AXIS
First Name:
Matthew
Last Name:
Leavitt
Field of Study:
Intermedia
Keywords:
intermedia
art
variable media
mental health
By Matthew Leavitt
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Owen F. Smith
A Lay Abstract of the Thesis Presented
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Fine Arts
(in Intermedia)
August, 2011
AXIS is a thesis investigating the connections between mental health and art. Utilizing a source narrative about isolation and depression, AXIS explores the concepts of clinical psychology through a variety of mediums. This paper outlines the inspirations, processes, and outputs of these explorations. Using Karen Stever’s album, “Playground Isolator, AXIS transforms a piece of art used to battle depression and push it into larger scope of mental disorder. The first of these outputs is a hand-bound book using a literal method of interpretation; the second is a series of photographs taken by inspired diagnosis of the previous narratives, and finally culminating in an audio/visual installation.
AXIS was created to take one person’s story and posit it within a great field of research as well as create new pieces of art based on the original expressions of the album. Ranging theories from art therapy to variable media, this paper outlines the methods and outputs from origin to installation.
