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ABOUT

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GRAPHIC DESIGN

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PAINTING

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PRINT MEDIA & PHOTOGRAPHY

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SCULPTURE

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VISUAL NARRATIVE

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@bu_visualarts

@bu_graphicdesign

@bostonpainting

@pmp.bu
@bostonsculpture
@buvisualnarrative

@art.kristend

she/her

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Kristen DavisSTRUCTURE

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The handmade and the digital can be combined under the umbrella of graphic design. They can be combined to explore the natural structures of the world, including the patterns of nature and the structure of human anatomy. My work is a combination of handcrafted, digital, and the in-between thanks to my Cricut machine. The goal is to make new discoveries about the beauty of the natural world by combining these three making processes. I explore what it means to design and be designed.

I explore new ways to combine the handmade with the digital. My thesis also aims to uncover how the natural patterns and structure of the world can be represented in these mediums. Does the way these patterns are presented affect the way the viewer perceives them? Does the approach to making result in a more abstract and artistic result, or is it more designed and graphic? I hope to be able to answer these questions by creating a body of work that will represent different forms of designing.

Natural patterns and anatomy have been explored through many different creative lenses. There are many designers who combine the analog with the digital. The art of papercutting is a less explored topic in the design world, though it does exist. Combining craft and design is a complicated task due to the complicated production process and difficulties related to mass production and distribution.

I am more comfortable exploring creativity through the lens of an artist than a designer. I approach my thesis from a graphic design standpoint, finding ways to marry in the handcrafted through different experiments. My thesis is a combination of experiments with the goal being to discover something new about the making process and how different mediums affect the viewer’s perception of the subject.

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