Adam Klebon

Migrations
6 September 2020
interdisciplinary arts concentration

When trying to boil down to an essence my varying ideas for my thesis it all came down one thing: Change. I want to take a concept and push it as far as I can- or at least the the point where I believe I have created a piece that is successful. But I have never been one to dwell in any one arena for long. I flit from subject to subject. I keep all the doors and windows open. I come and go from many points. This lead me to a place where I had to reconcile two distinct aspects of my creative personality: my drive to push limits, and my unwillingness to tie myself down to a single pursuit. That lead me to my new thesis idea: Migrations.

Migration is defined in one way as the seasonal movement of animals from one region to another, and that is how the word is interpreted by most people but I am far more interested in the word’s secondary definition: movement from one part of something to another. This more generalized definition far better suits my intentions than my previous, more vague idea to study “dichotomies”. Rather than studying polar opposites I would rather explore how things change and evolve and in order to do that I want to truly embrace all aspects of my interdisciplinary concentration and create an installation or show that fully displays my dedication to this process.

In every way I am a multimedia artist and I would like to embark on a process that will hopefully lead to a dynamic and compelling show, however that is not my central focus as I know I should fix my eyes on the work itself and changes I can bring forth through the various processes I practice. These would consist of a very diverse cast of disciplines, most of which I have some prior experience with. I plan to include fiber arts such as clothing design, sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, and felting to create new pieces and transform pre-existing ones into something new, a something all my own. Also I intend to carry the use of found objects (whether from the natural or man made world) into my sculptural efforts in installations I call “Bower Boxes” which are inspired by the nests of Bowerbirds who create extraordinary nests with found objects, trash, fresh flowers, and straw and use them as stages for elaborate courtship displays. My boxes of carefully curated and arranged found objects however will serve the same purpose as all of my work, for it is all purely devotional in nature, and that I will address a little later on. Included also will be print work in the form of etchings, relief prints and possibly some letterpress work. The subjects will be similar to that of my Bower Boxes, nature and the man made. Each having its own distinct beauty. This all to serve a purpose, all to show a sort of strong and spiritual reverence for the world that I live in, the world that created me and what I have created in response to it.

For a while it was very hard for me to condense all that I wanted to do and all that I am into a direction I know I could maintain over the course of these next several months. The only thing I have found to be consistent with my work is change and that my work comes from a spiritual center with in me. So this is, in a nutshell, what I will be pursuing. I will take an idea, pursue it across mediums and endow it with the reverence I try and to approach life, and art with.