic processes, from constant practice for playing the drums, to practicing the sport of rowing, to the incessant practice of calligraphy. To me, these processes made sense in my brain; their order, simplicity, and incremental, personal improvement structures were intuitive and satisfying. It is only upon my deep reflection on these many processes in my life that I decided to pursue a similar theme for my Studio Art thesis.  

Thematically, Meditation in Gesture is very much a continuation of my capstone work, focusing on a small selection of materials and how their specific and unique characteristics can interact and relate to each other. While I did not have the words to exactly describe the process that I started last semester, I have now devised this language to clarify the vision and expectations of my time in the studio. While it may seem obvious, ‘process’ is a significant and thematically dominant idea in my work. This may show in the compositions, textures, or material relationships of my objects, or in the narratives that charge them. Through my research, I was introduced to Shunryū Suzuki’s Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, a foundational text on Zen Buddhism and how it can be adapted to more contemporary western lifestyle. Through the book’s teachings and perspectives, I found endless language that perfectly described how I felt about my practice in the studio. One passage speaks about the incremental nature of personal progress through disciplined, devoted practice, a belief that has completely reframed my thinking surrounding this project.  

I found that, throughout capstone and thesis, my work time in the studio leaned much more toward the intuitive, iterative, and organic practice rather than a more straightforward planning-to-execution process. Not only did this approach lend me more motivation and drive throughout my making but also allowed the materials and their interactions to communicate and dictate much of the decision-making process. Through the investigation of found objects, be they rock, wood, or otherwise, these material relationships become highly active and lively, prompting the narratives that accompany them. These are the driving themes of Meditation in Gesture and I believe these objects are an authentic reflection of my habits, intentions, and personal growth history.  

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