Arts and Humanities Commons^™

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 …

Gentleman Death In Silk And Lace: Death And The Maiden In Vampire Literature And Film, Emily Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contains an examination in the psychosocial significance of Hans Baldung Grien’s “Death and the Maiden” art motif, created during the Renaissance period following the Black Death, and its resurgence in the vampire fiction genre of both literature and film. I investigate the motif in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) and Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (1976) as well as their film adaptations by Francis Ford Coppola (1992) and Neil Jordan (1994), respectively. By examining the presence of the motif in art, literature, and film, I found that the common threads across all investigated works were the dominant social …

From Tidewater To Tennessee: The Structuring Influences Of Virginia Schemata In The Settlement Of East Tennessee, Slade Nakoff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For over two hundred years, historians have debated the historical importance of early Tennessee migrants in shaping the state’s history. These discussions center around North Carolina's impact compared to Virginia's. By shifting discourse to the retention of migrant mentalities, the overwhelming influence of Virginia emerges through the continuity of privilege and commodification schemata. This study employs an interdisciplinary methodological approach combining schema theory, memory studies, and material culture analysis to outline the retention of mentalities from Tidewater, Virginia, to East Tennessee during the early settlement period. By utilizing the case study of John Carter of Watauga (1728-1781), the research illustrates …

The Great Unlearning, Catherine Mccrory Pears

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Great Unlearning is a conceptual exploration: sifting through experiences and objects to overcome psychological pain, expectations of society, individual upbringing, and outside influences in an ongoing quest for authenticity. To both embrace personal history and honor loved ones while letting go of lingering negativity is challenging. Using objects culled from my life, examining the past, and incorporating items gathered along my path through nature, the work seeks personal healing while promoting the power of all people to break from indoctrination, group think, and mob mentality to make better choices to live a satisfying and peaceful existence…hopefully in a democratic …

Evaluating The Efficacy Of The Christian Reformational Transcendental Model Of Art Criticism As A Literary Theory Through Albert Camus’S The Stranger, Elizabeth Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The subfield of art criticism and theory within Christian reformational philosophy, a descendent of the neo-Calvinist theology developed through the work of Dutch Reformer Abraham Kuyper and others, is becoming increasingly diverse. Recently, scholars such as Leland Ryken, Glenda Faye Mathes, and Philip Graham Ryken have built upon twentieth-century theologian Francis Schaeffer’s worldview approach by popularizing a transcendental model of art criticism, an approach that applies the transcendentals of truth, goodness, and beauty to works of art. However, the transcendentals, while widely discussed in the fields of philosophy, theology, and, to a lesser extent, art theory, have not been explicitly …

The Well-Tempered Android: Philosophical Posthumanism In Science Fiction Cinema., Cody Gault

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines philosophical posthumanism as a means for critical analysis of the interaction between humans and nonhuman androids in select science fiction cinematic universes. The interaction is analyzed through several facets, notably the interactions between humans and nonhuman androids, particularly as interactions between the human and nonhuman are often sites of violence. Chapter one is an introduction. Chapter two describes the development of philosophical posthumanism from humanism, also including an analysis of philosophical posthumanism, and how it can be used as a critical lens. Chapter three begins an analysis of science fiction cinema by examining the Blade Runner films …

The Landscape Does Not Care It Is A Landscape: A Utopian Pessimist Journey In Kentucky., Shachaf Polakow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

These thesis and exhibition, invite the viewers to travel through different places in Central and Eastern Kentucky. The region’s landscape, like many other American landscapes, is often known to the public through the settler colonial lens—a lens that ignores Indigenous peoples’ history in the region. The work in the exhibition is a response to landscape art's history and its complicity with American settler colonialism- art that was recruited to create a new identity for the settlers and for the country from the beginning of the American Colonial Project. Landscape art was a crucial part of this effort, presenting the land …

'They Were Known Accordingly’: The Journey Of The Land Otter Pole And Memorial Pole At The Denver Art Museum, Penske Stranger Mccormack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2019, two Kaigani Haida (Alaskan Haida) totem poles (Xaadas Gyáa’ang) were re-raised in the renovated Northwest Coast gallery of the Denver Art Museum. Lee Wallace and his family, descendants of Haida carver Dwight Wallace and Dwight’s son John Wallace, led a ceremony that publicly acknowledged the Wallace family’s connection to the two poles, reintroduced Haida cultural protocols into their care and viewing, and set the stage for future collaborations between the museum and family. This study explores the history of the poles and the intersecting forces that shaped their journey from Sukkwan, Alaska, to Denver, including shifting ideals of …

