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Navigating Transience, Nina Liu

Masters Theses

With advancing age, does the act of collecting and collections serve a purpose? Experimental psychologist Daniel Krawczyk claims that the act of collecting is deeply embedded in how the human brain registers time. Building upon the premise of Krawczyk’s research, I delve into a journey of collecting as I trace its evolution from childhood to adulthood, and its significance amidst the rapid digitalization of the modern world.

Through the lens of the transitional object and with a commitment to the preservation of memories, this thesis examines the intricate relationship between humans and their possessions. It proposes that the intimate activity …

The Story Of Identity: Narrative Self-Fashioning In Kazuo Ishiguro’S A Pale View Of Hills And When We Were Orphans, Hayley Angle

English Theses

The moments we remember from our lives are the foundation of the stories we tell about ourselves. I have spent many a night trying to fall asleep by running through my memories like the montage scene of a movie—clips of a funny moment with a friend, the smile of a loved one, a stupid thing I said to someone I was supposed to impress. These moments I remember portray, at the deepest level, who I want to be, who I am scared to be, and who I most understand myself to be. Intentional remembrance, as opposed to actual experience, tends …

False Eidetic, Zach Sockol

Student Projects

Do memories still exist if they are forgotten?

Memories define the soul. They are created to outlast the experience, but what is left behind? A moment in time captured with the lens of the mind, it is intangible. These memories shape our worldview, our thoughts, our reality. It is the culmination of these experiences that makes us who we are, yet through reminiscence, those moments are viewed so clearly in your mind that to you it is the truth, only to hear someone else remember it completely differently. Does this mean our memories aren’t real? Will we ever be able …

Objects Of Remembering: Material Culture, Oral Histories, And Historic Sites In Utah's World War Ii Story, Sara Watkins

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The Second World War was a war of stuff and stories. Much of this stuff still exists today in the form of objects, oral histories, and historic places. They remind people of the families from all over the state of Utah who sent sons, husbands, brothers, and fathers to faraway lands to fight for their freedoms. Many of these men did not come home, and those who did return came back with experiences that forever changed them. Objects, stories, and places also show how the war touched those on the home front. Women went to work in the defense industry, …

Sometimes Windows Break, Samantha Snyder

Theses and Dissertations

The sensation of detachment and reclusion frequently gives rise to an uncanny and dreamlike space. Enveloped within this dimension, the quirks of memory become a fragile lifeline to bygone, intangible ideas of reality. Fixated on this threshold, my artistic explorations in print, collage, and assemblage navigates these elusive realms, rendering fragmented and distant shapes and figures in stark contrast to elements that evoke an eerie sense of familiarity. In this manner, my work invites viewers to embrace the disconcerting and unsettling aspects of the in-between, all the while establishing an unsettling connection to reality through the lens of nostalgic objects …

Affectionate Facsimiles, Julio C. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The paintings in Affectionate Facsimiles are journeys into the expansiveness of color and memory via the accumulation of gestural action. Sporadic freneticism is used to archive desire and time and their relationship to identity. Thin and translucent layers are built up in bursts of intensity as palimpsests of intentioned labor.

Ripe Spoils, Yan Cynthia Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Chen’s practice primarily focus on sculptures and installation. She explores the interplay between the idea of nature and the constructed environment, by examining how language informs what we know. The central thesis, "Ripe Spoils", employs citrus fruits as symbols for bodily experiences and personal identity, investigating their cultural and historical significance. Her sculptures summon the qualities and embedded meanings in materials like paper pulp and clay, wax and citrus fruits, often resulting in abstracted forms evocative of the human body. This thesis paper and exhibition reflect on themes like mortality and the essence of self.

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Place-Conscious Vs. Place-Bound, Julie Avetisyan

Theses and Dissertations

Julie Avetisyan’s installation of sculptures, paintings and printmaking works are driven by an exploration of constructed identity that is not place-bound, but place-conscious. In this paper, she explores how her art practice generates world building under the context of the Armenian Diaspora – considering histories of indigeneity, migration, and assimilation.

