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Dont Feel Touch, Vanessa Jagodinsky

Art and Design Theses

DONT FEEL TOUCH is an art exhibition and thesis that combines sculpture and performance within a single space. The show’s installation consists of three-dimensional art objects, painted panels, and soft sculptures. Each piece emerges from a series of experiential traumas that span from childhood to adulthood. Embodying the behavioral and emotional distress that suspends my journey to autonomy, the forms work together to act as a sculptural foundation for a live performance. The goal of my thesis work is to understand the psychosocial impact of early childhood trauma through instinctual making and performance.

Yours Truly Mf, Michelle E. Florence, Michelle E. Florence

Art and Design Theses

Yours Truly MF is both the title of this exhibition and the identity through which I create and share my work. At its root is a query of the role and function of art and artist. This work is the fruition of my journey to come to terms with being a contemporary artist working in ceramics by examining the visual vocabulary of my art as product and the aesthetic of affluence in which it may exist. By creating context for my work; art objects, digital media and technology function as equalizers, subverting contemporary ideals of wealth and exclusivity. Fine art …

Noble Taste, Noble Style: Exploring The Concept Of Vivre Noblement In The Hours Of Engelbert Of Nassau, Ceallsach Vonehren Crouch

Art and Design Theses

The Master of Mary of Burgundy illuminated the Hours of Engelbert of Nassau specifically to fulfill the needs of the nobility of the Burgundian Court. By analyzing three different pages, I reveal that the Master created an “alternative reality” through the use of trompe l’oeil and other modes of highly illusionistic representation. In order to appeal to the concept of vivre noblement, or “living nobly,” the Master introduces the page as an accessible mental environment, allowing the viewer to shift between layers of reality with ease. The visual and mental intricacy actively immerses the viewer and promotes ideas of …

Home: A Process Based Visual Exploration Of The Sentiment Of Attachment, Demi G. Chandler

Art and Design Theses

This thesis is a studio-based inquiry in which I explored the theme of home by developing a process research through art creation. I created a series of five paintings using water-based media and water collected from each place that I associate with the sentiments of home. Through research of artists, development of a process, and reflection on the process and the artworks, I not only gained deeper insight into my personal sentiments of home, but also drew implications for my teaching.

Good Girl: Sweaty Palms And The Smile, Nuni Lee

Art and Design Theses

My thesis exhibition “Good Girl: Sweaty Palms and the Smile” is a combination of paintings, small figurines, and a video piece illustrating the complicated emotions that arise from childhood memories and childlike impulses. My work revolves around a central figure, Good Girl. She is the reflection of me as an artist and manifests my attempt to hold on to my inner child, which is triggered by my desire to relieve her from dark emotions that she felt in her childhood. Good Girl is also a representation of a typical young girl who feels anxious about growing up. Noticeably infantile and …

Another Failed Attempt, Aaron Kagan Putt

Art and Design Theses

Another Failed Attempt is an exhibition of sculptures and paintings, exploring the desire for utopic plentitude through material and formal exploration. Adopting a hybrid strategy, various materials, processes and forms are combined as a means to satisfy an aspirational longing for positive transformation, both personal and societal. Architectural structures serve as symbols for the deterministic forces of history and ideas of the self which are shaped by these forces. This work functions as a site for a personal exploration of form and material, Although often failing to offer transcendence, they express my aesthetic interests and contain externalized anxieties, utopic fantasies, …

The Elles Series: Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec’S Unusual Approach To Prostitution, Anna Dobbins

Art and Design Theses

This essay will examine the new attitude with which nineteenth-century artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec approached the subject of prostitution. Toulouse-Lautrec’s focus on the subject culminated with his production of the Elles series in which he offers a look into how the prostitutes lived within the brothel, the mundane aspects of everyday life. This series shows how these women were confined by their surroundings and is a divergence from the typical approach to depicting the maison close and the prostitute depicted by artists like Edgar Degas. By looking at his previous works on the subject and works by Degas one begins …

Folded Mystery, Maryam Palizgir

Art and Design Theses

The body of work in my thesis project titled Folded Mystery are the metaphors for how

we exchange knowledge, how perception widens our perspective, and how observation deepens

our understanding of the reality in which we live. I seek works of art that activate once the

viewer is involved. Folded Mystery is about challenging viewers' perception of multi-perception embodiment through 2D and 3D drawings, sculptural paintings, and installations that focus on the interaction of geometric abstract forms, colors, reflective objects and layering grid-like materials in space.

Antediluvian, Judy Parady

Art and Design Theses

ABSTRACT

As we move into a time of accelerated change there is a need to center ourselves and recognize our innate strengths. Through the metaphor of the Antediluvian we are reminded that humans have survived global upheaval many times. This body of work, inspired by flood mythologies, encourages those who seek guidance to look anew.