Sana Sana: Unlearning Generational Expectation Through Performance, Jalen R. Ash

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My work is an exploration of identity as a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Color) body traversing through the generational histories of my family and the struggle of cultural loss to our assimilation of Whiteness. Through the multi-faceted medium of performance, my work uses physical and mental spaces of self and technology to understand how the body functions as a screen. Our bodies house projections of generational expectations that have trickled down from the past into the present. These projections shape our own unique identities along with the personal experiences we gather as we move through the various spaces of …

The Art Of Surviving: Alchemy Of Healing Trauma In Relation To Identity: A Self Study., Rebecca Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis explores trauma’s physical and psychological aspects concerning identity as an artistic practice. Through exploring materials, subject matter, and media, my approach to trauma is based on personal and socially engaged experiences and my attempt to re-conceptualize that experience through the language of contemporary art. Extensively this work is governed by childhood memories and the critical aspect of being raised as a female in a patriarchal society. Being raised female comes with a certain number of expectations and requirements. This work creates a physical and spiritual connection between trauma and the identity of what is female. Discussing these …

Searching For Hades In Archaic Greek Literature, Daniel Stoll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No single volume of mythological or philological research exists for Hades. In the one moment Hades appears in archaic Greek literature, speaking for only ten lines, Hermes stands nearby. Thus, to understand and journey to Hades is to reckon with Hermes’ close presence. As I synthesize research by writers from several different disciplines, may some light be brought into the depths. May we analyze Hades’ brief appearance in archaic Greek literature, examining how what I define as the “Hermetic” emits from his breath in the one moment he physically appears and speaks.

Operatic Mysticisms: Mountains, Deserts, Waterscapes, Andrew Demczuk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Operatic Mysticisms: Mountains, Deserts, Waterscapes examines the ways we encounter environments as readers/viewers of operas, literature, film, and sound recordings, and how each medium requires different detail-gathering techniques. Respective to the previously mentioned mediums, Sun & Sea (2017), Mount Analogue (1952), El Mar La Mar (2017), and Energy Field (2010) are analyzed by engaging with environmental media studies and invention. Reflecting the nature of each landscape—summits of mountains, aporias of deserts, and mysteries of waterscapes—an elemental approach is taken in investigating how these spaces may be noticed, internalized, recorded, and traversed by both the artist and viewer. …

Anatomy, Art, And The Desire For Divine Beauty: An Exploration Into The Creation And Perpetuation Of The Standardized Body Types Of Early Modern Anatomical Illustrations, Sarah D. Shaver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anatomical illustrations have been integral to modern anatomy’s practice and instruction since its conception as a discipline in the sixteenth century. While this practice lends itself to modern anatomy’s highly visual nature, the bodies featured in anatomical illustrations have been exceptionally homogeneous in appearance for as long as the discipline has existed—a fact which has lasting consequences in the contemporary sociomedical world of today. To examine the construction of the standardized body in modern anatomy this project utilizes a feminist constructionist framework in conducting a thematic visual analysis of 215 Early Modern anatomical illustrations. In the first theme, Western Canon, …

The Uncanny Desire In American Animation And Film., Kristen Hankins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although surrealism was short lived, the impact on popular culture is ongoing. Analyzing this impact is quite interesting because it set a standard for American animation and film. In this thesis, Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis and the uncanny are investigated through the lens of the camera in American cinema and animation. This thesis looks at cartoons and films that were made after Breton’s surrealist manifestos were published. This thesis aims to show the viewer the lasting impact that Breton had on American popular culture. This thesis is divided into three chapters with an introduction and conclusion. Chapter one discusses Fleischer …

Letting The Days Go By: An Investigation Into The Artistic And Functional Nature Of Calendars., Elise Alexandra Blankenship

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Calendars have been widely ignored as cultural objects in a contemporary context. Because of this lack of consideration, analyzing a calendar as a work of art is theoretically interesting. This thesis uses the theory of Kitsch, philosophies concerning art in the home, and the theory of relational aesthetics to express the impact that calendars can have when considered works of art. This thesis also discovers the forgotten provenance of block print calendars from the University of Louisville’s extensive print collection. This thesis attempts to coerce the viewer to consider the calendars in their homes as works of art.

