Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Waiting Room, Adam Lefebvre

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Waiting can be exasperating, but sometimes that helplessness, knowing there is nothing to do but wait, is a comfort.

I have come to understand the value of the handmade through using and living with thoughtfully crafted objects. I am attracted to goods made by people who give voice to their material. When this is done well, I slow down and pay more attention to the object and the task they are performing.

Attraction and distraction. What are the differences between objects meant to attract our attention and those meant to distract? I would much rather lead a life full …

Eat My Quartz, Neil Celani-Morrell

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Pottery has a remarkable ability to tap into the human collective experience, so it is no surprise I express my own understanding of the world by working within the boundaries of “the pot”. With the capacity to communicate conceptual meaning and to serve as objects of utility, pottery not only dances in the notorious territory between art and craft, it embodies the human spirit.

My pots are totems of my existence and this work is an authentic representation of my creative journey. They are an homage to the key influences in my life which have informed and encouraged my creativity …

Cornucopia, Patrick Hargraves

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

I navigate the uncertain times we live in by creating positive, playful sculptures because focusing on joy is not only possible in times of hardship, I believe it is necessary in order to thrive. I go through life with a watchful reverence, finding beauty and hope in the abundance of life in the natural world. Using this inspiration, I reinvent and intentionally exaggerate landscapes and plant forms in clay with a freeing sense of whimsy. My fantasized pieces are an invitation to extend imagination to the joyous moments in the world around us, and to return to an innocent sense …

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.

Capacity, Rachel Baydian

CGU MFA Theses

This Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition by Rachel Baydian is an installation of ceramic sculptures that function as a stand-in for the human body, touching on relationship, interconnectivity, and imperfection. Using abstracted forms that derive from the earth, these art objects are sculpted to mimic nature and its processes. The work highlights our human connection to nature as integrative and vital. Through experience and tactility, there is more of an awareness of space and heightened senses. The work taps into the awe and seduction of the mystery of nature through seemingly ordinary elements of the physical world.

An Open Bag, Matilde Benmayor

Theses and Dissertations

What do we take with us? How much space should we leave in the bag for what we might find? This paper is a journey from under the rug and onto the pavement. Sowing spiderweb maps I try to make a new city my own.

Permutation, Ryan K. Caldwell

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Caldwell, Ryan, M.F.A, Spring 2020 Ceramics

Abstract:

Chairperson: Trey Hill

Permutation, is an exploitation of utilitarian pottery and domesticity within the gallery setting through the use of handmade tables and cabinetry. The gallery is transformed into a more comfortable environment and exhibits a casual essence. This paper explores the thoughts, interpretations, influences, reflections, and definitions of his most recent work created for his Masters of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition. Caldwell presents his work as an ongoing continuum of conceptual research and physical exploration of form and surface.

Accumulation, Erin Mccarty

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This written Thesis is the supporting documentation for Accumulation, a Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition at West Virginia University. This exhibition creates an environment in which a viewer can enter. This installation environment is created based on formal elements combined with fantastical elements from the imagination of the artist. The formal choices in the work provoke a positive otherworldly and whimsical response in the viewer. The environment is designed to provide relief from problems in the everyday world through patterns, forms, colors and surfaces. These elements are harvested from the natural world and recombined in a fantastical way. …