I would like to express my appreciation to the MASSART community for professional,, intentional and caring support during my time here. The world as we have known it has changed drastically and I appreciate the support I have received within the MFA-LR program at MASSART.  My mentors have each offered me valuable insight and direction. My cohort has inspired me with their vision, intention and important work that they are doing. Staying connected to the MASSART community and my cohort through technology has been a creative life-line for me. The community and sense of place within this community is just one of the many reasons that I chose to attend MASSART.

Thank you for taking the time to review my work and I look forward to receiving your feedback. Your insights are invaluable to me and my creative process.

Introduction

My name is Patti Gillespie and I am in my thesis semester in the MFA-LR graduate program at MASSART.  At the beginning of the program I was living in Florida, which is where I did all of my undergraduate work at Northwest Florida State College and the University of West Florida.

A temporary relocation to Utah has given me unexpected opportunities. While in Utah, I have been inspired by professionals in a variety of art careers. The faculty in the Fine Arts Department of Dixie State University in St. George have been a supportive and valuable resource. All of my mentors have been faculty at DSU and have offered me a wide range of experiences.

I was given an opportunity to teach as an adjunct at DSU for three semesters.  Teaching foundational courses and working with the students was inspiring especially during the pandemic. The community at DSU during uncertain times is resilient, empathetic and supportive.

During the summer months I volunteered at the Sears Art Museum, on the campus of DSU, in the Eccles Fine and Performing Arts Center. This allowed me to be involved with, install and hang several shows including a Covid-19 pop-up show. I am inspired by the local art community making contemporary work relevant to our current global pandemic crisis.

At the beginning of my time at MASSART,  my work began as conceptual, introspective paintings. I was beginning to explore and push the boundaries of traditional mediums. My paintings explored ideas about myself and my changing relationships within my family, the community and the world.

My works have since evolved to include mixed media, 2D and 3D works and installation. Themes I explore within my works are the shared experience, personal boundaries, community and a sense of place within the community. I am interested in using non-traditional mediums to convey truth and explore new meaning within the shared experience and redefine personal and community boundaries.

In the great effort and struggle for human meaning and the opening that can happen in the undoing of previous ideas, there is a chasm of space to be filled with new insight and a self-awareness of the individual in relationship to the community, and with this, the creation of new human meaning. In being lost to the self, one can be found in the whole.