Abstract
The title of my thesis, Stealing the Horse, is not entirely accurate. The actual title is MitJemandem Pferde Stehlen Können. This is an obscure German saying regarding horses that goes back to the Middle Ages when horses were an essential part of daily life. MitJemandem Pferde Stehlen Können translates to one with whom you would steal a horse. It colorfully describes the one person in life you would trust enough to complete this utterly disruptive act – once punishable by death. The objects created which this written thesis supports, are metaphors for the disruption caused by loss, travel, time and memory. The sculptures are imagined and realised in multiples. They reveal how life events, sudden or slow, subtle or strident, interrupt. The multiples feature press moulded clay fired and unfired, sugar, wax, paper, fibre and inks. Using temporally calibrated materials, there is an intent for change, transformation byway of water, wind, temperature, animals, or humans. Materials as they relate to the history and my place within it are determined as I engage with imagery that represents my own experience. I was raised in the Roman Catholic church where we breathed sacraments and rituals. Today I practice wanderlust as my adult ritual by way of shifting homes freely and consequently I live in perpetual thought of my antipodean life split between the USA and New Zealand. With hints of blue, my new iconography is compiled in the form of a grid, representing structure, boundaries, continuity and repetition. Through this work, I find artistry in perfection and the extraordinary in imperfection.