Digital Commons Network^™

Examining Our Relationship With Death: A Participatory Art Project, Lia A. Davido

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Death is a fact of life, yet researchers such as Caitlin Doughty, Todd Harra, Ernest Becker, and others, have found that people deem death a taboo topic of conversation. Doughty herself started a social movement, death positivity, to encourage this taboo to be broken, and to normalize talking about death. However these researchers published their findings in the early to mid 2010’s, before a major pandemic made death a more common occurrence for people. Inspired by previous researchers' experiences, this project asks the question: How do people feel about death now, and can socially engaged art create a space where …

Nothing To See Hear, Adam Kuykendall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nothing to See/Hear is a research experiment into minimalist visual narrative via the short film Not the Boss of Me, in which the criteria for production mandated only the bare essential elements required to construct and convey a plot and its characters be used while filming within a nondescript space - in this case, a mostly empty soundstage. How does one tell a story and define its characters without direct expository dialogue? What is needed to establish and define locations and/or environments when limited to only one or two items? Can an audience engage their imagination to fill in the …

The Great Unlearning, Catherine Mccrory Pears

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Great Unlearning is a conceptual exploration: sifting through experiences and objects to overcome psychological pain, expectations of society, individual upbringing, and outside influences in an ongoing quest for authenticity. To both embrace personal history and honor loved ones while letting go of lingering negativity is challenging. Using objects culled from my life, examining the past, and incorporating items gathered along my path through nature, the work seeks personal healing while promoting the power of all people to break from indoctrination, group think, and mob mentality to make better choices to live a satisfying and peaceful existence…hopefully in a democratic …

The Conceptual Compression Of Space And Time As Intimated In The Depiction Of The Horse In China, Circa 1250 Bce-Ce 400., Robert Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the horse in ancient China, from before its domestication in the 13th century BCE to the fourth century CE. The revolutionary utilization of the mounted horse influenced contemporary concepts of time and space. The topics include the history of equid domestication in Eurasia, horse-drawn vehicles and riding, the introduction of the horse-drawn chariot from Shang China to its decline in Eastern Zhou; the rise of cavalry in China in the fourth century BCE; and the administrative, martial, symbolic and religious roles given the horse up to the Han dynasty; the early Chinese world view as dictated by …

Chroma Cowboy, Jessica Gryder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chroma Cowboy consists of eleven canvases wrapped in used feed sacks layered with vinyl to create brightly colored narrative scenes. Pulling from Pop Art colors, cubism shapes and a consciousness of materials, I designed this body of work to give the hard-working cowboys, ranchers, and agribusinesses a way to have their stories told to a larger audience. The strain on ranches due to generational changes, politics and environmental circumstances makes it even more important to document this way of life. I strive to further advance and inform the general public’s knowledge of the unyielding lifestyle and dedication that it takes …

Aging Under Erasure, Pamela H. Reynolds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aging is a multifaceted journey that is different for everyone. It is a fluid process; there is no one predictable moment or age when a particular experience takes place. For that reason, the series “Aging Under Erasure” encompasses a myriad of subjects to emphasize and illustrate the diversity and complexity of the process. My work visualizes the feelings, observations, and realities of aging in an attempt to create understanding, alter perceptions, and contemplate the universality of change. The works are inspired by personal experience, dialogical practice, and academic research. Using paper and/or traditional and unusual mosaic materials and techniques, the …

It's All Fun And—: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Space In The Pandemic., Erica Von Proctor Lewis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This exhibition and document explore spatial rhetoric during the pandemic, utilizing materiality and relational aesthetics to reflect on the different ways in which the public and private are made distinct from one another. In doing so, Lewis addresses new cultural navigations of shared spaces, both digital and corporeal, public and private. In addition, the artist also examines the faulty social and institutional systems that the pandemic brought to light, such as socioeconomic dynamics and voter suppression, while utilizing Kenneth Burke’s concept of the terministic screen. Games are a central theme throughout the exhibition, as they are often coded as “home” …

