Browsing by Author "McDaniel, Craig"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 12
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    Breaking Naming: The Multi-Valency of Being Human
    (2017) Eicher, Stefan; McDaniel, Craig
    Violence, whether physical or psychological, is sustained by the act of 'naming' -- placing people into categories of 'the other' based on a singular difference in socio-economic, ethnic, cultural, or religious identity. Art by its very nature works best when it succeeds in breaking the categories of certainty inherent in naming, disabling the mastery of language and optical assumptions the viewer brings with them to the work. My work seeks to break the 'violence of naming' -- transforming depictions and objects of violence by undermining the ability to fit them easily into pre-existing visual categories. Through the creation of dislocating juxtapositions, visual layering, and the deployment of surrealism my work seeks to change the meaning and substance of oppositional relationships and objects of violence, and in the process explores the multi-valency of human identity and connections between people. At a secondary level, within the context of war, and specifically Western interventions in the Middle-East and Central Asia, my work is also a critique of imperialism and power. "Breaking Naming: The Multi-Valency of Being Human" consists of three large-scale oil & acrylic paintings and two smaller sculptural/interactive installations which collectively serve as my Thesis Exhibition. In the course of this thesis paper I explore my strategies for 'breaking naming' by using specific descriptions of the works as launching points for formal, thematic, and conceptual discussions of the works. In the process I also draw on examples from my research and close with an exploration of the theoretical and metaphysical framework for the pieces.
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    Building a Universe Construction Series
    (2010) Tennant, Susan; McDaniel, Craig
    In his famous essay “On the Spiritual in Art,” Wassily Kandinsky, described art as a portrayal of spiritual values. He stated “All art builds from the spiritual and intellectual life. While each art form appears to be different externally, their internal properties serve the same inner purpose, of moving and refining the human soul.” [1] This belief in creating a dialogue between life and art that Kandinsky referred to is something I believe as well. The sculptures in this body of work Construction Series, re visualizations of this life-affirming philosophy.
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    Exploration Leading to Self-realization
    (2010-05) Sowles, Gene H.; McDaniel, Craig
    What I find interesting about the process of exploration is the quality of not knowing. When I came to graduate school it was with the intent of keeping an open mind to the possibility of growing. I wanted to be able to take my art to new places. I feel that with the recent emphasis on trying new forms by removing the representational aspects of what I had previously been involved with, I’ve found a new vocabulary that resonates personally as well as in a wider sense. Though using very familiar materials the things I have made were not familiar, at least not at first. I’ve gone through a stage or period of anxiety regarding the products and process of this exploration. I think it is a natural part of the process to question what the results are. So I question the process and the product of the process.
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    Herron Faculty Mentoring Program: New Initiative
    (Herron School of Art and Design, 2015-02-15) Jacobson, Marc; Roberts, Eva; McDaniel, Craig
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    Introspected
    (2010-05) Custer, Jacob; McDaniel, Craig
    The dichotomy between expression and interpretation allows communication to happen. Communication is a sensual experience. I approach art as a visual language and I use intuitive constructions of carved wood, engraved acrylic, and light projections as an expression of a personal interpretation of the introspected internal dialogue between my mind, my hands, my eyes, and the materials. The hand is an extension of the mind and the materials are an extension of the hand. As an artist I use the relationship between mind and hand to give physical form to ephemeral streams of thought. This body of work attempts to use the dichotomy of internal versus external that is woven into the human condition, as I understand it, through the construction of wooden armatures that fuse with scribed, shaped clear acrylic plastic forms. Clear acrylic that has been scribed by an engraving burin is melted and mounted onto the wooden armatures. Heating the acrylic softens it and allows for it to bend to the contours of the wooden structures the result is a drawing that has been transformed from a two-dimensional image to a three-dimensional object thus, the image exists in a physical space not an imitated or simulated space.
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    Let's Plan Our Escape
    (2010-05) Mason, Jill Marie; Winship, Andrew; McDaniel, Craig; Jamie, Pawlus
    I have one sister, Jenny, and most of our childhood was spent living in the country. With few other peers nearby to play with, we were best friends. Over time, we grew to be a very imaginative duo. I have many memories of playing pretend. It started early on. My earliest recollection of this activity is a happy one that is most likely triggered by a photograph of Jenny and myself. We are standing in front of the fireplace. Jennyʼs arm is around my shoulder and mine is around her back. We are both smiling. The photograph provides a three quarter view. We are each wearing a ruffled bonnet. Under Jennyʼs is a red yarn wig. The bonnets are tightly tied around our chins. Our faces are decorated with exaggerated freckles in a classic three points in a triangle fashion. We are wearing red, long sleeved frocks overlaid with white jumpers that have green diamond appliqués around the waist. Underneath these rompers we are sporting white knickers. Some may think that we are supposed to be Raggedy Ann, but those in the know (people, especially women, born in the mid 70s to early 80s) would recognize the garb as belonging to Strawberry Shortcake. Our mom fashioned these costumes for us on her sewing machine. She always nurtured and fostered our desire to pretend to be other characters or people and the creativity that came out of it.
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    My Question
    (2015) Marcial, Andrés; McDaniel, Craig
    A cage made out of words sets an unreachable distance made out of the void between you and me, even though your presence surrounds me all the time. What would an animal do in this condition? Be in a continuous state of alertness, observe a smile and the presence of death. Attack? Run? Bite? How would an animal feel in this condition? The proximity, a contraction, the necessity and the loneliness, wounded? Naked? Vulnerable? What would an animal see in this condition? The smell of sex, the lines, a violet shadow, distance? Identification? Copulation? I am that animal that smells the colors, I am that animal that fears death, I am that animal that wants to couple with its surroundings, that wants to possess and pair with what is desired. The possibility of losing speech, the possibility of losing the social role, there it is, potentially, living with me, as an animal that cannot explain himself and his existence.
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    New Approaches for Supporting and Encouraging Associate Professors to Pursue the Rank of Full Professor
    (2016-09-16) McDaniel, Craig; Jacobson, Marc; Roberts, Eva; Stevens, Madison
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    P4S Plan for Success
    (Office of Academic Affairs, IUPUI, 2017-11-14) McDaniel, Craig
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    Qualia
    (2010-07) Clune, Rebecca A.; Morrison, David; McDaniel, Craig; Agha, Anila; Jacobson, Marc
    When I look back at times that once were, and where I am today, I find one consistent factor. I have just as many questions today as I did back then. I do not remember my 9th birthday, I do not know the exact location I was on January 3rd, 1996, and what I was doing last Tuesday has already escaped me. These particular moments are ambiguous. The memories that find their way back into my present thoughts are for one reason or another particularly dignified. They find their way and have become the defining factors of how my character has come to be. So I ask myself, where do memories come from? How, or why do certain events remain in my thoughts while others slip away? What had happened in those lost moments? When we are forced to connect the dots of our past, one inevitable side affect occurs. We obtain a distorted version of the original moment, where the missing pieces must be filled in and translated. Qualia is a body of work I have created to present my journey. How we feel a memory certainly is unaccompanied by directions. These moments are filled with uncertainties to how, when, or why certain events took place. The work catalogs my curiosity of how our thoughts travel through the missing moments of life. It is within my recycled thoughts that I can examine the fragments, gaps, and transformations. Qualia, by definition, is being aware that we are having an experience, it is the acknowledgement of a sensation. I have created a body of work to explore the sensation of recalling memories. The mixed media exhibition brings to life my curiosity about memory and the search to understand it.