Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
Furniture
First Advisor
Lothar Windels
Second Advisor
Pete Oyler
Third Advisor
David Wiseman
Abstract
Recombobulation, a play on the word discombobulated (completely disoriented and utterly confused), is intended as a joke. In the lore of the Milwaukee airport, the Recombobulation Area is located between the TSA check point and the boarding area, or likewise right after you land and before you are heading out of the airport. It's an area to regroup, get your bearings, or if you're anything like me, have a beer.
I've chosen this made-up word as a thesis title, both for its informal tone and to pay homage to my home town. It offers an air of lightness to otherwise chaotic and stressful situations. Being able to make light of a difficult situation is an attitude that I accredit to growing up in the Midwest, specifically Milwaukee. Winters are long and usually pretty harsh, but what is lost in the winter, the city makes up for with its appreciation of the summer, spring and fall. This aspect of taking the bad with the good is the way life tends to work out for me.
Additionally, recombobulation is a good word to describe how I approach my work as I reassign value to the discarded, overlooked and mundane object. Constantly I recombobulate found objects discovered in their environment into furniture.
I hope that my work brings attention to the seemingly undesirable things in order to change people's perspectives on what they think is valuable, and how they should be aware that the pressures of our society to fit in, stay up to date, and consume, are not always derived from “quality” ideologies.
Recommended Citation
Kmieciak, Gregory T., "Recombobulation- Taking the Bad with the Good" (2026). Masters Theses. 1614.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1614
Creative Commons License
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