Articulatus

Articulatus

• Artist: Thad Martin
• Title: Articulatus
• Media: Ceramic (all six)
• Dimensions: Six piece collection; dimensions below.
• Date: 1994 (all six)

Here are close ups of each individual sculpture. They each have separate titles.

  

1. "ooo" - 30 in. x 22 in. x 8 in.

2.  "ahh" - 36 in. x 20 in. x 20 in.

 

3. "err" - 28 in. x 22 in. x 11 in.

 4. "ege" - 34 in. x 23 in. x 8 in.

5. "mmm" - 32 in. x 27 in. x 10 in.

6. "uhhh" - 27 in. x 18 in. x 13 in.

• Biographical Information: Thad was born in Sacramento in 1967. He was not born deaf; he developed spinal meningitis in 1973 and that is what caused him to become completely deaf. He was mainstreamed in a hearing school as the only Deaf student. In fact, his parents had to fight the school district in order for them to provide him an interpreter! After he graduated, he was accepted into the University of California at Berkeley. It was while he was here when he was introduced to the Deaf community and began learning ASL. In 1989, Thad graduated with his bachelor's degree in Art and English and later on earned his MFA from the same university in 1992. He was an art professor at the University of California at Davis for a short time in 1994 and in 1995 he moved to Austin, Texas. He is still living here. (Biography)
• Artist's Statement: "I focus on heads alone rather than on bodies or extremities because our heads house our minds, in which our human experiences are firmly rooted, for that is where our perceptions are processed. Our voices rise up through our throats to pour forth from our mouths; our eyes are the 'windows to our souls.' the expression on our faces mirror our thought and feelings; they are our most direct and unfiltered source of interaction. Our facial expressions are the seat of silent communication."
• Background Information: "It is a composition of heads, the details of which are named after primal sounds. The relationships within it tell a wordless story of a deaf experience: from an awakening to one's sense of self, through a struggle for footing in the hearing world, to an affirmation of one's wholeness and an acceptance of the journey to come."
• Connection to Theme: I feel this connects in with my theme in Life Through the Eyes for a couple of reasons. First, Thad explains that he likes to create sculptures based on "heads" because he feels that is the most important part of the human body. It is the area where we show facial expressions, which is such a vital key in Deaf culture. Facial expressions are in fact grammatical  in ASL. For example, when asking a who/what/where/when/why question, eyebrows need to be pointed down. When asking a yes/no question, eyebrows need to be raised up. If someone didn't use facial expressions while signing, it would be very difficult to understand them. I like how Thad included this concept of facial expressions in his artist's statement because it is so true and relates to Deaf culture 100%. Each sculpture appears to have a different facial expression, so to me, it expressed the importance of using facial expressions when signing. The Articulatus collection is also referred to as a story of a Deaf person positively and optimistically accepting their identity as a Deaf individual. I feel this relates to my theme of Deaf culture because I think it is very important for Deaf people to accept themselves and be PROUD of who they are! Accepting their identity in the world is the first step to take in order to live a free and happy life because the Deaf community is a great environment for Deaf people to surround themselves in. The shorter heads of the collection (ahh, err, uhhh) are meant to represent a person's outward workings, while the taller heads (ooo, ege, mmm) represent a person's inner workings. According to the website, "Each pairing is dynamic and reciprocal, reflecting an outward manifestation of an inward state of mind and vice versa." I decided to show these sculptures in my exhibit because I felt they looked very exotic looking and they appealed to me. By just looking at them, you immediately start creating a storyline in your head of what they mean because they have a very mysterious energy. It was also the first collection of ceramic sculptures I had seen represented as a single piece and I felt it would make my exhibit more unique and interesting. 

Artist's statement (ctrl + click here) 

Background information (ctrl + click here) 
Sculpture information (ctrl + click here)