Shift: Moving Art Classes Into Rural America, 2021 Fort Hays State University
Shift: Moving Art Classes Into Rural America, Amy Schmierbach Mfa
Art & Design Faculty Publications
For the past 25 years academia has worked to create virtual and on-line classes. They have become mainstream and an expectation at each university. They want to keep education accessible for individuals unable to come to campus or that live in remote locations. Across the country universities have shrinking enrollment for their on-campus courses. The student that do come to campus learn differently than what most professors have been taught themselves. These students are passionate about the world and they want to impact their communities. The usual lecture or art demo may not be enough to prepare our students for …
Dal And Rice, 2021 Rhode Island School of Design
Dal And Rice, Anushka Divecha
Masters Theses
I have always been a nostalgic person. I have boxes of old photographs, letters, birthday cards and objects from significant days in my life. I have confetti from different concerts, friendship bracelets and old diaries. While typically not represented by keepsakes, memories of food are some of my strongest. They encompass all five senses, which is perhaps why they are so powerful. Every time I smell a spice or taste something familiar, I am instantly transported to a certain place and time.
As a textile artist, I use materials, textures, imagery, and senses to evoke place and time. This year …
Transformers: Versatile Apparel For A Sustainable World, 2021 Rhode Island School of Design
Transformers: Versatile Apparel For A Sustainable World, Zihan Amy Peng
Masters Theses
This collection and book were inspired by a TED talk called “I broke up with fast fashion and you should too” by founder of The UpCycle Project Gabriella Smith. After I heard this inspiring talk, I reflected a lot on my own habits of clothes shopping during different life stages, how I became a fan of fast fashion, and how Covid-19 has impacted the way I shop and dress. I soon dug further into the ugly truth about the fast fashion industry’s environmental impacts, how their marketing strategies lure the general public to consume more products, and potential solutions to …
Building Narratives: Instilling Old Stories In New Spaces, 2021 Rhode Island School of Design
Building Narratives: Instilling Old Stories In New Spaces, Sharanya Aggarwal
Masters Theses
Here in Gurugram, tall, uniform, cold, imposing buildings loom over a newly developed metropolis, futilely competing with each other to become remarkable landmarks of the near future. Here, I close my eyes and fondly remember the celebratory streets and inextinguishable, vibrant atmosphere of New Delhi, one of the oldest cities in the country, which I used to joyfully call my home. Opening my eyes, all I see when I look outside my window are either vast spans of bare land or vertical skyscrapers and construction sites. Memories of home, objects, places, and streets are my living archive of my past …
Textile Architecture, 2021 Rhode Island School of Design
Textile Architecture, Zoe Yates
Masters Theses
The escalating climate crisis has exposed many cracks in conventional building systems. Modern architectural processes contribute to climate change by consuming high levels of energy throughout the building cycle—from sourcing materials to construction to energy use once buildings are in use. Conventional architecture’s emphasis on heaviness and permanence makes these problems unavoidable. Light, temporary architecture is a solution to both the environmental impacts of the practice (the cause) and to the challenges of living in ever more impermanent situations (the effect). As climate change continues to manifest in rising global temperatures, sea level rise, drought, unpredictable weather, and natural disasters, …
Insecurities: Tracing Displacement And Migration, 2021 Rhode Island School of Design
Insecurities: Tracing Displacement And Migration, Hammad Abid
Masters Theses
“Insecurities: Tracing Displacement and Migration,” the title of both my thesis work and thesis book, calls attention to displacement and forced migration as a disruption in the continuity of place, relationships, identity, memory, and time. Through a collection of textiles, I try to capture the psychological, social, and physical effects of forced migration and communicate the impact of political violence on identity and coexistence.
