Digital Commons Network^™

Reclamation: The Towns Of The Virginia Coalfields, Craig Owens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The photographer discusses his work in Reclamation: The Towns of the Virginia Coalfields, a Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibit held at the Tipton Gallery from February 12th through February 23, 2024. The exhibition focuses on coal towns located in the southwestern part of Virginia. The exhibition consists of 20 framed, archival inkjet prints. Each framed work is 36” x 24” and is representative of the artist’s exploration of the towns. A catalog of the exhibit is included at the end of this thesis.

Owens examines formal and conceptual artistic influences, both historical and contemporary. Historic and contemporary photographic …

Endo/Exo, Delaney Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist, Delaney Shae Rogers, discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Endo / Exo, held at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City, TN. The exhibition dates are from March 25th through April 5th, 2024, with a public reception held April 5th, 2024. The author provides insight into the concept behind the work in the exhibition and shares how the making process and specific materials impact the work. This body of work explores coping with grief, anxiety, and the state of the world through the process of making and communicating otherwise difficult topics through visually digestible symbolic language.

In A State Of Becoming, Benjamin Conley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses his Master of Fine Arts exhibition titled, In a State of Becoming. The exhibition was on view at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City, TN from February 26 March 8, 2024. In a State of Becoming showcased three large scale paintings, five multimedia prints, two sculptural installations, and a video projection installation. Conley's thesis research and current artistic practice revolve around the interfaces, connections, and relationships of humans and animals. Conley explicitly uses language like "animal" to describe "non-human animals" in his work's context. The exhibited works focused primarily on how the artist and/or the viewer …

Echoes Of Home, Hanna Traynham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Echoes of Home, held at the Tipton Gallery in Johnson City, Tennessee on display March 15 through April 8, 2022. The author provides insight into concepts and influences relating to the creation of the exhibition with perspective on her intimate connection with place and memory.

The exhibit features five installations addressing home, elusive memory, and the change and continuity of cultural traditions over time. The works consist of a series of large-scale wild clay vessels, gestural clay bookends, a wall installation of cups with a line drawing, suspended porcelain slabs, …

Blue-Collar Backroads, Hannah Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The photographer discusses work in Blue-Collar Backroads, a Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibit held at downtown Tipton Gallery from February 1st through February 18th, 2022. The exhibit consists of 17 archival inkjet prints selected from the artist’s two-year exploration of rural backroads as a vehicle for creating images. Using aesthetic traditions of large-format film photography, the photographer poses questions of identity, place, memory, and the intentional pursuit of meditative practices in art. Non-photographic influences are listed, including Claire Wellesley-Smith and Elizabeth Catte. Photographic influences include Joel Sternfeld, Rachel Boillot, William Christenberry, and Mike Smith.

A catalog of the exhibit …

Dunidedcudigunadie, Lawrence Reid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses his Master of Fine Arts exhibit, titled DUNIDEDCUDIGUNADIE. The exhibit is to be held at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City, TN, from April 2nd to April 10th, 2020. A live reception will be held the evening of April 3rd, featuring a performance with the work, titled Look at You!

The following thesis explores the artist’s formative years – investigating how childhood experiences combine with artistic and theoretical influences to inform his art-making process.

Blaze, Meg Roussos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The photographer discusses her work in “BLAZE,” a Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibit held at the Tipton Gallery from September 16th through October 4th, 2019. The exhibition consists of 11 archival inkjet prints, two photographic artist books, a nine-channel video installation, representing the artist’s exploration of how to experience the landscape. Using non-traditional approaches to photographic imagery, experimental exhibition layout, the artist forms questions around themes of walking and landscape. The artist investigates sculptural land art installations represented through photographic documentation. A catalog of the exhibit is included at the end of this thesis.

