Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Modernism Contested: Gego's Grids And The Aesthetics Of Temporality, Victoria L. Fedrigotti

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis traces Gego’s contestation of art historical modernism through examining her relationship to the modernist grid and to her modernist genealogy of Constructivism, Geometric Abstraction, and Kineticism. These two nonlinear developments subvert the teleological conception of progress presumed by Greenbergian modernism, and bring forth Gego’s own aesthetic conception of temporality.

The Politics And Aesthetics Of American Art During The Cold War: Commissions For Philip Johnson’S New York State Pavilion At The 1964-1965 World’S Fair, Alexandria Valera

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the social and cultural climate surrounding the art commissions for Philip Johnson's New York State Pavilion at the 1964-65 World's Fair. The research presented herein examines how the economic and cultural climate of 1960's America affected the architectural landscape at the World's Fair and how Johnson's Pavilion was integrated into it. Finally, this thesis examines how artworks by John Chamberlain, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and others responded to the commercial premise of the fair itself. This thesis argues that ultimately the artworks presented used the language of commercial art to critique the Fair and the …

How To Look At Monsters: Staging Female Bodies From The Periphery Of The Seventeenth-Century Spanish World In Baroque Portraiture And Hapsburg Collections, Risa A. Puleo

Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry examines portraits of “monsters”—an early modern term describing those whose bodies challenged socially-constructed categories by deviating from the social norm through differences of race, gender and physical or mental capacity, painted for Hapsburg royals across Europe, who collected specimens, including people, representing the scope of their territories.

Claudio Perna, Ca. 1970: The Impossibility Of Wholeness, Silvia Benedetti

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis identifies two main themes in Claudio Perna’s (1938–1997) work: his use of technology to explore self-representation and his interrogation of mapping as means of knowledge. This study also situates Perna’s conceptual work in relation to his field of human geography, in the specific Venezuelan context.

Archival Enactment, Retelling 'The Big Book': Alison Knowles, Something Else Press And Fluxus, Meghan A. Dellacrosse

Theses and Dissertations

"Archival Enactment, Retelling 'The Big Book': Alison Knowles, Something Else Press and Fluxus," positions Knowles’ Big Book (1966) as a case study of historical methodology and interdisciplinary artistic practice in the post-war period. This comprehensive analysis of Big Book, a work of art no longer extant, contextualizes its publisher, Something Else Press through Dick Higgins’ concept of “intermedia,” and important lesser-known junctures relevant to Fluxus and the group’s leader George Maciunas are illuminated. Knowles' early and lesser-known silkscreen paintings are also examined.

Performing Conquest And Resistance In The Streets Of Eighteenth Century Potosí: Identity And Artifice In The Cityscapes Of Gaspar Miguel De Berrío And Melchor Pérez De Holguín, Agnieszka A. Ficek

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the ways in which Potosí's two most influential colonial artists represented the urban dynamics of race, class and labor in their depictions of the Andean 'City of Silver' during the eighteenth century, when silver production, profits and population were dramatically declining.

Please Read, Joseph W. Anthony-Brown

Theses and Dissertations

This is a semi-fictional story told through a series of fake found documents. It describes my work and thoughts through metaphor. Machines have the potential to gain self-consciousness through accumulation of errors. Creativity can be confused with randomly generated variety. The acceptance of chaos and loss of control can provide a path to enlightenment.

Deposition, Conjecture, And The Word Of Nod, Victor Vaughn

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis involved mixed medium drawings based on written colonial papers regarding the beginning of a border war between the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania. To fill in the fragmented historical information, the project incorporated period artifacts as merged and manipulated by contemporary technology and the internet’s ethos.

Elaborations On Thought Process And Practice, George A. Schwab

Theses and Dissertations

An extended statement describing the thought process and practice behind the sculptural work of artist George A. Schwab. Includes short descriptions and documentation of work installed during the Fall 2015 Thesis exhibition at CUNY Hunter's 205 Hudson Street Gallery.

A Statement, Cein Watson

Theses and Dissertations

The thesis paper is a map of my studio practice. It is meant to be a resource to help the viewer read my artwork. By laying out the tools of my practice the paper gives the reader a context on how I digest and synthesis works of art. These tools range from references to art history, architecture, and a grounding in traditional craftsmanship. The result is a culmination of influences that situate the work and give the reader an intimate understanding of the final art exhibition. With this map, the viewer can navigate the processes and contexts of the artwork.

