Date of Graduation
Spring 2025
Degree
Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies
Department
Art & Design
Committee Chair
Sarah Williams
Abstract
Ordinary Signs, Practical Magic outlines my personal wrestling with belief – in art, in spiritual intervention, in self, and in the quiet forces that guide us through the world. Using the frameworks of ordinary signs – tactile and visual cues that ground and orient me and practical magic – what I define as human intervention and the act of creation – this work examines how attention, care, and materiality shape my understanding of meaning and connection. Through visual data collection –photography, assemblage, collage, drawing, painting and found objects – alongside poetic writing and personal narrative, my thesis navigates the tension between control and chance, presence and absence, belief and doubt. It reflects on how I transform the ordinary into something symbolic, how process becomes ritual, and how the act of making becomes an expression of care. This thesis project culminates in a public exhibition and visual collection, inviting viewers to engage in their own process of noticing and believing, encouraging a slower, more attentive way of moving through the world – one where every object holds potential, and every act carries meaning.
Keywords
ordinary signs, practical magic, belief, process-based art, materiality, memory, visual research, visual poetry
Subject Categories
Art Practice | Fine Arts | Poetry
Copyright
© Erin Patricia Tyler
Recommended Citation
Tyler, Erin Patricia, "Ordinary Signs, Practical Magic" (2025). Graduate Theses/Dissertations. 4071.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/4071
