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Talk To Me, I Am Listening, Larbi Sami Ben
Talk To Me, I Am Listening, Larbi Sami Ben
Theses and Dissertations
An introductory conversation with a new person I just met usually goes like this: So, where is your accent from ? Are you American? Well, yes, .....but no. Not really. I do have American citizenship and I lived in the US for fifteen years but I grew up in France. Ok, so you’re French? Well, yes, but .....not totally. My mother is French but my father is Tunisian. Ok, so you’re Tunisian? Well, yes, but... not wholly. I don’t speak Arabic, so I don’t totally feel Tunisian. So what are you? American? French? Tunisian? With my work, I ask the …
Like Nixon To China: The Exhibition Of Slavery In The Valentine Museum And The Museum Of The Confederacy, Meghan Theresa Naile
Like Nixon To China: The Exhibition Of Slavery In The Valentine Museum And The Museum Of The Confederacy, Meghan Theresa Naile
Theses and Dissertations
This study analyzes two successful exhibitions on American slavery in the South: In Bondage and Freedom: Antebellum Black Life in Richmond, Virginia, 1790-1860 by the Valentine Museum and Before Freedom Came: African American Life in the Antebellum South by the Museum of the Confederacy. It puts the exhibitions in the context of the social history movement, and explains the difficulties exhibiting a sensitive topic. It examines the creation of the exhibitions, the controversies because of the subject, both real and potential, and the overwhelmingly positive reaction.
A Gaze Into The Personal Aesthetics Of Three Sons Of The Silver Age Of Russia, Karl Green
A Gaze Into The Personal Aesthetics Of Three Sons Of The Silver Age Of Russia, Karl Green
Theses and Dissertations
Abstract A Gaze into the Personal Aesthetics and Accomplishments of Three Sons of the Silver Age of Russia By Karl Green A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Director: Dr. Noreen C. Barnes Professor, Director of Graduate Studies School of the Arts For each of us, I wonder how much our geographic location and time of existence affects us as humans: the way we think, respond, grow, and live our daily lives. More importantly, I question how our environment dictates who we …
Lee Bontecou's Early Reliefs (1959-1965): A Critical And Contextual Analysis, Rachel Dalton
Lee Bontecou's Early Reliefs (1959-1965): A Critical And Contextual Analysis, Rachel Dalton
Theses and Dissertations
American artist Lee Bontecou’s oeuvre is often described as difficult to categorize or “mysterious.” Her early work—a series of metal and canvas reliefs made between 1959 and 1965—is linked to a range of stylistic associations including such radically divergent movements as assemblage, minimalism and abstract expressionism. Alternately, contemporary art historian Mona Hadler cites a series of iconographic connections between Bontecou’s reliefs and the popular culture and politics of the late 1950’s and early ‘60s. Using historian Reinhardt Koselleck’s theorization of historical time where history is constituted by an amalgamation of “temporal layers” based on particular historical perspectives, this thesis will …
A Survey Of The Martin S. Ackerman Foundation At Vcuarts Anderson Gallery., Elizabeth Girard
A Survey Of The Martin S. Ackerman Foundation At Vcuarts Anderson Gallery., Elizabeth Girard
Theses and Dissertations
The museum field has changed dramatically in the past thirty years, shifting from museum staff collecting anything and everything to staff collecting with a narrow focus defined within a museum’s collection plan. Today’s museum professionals are faced with a backlog of collection problems such as works that do not fit within the museum’s mission statement, unaccessioned works and a lack of storage due to the overzealous collecting of previous generations. Many museums are now attempting to deal with the problems left by past staff members by going through the collection, piece by piece, and making decisions which shape the collection …
Unseen, Sohee Kwon
Unseen, Sohee Kwon
Theses and Dissertations
Photography conveys informative data, aesthetic value, and a conceptual message very much like graphic design. In the hands of the photographer, the viewfinder of a camera becomes an editing tool. Editing by point of view, use of color and cropping determines a great deal about the communication made by imagery. In my creative project, I will explore photography as a means to generate form, concept, and content. As a result of this exploration, I expect to find new ways of approaching graphic design problems. My goal is to develop themes that combine aspects of photography and graphic design. Themes could …
A Sense Of Place: A Personal Exploration, Analysis And Re-Interpretation Of Diverse Places, Hyejin Park
A Sense Of Place: A Personal Exploration, Analysis And Re-Interpretation Of Diverse Places, Hyejin Park
Theses and Dissertations
Every city/place has unique, distinctive qualities. Individuals acquire a sense of place in accordance with their own experiences and perspectives, which may not be the same as the experiences and viewpoints of another person. In this project, I explore, analyze, and re-interpret three places that have creatively and emotionally influenced me and remained in my memory: Times Square, New York City; Insadong, Seoul, South Korea; and Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia. To comprehend and draw a sense of place, I observe, feel, and document the characteristics of each place through different methods and processes, based on my own experiences. In addition, …
Mobile Exhibition System, Sanford Jillian Columbus
Mobile Exhibition System, Sanford Jillian Columbus
Theses and Dissertations
Through the development and design of a Mobile Exhibition System (MES) in this thesis, I will demonstrate the benefits and possibilities of a flexible and mobile system within an exhibition environment. A flexible system will be able to adapt to a wide range of content, while at the same time, maintaining a synergy between its form and function. By the reuse and reappropriation of shipping containers as the exhibition envelope, the goal of mobility can be achieved, reaching out to those who might not otherwise experience learning through an exhibition environment.