The primary motifs are salt and boats. The boats are made of paper and reed; you cannot sail them, they are a device with which to visualize transcension. Salt water, (brine), represents the oceans and our dependence on both water and salt for life. It …

Dwelling On Things, Kirstie J. Tepper

Art and Design Theses

Dwelling on Things is an exhibition of fabricated and found material that embraces the world inside my head, my domestic life, and the world at large. As the title implies, I have been dwelling on things in every sense, which manifests as a non-linear and personal understanding of time and place and is presented within the context of spaces in the home. Derived from a number of contributing factors, though I am most conscious of the effects of trauma, grief, and the deep sadness associated with postpartum depression, the autobiographical content is an amalgamation of these coinciding experiences. The sum …

#Moment: Creating Moments Of Truth Through Experiential Interior Design, Jennifer Refsnes

Art and Design Theses

Interior Design is a multi-billion dollar industry that employs a variety of sensorial elements to shape perception and create positive Moments of Truth. Part science and part art, design practices must adapt as market demands shift. The influence of today’s digital market exposes gaps whereby sensorial elements of space are overlooked, resulting in skewed Moments of Truth. This paper examines the aesthetic experience as part of a proposed business design equation wherein each sense and design element influences the holistic spatial experience. A presentation of research will follow, wherein application of the equation demonstrates a framework for how to develop …

Cut + Paste | An Aesthetic Exploration, Kristin Ferro

Art and Design Theses

Photography can provide references for collage compositions. In my work, each step of this transformation resulted in new discoveries moving from one medium to another, and has culminated in dynamic time-lapse videos. This thesis follows my studio habits and derives implications for my classroom practice.

A Thing Among Things, Kelli Couch

Art and Design Theses

A thing among things is an endless pursuit to expand the definition of home and find resolve during life’s circumstances. I constantly search for meaning within myself, my family, and our surroundings because one of my greatest fears is to live a purposeless life. Initially, I was allured by the false sense of control that photography provides as I guided individuals, directed scenes, and selected the framing. However, I realize that the medium has the potential to reveal accidental truths within the fantasies I create. The photographs are constructed and spontaneous. The stage is predetermined but any narrative can unfold. …

Gaga! Interdisciplinary And Integrated Education: Geography, Art, And Global Awareness, Lieu Nguyen

Art and Design Theses

Based on my experience designing and implementing a team-taught course in Art and Geography, called GAGA, at a Charter high school in Atlanta, I conducted this action research in my classroom to solicit student feedback and assess effectiveness of interdisciplinary instruction in an integrated classroom. Results support the benefits of interdisciplinary education, and helped to reveal the strength and weaknesses of each project that my partner and I have created. I intend to continue polishing this course to provide an engaging learning experience for future students. I am eager to showcase the results of my research at future conferences.

A Survey Of No Place, Amelia Carley

Art and Design Theses

A Survey of No Place is a group of paintings that construct a visual representation of an artificial place – a study of an invented land. A fabricated maquette made of synthetic and geological materials visually references spectacular geological sites and is rendered monumental through painting. In this work, I am interested in the disparity between these rudimentary sculptural references and the final seductive imagery.

By re-examining my early memories of desolate, yet curated, landscapes, these paintings unearth a fictional natural beauty intertwined with feelings of loss and inevitable change. Similar to the way memories function, these works shift between …

Sherbet House: Designing Iranian Culture For The United States, Atena Masoudi

Art and Design Theses

The relationship between Iran and the United States (both culturally and politically) is at a very low level because of decades of diplomatic (and at times military) conflicts. As a result, the American public is not familiar with Iranian culture. This paper describes a marketing campaign designed to develop cultural understanding between the two countries through the promotion of popular Iranian beverages. I chose Iranian beverages due to my observation that there is no market for them in the United States and my belief that a widespread and targeted campaign has the potential of becoming a successful product. The marketing …

Loose Larry: A Binding Of Non-Blood Story, Tyler Scott Cieplowski

Art and Design Theses

Binding of Non-Blood combines found and fabricated objects interwoven with recorded spoken word stories by a narrator I identified only as “Man 1.” The stories include themes about coming-of-age, familial dynamics, gang-related activity, and an obscenity of war all originating from the initial directive, “tell me a story of friends who became closer than family.” This chapter focuses on a character who interacted with “Man 1” in a Motorcycle Gang in the 1970s by the name of Loose Larry. Throughout the installation, viewers are invited to eavesdrop on stories about Larry, which are presented anonymously from within the sculptures. Left …