Cherished

Kate L'Heureux

Degree: MFA

Area: Graphic Design

Thesis Statement

My work explores the deeply personal stories and narratives surrounding the material things that have played important roles in my life and others’. Whether it’s been ceramic breakfast mugs evoking memories of rainbow sherbet and grandparents or cereal boxes reimagined as a visual journal, stories find themselves tucked within material things. The assemblage quality of my practice took root in my early creative endeavors. Working within constraints and without artistic materials, I was pushed to reimagine the objects that surrounded me and how they could function beyond their original purpose. Every material object felt open for exploration and creative play. This freedom of expression and material openness can be seen in my current work. Inspired by poets like Rumi who often write of gratitude for everyday surroundings, my practice reflects how this nourishes someone's connection to mindfulness and love for others. Found in places of everyday ritual, material things have had the power to center me mindfully and help me to hone in on my liminal presence in Bloomington, IN.

The exhibition Cherished invites the viewer to consider how we as humans arrange material things to create meaning. I evoke memories, people, and feelings by creating domestic inspired patterns from my own cherished things and spaces. Tracing photographs of each scene became a necessary meditation for depicting each illustration, the chosen style presenting a playful and honest window into the resonant power of everyday spaces. This exhibition also became an invitation for others to share their own cherished things and memories. The result of this is presented in book form. The books act as small windows. When closed, the books share reflections of things and the memories associated. Opened, the panels of rumination frame illustrations focused on inspiring real looking; the scale of each illustration may feel crowded at first, but the invitation to peer inside welcomes the viewer to instead freely look closer to unpack the details. Sitting at the conjunction of mindfulness and human connection, the exhibition is a celebration of the practice that we as humans cultivate with our personal evocative treasures. By bringing together the cherished things that inspire or soothe, this work addresses how beauty, transformation, and peaceful self–reflection may be seen as part of the everyday.