In this book, I position myself within the context of how the current Indian government is attempting to rewrite the nation’s history and distort India’s pluralistic story. I tell a personal narrative of displacement in harrowing …
Out Of Bounds, 2021 Rhode Island School of Design
Out Of Bounds, Luciana Iwamoto
Masters Theses
Humans have an inescapable desire for rationality, structure, and order. We seek efficiency and certainty in our individual and communal lives. We have been encouraged to believe that most things are under our control until something strikes us and brings to consciousness the limits of our knowledge. It’s usually nature’s wild power that overwhelms our faculty of reason and reminds us of our limits. Philosophers called this sensation of overwhelm in the face of nature the sublime experience. In modern cities, surrounded by skyscrapers, we are reminded of our own technological achievements, while nature feels disconnected and distant. Yet, if …
Reaping What They Sewed: Embroidery In Politics, Feminism, And Art, 2021 Union College - Schenectady, NY
Reaping What They Sewed: Embroidery In Politics, Feminism, And Art, Lilith Haig
Honors Theses
The feminization of needlework under patriarchal systems of power and oppression has reinforced both long-standing feminine stereotypes and temporal sociocultural ideals. As a tool of patriarchal oppression, needlework has been used to confine women to the domestic sphere by teaching them to stay in the home, be quiet, and follow a pattern; as an educational instrument, needlework reinforced standards of women’s behavior, aptitudes, and conduct. However, women for centuries have silently resisted and subverted these expectations and ideals through the very same means. Women have utilized needlework during times of crisis and collective trauma for centuries as both practicality and …
Formulating 3-Chloropropyltriethoxysilane Modified Silica Nanoparticle Sprays As Hydrophobic Transparent Coatings Onto Cotton Textiles, 2021 Ateneo de Manila University
Formulating 3-Chloropropyltriethoxysilane Modified Silica Nanoparticle Sprays As Hydrophobic Transparent Coatings Onto Cotton Textiles, Mikaela C. S. Mendoza, Gilbert U. Yu
Chemistry Faculty Publications
Cotton textiles were transformed into hydrophobic fabrics via the application of 3-chloropropylthriethoxysilane-functionalized silica nanoparticle spray coatings. Silica particles were measured to be < 50 nm, as determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The incorporation of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HTAB), a surfactant, into the nanosilica alcohol-based sprays resulted in a suspension that was stable for at least a week. Stability and turbidity tests of samples point to smaller particle size (silica nanoparticles = 24.3 ± 8.5 nm) as the main contributor to possibly providing transparency, as evidenced when sprayed in colored (black) textiles, while still contributing to hydrophobicity/ superhydrophobicity of the cloth.
The Art Of Heritage And Mortality, 2021 University of New Orleans
The Art Of Heritage And Mortality, Barbara Johanna Mileto
University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations
Through my art I explore the formation of cultural and personal identity addressing the importance of heritage, ancestors, and religion in Latin-American culture, while I develop my unique deities and spiritual space, creating my own iconography. The pieces are strongly autobiographical, using my family members, and frequently lived experience as a subject. Furthermore, I am drawn to the circle of life and productive failures - beginnings, deaths, and transitions. - My work integrates two-dimensional and three-dimensional mediums, ranging from photography and printmaking to assemblage and textiles, video and digital.
Body/Mind:Matter, 2021 Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College
Body/Mind:Matter, Mary Ellen Ratcliff
LSU Master's Theses
Body/Mind:Matter presents the unfiltered experiences of living in a period of momentous instability. Three life-sized figurative sculptures stage my emotional journey towards mindfulness as a direct response to the pandemic and my growing concern for our collective future. A winding network of crocheted yarns and growing vines interweave the troubled figures to signify our complex dependencies upon one another and our environment.
The condition of the encumbered bodies is a result of the worried mind. Revitalized matter proposes reconciliation by introducing a sense of hope; decaying surfaces reveal new life; fused wires hold up under immense pressure; and soft woven …
How To Navigate Womanhood Within The Patriarchy, 2021 Chapman University
How To Navigate Womanhood Within The Patriarchy, Hannah Scott
Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters
In medical journals and articles, a woman is not considered a woman until she has started menstruating, and she is no longer a woman when she reaches menopause (Hill, 2020). In this work, the ideas of life development as a woman from the perspective of the patriarchy are analyzed. "How to Navigate Womanhood Within the Patriarchy" is a quilt made from women's underwear. Each section of underwear represents a different aspect of a woman's life as stated by medical journalist, Yuko Takeda. Each stage is marked by something damaging or useful, such as mental health issues, sexual assault, child-rearing, etc., …
Architectural + Language: Breaking Barriers And Creating Cultural Dialogue, 2021 Kennesaw State University
Architectural + Language: Breaking Barriers And Creating Cultural Dialogue, Maria De Los Angeles Delgado Bailon
Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year
When I was 11 years old, I moved back to the United States, after having spent my whole childhood in Ecuador, my parents native land. I was moving back to the land of opportunity in the search for the so called ‘American Dream’. It was difficult to leave and move to a new place where we did not know anyone or have anything, but just the idea of a going back to my hometown piqued my curiosity and excitement. I remember very vividly, the day I left Ecuador. I remember telling myself to be happy, because this was a moment …
Icarus Rooted, 2021 James Madison University
Icarus Rooted, Lacey Minor
Masters Theses, 2020-current
This thesis conceptually frames and accompanies the MFA body of work Icarus Rooted by Lacey Minor. This work grapples with the acceptance of impermanence and illustrates her personal narrative about grieving family lost to addiction — juxtaposed with societal reflections on the opioid epidemic in America — using the potato as a symbol for the addicted body.
