Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Department

Art

First Advisor

Kyle Triplett, M.F.A.

Second Advisor

Jessica Brandl, M.F.A.

Third Advisor

Andrew Hennlich, Ph.D.

Fourth Advisor

Patrick Wilson, M.F.A.

Keywords

Ceramic, crafts, kitsch, sculpture

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

I am haunted by a cheap ghost, surrounded by inherited memories that are not my own, preserved in heirlooms that leave little room for me to create souvenirs of my own experience. In response, my practice centers on the personal significance of collections as outward expressions of identity, personality, and lived experience. Rooted in themes of Midwestern Americana, this exhibition presents narrative tableaus and curated collections that examine how personal identity is constructed through objects of memory, and display.

Informed by research into the history of kitsch, Sigmund Freud’s concept of the uncanny, and the “outmoded,” my work considers how everyday artifacts endure beyond their original cultural contexts; carrying traces of past desires and values. In Haunted by a Cheap Ghost, sculpted figures staged amongst familiar domestic objects disrupted by uncanny and grotesque encounters interrupt what is familiar. Through these constructed scenes, the work explores how collections transform discarded or sentimental things into personal archives, where identity is continually assembled, rehearsed, and reimagined. As such I draw upon the writings of Walter Benjamin, Celeste Olalquiaga, and Susan Stewart, who examine the personal and social attachments to collections, souvenirs and decorative keepsakes as repositories of nostalgia and cultural memory.

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Ceramic Arts Commons

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