Main Street, America: Histories Of I-95, Mark T. Evans

Theses and Dissertations

“Main Street, America: Histories of I-95” fills a historiographical gap by arguing the Interstate Highway System can only be accurately understood through the study of local histories. The existing literature tends toward national, system-wide evaluations and consequently fails to capture the complexity of the Interstate Highway’s interaction with the communities through which it passes. By focusing on the backbone of the Interstate Highway System, I-95, this dissertation demonstrates responses to Interstate Highways were dependent on the interplay of myriad local factors. Additionally, it argues that I- 95’s effect on communities was determined by local conditions. Studying individual communities along a …

An Annotated Bibliography Of Saxophone Works By Taiwanese Composers, Po-Fang Chang

Theses and Dissertations

Saxophone works by Taiwanese composers are, as yet, rarely researched nor introduced to the Western saxophone community. The purpose of this research paper is to create an annotated bibliography of works by prominent Taiwanese composers as a practical resource for pedagogues, researchers, and performers. Each work is introduced with background information, compositional ideas, performance length, a performance guide, and level of difficulty. In addition, a short biography and contact information for each composer is also included. It is the author’s goal to increase the exposure of these important contemporary works to the wider saxophone community, so that there will be …

Coercing Beauty: From Peanuts To Daggers In The Night, Brad Cozby

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to show the journey of a young designer. I will show through three separate productions the struggles, along with the triumphs of a designer learning the ropes. I will discuss in this paper the process by which the designer grew and expanded his understanding of design as well as the role of a designer in a theatrical production.

"Very Many More Men Than Women": A Study Of The Social Implications Of Diagnostics At The South Carolina State Hospital, Clara Elizabeth Bertagnolli

Theses and Dissertations

Treatment and understanding of mental illness has vastly changed in the past century and a half, leading many historians and psychiatrists to puzzle over the logic and motivations driving the once-abundant mental institutions known as insane asylums. Though a great deal of literature has emerged in this burgeoning historical field, few have looked at the diagnostics used by psychiatrists of the past to see what they reveal about the former system of mental health. This paper uses the South Carolina State Hospital as a case study to demonstrate how diagnostic trends can be used to understand the gender and racial …

A Work In Process: The Diligence Behind The Art, Marc Hurst

Theses and Dissertations

The following is an in depth analysis of the development process from script to stage for the lighting design of five productions. These productions were commissioned to MFA lighting design candidate Marc Hurst during his three years in the University of South Carolina Department of Theatre and Dance's Master of Fine Arts Program. This paper critically examines the process by which the artist develops their lighting design from first read to fully realized production.

The Wind Ensemble Trilogy Of Joseph Schwantner: An Examination Of The Close Musical Relationship Between "And The Mountains Rising Nowhere," "From A Dark Millennium," And "In Evening's Stillness..." With An Approach To Programming The Works As A Trilogy, James Willson Taylor Ii

Theses and Dissertations

Joseph Schwantner’s Trilogy for Wind Ensemble consisting of and the mountains rising nowhere (1977), From a Dark Millennium (1981), and In evening’s stillness… (1996) presents a unique problem. While it is clear that the composer’s intent is that the works be considered smaller parts of a whole, there are several complications to negotiate in order to both perform and appreciate the works as a trilogy. This document is a study of the characteristics that bind these pieces despite their seemingly disparate qualities, including such major components as programmatic inspiration, instrumental requirements, compositional traits, and pitch and rhythmic material. Additionally, it …

H. Villa-Lobos' Concerto Para Piano E Orquestra N. 4: A Stylistic Analysis, Vicente Della Tonia Junior

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to provide a stylistic analysis of Heitor Villa- Lobos’ Concerto No. 4 for piano and orchestra through investigation of its form, thematic materials, harmony, orchestration, stylistic influences and keyboard usage. The secondary purpose of this study was to offer the historical background, including the commission of the work, its première, reception and publication, which, along with the composer’s influences, will further illustrate his style and contribution to the genre. This study helps to fill a research gap by promoting and educating performers about Villa-Lobos’ writing. The ultimate goals are to encourage informed performances of …

Frank Martin's Arranged Works For Flute: Sonata Da Chiesa And Deuxieme Ballade, Jessica Dixon Leeth

Theses and Dissertations

The Swiss composer Frank Martin (1890-1974) wrote three major works for flute—Ballade for flute and piano, Sonata da Chiesa for flute and organ, and Deuxième Ballade for flute and piano. Of these, both the Sonata da Chiesa and Deuxième Ballade were arrangements of two of his previously written works, Sonata da Chiesa for viola d’amore and organ and Ballade for saxophone and piano (or string orchestra, piano, and percussion), respectively. Martin wrote both works in their original versions in 1938, a time in his career when he realized his true individual style, embracing the chromaticism of twelve-tone serialism while maintaining …

Situationism And The Promise Of Virtue Ethics, Richard Barclay Holmes

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I argue that it is possible to develop an empirically adequate form of virtue ethics even if one grants that situationism is true. I define situationism as a skeptical thesis about globalism, or the thesis that temporally stable and trans-situationally consistent character and personality traits are widely instantiated. Situationists such as John Doris and Gilbert Harman argue that globalism is an empirically inadequate thesis. While I accept Doris and Harman’s situationist thesis, they also make a further argument which is the subject of this dissertation. They argue that since globalism is empirically inadequate and Aristotelian virtue ethics …

Invective Drag: Talking Dirty In Catullus, Cicero, Horace, And Ovid, Casey Catherine Moore