Roussos examines formal and conceptual …

North Of Ourselves: Identity And Place In Jim Wayne Miller’S Poetry, Micah Mccrotty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Jim Wayne Miller’s poetry examines how human history and topography join to create place. His work often incorporates images of land and ecology; it deliberately questions the delineation between place and self. This thesis explores how Miller presents images of water to describe the relationship between inhabitants and their location, both with the positive image of the spring and the negative image of the flood. Additionally, this thesis examines how the Brier, Miller’s most prominent persona character, grieves his separation from home and ultimately finds healing and reunification of the self through his return to the hills. In his poetry, …

Hearing Through Walls, Bradley Marshall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The photographer discusses work in “Hearing Through Walls”, a Masters of Fine Arts thesis exhibit held at downtown Tipton Gallery from February 19th through March 2nd, 2018. The exhibition consists of 15 archival inkjet prints and one two-channel video piece, representing the artists three-year exploration into narrative forms in image making. Using non-traditional approaches to photographic portraiture and experimental exhibition layout, the artist forms questions around themes of domesticity, lost youth, and American masculinity. Among these themes is an investigation into photographic issues, including the cultural role that photographs play in perpetuating, miming, and disrupting the facades of everyday life. …

Thinking Before You Act: A Constructive Logic Approach To Crafting Performance-For- Development Narrative, Angela Duggins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this thesis was to test the feasibility of constructing performance-for-development narrative using a constructive logic approach. I created an equation which expressed the sum of non-human-elements as the sum of a narrative with each element serving as a variable. I used a review of persuasion literature to provide insight into the selection and manipulation of each variable. I provided my family as a hypothetical example and used my knowledge of their preferences and communication styles in conjunction with the literature and the equation to craft a narrative which might increase pro-school attitudes in other families like my …

Es-Sen-Tial, Lyn A. Govette

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is in support of the exhibition entitled ES-SEN-TIAL on display in Tipton Gallery located in Downtown Johnson City from February 27, 2017 to March 10, 2017.

The exhibition is a presentation in fiber medium of the human impact on the landscape, specifically using the extractive industry of coal mining as example. This is accomplished through the use of digital imagery printed on textiles, hand and machine embroidery, and surface design techniques of dyeing and layering. This body of work reflects the artist’s interest in art activism and the utilization of photography, fiber arts, ideas and techniques, as creative …

Kindred, Katelyn Osborne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Kindred, an MFA exhibition held at the Tipton Gallery located in downtown Johnson City from Feburary 22^nd to March 4^th. Kindred presents two bodies of work, which are a collection of drawings, etchings, monoprints, and lithographs, that center around a personal mythology and symbolism of self-identity and discovery. These works explore the physical and spiritual connection behind being a fraternal twin through the metaphorical use of animal imagery.

The ideas discussed in this paper center around the process of creating a personal mythology and symbolism through my observations of animals and how I relate that experience to …

Meta-Forms, Rickey P. Bump

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses his Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Meta-forms, held at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City. Exhibition dates are from March 14 through March 25, 2016. The artworks on display are a series of drawings made from carving wood panels and sheet metal and are accompanied with a large scaled site-specific installation. The exhibition culminates from research of historic and contemporary figures for non-objective art. The author gives insight to the artistic process while creating his exhibition, as well as their personal connection with the artwork.

Move, Interact, And Connect Personally Barter Theatre’S Project Real Gets Implicit In Order To Learn, Megan E. Atkinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Body movement, hands-on activity, embodiment, social interaction, emotions, and self-reflection allow teaching artists of Barter’s Theatre’s Project REAL to conduct a lesson with an implicit learning experience as the focus. Barter Theatre’s Project REAL exists as a theatre for education program that collaborates with regular classroom teachers on delivering the curriculum through specific theatre exercises in order to connect the material personally to the students’ lives. Theatre tools provide a human experience that enhances learning for the student by use of kinesthetic movement, social learning, emotions and interpersonal skills. To understand the effects of Barter Theatre’s Project REAL, the director …

Encounters With The American Prairie: Realism, Idealism, And The Search For The Authentic Plains In The Nineteenth Century, Jacob L. Vines

