Chasing Sublime -Thesis Project
What is it about
nature that evokes an intense emotional response? How do we respond? The feeling is difficult to explain, larger
than any of us. One feels small standing against the backdrop of a mountain
range or looking out at the vast sea.
Romanticism acknowledged
emotion evoked by the sublime cannot be recreated by man. Philosopher Edmund
Burke said, “The great chain of causes, which links one to another, even to the
throne of God himself, can never be unraveled by any industry of ours. When we
go but one step beyond the immediate sensible qualities of things, we go out of
our depth.” [1]
My interest in the
idea of the sublime has its roots in my Christian upbringing which encouraged a
respect for the Creator and an inherent humility in acknowledging that the spirituality
and passion of the sublime is often lost through man’s efforts to control
nature through order. Our ability to
create offers only a glimpse of the sublime.
The responses to the
sublime in nature are reflected in the dichotomy of the city. Soaring skyscrapers worship the
accomplishments of man. Cathedrals reach
toward the heavens in an attempt to rekindle the sublime. Rows of orderly trees stand in an effort to
tame and organize reducing the effect of the sublime in nature. In
walking around the city there is an absurdity in the mixing of nature and
manmade. The city becomes a monument to
the manmade.
Chasing Sublime explores the manmade city in contrast to
nature. The work is drawn by free motion
stitching on a sewing machine using sheer silk layered with ethereal drawings
of natural vistas, skyscrapers, and cathedrals.
The base for the piece is
comprised of evenly spaced trees formed into a serpentine path unwinding into shapes
that mimic architectural columns. The
trees reference both the vast scale of nature and man’s attempt at ordering
nature. Small vistas drawn from specific places in nature that once evoked the
experience of the sublime are repeated throughout the piece. The vistas become hazy references dulled by
repetition and deemphasized by scale. Nature is diminished to decoration. The emotional experience of the original
place is diminished as well.
Chasing Sublime is a call to the return of passion associated with
the sublime. A greater appreciation of
the experience of nature creates a positive relationship to nature in man’s
future creations.
[1]
Burke, Edmund. On the Sublime and the Beautiful,
Harvard Classics, Vol. 24, Part 2 . P.F. Collier & Son Company,
1909-14. 01 3 2013. .
