Ritual Process

iii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Bill and Barbara, my brother, Peter, sister-in-law, Sharon, my girlfriend, Sylvia, my cat, Oli, and all the other family and friends that have supported me in the pursuit of my dreams. iv Acknowledgement I am grateful to my thesis committee members, Aaron McNamee, Dan Rule and Kathy Rodriguez for all their help and guidance. I appreciate the efforts of the all of the UNO graduate faculty and my fellow graduate students who have helped me to think critically and be the best artist I can be. Abstract My art is a means for investigating the passage of time, the decay of physical things, and the truth of mortality. I explore these concepts through process-oriented sculptures that emphasize ritual and material. The process is communicated with the creation of relics, often existing as drawings or the remains of degenerated sculptures. These relics bear witness to the process. I focus on themes of temporal change and death because they remain central to our metaphysical and physical existence. I see a diminished reverence for the power of death in our culture, and through my work I aim to pay homage to death while offering viewers an experience of " being present, " a deeper awareness of our existence in time. The mindfulness I speak of is an awareness of life's temporal nature. My intention is to evoke an awareness of mortality giving rise to feelings of gratitude and humility.