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Great Plains are prevalent among the literature of the nineteenth century, but receive hardly a single representation among the landscapes of the Hudson River School. This is certainly surprising; the public was teeming with interest in the Midwest and yet the principal landscape painters who aimed to represent and idealize a burgeoning America offered hardly a glance past the Mississippi River. This geographical silence is the result of a tension between idealistic and empirical representations of the land, one echoed in James Fenimore Cooper’s The Prairie, Washington Irving’s A Tour on the Prairies, and Margaret Fuller’s Summer on the …

Nowhere, Danielle N. Winger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses her Masters of Fine Arts exhibition, Nowhere, held at the Tipton Gallery located in downtown Johnson City from March 30 through April 9, 2015. The works included in the exhibition consist of a collection of oil paintings on both canvas and panel, and a series of mixed media collage paintings that explore how time and memory affect her personal connection to spaces she has inhabited.

Ideas discussed include painting, process, cropping, memory, selective memory, forged memory, false memory, fragmenting, dreams, childhood, mnemic image, time, simulacra, simulation, home, beds, bedrooms, bathrooms, abstracting imagery, landscape, Freud, Lacan, Gaston Bachelard, …

Not Dead At All, Martin Becerra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Not Dead At All is a nontraditional thesis, a creative product, the result of a combination of media production and social research. This paper is an attempt to explain the creative and production process behind the creation of an original media content, using the social research as a tool to increase the likeability of our characters and therefore increase the show’s chances of success.

Godself, Kyle S. Darnell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis paper supports the Master of Fine Arts exhibition at the Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, from February 11th through February 15th, 2013. The exhibit is divided into two sections: Reflecting and Remembering. Reflecting is composed of eleven relief woodblock prints depicting a story of the artist as God. Remembering is composed of multi-media pieces that are interpretations of Reflecting. The show Godself explores the influence of memory and self-confidence told through an allegorical tale of the birth and death of Jesus Christ. The discussion of memory and the effect it has on one’s present is told from …

Adjusted Tools, Angelique Lynch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis supports the Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Adjusted Tools, at the Tipton Gallery, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, from August 3^rd thru August 29^th, 2012. The exhibition is comprised of eight sculptures, which are presented on pedestals and wall mounted.

The artist references her own investigation of social patterns associated with preconceived roles of gender and how those patterns relate to housework. The artist experiments with an array of different materials including wood, stone, steel, and bronze that are fashioned into forms such as irons, ironing boards, and clothes pins. Topics addressed …

A Search For Balance, Scott Matthew Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

"Art is contemplation. It is the pleasure of the mind which searches into nature and which there defines the spirit of which nature herself is animated" (Auguste Rodin). My intention as a sculptor is to explore the intersection between nature and industry. I seek to find a balance between the industrial (steel) and the natural (stone). Steel represents societal obligations. Stone (river rock) is specific to place and representative of family. With these juxtaposed elements I strive to create sculptural forms of wonder and contemplation. I attempt to interpret and understand my involvement with the complex world through the process …

Wild|Life: A Forest For The People, John Lusk Hathaway

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The photographer discusses the work in wild | life: a forest for the people, his Master of Fine Art exhibition held at the Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee from March 12 through March 23, 2012. The exhibition consists of 24 large-scale color archival Inkjet prints representing a large body of work that examines the human experience through viewing public and private land and land use within or tangential to the Cherokee National Forest. A complete catalogue of the wild ife exhibit is included at the end of the thesis. Historical and contemporary influences are discussed in …

Float In Float Out, Jason Sabbides

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses Float In Float Out, his Master of Fine Arts exhibition held at The Slocumb Gallery, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee from March 19, 2012, to March 23, 2012. The work consists of paintings on canvas, panel, and paper and employs a variety of media ranging from traditional materials to spray paint. The painting sizes vary from 20x24 inches up to 48x96 inches and all hang directly on the wall, framed and unframed. Topics discussed in this thesis paper include the influences of the artist's military experience and travelling abroad as well as the influences …