Design By Accident, Mengfu Zhang
Design By Accident, Mengfu Zhang
Theses and Dissertations
Accident is a metaphor for life. From an arbitrary point in time, we potentially preview the entirety of existence. There is a Chinese idiom called “ blessing or bane,” which implies that a misfortune may perhaps soon turn into a blessing. Focusing on accident as a design method implies making the best out of a bad situation. An accident reveals invisible circumstances and potentialities in the world, both familiar and unfamiliar. Looking into the unpredictable world, I can begin to release my control, take a breath, and see what might happen if I do not fight the situation. I am …
Creating An Environmentally Sustainable Costume Shop, Katherine Stone
Creating An Environmentally Sustainable Costume Shop, Katherine Stone
Theses and Dissertations
The goal of my thesis is to provide the reader with a better understanding of how to create an environmentally sustainable costume shop. I chose to focus on certain elements of the costume shop that are imperative to the function of the shop, but desperately need to change for the sake of the environment. The elements I focused on were fabric, energy, and chemicals. Armed with a better understanding of why and what needs to be changed, the reader will be able to take this knowledge and apply it to their costume shop and life. We need to change how …
Mikhail Bakhtin's Appropriation In The West And A Needed Return To Primary Texts: A Review Of Authoritative Criticism And A Return To The Idyllic Chronotope In Jude The Obscure, Alaina Hohnarth
Theses and Dissertations
Mikhail Bakhtin's Appropriation in the West and a Needed Return to Primary Texts: A Review of Criticism and a Return to the Idyllic Chronotope in Jude the Obscure
Directing Autobiographical Theatre, Shanea Taylor
Directing Autobiographical Theatre, Shanea Taylor
Theses and Dissertations
This is an exploration of the director's role in autobiographical theatre. The director is in a unique position when storytelling on a personal level is being executed theatrically. I explored this topic over the course of directing three plays, each of which contained a strong personal storytelling element, which broadened my perspective of the director's role. The three plays were Slashtipher Coleman’s The Neon Man and Me, Birth by Karen Brody, and Will Power to Youth Richmond presents: William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Traditionally, the director’s role includes a myriad of tasks. These tasks can include and are not limited …
Crafting Authenticity, Allison N. Schumacher
Crafting Authenticity, Allison N. Schumacher
Theses and Dissertations
Authenticity is what we want from the world around us, from others, and crucially from ourselves and what we make. As it relates to graphic design, I define authenticity as a perceived match between form and purpose. For the designer, its quality is found in the process of simultaneously developing a concept and crafting the design/object.
