A Senior Capstone Experience by Aryanna Horan ’23

Submitted to the Department of Art & Art History (Studio Art)

Advised by Professors Heather Harvey and Julie Wills

Contributor Biography: Aryanna Horan is from Ellicott City, MD. In addition to majoring in studio art, she also minored in psychology. She loves animals – she and her family have 2 cats and 6 chickens, and she has a tank of shrimp and aquatic snails in her room. Aryanna’s current favorite video game is Stardew Valley. Crochet is her current favorite medium, and her mom’s friend taught her how to crochet when she was 14 years old. Aryanna is looking forward to working as an artist.

Description: Yarn is soft and wood is hard. I took random everyday objects (and some animals) and reversed their textures – I made hard items soft by crocheting them, and I put acrylic paint onto wood in order to make soft items hard. I also created objects with both soft and hard components by using both crocheted yarn and painted wood in a single artwork.

Some commonly crocheted items are blankets, clothing, and stuffed animals, but I made things that people do not expect to see crocheted. It is challenging and rewarding to crochet many different shapes and to reconsider the texture and functionality of objects.

See Aryanna’s SCE below:

“Ceiling Fan”

“Scissors”

“Snail”