Neo-Raconteur: Allocating Southern-Gothic Symbolism Into Design Media., Mark Daniel Compton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I created the term Neo-Raconteur to convey my interest in medium theory to support the artistic custom of revealing cultural conventions for allocation into artistic genres. The term evolved from the French word "Raconteur," meaning: somebody who tells stories or anecdotes in an interesting or entertaining way. In the past a Raconteur's anecdotes were verbally volleyed, ever voluble, yet quip. Neo-Raconteurs may decide not to speak at all choosing their anecdotal expression to manifest itself through singular or multiple means, manners, or methods of design and technology as well as or involving more traditional techniques of extraction to convey the …

Boundaries., Elizabeth Trabue Gorham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The photographer discusses the work in Boundaries, her Master of Fine Arts exhibition on display at Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee from October 31 to November 4, 2011. The exhibition consists of 20 black and white photographs, the main subject of which is the photographer's son. The photographs and supporting thesis explore the idea of boundaries real and implied, and how confinement can prompt a variety of behaviors. Topics include the process and evolution of the work and the artists who have influenced it, the importance of light and the challenge of photographing family. Included is …

Raising The Machine., Kevin Charles Reaves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper supports the Masters of Fine Arts exhibition, a collection of sculptural pieces, at the Tipton art gallery in Johnson City, TN. from March 21^st through March 28^th, 2011. Raising the Machine showcases my exploration of forms using fabrication techniques found in metalsmithing and other media. Discussed within are the concepts, techniques, and materials used to create the forms including images and works from the exhibition.

Eulogy., Megan Renee Levacy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses the search for identity which underlies her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Eulogy, hosted by the Carroll Reece Museum on the campus of East Tennessee Sate University, Johnson City, Tennessee, from March 8 to May 6, 2011. This exhibit contains works which explore the artist's relationship with the natural world, ornithology, philosophy, psychology, poetry, and related personal influences.

The artist's thesis work consists of paintings, drawings, and photographs. The artist references her own investigation of poetry, philosophy, psychology, and personal history which have shaped a private sense of awareness. Also reviewed are the influences of artists …

Between Friends., Greg Warren Howser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper correlates with a Master of Fine Arts graduate thesis exhibition held at Slocumb Galleries in Ball Hall at East Tennessee State University March 21 through 25, 2011. The exhibition contains a mixed media body of work including prints, metal point drawings, and quilts. These works are an exploration showing the artist's voyeuristic studies through line, texture, form, pigment, and wax.

This thesis goes into detail about how the artist came to create this group of art by discussing tools, printmaking processes, encaustic, metal point, and his influences.

A Matter Of Taste., Charles E. Haskins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis paper supports the Master of Fine Arts exhibition at the Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, from March 14th through March 18th, 2011. The exhibit is composed of nine oil paintings depicting an invented story about two characters who create a soup for a cooking competition. The show A Matter of Taste chronicles an allegory concerning the evaluation of creative works. Through Gaudie and Baudie's "odd" recipe this work illustrates the ways in artists and art audiences interact and determine artistic value. The work is inspired by techniques in distortion and narrative painting. The following expands on the …

The Mcfarlands: "One Season"., John Edwin May

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is in support of the Master of Fine Arts exhibition entitled The McFarlands at East Tennessee State University, Slocumb Galleries, Johnson City, Tennessee, November 5^th - 9^th, 2007. This artist's photographic survey, which lasted approximately two years, investigated the lifeworld of a family in a rural Appalachian town. His photographic work depicts the subjects working on their farm growing tobacco and their relationships within the family unit.

The artist discusses his work in terms of historical and contemporary influences with an emphasis on the relationship to the work of Lewis W. Hine, Wright Morris, …

Reverbotone - Visualize Music With Design., William Baxter Bledsoe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis was written as a supporting paper for a graphic design exhibit for a Master of Fine Arts Degree. The focus of my work is to visualize an interpretation of a collection of songs that make up an album in which the design communicates the content of the body of music.

This thesis showcases a record that actually exists but has never been released. This affords me the opportunity to create a design that defines the content of the record work in a visual manner. This thesis paper covers the methods and motivations by which I arrived to the …