Date of Submission

Spring 2014

Academic Programs and Concentrations

Studio Arts

Project Advisor 1

Jeffrey Gibson

Abstract/Artist's Statement

An object, no matter how mundane, gains significance

once it has been a part of someone’s life. A used object is

evidence of a life lived. These objects are what remain

after we move on. And in our absence they acquire an

even more precious nature, as they assure the

permanence of our memory and act as a reminder of our

legacy. There is an urgency in preserving these things, as

they may be our last chance to feel a closeness to their

previous owners. They become ghosts, a lingering

presence.

I began collecting when I was very young, and now it is a

habitual act. The structure itself is made almost entirely

from found wood, much of it coming into this

installation with its own interesting back story—panels

from a house built in 1917, an old schoolhouse, a police

station, a rehab center, flooring from a boys’ school

gymnasium from the 1940’s.

What Got Lost In The Fire is an autobiographical

installation. A display of objects of varying significance I

have collected over the years of my life thus far. Some

attached to important moments and memories, some

merely appealing to my eye. These are the artifacts of my

existence, the detritus of my individual and inimitable

experience. I hope to invoke in my audience a relatable

nostalgia, and a curiosity for the stories around and

between these objects.

A sincere thanks to all those who have helped me with

this project, namely John and Sheila Lees, Jeffrey

Gibson, Stephen Schreiber, Sarah Ulfik, and Logan

Visscher.

Open Access Agreement

On-Campus only

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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