College students often come home to raid the refrigerator and their parents? wallets.
When Elizabeth Forbes returned to Independence Township a few weekends ago, she left with childhood toys and trinkets to use in her master’s thesis.
Forbes, a 1999 Clarkston High School graduate, is one of 16 students graduating this year in the Master of Arts in Digital Arts (MADA) program at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). As part of MICA’s annual MA Digital Arts Thesis Exhibition, people will see the work of Forbes and other graduates from May 5 ? May 15 in the Fox 3 Gallery in Baltimore.
The exhibition features digital photos and drawings, interactive installations, video works and short films.
For her thesis, Forbes looks to ‘explore the ways in which children play at life through their toys and how that reflects back on our society.? She constructed scenarios using the materials and toys of childhood to represent scenes from everyday life reflective of the often grim realities many people face.
According to Forbes, several factors played a role in her thesis topic. Watching her brother Jeff’s daughter shopping for toys and reflecting back on her own childhood spurred her to focus on the issue. The display, in its final stages of completion, focuses on a wide range of topics from war to family issues like abuse.
‘It’s not quite a critique. I don’t think its bad for kids to play out these types of things. It’s more of an observation,? said Forbes, who noted her display had grim elements, but was not all gloom and negativity.
‘I’m trying to bring out to people that kids do have to deal with these things and that may be overlooked sometimes. I want them to be thinking about the ways our lives can affect kids.?
All the photos in her display use toys and childlike materials to form dioramas.
‘It’s something I’m curious about myself. The way children handle issues and why things happen because I as an adult don’t understand a lot of them, so (the children) must understand less,? said Forbes. ‘The display asks questions about how much we expose our kids to. I’m not big into censoring kids, but helping them understand what they do see.?
In the future, Forbes hopes to work in free-lance photography and computer arts.
In addition to her supportive family, Forbes credited the media program at CHS as being important to her work today. After graduating from CHS, she earned a bachelor’s degree in photography and English language and literature from Grand Valley State University in 2004.
‘Clarkston had very good teachers and there was a very supportive environment,? said Forbes.
Although she enjoyed the media program at CHS, her interest in the art from did not blossom until she took a few photography classes at GVSU. Taking her father’s old camera he used while in the Army in Germany during the Vietnam War, Forbes interest grew with those early undergraduate classes.
‘I fell in love with it,? said Forbes who since has returned the camera to her father, but purchased a similar one.
Forbes? parents, Larry and Carol still live in Independence Township. Her older brothers, David and Jeff, live in southeast Michigan.
For more information on the MA Digital Arts Thesis Exhibition visit www.mica.edu or call 410-225-2300.