Meat The Future., Xin Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on the subtle relationship between human life, the environment, and other animals that we live among every day. Under the mainstream social background of capitalism and a commodity economy, animals are the victims of constant consumption and exploitation. However, meat is a basic substance for human nourishment, especially in certain cultures. As a result, meat becomes an important part of the commodity economy in capitalist societies, wherein the supply must be filled to accommodate society’s demand. This research formed an exhibition using glass and ceramic artwork using a playfully satirical tone to offer a crucial alternative: how …

Transformation., Jingshuo Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My works mainly show my perception of life and my change of thought. The world is full of changes, and the pandemic has disrupted our lives. Many people, including me, are confused about the world. Philosophy and my observation and thinking about the world helped me to have a clearer understanding of the world. My paintings Licia, Butterfly Woman, and Live with Covid reflect my understanding of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer's theory of empathy. Within my art, I also use another German Philosopher Theodor W. Adorno's theory of the culture industry to deepen my understanding of some social phenomena. My …

Di•As•Po•Ra: Displaced, Not Erased., Betty Álvarez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is based on my artistic endeavors and research founded in my culture, family, the history of the United States government’s intervention in El Salvador, and the current political climate Latin Americans face today in the United States. I work within multiple mediums to resurrect pieces of my culture that are being forgotten or left behind due to assimilation. I accomplish this through revisiting and reinterpreting traditions. I aim to bring awareness of the Latin experience in a racially divided United States through artistic expression and my own personal experiences. My works are made to feel whimsical and playful, …

Clean Fields, Lindsey E. Creel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Clean Fields is an exhibition consisting of 3 anthotypes and 11 drawings on paper mounted to panels. The work is part homage and part documentation of the emotionally restorative properties found in gardening. It is a contemporary view of a timeless activity. While the work references realistic content, the artistic outcomes are non-objective. Modifications in composition and scale provide variation throughout the series. The large-scale of the works and the use of economy and movement in the composition move the viewer into a meditative state.

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Covid-19 Infection Control On Visual Art Installations In Hospitals With Pediatric Patients, Shannon Kimich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 infection control on visual artwork in pediatric hospitals and hospitals caring for pediatric patients. The study involved five hospitals in three southern America states and addressed visual artwork and art installations. The researcher administered an internet-based survey to participants in job functions related to hospital administration, environmental services, and project management across the facilities and received participation from 18 respondents. Additionally, telephone interviews were conducted with three participants with the job titles project manager/analyst, child-life specialist, and environmental services director. Survey questions were designed to examine visual art programs in selected children’s hospitals …

The Long Journey Down Market Street: An Oral History Based Biography Of Mary Craik., Denise Vulhop Watkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This interdisciplinary dissertation examines the life of Mary B. Craik, a Louisvillian who was a professor, feminist activist, philanthropist and artist. The project’s main focus is on Craik’s feminist awakening and activism, and their alignment with second wave feminism. The primary method of data collection was oral history and consisted of interviews with Craik and some of her friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. Additional sources included a scrapbook that documented her major life events, the trial transcript from a gender discrimination lawsuit she launched, and art quilts she made in her later years after she retired. This project examines these resources …

Invocation., Shae Taylor Goodlett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research of this thesis is concerned with the investigation of various approaches to religious theory; specifically, the observable analysis of performed ritualistic procedures and their theoretical anticipated effects. Through the examination of the illusory characteristics of the interaction of color and light I am able to draw analogous correlations between art making and ritualistic action. By enacting optical illusion as metaphor for ritual presence, I compare rational and empirical methods of observation. This analysis examines the discrepancy of physical fact and physic effect in that illusion employs physically observable means to render an intangible (non-material) physic effect. Such observances …

An Exploration Of Provenance And Ownership History And The Critique Of Curatorial Practice., Sacra J. Fallen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the art world, the artwork is under evaluation to determine its worth from its historic value to its monetary value. One of the primary strategies used to evaluate the artwork is the work's provenance which can be broken down into the work's collector history and the authenticity of its authorship. The first question to be addressed is: does knowing an artwork's collector history and provenance add to its historic value? The second question to be addressed is: does knowing an artwork's collector history and provenance add to its monetary value? These questions will be supported by two case studies …

Journey & Connections, Aldo Ornelas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Journey & Connections is a series of work comprised of ceramic sculptures that explore my personal experiences in relation to the human figure, immigration, and nature, as well as experiences influenced by my continuous travels between my country of origin and the United States.

