In Her Words

Author/Artist Name

Amber RyanFollow

Files

Academic Level at Time of Creation

Senior

Date of Creation

Spring 4-25-2025

Artist Statement

"Don't bite your nails - it's not ladylike." "You're too big to be in ballet class." "Hey, Thunder Thighs." The whispers I heard in classrooms at a convent girls' school, not only from students but also from my teachers, would eventually crush anybody. This was the same school all the women in my family attended for generations, and the judgment instilled came down through the family. It only got worse as the years went on. Trust should be an inherent part of family and friendship, but time and again, the trust I believed to have built up with my women friends was betrayed. I bought into the system. Even having moved schools and having gone to college, the same games were played, and the betrayal of trust continued. Instead of standing together, we pit ourselves against each other. We allow ourselves to put other women down in order to make ourselves feel better. I am not immune to this impulse, but I hope to examine its sources and effects on myself and others in this work.

This body of work considers the inherent sexism women hold, shown by how we treat the women around us. These are words many of us hear throughout our lives, and not from the men we expect to hear them from, but rather from the women who are meant to love, guide, and walk with us. Our friends, mothers, grandmothers, and, in my case, great-grandmothers. I have combined my great-grandmother, Eileen’s, handwriting, taken from high-resolution scans of her phone book, fine metal hollow-form construction, glass enamel, and digital fabrication to bring her words to life. Each work examines the path I have taken and how my choices have come to shape my life. It helps me better understand my place in this world and what I have come to know as my truth.

The work of Cynthia Myron uses constructed spaces to open a dialogue between viewers, revealing shared memories. While Myron’s work contemplates physically constructed spaces, mine talks about those we have created as a society - walls built that we need to work to bring down together. Lauren Selden’s metalwork, often an object set atop a hollow-form base, juxtaposes geometric shapes with organic castings and fabricated parts, creating balance. Like my own work, hers incorporates geometric patterns on surfaces and integrates shadow, adding a visual and conceptual layer. Her practice encompasses both the hand and technology to explore her memories, as does my own.

My artwork aims to push the limits of materiality with the help of technology, creating works that actively engage my audience. Soft floral motifs, rigid structure, and strong lines underpin much of my process, contrasting each other, almost mirroring the battle between my own internalized sexism and the feminist I hope to be. It is not fair that this system of inherent sexism failed me and many other women. I hope that we can find some sense of justice by unveiling some of the words that impacted me most, but made me the woman that I am today, and not a woman in her words.

Advisor/Mentor

Jeanne Beaver, Sarah Martin, G. Scott Cook, T. Michael Martin

Description

This body of work considers the inherent sexism women hold, shown by how we treat the women around us. These are words many of us hear throughout our lives, and not from the men we expect to hear them from, but rather from the women who are meant to love, guide, and walk with us. Our friends, mothers, grandmothers, and, in my case, great-grandmothers. I have combined my great-grandmother, Eileen’s, handwriting, taken from high-resolution scans of her phone book, fine metal hollow-form construction, glass enamel, and digital fabrication to bring her words to life. Each work examines the path I have taken and how my choices have come to shape my life. It helps me better understand my place in this world and what I have come to know as my truth.

Photo Credit

Photos 12 through 17 were taken by Hunter Ezell. All others taken by Amber Ryan Lockhart.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Ryan, Amber, "In Her Words" (2025). B.F.A. Practicum Exhibition (ART 498). 146.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art498/146