Hame, Russell Clarke

Dance (MFA) Theses

Researcher Russell Clarke contemplates the need for human belonging, looking into ways that human belonging shows up in the contemporary world. Clarke explores the interconnection between his identity and memories from his childhood along with exploring his life’s journey of searching for belonging. He focuses his research on main themes throughout his life that have influenced his need to belong: family, migration, dance, and his connection to the outdoors. Growing up in Scotland and later migrating to America, Clarke found his relationship with his family and dance as constant threads entangling and influencing his life—the call of his homeland is …

Moonshine Babies, Arghavan Heydareslam

Theses and Dissertations

Moonshine Babies is a two-screen film made of collage/cut-out stop-motion and live-action. It is a visual poem based on my journals from when I recently started living in the US as an outsider. The experience left me feeling divided between the empty present and memories of the past. suggesting that there are collective memories among a group of interconnected individuals that unite them within a single narrative.

There was a moment when I asked, "If you are your memories, what does it mean to be somewhere you have no memories of and no one has memories of you there?"

Memories …

Gathered Vessels, Marguerite E. Mccoy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My journey with ceramics is a path paved with the memories of my mother's kitchen, travels across Europe, and a deep love for creating spaces where people can come together. From the warmth of a mug that fits just right in your hands, to the gentle sounds of water playing in a fountain I've crafted, my work is about making those little moments of connection feel extra special. I create ceramics that are meant to be picked up, used, and loved - pieces that carry a bit of my story to join in with yours. Whether it's joining in your …

War, Remembrance, And Katýn:
How Public Memory Sites Affirm National Identity, Adele Partington

History and Political Science | Senior Theses

The nation of Poland had a well-established national identity based on its culture, religion, language, and history prior to its occupation by the USSR, but this identity was suppressed in the sixty years of Soviet control from 1939 to 1989. After achieving their independence, Poles reexamined their history and identity, in addition to choosing which aspects of Soviet history and identity to keep or do away with. This thesis examines the relationship between public memory sites in or about Poland and the affirmation of the Polish national identity after Polish independence from the Soviet Union in 1989. Building on the …

At The Table, Payton Olivia Brown

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This written document is the accompanying thesis for my Master of Fine Arts exhibition, At the Table. This document, as well as my artwork, investigates the profound impact that food has on one’s life by strengthening connections with others, upholding traditions, and cherishing memories. It also elaborates on the inspirations, research, and experimentation utilized in the process of creating the exhibition. Through an array of paintings, mixed media, and sculptural work, this exhibition is intended to depict my own personal experiences and memories in relation to food.

Although I am making autobiographical artwork, I am also trying to portray the …

Recollection, Shelby Ann Theis-Lukenbill

MSU Graduate Theses

My work is inspired by life's transient nature and objects' enduring capacity to house memories. The delicate sculptures I create combine second-hand objects with paper to capture the essence of moments and possessions that define personal histories. The objects I use represent more than their form or chemistry; they are imbued with fragments of history and memory that I am driven to preserve. In this work, the sentimental nature and purpose of my belongings hold an equal or greater value than the physical nature and purpose of those belongings. I illuminate an object’s sentimentality by combining its form with painted …

Sweetbriar: I Wound To Heal, Megan Foster

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This work questions the societal disconnect between the readiness of human emotion and the restraint with which we discuss it. As the well-to-do ladies of the Victorian era would gather flowers to create tussie-mussies and nosegays to adorn themselves and send messages, the pieces of the MFA thesis exhibition Sweetbriar: I Wound to Heal divulge intense realities through the palatability and presentability of a flower’s beauty. The flowers in this work (as with Victorian Flower Language) act as signifiers for greater emotional concepts. Harebells for grief. Peonies for shame. Gorse for anger. Each flower/emotion in this exhibition is connected directly …