This exhibition is composed of an Installation titled “A Line on the Wall” and a series of six sculptures that resemble monoliths, strong and expressive figures of spiritual origin that represent important figures in life, sources of wisdom and stelae that connect to the earth.

.Pause., Richelle M. Dorris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

.Pause. is a series of fifteen abstract oil paintings that represent a visual inspection of changing mental/emotional states of being as we navigate life. My subject matter consists of natural and organic forms that twist, contort, overlap, and flow. These aspects—combined with dramatic and gradual shifts in color, movement, layering and lighting—create a bizarre environment of conflict and growth as well as a space for contemplation.

This series is a mixture of stylistic directions, including abstract representation, gestural, and nonobjective work. Perception is called into question as the visual information becomes more obscure. Outside elements, such as lighting and the …

Nonautomata, Jeremy Haynes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is a formal examination of the exhibition titled “NonAutomata” by Jeremy Haynes, as partial fulfillment of requirements for a Master of Fine Arts degree from Stephen F. Austin State University.

By examining the psychological influences within my artwork, I question the assumption that we are all just organic machines built with the same parts although we are all assembled and wired differently to perform specific tasks in society. I recall my personal experiences and how these influence my reactions to everyday life. While using clay with traditional and non-traditional processes, I have been …

A Tale Of Two Dogs Fine Art Exhibit, Jeff Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is a formal examination of the fine art exhibit titled A Tale of Two Dogs by Jeffrey A. Harris as a partial fulfillment of requirements for a Master of Fine Arts degree from Stephen F. Austin State University.

By examining the multiple established points of view within his artwork, the author questions these establishments and asks if this approach leads to a relevant way of seeing. Using expanded polystyrene foam as a sculpture medium, a series of artworks created during the MFA research process are conceptually analyzed to explore the value of maintaining a multiplicity …

Waiting Room., Helen Payne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Waiting Room is an installation of drawings and monotypes that re-envision everyday printed materials common in medical offices. The brochures, poster, bulletin board and children’s ABC book in this Waiting Room offer guidance suggest invasive and dysfunctional policy. A door opens onto a further room, where a hundred ultrasound images cascade onto the floor. This work, called Transducer Phosphene is the product of a fictional character’s encounter with a cruel (and not fictive) abortion policy. Waiting Room is the fruit of an inquiry that spanned my three years of study at the Hite Art Institute, a probing into the politics …

The House That Credit Built: How Advertising Shaped A Culture Of Borrowing In The Decade Of Prosperity., Morgan Folden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an examination of the visual rhetoric of the advertisements in 1920s America that encouraged consumers to implement payment plans to purchase commodities. It begins with an analysis of a standard advertisement found in a popular subscription journal and describes the ad’s reliance on an editorial-style layout to appeal to the rationality of the viewer, a theme common among marketing schemes of the surrounding decades. It uses an art historical approach to provide a new lens in studying capitalist economics and the provocative issue of empowerment versus confinement in the general visual representation of American housewives. The latter …

Connecting Thread, Christen Parker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Up until about the 1960’s, sculpture was dominated by work made with metal, wood, or stone. These materials would be described as “hard” or “masculine,” while materials such as fabric or yarn are described as “soft” or “feminine.” Fabric is known for its softness and malleability and is commonly used to cover the human body for objects such as clothing or bedding. The materials that I have selected are generally considered soft, yet protective, but are also thought of as insubstantial and fragile. As a child, I would see quilts and hear stories about how my maternal grandmother and great-grandmother …

Paving The Way For Merleau-Ponty’S Eye And Mind In Organizational Communication Studies, Johan Bodaski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The body is a sense-based medium that creates and interprets organizations. Bodies create organization. An aesthetic theory of organizational communication reveals the significance of the body to the organization. Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of aesthetics offers a theory of aesthetic organizational communication that is yet to be developed. Merleau-Ponty’s aesthetic essay on painting, Eye and Mind, describes the body as the medium through which painters turn the world into painting. His philosophy of painting builds bridges between aesthetics, the body, and organizational communication.