And All The Things That Grew On The Ground, 2021 James Madison University
And All The Things That Grew On The Ground, Sarah E. Phillips
Masters Theses, 2020-current
This is a document archiving and describing my work for the years 2019-2021 as part of the completion requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree. As a whole, this work investigates the paradox and negotiations of access to the self, the history, and to the landscape you occupy. It asks questions about authorship, valuing, sacred and sacrament, but retains the gravitation, umbilical tie to memoir and narrative. Ritual, habit, and transformational cleansing are recurring themes in the work. Body, breath-- access to the invisible. Preservation of the uncertain. Fragility carries weight, and importance, destruction and negotiation as vessels of …
What's Going On Here, 2021 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
What's Going On Here, Joanna R. Pike
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
This project is an installation depicting shirts and pants in various degrees of Recognizability. The Components vary from somewhat Unrecognizable to entirely Unrecognizable; Bumps and Blocks are interspersed and interrupt the Semi-logic of What’s going on here while adding repetitive elements to clarify the existence of the Semi-logic. The arrangement of the Components in the installation makes the Unrecognizable forms surrounded by the In-between Space into somewhat Recognizable versions of shirts and pants. The viewer does not fully recognize all the Components, but instead understands the implied Recognition given their existence within the installation. The ideas of Lists, Patterns, Systems, …
A(M(End)Ing))) Expectations, 2021 Winthrop University
A(M(End)Ing))) Expectations, Renee Holliday
Graduate Theses
This thesis statement explores how my intersectional identity as an artist and mother with a working-class background are intertwined, and how that upbringing has influenced each of these roles and my actions and interactions with those around me. The first part of this thesis A(m(end)ing))) Expectations serves to highlight the diverse experiences that helped form the basis of my identity while also exposing many of the unhealthy societal and familial expectations that are often placed upon women. The exhibition YES/AND is the culminating work of how these varied identities, combined with contemporary themes of feminism, affects my artistic decisions and …
Evaluating The Historical Accuracy Of Blackwork Embroidery With Fractal Analysis, 2021 University of Lynchburg
Evaluating The Historical Accuracy Of Blackwork Embroidery With Fractal Analysis, Rhiannon Cire
Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects
The intricate monochromatic embroidery that graced the collars and cuffs of Renaissance nobility and domestic materials from that era has been little studied beyond the historical costuming and crafting communities. This style, known as blackwork, for it was traditionally done in black silk on white linen, exemplifies how complex and visually-appealing designs can arise from repetition of simple forms, often demonstrating the fractal property of self-similarity. Though most blackwork patterns are not true fractals, fractal analysis offers a means of objectively quantifying their complexity and new lens through which to examine this embroidery technique. The purpose of this study was …
Unmentionables, 2021 Washington University in St. Louis
Unmentionables, Madeleine F. Grotewiel
Graduate School of Art Theses
This text explores the capacity for shamed bodily materiality to narrate the complexity of healing from sexual trauma while rape culture persists. Because rape is discussed so little in public, sexual healing often takes place under a meaty layer of shame, placed on the survivor’s body. Their truth is frequently interpreted as too much/gross/ugly/unspeakable for the public, and it is simultaneously not enough to be discussed/accepted/pursued as an actual issue. This uncomfortable teeter-totter comes from the patriarchal boundaries drawn between what is privately or publicly acceptable. There are plenty of depictions of sexual violence in popular culture and the canon …
Coping With Burdens, 2021 Missouri State University
Coping With Burdens, Jennifer Rose Wolken
MSU Graduate Theses
How to carry and cope with burdensome circumstances beyond my control is the main theme I am currently exploring in my artistic practice. I create art objects and experiences that can elicit an empathetic connection to the realities of living with burdens like grief and chronic illness, or help you to process your own relationship to a wide variety of burdens. Individual pieces explore aspects of how I or close family members cope. My practice is multi-disciplinary and the forms focus on reinterpretation of the book as a sculptural art object or artists’ book. The processes I use are overwhelmingly …