Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Or To Be Eaten Alive, Christopher Williams

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

“or to be eaten alive'' is a multimedia exhibition in which I merge my own coming of age story with a mythological ecology. In this work I reclaim my queer identity by communing with my past selves in a fantasy world created through the lens of Queer Ecology and Queer Eco-Futurism. The visuals in this exhibition obscure reality. They are abstractions of the landscapes I occupy—particularly the Tallgrass prairie and Ozark ecoregions. Through a speculative, fantasy world the exhibition introduces moments of adoration, death, fracturing, growth, joy, and failure. I form, draw, color and arrange the work embracing mistakes and …

The “Trans-Historical Community Of Women” And The Paintings Of Artemisia Gentileschi, Grace T. O. Ray

The Confluence

Though the term feminism did not yet exist, Artemisia Gentileschi’s embrace of the vital force of feminine strength is a distinctive component to her paintings. The woman painter’s life and art were affected by her sex, in a time when women were not only considered property but had to deal with the repercussions of an oppressive patriarchal society. From her youth onwards, Gentileschi witnessed women unjustly convicted and punished for crimes that had men committed, the law would have allowed them to walk free. Sadly, Artemisia was later privy to the misogynistic laws herself with the famous rape trial. It …

Michelangelo Buonarroti And Homophobia In The Renaissance, Grace T. O. Ray

The Confluence

Tommaso de’ Cavalieri was a young man with an aristocratic background when he first met famous artist Michelangelo Buonarroti in Rome. Tommaso was known to be an incomparable physical beauty, with intelligence and elegant manners, as well as being a member of one of the most illustrious families of Rome—the Orsini. Some have said this is what drew the artist to Cavalieri from the start. Though not much is known about their encounter, it is confirmed that Cavalieri remained a close and loyal companion to Michelangelo for thirty-two years until the artist’s death in 1564. Furthermore, throughout their years together …

Fashioning The Flapper: Clothing As A Catalyst For Social Change In 1920s America, Julia Wolffe

Honors Program Theses

Fashion has been a catalyst for social change throughout human history. Fashion in 1920s America in particular reflects society's rapidly evolving attitudes towards gender and race. Beginning with how corsetry heavily restricted women for nearly four hundred years up until the twentieth century, this thesis explores how clothing has acted as a tool for societal progression following World War I and Women's Suffrage and during the Jazz Age and The Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, this thesis examines how the influence of jazz music and dance that originated from Black American communities led to the creation of the flapper evening dress. The …

Greco-Roman Paganism And Women Leaders: The Foundation Of Early Christian Art, Rowan Murry

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I explore the impact of Greco-Roman pagan motifs as well as women leaders and officials on the development of Early Christian art by analyzing catacomb paintings, sarcophagi, and minor arts such as finger rings and carved gemstones. I also discuss surviving primary sources written by Tertullian, Eusebius, St. Jerome, and Clement of Alexandria, to gain a better understanding of anti-art views in the first few centuries of the Church’s rise to power. These anti-art sentiments were often rooted in attempts to disassociate themselves from pagan practices while Early Christian art was emerging amongst the lower classes who …

Art And Aids: Viral Strategies For Visibility, Stephen Baylor Pillow

Honors Theses

“Art & AIDS: Viral Strategies for Visibility” examines the complex relationships between social stigma, healthcare, homophobia, and mortality, and how these impacted the lives of Western artists and manifested in their works. Most of the art discussed in this thesis was produced during the height of the AIDS crisis (late-1980s to mid-1990s). During this period, gay artists and their allies employed new strategies in their work to inspire activism, and convey intense emotions –– predominantly frustration, grief, and anxiety –– associated with HIV/AIDS. In the U.S., the inaction of the Reagan administration was largely due to widespread homophobia kindled by …

Visual Weimar: The Iconography Of Social And Political Identities, Kerry Wallach

German Studies Faculty Publications

In the Weimar Republic, images were perceived to be as unreliable as they were powerful. They helped create and codify difference while simultaneously blurring lines within the categories of gender and race. Visual culture provided a wild playground for discourses about gender presentation and sexuality that encompassed veterans, athletes, criminals, the New Woman, and androgynous figures. Despite the growing prominence of images in race science, it was widely held that images could not be trusted to convey accurate information about race. The propagandistic use of images for political purposes had the potential to be equally ambiguous. It was ultimately up …

Centering The Black Woman As A Subject Of Portraiture In Nineteenth-Century French Art, Llyleila Richardson

XULAneXUS

Until the 19th century, artistic depictions of black women by European artists were rare. Often they were relegated to the background as domestic attendants to European noblewomen, serving as symbols of the latter’s colonial wealth and further provide contrast with the darkness of their skin against the aristocratic fairness of their white mistresses. The transition into the 19th century was a turbulent period in European history, especially for France, as the country saw multiple revolts and governmental changes at home. Simultaneously colonization overseas continued to expand, creating previously unheard-of access to foreign cultures and ideas.