A Matter Of National Concern: The Kennedy Administration And Prince Edward County, Virginia, Brian Lee
A Matter Of National Concern: The Kennedy Administration And Prince Edward County, Virginia, Brian Lee
Theses and Dissertations
A MATTER OF NATIONAL CONCERN examines the Kennedy Administration’s contribution to the restoration of public education in Prince Edward County, Virginia, and determines if those actions support the dominant narrative of Kennedy’s overall civil rights record – a historical assessment generally generated from a few acute crises. For five consecutive years (1959-1964), in defiance of federal court orders, the county board of supervisors refused to levy taxes to operate public schools, marking Prince Edward County as the only locale in the nation without free public education. The county leadership organized a segregated private school system for the 1,400 white children, …
New Play Dramaturgy: Finding Sunsets In Nantucket, Ian Tweedie
New Play Dramaturgy: Finding Sunsets In Nantucket, Ian Tweedie
Theses and Dissertations
This is an outline of the journey of James Campese’s La Vita Nuova. It began as a raw script entitled Sunsets in Nantucket, which I originally encountered during the spring of 2006. After edits, research and meetings it became a successful work which was presented as a staged reading on March 1st, 2009. This thesis describes how I worked with James to transform the script into its final product, managing both the delicacy of the script and the writer. Included is research on New Play Dramaturgy that helped me find the most effective way to work with the script, then …
The Certainty Of Uncertainty, Julie Nagle
The Certainty Of Uncertainty, Julie Nagle
Theses and Dissertations
In this paper I investigate the limitations of memory, physical and psychological effects on individuals’ perception that effect memory, and the impact of those limitations on our ability to recall objective truth. The paper is introduced with an explanation of my interest in the subjective narrative voice in historical accounts and questions the possibility of a completely objective voice. In the first chapter, a fantastical biographical story of the life of Tycho Brahe is used as an example of the difficulty in parsing truth from legend. Descriptions of changes in scientific methods exemplify the uncertainty of scientific fact. I propose …
Creative Insubordination, John Henry Blatter
Creative Insubordination, John Henry Blatter
Theses and Dissertations
In today’s lexicon a ‘Daily Constitutional’ usually refers to a daily walk. But in actuality, a ‘Daily Constitutional’ is something that one does on a daily basis that is beneficial to one’s constitution or healthful(1); and one’s constitution being the aggregate of a person’s physical and psychological characteristics(2). With this definition, the daily constitutional refers to any daily activity that improves a person’s physical or mental health. At various stages in my life I may have understood my constitutional to be any number of things and it was not until I came into my own did I truly discover my …
Collapse, Mia Feuer
Collapse, Mia Feuer
Theses and Dissertations
Through large sculptural works that are often caricatures of representational objects, my work explores the complicated moments and tangled histories of childhood Jewish schooling in Winnipeg and travels to Israel and Palestine as an adult. My thesis exhibition Collapse, as well as most of my graduate work, examines my investigation through manmade constructions that control and restrict or unite and connect the movement of others. Sculptures about a destroyed bridge’s imagined longing for exotic places, a giant onion serving as a resuscitation mechanism against tear gas or a construction crane to Armageddon are some examples of work that explore the …
Heritage Braided, Akiko B. Jackson
Heritage Braided, Akiko B. Jackson
Theses and Dissertations
The awareness of marginality, oppression, and hierarchy at an early age directly influences the creation of work specific to my identity as a woman of color. Born and raised on an island in the Pacific Ocean, I was aware of my sense of location and space relative to the world. The vast ocean separating me from the ‘mainland’ created a specific understanding of marginality, of what is “main” and what is “minor,” and how these categorical placements continued from my youth to ongoing perpetuation. The work I create has a subtle and persistent investigation into my identity as a socio-economic …
A Tlapalizquixochitl Tree, Christopher Mahonski
A Tlapalizquixochitl Tree, Christopher Mahonski
Theses and Dissertations
This writing was done in correlation to my thesis show, The Void, the Coach and the Future.
On A Saturday, Thoughts And Revelations, Maria Pithara
On A Saturday, Thoughts And Revelations, Maria Pithara
Theses and Dissertations
A favorite poet, a strange woman on the beach, pictures I love to look at. Back yard voyeurism, some thoughts on portraiture and why I couldn’t be a photographer. Strange rituals that make sense. Unexpected revelations. Two kinds of light. This essay presents part of the constellation of thoughts, images and ideas that have informed my most recent video installation, Saturday.