In chapter one, four theories of organizational communication are described: communication constitutes organization (CCO), text/interpreter, ventriloquism, and …

I Cut Off My... Voice: An Autoethnography Of An Artist And Art Educator With A Brca Genetic Mutation, Nicki Lynn Hornbaker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The effects of BRCA genetic mutations on artists and art educators had not been known. Autoethnography is a qualitative method for writing about personal experiences through a cultural lens. I used my personal experiences within a BRCA positive community to understand shared experiences among artists and art educators with this genetic mutation. This study aimed to explore the commonalities that are occurring within this subgroup. Anxiety and emotional stress played a role in most of the respondents‟ lives, affecting them in numerous ways. Most of the respondents underwent salpingectomy, oophorectomy, and mastectomy surgeries which led to further emotional and physical …

The Creative Feud Of Andy Warhol: A Philosophy Of Communication Ethics, Sarah Deiuliis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Creative Feud of Andy Warhol: A Philosophy of Communication Ethics begins with the assumption that the current historical moment is defined by Gilles Lipovetsky’s philosophical project known as hypermodernity. The dominant paradigm of hypermodernity, as consumption and commodity culture, elicits particularity of embedded responsiveness situated within history. Ronald C. Arnett and Pat Arneson contend that communication ethics are “value-laden philosophies of communication” uniting background narratives with foreground communicative practices (Philosophy xi). This dissertation positions Andy Warhol as a hypermodern communicative prophet. Through his life, works, and human communication, Warhol utilized art to communicate embedded ethical questions, responding to …

Poteus, Jimmy Snowden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Proteus is an exhibition that consists of seven sculptures, three woodcut prints, and an installation comprised of steel and ceramics. The seven sculptures vary in size and are fabricated from steel, wood, plastic, and foam. The woodcut prints are hand carved and large in scale from a printmaking standpoint. The purpose of Proteus is to explore ideas of balance as it pertains to: life, death, love, resentment, adventure, responsibility, the subconscious, and the physical world. The methods employed while producing this body of work range from traditional to experimental, and the results of the endeavor are mainly obtained through …

Deconstructing Abject Complacency Of Ascribed Gender, Kyle M. Hooten

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My life has been dedicated to the relentless pursuit of masculinity throughout my transition from female to male. While originally focusing on the physical transition, my attention is now focused on the social aspects of transition. For me, this involved coming out, managing legal name/gender change paperwork, and understanding a newfound, cultural privilege. This is where I draw inspiration to create my work. My process and techniques are informed by Drag Kings and Queens as well as contemporary culture and art. After performing as a Drag King for a year I developed a sense of gender that differed from what …

Indirect Measure, Nicholas Boismenu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper is in support of my thesis exhibition “Indirect Measure” May 5th – June 3rd 2017, at the Reece Museum, located on the campus of East Tennessee State University. This document is an account of my examination into what constitutes art and the change in my perception of the utilitarian ceramic vessel during my research into the perceived difference between craft and art. Using broad definitions, I define what I believe art to be and how it is different from, and the same as craft.

The Art Of Silence., Lydia Anne Kowalski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation argues that the role of silence as essential to experience the full aesthetic beauty of art in a museum setting. Museums have changed their focus due to socio-economic and financial pressures. They have changed from silent “temples” for art conservation and exhibition to places for interactive art education, entertainment, and social gathering. The results of these changes have been both positive and negative. Attendance has increased, enhancing the museum experience, engaging more diverse audiences in museum activities, and dispelling the “elitist” image of the museum. These changes, however, have resulted in the loss of a silent space to …

Duality, The Methodology Of Shooting A Documentary As A One-Man Crew, James Mcmahen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will discuss Duality, a long-form documentary about artistic nude models who also create art involving the nude female form. This thesis will discuss the inspiration for the film, as well as the deciding factors that made me choose this as the topic for my thesis documentary.

This thesis will also cover the process and methodology of shooting a documentary as a one-man crew, beginning with the process of preproduction, then the principal photography of the documentary, followed by the editing and postproduction process, and finally premiering the final film.