Author: Liam    Reading

Major: Studio Art

Graduation Year: 2019

Thesis Advisor: Walter Tisdale

Description of Publication: I have created a hand-bound book of copper etchings and poetry called Awakening From A Dream. This project consists of over thirty handmade, printed, and illuminated plates that symbolize an introspective journey through the mind and out the other side. What begins with a looming existential dread transforms into an acceptance for the patterns of creation and destruction. Self-pity and fear of facing the unknown are met with delving deep into the recesses of the mind in order to reconcile my waking life with my nightmares. This is a process of overcoming heartbreak and depression, and becoming self-actualized. In no way does this mark an ending point on this path, but it does mark the beginning of recognizing the struggle, and learning to be empathetic with myself and the world around me. I use a medium of pure black line-work combined with illuminating line-work in the tradition of Blake and Dali among others. My work identifies with the skeptical modernism of a century ago, but evolves and cross breeds with an overarching sense of romanticism and transcendentalism that runs through my work. What begins with a cynical rejection of the condition of mankind, ends with a symbiosis with nature and a philosophy analogous to philosophies of Kant and Thoreau, culminating with the assertion that pure divine love permeates throughout all nature and humanity.

Location of Publication:

URL to Thesis: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/honors/545/