Typological And Technological Analyses Of Multi-Component Lithic Collection From Eastern Kentucky., Isaac C. Garvin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to perform a typological and technological analysis of the Gibson Collection utilizing statistical analyses and carefully recorded metric data. The Gibson Collection consists of N=472 lithic artifacts from the southern tip of Fleming County in eastern Kentucky, located directly above the Cave Run Reservoir. The main research focus of this project was to assign types to previously unrecorded artifacts with the intention of observing diachronic technological change of eastern Kentucky’s archaeological timeline within the Gibson collection. This thesis uses post-processual archaeological ideology and inquiry as well as statistical analyses and interpretation. Further, through the …

Shifting Sands., Rachid Tagoulla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Shifting Sands is a re-exploration of the presentation of North Africans in colonial postcards, an examination of identity, and a critique of the modern Western museum. Since the inception of photography, colonizers used this medium- especially in the form of postcards- to categorize and exoticize Eastern peoples in order to more easily subjugate them. Shifting Sands is a series of reconstructed colonial postcards which challenges colonial-era stereotypes of North African peoples. The colonial gaze, represented by the camera lens, is subverted through a lensless image-making process in which sand is used to remove the subject from the colonial gaze and …

Habitation And Interaction In The Lower Illinois River Valley: A Case Study On Household Structure And Ceramics At The German Site (11c377)., Catherine Zoe Doubles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project is to investigate the less understood narrative of the Late Woodland peoples at the German site within the Lower Illinois River Valley. In order to determine the extent of Mississippian cultural interaction with the Jersey Bluff Phase, Late Woodland, peoples, I will examine the houses and artifacts found during the 2019 field season by the Centre for American Archeology. Data from the geophysical surveys, notes from the site excavations, and ceramic analysis will be used to place the German site within the theoretical framework and archaeological context of the region. In the end, the objective …

The Medici Example: How Power Creates Art And Art Creates Power, Margaret Hayden

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project looks at two members of Florence’s Medici family, Cosimo il Vecchio (1389-1464) and Duke Cosimo I (1519-1574), in an attempt to assess how they used the patronage of art to facilitate their rule. By looking at their individual political representations through art, the specifics of their propagandist works and what form these pieces of art came, it is possible to analyze their respective rules. This analysis allows for a clearer understanding of how these two men, each in very different positions, found art as an ally for their political endeavors. While they were in power only one hundred …

Talk This Way: A Look At The Historical Conversation Between Hip-Hop And Christianity, Joshua Swanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Christianity and Hip-Hop culture are often said to be at odds with one another. One is said to promote a lifestyle of righteousness and love, while the other is said to promote drugs, violence, and pride. As a result, the public has portrayed these two institutions as conflicting with no willingness to resolve their perceived differences. This paper will argue that there has always been a healthy conversation between Hip-Hop and Christianity since Hip-Hop’s inception. Using sources like Hip-Hop lyrics, theologians, historians, autobiographies, sermons, and articles that range from Ma$e to Tipper Gore, this paper will look at the conversation …

Digitizing The Aura: A Systems Update For The Contemporary Art World, Emilie Trice

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the digital tide of the last several decades, the material, metaphysical and economic properties of art have evolved in response to the ever-accelerating growth of cybernetics. The contemporary art ecosystem (CAE) has long been considered “the last unregulated financial market”; then cryptocurrency was invented. Now, blockchain technology has entered the cultural zeitgeist and could radically innovate numerous industries, including the art market. The CAE itself is a network, a system that operates within fundamental parameters and, in that sense, it shares much in common with the philosophies underlying computation, such as systems theory, complexity theory and emergent consensus mechanisms. …

From Field To Museum: Intergenerational Education In Public Archaeology, Nicholas Daniel Dungey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Archaeologists have developed different curricula and methods within museums, classrooms, and field settings that engage the public in learning about the past. One realm of public archaeology that has received little research is studying how intergenerational education impacts engaging learners of varying ages with the past. Community collaboration and place-based education (PBE) have served as relevant topics of research for intergenerational educators. I incorporated intergenerational education methods at an archaeology summer camp at Highlands Micro School and at a temporary interactive exhibit at the History Colorado Center. I utilized surveys to determine changes in perception of archaeology that occurred between …

It's A Mad World After All: The Influence Of Stoic Thought In Goya's Los Caprichos., Jennifer Anne Steward

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a study of use of the principles of Stoic rhetoric and moral psychology in Goya’s print series, Los Caprichos. The relationship between Stoic thought and the technical aspects will be explored with regard to the effects used to support the visual conceptualizations. The function of the Caprichos as a book with chapters or parts relating particular modes of perception will be addressed. The technique of aquatint employed by Goya will also be explored. The predominance of geometric forms within the composition that reflect inter-personal relationships is also presented for consideration.

