In a series of articles over the past few weeks, The Dartmouth has shown how demanding senior theses in the arts can be. For majors doing theses in the visual arts, the Hop and Clement become the South campus version of Baker-Berry Library, as these students can be found toiling in these studios at any given hour, day or night. Five senior studio art majors are putting the finishing touches on their theses this term: Hannah Beliakov '06, Jennifer French '06, Kiku Langford '06, Lauren Ruth '06 and Michael Salter '06.
The studio art major consists of twelve courses that explore a wide range of disciplines within the visual arts. All senior majors show their work in the Senior Major Show in the Jaffe-Friede and Strauss Galleries at the end of the year. Those who wish for a further challenge can take a two-term senior seminar "devoted to developing critical skills and a body of work predicated upon a student's ability to conceive, structure, sustain and resolve an individual course of study in painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography or architecture," eventually resulting in a thesis that must be approved by the department. The thesis is the result of the articulation and focusing of the student's ideas in whatever medium he or she desires, allowing for a lot of investigation with the added support of faculty feedback.
Beliakov's concentration is in color photography. Her tools include a 2- medium format camera, which allows for large negatives with an incredible richness of image, and print color chromogenic photographs. Beliakov has worked to use her photographs to "challenge fantasies and truths, trying to create alternate realities and memories in which ambiguous narratives are trapped in each image." She plans to continue this exploration while she works in the department as an intern this summer.
Each artist in the program brings a lot of passion to their work; however, that passion is tempered by professorial and self-criticism. Beliakov described this dynamic: "I think the most challenging part of this project has been to see my own work objectively and to keep basic formal qualities in mind when I am getting emotionally involved in the photographic process. But in light of these challenges, I have learned that what is personally or emotionally relevant or fulfilling in a photograph or photo shoot often doesn't correlate with the success of an image." Many of the majors describe the "honors critiques" and advanced levels of feedback as crucial components of their studies. They also described the studio art community -- students, faculty, visiting artists and artists in residence -- and the support it offers as an additional and important benefit.
French is a double major in studio art and art history who plans to use her experiences at Dartmouth to pursue a master's degree in fine arts or architecture after graduation. Her thesis is primarily a study of self-portraits using unorthodox methods. "I work within predetermined limits of material, mark and subject matter to create primarily self-portraits," French said. "Often these self-portraits borrow from mass media, dreams, and my study of art history." Many art students do indeed pursue a double major and these outside influences can filter into their art in unexpected but exciting ways.
Langford's highly visible "Living Art" installation in the Barrows Rotunda this past winter gained her wide recognition around campus. When asked about her current thesis, however, Langford who was quite private, said, "I'm not really sure how much I'll be able to tell you about my thesis. It's hard to explain, but my project is kind of secretive at this stage."
Lauren Ruth's thesis, "Differing Skins: An Investigation of Surface and Pattern," "investigates the differences between the human surface, skin, and the architectural surfaces in which humans reside." Ruth uses a variety of media -- photography, surface pattern and sculpture -- within an architectural space that she hopes will interact with the viewer and address issues of intimacy, touch and alienation by exploring the body and its interactions with space. For Ruth, the thesis is preparation for the real world, as she is considering graduate work in sculpture and "wanted to get a taste of what that experience would be like."
Salter has concentrated on drawing and painting, and his thesis works to bring these oft-separated mediums together. In doing so, he has created a series of dialectical images exploring "high art (life drawing, painterly technique) versus low art (comic books, text and illustration), experience versus theory, memory and dreams versus reality's tangibles, dominance versus surrender, layered with abstract symbols and metaphor." Salter explained further, "It's difficult to approach such fragmented issues as sexuality, youth to adulthood, politics, friendship and 'the future,' without literally fragmenting your language. So my work struggles to deconstruct these issues via, usually, very disparate systems. Color, line, characters and text are just some of the tools I'm imploring to crack the code of what it means to be human and alive at this time in history."
Although the work that these five students have generated over the past few months is to be commended, perhaps even more important are the paths they took to reach this point in their artistic careers. As Ruth explained, "Doing a thesis requires students to work independently in the studio, outside of the assignments and frameworks of a normal class. It is very much about the experience in addition to the final product."