Black women became an interesting …

Body Politic: A Critical Comparison Of Marina Abramovic And Chris Burden, Lauren Minor

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

A significant component of contemporary arts is performance art. Two spearheads of the birth of performance art are the Serbian artist Marina Abramovic, and the American Chris Burden, both of whom worked primarily in the 1970s. Abramovic and Burden have often been compared for the similar characteristics of their work: both artists create intense, provocative, and violent work. While Abramovic uses these aspects of her work to make political or social commentary, and connect to her audiences on a humanistic level, Burden uses these aspects without creating a deeper meaning or inspiring thoughtful dialogue. By exploring several comparable works by …

From The Church Of Disco To Waterfront Ruins: An Analysis Of Gay Space, Liam Nolan

Senior Projects Spring 2019

My senior thesis is an analysis of gay space from the late 1970s to 1980s New York, and I’m questioning how themes of private vs. public, accessibility, race, and economic status dictated where one searched for gay self-expression and community in the built environment. In order to understand how queer spaces functioned architecturally and socially, I’ve chosen to research two opposites: The Saint and the west side piers. The former was a private club in New York City from 1980-1988 and was considered to be the “Vatican of Disco” with a planetarium that could hold over a thousand men, two …

The Female Gaze, Elizabeth "Ellie" Cooper, Veronica "Ronnie" Millison, Olivia Matos

Women’s Studies, Feminist Zine Archive

No abstract provided.

Moocs 2.0: Reviewing N.Paradoxa's Mooc On Contemporary Art And Feminism, Parme Giuntini, Anne Swartz, Kathleen Wentrack

Art History Pedagogy & Practice

This collaboratively written article explores the pedagogical role of MOOCs today through analysis of a MOOC on contemporary art and feminism, created by Katy Deepwell, editor of the international feminist art journal n.paradoxa. Parme Giuntini offers an updated overview of MOOCs and their increasing value as OERs for faculty and students. Feminist art historians Anne Swartz and Kathleen Wentrack investigate the n.paradoxa MOOC from different, but complimentary perspectives. Wentrack explores the structure, documents, and interactivity of the MOOC as a rich source of feminist material useful to both students and scholars. Swartz addresses Deepwell’s international treatment of transnational feminism …

Reclaiming Female And Racial Agency: The Story Of Dido Elizabeth Belle Via Portrait And Film, Madison Blonquist

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

This paper explores the complex relationship between artists and their subjects, particularly with regard to race and gender. Using Niki Saint-Phalle’s definition of “truthful representation,” I consider the issues that race and gender pose to this ideal using the story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, an eighteenth-century aristocratic woman of mixed race. The intriguing life of Dido Elizabeth Belle is especially relevant to today’s evolving definition of intersectional feminism. Her portrait Painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle and her Cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray (1779, formerly attributed to Johann Zoffany) challenges the idea of “truthful representation” because it was presumably painted by a …

The Children Of Reverend William Anderson Scott: A Portrait Legacy, Madeline Duffy

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

The painting of Robert, Calvin, Martha, and William Scott, and Mila (known as The Children of Reverend William Anderson Scott) is not just a family heirloom or a portrayal of Reverend William Scott’s four children and their caretaker, Mila. On the contrary, nearly two hundred years after it was painted, The Children of Reverend Scott functions today as a historical document in that analysis of it records the contemporary roles and status of children, parents, and slaves in nineteenth-century Southern life. This paper explores the personal convictions of Reverend Scott as recorded in the portrait—namely his roles as a father, …

Artists’ Expression Of Women’S Unresolvable Internal Conflict, Diedre Miles-Girod

Senior Theses

The Victorian period (1837 to 1901) was a time of great change in the United States. The country was growing with the Louisiana Purchase and the addition of several states to the Union. Railroads were connecting together the vast lands. Unprecedented economic and manufacturing changes were unfolding; it was the time of the Industrial Revolution. This period also brought about a revolution for women by opening up new possibilities in many spheres of life. However, these new possibilities, ironically, exacerbated a timeless women’s struggle of finding balance between their traditional roles as caregivers and their human need for self-­‐ expression. …

Women Surrealist Photographers And Their Response To The Objectification Of Women In Male Surrealist Art, Lois X. Nguyen

Undergraduate Research Posters

Objectification of women in Male Surrealist art depicted the male gaze in its darkest form, through the ideas of the uncanny, fetish, and convulsive beauty. Women were treated as objects throughout Surrealist photography and painting instead of as human subjects. Their femininity and beauty were valued to the extent of held belief that a woman’s destiny is to be beautiful and be present for the male gaze. Women Surrealists have gained notoriety in the last sixty years for their presence in the Surrealist movement and for their diligence in providing the female perspective in opposition to the male perspective.

This …