Veneers And Vignettes: Staging The Mountain West, Matthew Jones

LSU Master's Theses

Veneer (noun): An attractive appearance that covers or disguises someone or something's true nature or feelings.

Vignette (noun): A small illustration or portrait photograph which fades into its background without a definite border.

This exhibition, Veneers and Vignettes: Staging the Mountain West embodies my pursuits to contextualize my place in the Mountain West, my home. These works seek to understand how the extents of time, circumstance, and people have shaped the contemporary cultures, environment, and implied trajectory of the decades ahead. What legacies have we imprinted upon this place and with what repercussions? I feel uneasy for my home in …

Entities: A Field Of Imaginary Games, Thrasyvoulos Ioannis Kalaitzidis

LSU Master's Theses

With this body of work, I am looking for visual symbols that help communicate unuttered meanings through storytelling and stimulate an affectual response to the viewer. This exploration is presented in two different forms: a surreal sculptural installation and a board game. The installation consists of large-scale sculptures made from light and soft materials (polyurethane foam, plastic waste, paper) that are available to move inside the gallery, while the board game is presented as a set of 3D prints with instructions on how the participants can play it. The materials used in the installation suggest a way to transform waste …

The Undiscovered Country, Luke A. Atkinson

LSU Master's Theses

The Undiscovered Country is a compendium of paintings, prose, and poetry that defines the place of creation. This work is a response to life as I find it, in as honest and truthful a way as my ability allows. Sergei Prokofiev said, “The more the sea rages, the more precious a hard rock among the waves becomes.” My paintings are solid rocks that I cling to. Hopefully, someone else can too.

Hello Again يا اهلا A Study Of Grief, Diana Abouchacra

LSU Master's Theses

Grief is an unwanted visitor who we all come to know throughout our lifetime. Although every person reacts differently to bereavement of a loved one, almost always the lost other becomes etched into our being for the remainder of our lives (McClocklin & Lengelle, 2017). In today’s society, we are encouraged to say “Good-bye”, but what if instead, we allow ourselves to keep those who have passed on close to our hearts and say hello again? Hello Again يا اهلا is a body of work that explores my experience with grief. The artworks made for this exhibition investigate my process …

Small Revelations, Christopher Burns

LSU Master's Theses

Small Revelations is a photographic project that recontextualizes images of historic churches found in areas of the United States that have a colonial history. The images in this series subvert and critique the symbolic importance of these structures by interrupting the inherent power found in their architecture. They achieve this subversion through the careful use of color, composition and photographic imperfection. This project builds its argument with visual decisions inspired and validated by work within the art historical canon. Small Revelations is a thesis project produced as the final requirement of Louisiana State University’s Master of Fine Arts in Studio …

Exhibition "Louisiana's Natural Treasure: Margaret Stones, Botanical Artist", Leah Wood Jewett, John D. Miles, Christina Riquelmy

Special Collections

In 2020, LSU Libraries Special Collections presented the exhibition “Louisiana’s Natural Treasure: Margaret Stones, Botanical Artist” at Hill Memorial Library, featuring selected original watercolor paintings and archival materials related to the Native Flora of Louisiana project.

A native of Australia, Margaret Stones (1920-2018) achieved an acclaimed international career that spanned three continents. Commissioned by LSU and funded by private donations, more than 200 watercolor drawings of Louisiana plants produced by Stones during the 1970s and 1980s are among the most treasured holdings of LSU Libraries Special Collections.

The Native Flora of Louisiana project was grounded in a long historical tradition …

The Quest For Self: Using Mandala Art In Reflective Practice Journaling, Kathleen Quinn

Comparative Woman

This article is a nexus of research, personal journaling reflections, and mandala creation from the authors own journals and focuses on the use of Mandalas as part of a reflective practice journaling process. Attention to mandala usage within reflective practice considering depth interiority, engaging and sharing with others. The authors approach to mandala construction is included followed by an exercise for observation and assessment of mandalas. The structure for reflective practice helps shape transformational leaders, using expressive arts, narratives in journaling. This transformational Discovery pathway and narrative exercises can be used for creating professional learning communities. This form of reflective …

In Between Realms: The Search For Feminine Selfhood In The Essais Of Montaigne, Anna Suarez

Comparative Woman

My purpose is to explore factors of the Renaissance that determined women’s selfhood in Montaigne’s Essais. I argue that the shift into modernity is responsible for the loss of women’s autonomy as well as the anxiety experienced by men regarding their power as well as their potential. Montaigne and Renaissance discourse defines women only by their bodies (sexual organs) and I explore the elements that established biological essentialism. This paper exemplifies comparative literature in the sense that it combines literature, theory, and art for the purpose of creating a well-researched examination of the root causes for why women were …

Convenient Camouflage, John Alleyne

LSU Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Major influences in my work are most notably derived from the collages of Romare Bearden, paintings done by abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, and the multidisciplinary practice of Rashid Johnson. This list of artists has been my influence for the past academic year as a result of personal research, some of which was conducted at the Museum of Modern Art, the TATE Modern in London and Musée du Louvre in Paris. My aim in my artwork and in this thesis is to change the perception of Black people, specifically Black men and boys, and to challenge stereotypes …

Primal Matter, Lucas Allen Bush

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract

Primal Matter is a physical representation of the intuitive process, through two and three dimensional forms. The pieces convey motion and tension while telling the story of their own creation. Working instinctively has always fascinated me, in the way of allowing our subconscious mind to make decisions in the place of preconceived planning. My work is heavily influenced by Intuition and the transformation of energy. I am constantly searching for the underlying image or object through scraps of wood and pieces of charcoal, and this body of work is the visible evidence. It explores the curiosity of our unknown …

In-Between: The Spaces Of Modernity, Elisa Fabris Valenti

LSU Master's Theses

During the past three years as a graduate student, I have experienced loneliness. Having recently emigrated from Italy, I have often asked myself why I am experiencing such hard times adjusting to a different country. My thesis explores this question. Referring to Marc Augé’s idea of non-place, I have chosen a geographical and spatial starting point to approach my work. Italian cities are built around the central piazza where social, political, and economic life revolves. In my thesis, I depict American spaces that lack specific location and create solitude within the urban corridors. Private feelings, such as loneliness, are paradoxes …