Lavender and Stone is an MFA thesis presentation that explores the resilience of women through the interplay of softness and endurance. Rooted in feminist theory, personal narrative, and site-specific installation in Lacoste, France, the work examines how intimate, often unseen gestures of caregiving, mourning, and domestic labor function as acts of resistance and remembrance. Through mixed-media painting and sculptural 3-D printing, ephemeral gestures as acts of care are transformed into enduring forms that resist erasure. By pairing traditional material practices with emerging technologies, the project builds what the artist calls a “feminine archive,” one that honors silenced voices while advancing new artistic frontiers. Lavender and Stone ultimately asks how memory is carried through touch, how grief is held in repetition, and how softness itself can become a structure of strength.
Dr. Maria Knuckley Robinson is a multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work centers on feminist theory, material memory, and site-specific installation. Her thesis project, Lavender and Stone, integrates painting, sculpture, and emerging technologies such as 3-D printing to explore themes of grief, caregiving, and the resilience of women’s voices. Robinson’s practice bridges traditional and contemporary processes, building intimate archives that honor intergenerational narratives while engaging innovative artistic methods. As an educator at Salem College, she is committed to fostering rigorous studio inquiry, critical dialogue, and creative experimentation across disciplines.