From Here to the Ground

Author

Courtney McCrackenFollow

Date of Award

Spring 6-1-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Illustration

First Advisor

Hannah Subotnick

Second Advisor

JR Uretsky

Third Advisor

Leela Corman

Abstract

Art, for me, is a thinking process. It is also a process of connection to body and place. It directs my fractured attention toward the things I care about. As I labor through process, I am gifted with a moment of attentiveness. In a time where everything feels urgent, and our perspective can be warped by the endless flood of information, making art is a chance to stop, to think, and to feel.

It is a space for holding, and a space for being held.

Recently, I have been working primarily in animation and sound design, experimenting widely across media to create works that center my human experience in this specific moment in time, playing against an internet landscape flooded with content of increasingly decaying quality.

I use slow, traditional animation techniques combined with the digital to speak to my own simmering anxiety about society’s hyperfixation on disruptive technology and the devaluing of human labor. I have many questions, but not many answers.

My work is experimental and tactile. It indulges in process and strives to celebrate the essential qualities of the human-made work.

Recommended Citation

McCracken, Courtney, "From Here to the Ground" (2024). Masters Theses. 1284.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1284

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.