Abstract

This is a studio-based inquiry into the importance and necessity of ambiguity and improvisation in creative processes. The research and literature reviewed for this essay considers artists working in different mediums, such as film, music, writing, and the visual arts, who describe the thinking behind these aspects of process, as well as their potential in creating room for artistic discovery and interpretation. The studio work proposed for this thesis was a site-specific work that was to consist of several hundred small boats cast in ice. The boats were to be launched on a river adjoining the campus where the author teaches, during the winter month of February. The process of making these boats is described and documented, as well as the complications that unfolded in completing the work as initially planned. The challenges of working in a new medium, as well as the variability and flux of temperatures and river conditions, led to a smaller scale launch at an alternative location. This thesis also discusses the links between art and teaching, and the influence of process on these practices. Connections and realizations garnered from the research and experience of the studio work, reflect the author's desire to remain open and implicated as both an artist and teacher