Artist Statement

As part of the curriculum and requirement for senior exhibition, artists, of course, have to write an artist statement. Since Michael Mahaffey and I have been collaborating on everything, the artist’s statement is no different. We each spent time sending it back and forth as part of our process of writing until we said it the way we wanted to be said. Please review below. The statement will give you a good sense of what we did and why we did what we did.

MICHAEL MAHAFFEY & STEPHANIE TATE

ARTIST STATEMENT

A conversation is a negotiation, each person involved analyzes the information received and chooses how to respond. We respond differently depending on the source. When confronted with a visual image the viewer instantly becomes involved in this same negotiation. Small parts of the whole begin new thoughts and ideas creating new venues in which the thought process travels. The effect of semiotics; the sign, the signifier creating the signified. In this body of work, we have attempted to engage the viewer in such a conversation while having a conversation ourselves.

When approaching the senior thesis project, we wanted to develop a system in which we could engage in this visual conversation. We each contributed five items in ten containers. These containers include appropriated image, appropriated text, found objects, self work, song lyrics, information systems, social symbols, typefaces, color palette, and any graphic elements; that is 100 items per container which quickly snowballs into 1,000 items to design with for each book/panel. Also for this thesis, the catalyst for discussion had to be created. The Ten Commandments were chosen because they represent a set of rules. Also, being from the rural south (the bible belt) we both have been inundated with these rules since childhood. They have a cultural meaning and inflect upon people from any faith. This is our conversation about the Ten Commandments through cultural mediums.

We have individually explored aspects of page layout, book making, and three dimensional works including furniture design and mixed media. To further explore this conversation we decided on two formats of viewing. The book form is the intimate conversation and the large format transfers are the loud shout, the confrontational statement. Within the space we wanted to exaggerate this constant negotiation.