A thought-provoking voyage 'On the Styx'

In classical mythology, the River Styx was the border between the world of the living and the dead. "On the Styx," the provocative senior thesis exhibition by Julie Dickerson '10 and Kaitlyn Hay '10, explores a different kind of boundary: that between natural creation and man-made destruction .

Each artist, however, addresses this question differently. Dickerson's large, dark, war-themed charcoals explore the paradoxically creative aspects of destruction. Hay, meanwhile, compiles and builds up objects to create forms, many of which also portray themes of death. Unlike Dickerson, Hay is more explicitly concerned with her artistic process. "I apply the principle of ‘more' to the pile to endow it with form, be it mountain or mass burial," Hay said. "What you see is the appropriation of objects ... reconstituted to challenge our notions of the forms they should take."

This idea certainly holds true for one of Hay's first pieces in the show, which consists of rows of hooks with magnolia tree cones hanging from strings. A sign reads: "Please take an ornament to decorate yourself." Hay reappropriates the conventional use of the media by transforming the purpose of the objects - the Magnolia tree parts and string - into something else: jewelry.

In contrast to the tree necklaces, in "Blossom-Blossom Scotland," Hay uses fabricated materials to create nature. The work is a series of vines, made from paper, wire, gesso and gloss: a natural form made from unnatural things.

Dickerson's "Helicopter" hangs on the ajoining wall. She splits a continuous image of a cityscape through the perspective of a helicopter pilot into three panels. The destruction of war infiltrates into the artistic process as she tears her work. We are complicit in this destruction, too: Since the pilot is out of the frame, and all we see are the controls and the skewed city through the windshield, the viewer takes on the identity of the pilot. In a different charcoal drawing done in oil stick, "Tank," Dickerson reverses the perspective - now the tank towers threateningly over us.

Dickerson pairs each object with an insightful quotation to shed light on the message behind her pieces. This text explores the irony that it is war and violence that often protects and advances posterity. One of her few mixed-media pieces, "Flag," depicts a family sketched onto a piece of cut-up fabric that has been woven together. The deconstructed material blurs the image of domestic bliss - the destruction must be overcome to achieve peace. A quote from John Adams accompanies the piece: "I must study politics and war so that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy."

Hay also probed the theme of death in two exceptionally creative installations. In the corner of the second room, she piled up a combination of unexpected materials - chicken wire, plywood, bubble wrap, paper pulp, Sculpt-A-Mold, resin bones, plastic toys, plastic flowers, Barbie dolls, rubber animals, wooden clown figures and a host of other objects - to create "Mountain Shrine." The cheerful colors of the bubble wrap and toys become eerie when you notice that bones support the sculpture and hold up the various layers of bright objects. A skeleton hand even reaches out of the pile to hold a ball. This is a shrine for the dead, comprised of things that people enjoy during the idle times of life.

Hay's "Body Tectonic" portrays the cycle of life and death in four small islands. The piece is on wheels and is adorned with chicken wire, burlap, plaster, paint and earth, while the islands are arranged in a circle. Overlapping limbs and a body's torso protrude from the burlap on one island. In the next, only the arms are visible above the sandy-colored burlap. The largest island is covered entirely with burlap, and only the faint remains of human form can be detected. Finally, on the last island, the burlap is sprinkled with grass and earth. When the dead body has been disintegrated, life can grow anew.

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Though the relationship between the artists' works is not made explicit in the exhibition, the intermingled display encourages the audience to consider the exhibit as a cohesive unit. This is not too difficult a feat, considering that the one thing both artists seem to be interested in is the overpowering nature of death and its ability to extend and enrich life. The works are not dead or alive - they are trapped in between while crossing the River Styx.