Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Department

Art

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Abstract

Survival is not innate or effortless, but learned, regulated, and sustained through continuous labor, both visible and unseen. Vessel of Survival is an exploration of the human body as a site of containment, adaptation, and endurance shaped by trauma, systemic pressure, and the conditions of contemporary life. Through ceramic form, ruptured surfaces, photographic imagery and narrative intervention, this work explores how trauma, chronic illness, and socioeconomic systems inscribe themselves onto the body. Within this framework, the body becomes a vessel that continually negotiates fragility and resilience.

This investigation is informed by my diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes, a condition that transforms survival into an ongoing process of regulation and intervention. Rather than focusing on the specifics of medical management, this work engages the broader condition of living within medical, economic, and social systems that demand constant monitoring, correction, and maintenance. The body exists in a continual cycle between stability and disruption.

Ceramic material processes provide a framework for understanding these conditions. Crater and lava glazes develop through the accumulation of internal gas pressure beneath a molten surface. As pressure builds, tension temporarily contains it until the surface ruptures, releasing trapped material before stabilizing as the kiln cools. These cratered surfaces become visible records of forces that once existed beneath the surface. Rather than concealing imperfection, I embrace rupture, volatility, and transformation. These surfaces mirror the psychological and physiological conditions explored throughout the work, where unseen forces accumulate and eventually break through. Material process becomes metaphor, and damage remains visible as a trace of endurance.

This material behavior parallels the instability of the body under chronic conditions. Internal systems operate under fluctuating pressures, periodically destabilizing before returning to equilibrium. Through volatile glaze reactions and ruptured surfaces, the ceramic vessel becomes a material analogue for these cycles. The surface records moments of rupture, instability, and recovery, positioning the vessel not only as a container, but as evidence of survival shaped by pressure.

My practice extends beyond chronic illness and originates in earlier investigations into trauma, addiction, and generational hardship. Influenced by personal experiences, including my father’s PTSD and Alcohol Use Disorder, the work engages cycles of damage, reflection, and reconstruction. The studio functions as a site where these experiences are processed through material transformation, allowing identity to be examined and reformed through clay.

The visual language of this work draws from the raw immediacy of Art Brut and Outsider Art. While developed within an academic context, I am influenced by art that has an emphasis on emotional intensity, distortion, and unfiltered expression. Simplified and distorted figures prioritize psychological presence over refinement, communicating internal states shaped by instability and tension. Typically confined to decorative roles, lava glazes are recontextualized here as raw, expressive material, serving as a visual representation of internal rupture, psychological instability, and the cumulative marks of trauma that shape individual human experience.

While rooted in personal experience, Vessel of Survival reflects a broader human condition; the ongoing effort to endure, adapt, and reconstruct oneself in response to internal and external pressures. Survival is not a fixed state, but a continual process shaped by vulnerability, resistance, and the persistent need to sustain life.

Keywords

Medical humanities, embodiment, material metaphor, contemporary ceramic sculpture, disability studies

Advisor

Linda Ganstrom, MFA

Date of Award

Summer 2026

Document Type

MFA Portfolio

Rights

© The Author

Download


Included in

Ceramic Arts Commons

Share

COinS