Date of Award
Spring 2024
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Art
First Advisor
Steve Quackenbush
Second Advisor
Misty Kreuger
Abstract
The purpose of this project is to explore relationships among artists, works of art, and the artistic audience. I had originally planned to use a selection of famous paintings, differentiated by genre (e.g., abstract vs. representational) and ask people to write about these paintings. I imagined that the colors, shapes and textures in these famous paintings would elicit a range of reactions in viewers. Their reactions could then be compared to how the artists had conceived of their own artwork. This felt like an utterly academic exercise. It was safe, structured, in accordance with existing literature, while also indulging my longtime fascination with art, which hadn’t yet been integrated into my studies as a psychology major.
Yet, after months of laboring to design a relevant study, outlining procedures in sufficient detail for submission to the UMF Institutional Review Board, I wasn’t satisfied. It felt like a project that didn’t truly belong to me. I was invested in the subject matter, but haunted by an insistent echo – this isn’t yours. Make it your own.
I’d been told many times by teachers and fellow students to “stop spiraling” in reference to my tendency to make my assignments more complicated than necessary. But for this project, I was willing to spiral. I wanted to achieve, in form and spirit, a spiral, around which myself and others could turn, corkscrewing and flowing together, multidirectional movement yet all revolving around an origin point. I wanted to engage with how other people engaged with artwork. But I didn’t know how to access this space, or even how to create it. I lacked a centerpiece. I lacked a center. So, where to anchor myself in the midst of this investigation?
Recommended Citation
Tenney, Sean, "Art, Artist and Audience: an Interdisciplinary Investigation" (2024). HON 499 Honors Thesis or Creative Project. 22.
https://scholarworks.umf.maine.edu/honors_theses/22
Comments
HON 499 Thesis or Creative/Service Project