Interior, Concept and Clay: A Study of Self and Space

• Main Author: Alan, Lily
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarship @ Claremont 2015
• Subjects: Space; Self; Art; Ceramics; Interior; Art and Design
• Online Access: http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/563; http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1553&context=scripps_theses

This paper considers theories of perception, interaction, and being as a historical and philosophical foundation for themes of space and the self within art; namely, my senior installation, Interior, Concept & Clay. Beginning with a biological discussion of the eye’s perception, the paper moves on to Kant’s theories of Differentiation of Direction in Space. From there, I discuss Gaston Bachelard’s text The Poetics of Space as an investigation of personal awareness within domestic interiors. Finally, I study the vast and varied philosophical notions of selfhood and no-selfhood with the help of John Canfield’s The Looking-Glass Self: An Examination of Self-Awareness. As these influential texts are connected to one another as important accounts of the human experience, I weave in the story of Interior, Concept & Clay as an example of selfhood and space interacting in multiple, complex dimensions.