Date of Award

Summer 2000

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

English

Program/Concentration

Creative Writing

Committee Director

Janet Peery

Committee Member

Manuela Mourao

Committee Member

Sheri Reynolds

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E64 C48

Abstract

Georgia O'Keeffe said, "I think all the world has turned into what I'm seeing." Because O'Keeffe remained publicly evasive throughout her life, it is unknown what her art reveals about how she saw herself. However, what her art reveals about how she saw the world is apparent. The magnification of flowers and bones, the intensification of lines and colors in her paintings force viewers to look closer and to see differently. This notion of re-seeing what we believe we already understand, of re-experiencing what we believe we already comprehend, is at the heart of not only O'Keeffe's art, but also of my manuscript. Flower and Bone explores O'Keeffe's artistic notions of perspective and strives to reveal their relevance not only to painting and art but also to human eyes, hearts, and minds. The story attempts to connect painting to living, creating to remembering, and the artistic perspective to the human point of view.

We view art as we view experience, from a limited perspective, a single pair of eyes in a single context. The painting we see in this time through these eyes is not the painting seen by the man standing near us, nor by the child entering the gallery as we exit, nor even by us during our next visit. Perspective is all, not only in the creation of paintings but also in the understanding of our lives. It is not until we are forced to see differently, until our narrow perspective is widened that we begin to understand that all is there, within our sight, if we choose to see it.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/xkfw-dg49

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