Erin McChesney

My name is Erin McChesney! I am a recent graduate from Tufts University, where I earned degrees in Archaeology and Interdisciplinary Fine Arts with a minor in Chemistry. I plan to pursue a graduate degree in art conservation and am excited to gain greater experience in preserving and conserving our artistic heritage. This site highlights my academic and artistic portfolios!

• CV
• Conservation Work
• Academic Papers
• Recent Artistic Work
• Artistic Portfolio

3D Work

• Pottery and Sculptural Work

Check out my ceramic portfolio. Within the discipline of pottery, I have experience with wheel throwing and glaze chemistry, as well as foraging and processing natural clay. Within my sculptural portfolio, I have experience with plasticine, wood, plaster, clay, and metal.

2D Works

• Drawing, Printmaking, and Paintings

Take a look at my drawing and printmaking work. I have experience with graphite, ink, and lithography. With my painted work, I primarily work within the mediums of watercolor and oil.

Academic Papers

• Ancient and Future Ecologies of Cultural Heritage

• The Influence of Etruria on Artistic Development

• Ceramics in Southern Appalachia: Fuel for, Resistance to, or Survival against Colonialism

• Power and Privilege in Artemisia Gentileschi’s Esther Before Ahasuerus

BFA Senior Thesis Project: Disruption

Wood, foraged and purchased clay, wool, and epoxyThis sculptural piece mimics the artist’s childhood drop-leaf table, turned on its side, climbing up the wall. By working with themes of disruption, cycles, and fragility, the work highlights the strong influence that industry has had in Northern Appalachia. It is primarily guided by the artist’s experience of growing up nearly simultaneously with the fracking industry in the region. It discusses how fracking mimics historic industries, such as coal and steel, by becoming intertwined in the regional cultural landscape and economics, dividing communities while threatening human and environmental health.These industries come and go, but the people remain and witness the depression left in their wake. With the incorporation of foraged clay and her family farm’s wool, the work also contends with the extractive mining processes present in the artistic industry.