Leonora Carrington : A Bestiary., Stephanie Wise

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Similar to the painted creatures that dwell within the illuminated manuscripts of ancient and medieval bestiaries, the beasts in Leonora Carrington’s early work are used metaphorically. She was deeply influenced in her formative years by mythology and animals; tales with heraldic characters, obscure adventures, and symbolic meanings were foundational to her works. World War II and a subsequent internment in a sanitorium initiated Carrington to wrestle with an existential crisis. Her capacity and appetite for sources of inspiration and knowledge was boundless; infinite symbolic references were readily available for her artistic executions. The metaphors adapted or created by Carrington enabled …

Thinging : Powerful Objects., Tammy M. Burke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The works in "Thinging” are inspired by desire, the genuine and the false, systems of real and perceived values, the quest for immortality, the allure of things, our use of them to make ourselves, and imagining pasts and futures via objects. The following concepts are threaded through the work: cathexis, ritual as a value builder, collections, hoarding, display, object history, exchange, use, and sign values, and vibrant materiality. At the heart of my investigation is the quest to examine the origins of object power, and by what measures it can be evaluated: value from belief, market value, and something perhaps …

Trace., Kcj Szwedzinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Trace utilizes autoethnography to investigate aspects of Judaism to discover how one decides what to embrace, embody, or deny from inherited legacies. Autoethnography attempts to combine quantitative and qualitative data in order to systematically analyze and describe personal experience. The artist acting as Ba’alei Kushiah, or question bearer, uses Talmudic philosophy as a methodology and approach to art making. This research is self-referential; using Jewish thought to ask questions about Judaism. Judaism, often existing in an in between place with outward characteristics that reflect regional influences, facilitates a dialogue about whether there are relative or absolute delineations within and between …

Exploring Place As A Producer Of Localized Art Styles And Its Role In A Contemporary Global Art World., Alexis Doerr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Place as influencing the production of local art idioms is examined. Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and Michael Baxandall’s concept of visual capacity explain the social, economic, and physical structures that comprise place and affect how people perceive and evaluate the world around them. Art education, professional development opportunities, and local arts spending are discussed as the main structures of place that shape local art idioms and art making processes. South Dakota artists Harvey Dunn, Terry Redlin, and Dorothy Morgan are used as a case study. The writer argues that due to globalization the long-standing structure of art center and …

Transdisciplinary Creative Ecologies In Contemporary Art Within Emergent Processes, Siglinde Langholz Villarreal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research is composing in the moving with affective speeds and rhythms, instead of unfolding direct and in linear ways. It is important to come across different planes of composition in movement. There are so many planes of voices spinning around in relation. Research-creation seems as forms of relations and an invitation to appreciate the collectivity at the heart of thinking. The many entering-into relation within a differential thought in the making of its own.

Emergent properties in non-human interactions, such as those presented in Steven Shaviro ́s Against Self-Organization (2009) and Brain Massumi, are symptomatic of how individualities relate …

Buffering..., Nicholas B. Vialpando

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Buffering… focuses on scenes from everyday life such as cooking breakfast or a day at the office which are presented in a half-rendered frozen form. The works are partially pixilated in certain areas to create a sense of perpetual buffering illustrating a never-ending frustration between advancement and expectation. This body of work is meant to create an opportunity for viewer to experience a sensation of tension while information perpetually buffers. This sensation reflects how society has been conditioned by its technological devices and their implied promises of instant gratification. This body of work aims to shed light on the frustration …

Laughing Out Loud: American Indian Comedy As A Force For Social Change, Jacob M. Ward

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Activism entails not only individuals overtly campaigning for changes in public spheres, but in other ways and strategies as well. One of these other avenues is the use of political satire and humor. Comedy publicizes frustrations of American issues, just as sit-ins, walk-outs, or marches do. For the most part, scholars fail to address the importance of humor. This work researches not only the comedic works of Charlie Hill, the 1491s, and other American Indian comedians, but also how their craft possibly alters stances and opinions. These comedians have a voice, and, therefore, deserve examination. This work shows the influence …