Fountains, Toshiyuki Tanaka
Fountains, Toshiyuki Tanaka
Theses and Dissertations
Most of my works are figurative and depend on my memory when I was modeling. I’d like to attempt to clarify the memories through process of modeling. When I model a human, it might not be a perfect imitation of body because it’s a representation of memories, and it’s affected by memories. It is not important to imitate the human form, but I’m interested in gathering memories and giving a form to them. I’m interested in life force and transience of life, so I was looking for a material which can represent these qualities. When I am engaged glass, I …
Structure And Repetition, Jon Sutter
Structure And Repetition, Jon Sutter
Theses and Dissertations
This work is the result of an exploration into the relationship of form and pattern. Its inspiration began as an experiment where certain two dimensional graphical patterns were interpreted as three dimensional elements in a lattice-like assembly. The resulting compositions are built entirely of MDF, and each piece is made from multiple copies of one or two identically shaped parts that are joined with shallow grooves. Some of the pieces resemble Asian architectural lattices as well as the scientific models of molecules in crystals. Often, the flat components seem to undulate in space or twist into impossible shapes. Although the …
Nature Calls, Angela White
Nature Calls, Angela White
Theses and Dissertations
I am wandering wonderingly through the unplanned material atmosphere shaped by differences in temperature and moisture. The chaotic nature of weather phenomena is the catalyst for visual exploration of the subterranean catacombs of reality. The work is metaphor of nature and its creation of form and substance. Observing art and nature: I am allowing nature to be the instigator of art.
Lollipop, Don't Be A Hero, Jennida Chase
Lollipop, Don't Be A Hero, Jennida Chase
Theses and Dissertations
Lollipop, Don’t Be a Hero explores the conceptual and visual themes that are presented in my MFA thesis exhibition. This thesis recounts the development of my work during the two years of graduate study at the VCU Photography and Film Department. The research looks into historical and contemporary ideas within art, social and philosophical commentary and literature, which influence my creative process and aesthetic. This work investigates the idea of giving a voice to a specific section of the working class.
On The Beginning Of Contemporary Tibetan Art: The Exhibitions, Dealers, And Artists., Martha Allison
On The Beginning Of Contemporary Tibetan Art: The Exhibitions, Dealers, And Artists., Martha Allison
Theses and Dissertations
Contemporary Tibetan art has been internationally exhibited since the year 2000, and it continues to receive increasing recognition among international galleries and collectors. This thesis focuses on three major contributing factors that have affected the rising success of the contemporary Tibetan artists. The factors include ways in which popular stereotypes have influenced Western museum exhibitions of Tibetan art; dealers have marketed the artworks; and artists have created works that are both conceptually and aesthetically appealing to an international audience. Drawing from exhibition catalogs, interviews and art historical scholarship, this thesis looks at how the history of these factors has affected …
The Ambassador's Residence At 909 West Franklin, Jonathan Janis
The Ambassador's Residence At 909 West Franklin, Jonathan Janis
Theses and Dissertations
In redesigning the century old Scott House into a modern Class IV residence of an US Ambassador, his/her family, and staff the concepts of transparency, circulation, and materiality and the ideas of openness and design as a display of national identity are explored.
Hotel + Urban Community Interwoven, Cilvia Jones
Hotel + Urban Community Interwoven, Cilvia Jones
Theses and Dissertations
Infusion is a gallery hotel that seeks to promote and encourage interaction between the local people of the community and traveling guests. More than just a hotel for rest and relaxation, Infusion will display a public gallery making art the universal language for their guests and the locals.
In Pursuit Of Harmony: Calligraphy & Typography, Feifei Fan
In Pursuit Of Harmony: Calligraphy & Typography, Feifei Fan
Theses and Dissertations
Chinese calligraphy and Western typography have been evolving for around five thousands years. During this time, they have developed quite different characteristics. Compared with the geometrical form and precision of Western printing types, Chinese calligraphy features abstract shapes and spontaneous strokes. These differences result in a gap that prevents a harmonious and organic relationship between them. This project explores the possibilities of combining these two historical visual systems, demonstrates specific methods and approaches for creating compelling formal relationships, and endeavors to establish a friendly, organic and harmonious dialogue between Chinese calligraphy and Western typography. The outcome of this project is …
The Walter And Inger Rice Center For Environmental Through Time: A Study In Environmental Change, Human Land Use And Its Effects Along The Lower James River, Chris Egghart
Theses and Dissertations
Historic cartographic sources, historical accounts, and ethnographic and archaeological data are used help reconstruct past settlement patterns and land uses that together acted to shape the changing cultural landscape of the Virginia Commonwealth University Walter and Inger Rice for Environmental Studies (Rice Center). The Rice Center is located in Charles City County along the north bank of the James River between Richmond and Williamsburg. Presented is a baseline description of the present day condition of the Rice Center property. This is followed by a detailed account of the physiographic and ecological changes that occurred along the Lower James River since …