Theses and Dissertations

Invective Drag: Talking Dirty in Catullus, Cicero, Horace, and Ovid, studies the relationship between invective texts and masculine self-fashioning. Using gender theory, rhetorical theory, and philology, I examine how invective speech in these authors operates outside the normative social parameters of Roman masculinity.. I examine the invectives of Catullus, Cicero, Horace, and Ovid to argue that in the speaker’s aggressive articulation of masculinity, he often ends up effeminizing or queering himself as he attempts to make his opponents radically other. I show that the hypermasculine speaker of the invective genre utilizes a strategy I term “invective drag,” the adoption of …

Forgotten Science Of Bird Eggs: The Life Cycle Of Oology At The Smithsonian Institution, Katherine Nicole Crosby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the influence the Smithsonian Institution had over the development of oology as a science from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. The Smithsonian promoted oology, or the study of bird eggs, through publications and collections of eggs in the mid-19th century, and the science enjoyed a brief period of proliferation and approval. In the end, however, the popularity of egg collecting as a hobby, in-fighting between oologists and ornithologists over the validity of oology as a science, and bird conservation groups opposed to collecting eggs, all conspired to halt oology’s professionalization, and ultimately led to the …

H. Leslie Adams' Twenty-Six Etudes For Solo Piano: A Performance And Stylistic Analysis, Aaron Balthazar Mathews

Theses and Dissertations

H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932) is a prolific and well-respected American composer, performer, and educator. He currently works as a full-time composer and travels the country promoting his music. Past faculty appointments of H. Leslie Adams include serving as an Assistant Professor of Music at Stillman College, Florida A & M University, and the University of Kansas. Over the years, he has received numerous commissions, honors, and awards including the Composer Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts to study in Bellagio, Italy, the Yaddo Artists Colony fellowship, the Jennings Foundation, and grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and …

Two Million "Butterflies" Searching For Home: Identity And Images Of Korean Chinese In Ho Yon-Sun's Yanbian Narratives, Xiang Jin

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the representation of Korean Chinese searching for home in relation to Korean diasporic identity. Home as a sense of identity is both personal and collective. It is also a reflection of one’s psyche and emotion. For Korean Chinese, searching for a place to call home in between their host-homeland China and original homeland Korea involves many aspects of meaning, the home of an individual, of a family, and of a community. Therefore, the third cultural region Yanbian, the Korean Chinese Autonomous Prefecture of China, and Yanbian narratives become the central issue of this thesis. I first offer …

The Effects And Comparisons Of Receptive Live Music Listening And Expressive Music Making On Mood With Elderly Adults In A Congregate Residential Setting, Rory Kendall Bolton

Theses and Dissertations

It is important to consider mood and its effect on elderly persons as many older adults will experience symptoms of depression. In prior studies, research indicated that preferred music listening and expressive music making can positively change mood in older adults. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the differences between receptive music listening and expressive music making (presented as a facilitated group music therapy session) and their effect on participants’ mood. The researcher hypothesized that 1) there would be a significant difference for pre and posttest standardized mood assessment (PANAS) scores between the receptive music listening and …

The Meadow: A Novel, Scott Albert Winkler

Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

THE MEADOW: A NOVEL

by

Scott A. Winkler

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2015

Under the Supervision of Professor George Clark

The Meadow considers the question of how all Americans, both civilians and military personnel alike, are affected by the United States’ military actions. Set during the Vietnam era, The Meadow tells the story of Walt Neumann, who is torn between his dream of going to college and his father’s insistence that his sons serve their nation as he did in World War II. Circumstance unexpectedly enables Walt to pursue his dream, but he also comes to realize the source …

The Reverend Jim Jones And Religious, Political, And Racial Radicalism In Peoples Temple, Catherine Barrett Abbott

Theses and Dissertations

On November 18, 1978 over 900 members of Peoples Temple committed suicide or were murdered in Jonestown, Guyana under the direction of Reverend Jim Jones. This thesis explores the radical ideology of Jones leading up to and including the day of the murder-suicides by poisoned Flavor-Aid. Jones was a radical theologically, politically, and in racial thinking, although he was not an advocate for women’s rights. Jones claimed to be a prophet and then God, criticized the Bible and became atheistic, called himself a Marxist, a socialist, and a Communist, and strove for equal rights for minorities in the United States …

Retrograde Returns Of The American Housewife: Reimagining An Old Character In A New Millennium, Ruth Emelia Wollersheim

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the immensely popular return of the housewife character in the twenty-first century. From films like The Stepford Wives (2004), to television dramas like Desperate Housewives (2004-2012) and The Good Wife (2009- ), to reality shows like Wife Swap (2004- ), Bravo’s The Real Housewives franchise (2006- ), Basketball Wives (2010- ), Mob Wives (2011- ), and most recently on the blogosphere with personalities like The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, the housewife character has reentered our imaginations on a mass scale. This anachronistic character trend is in stark contrast to the urban, working superwoman ideal of the 1980s …

Liberty, Equality, Indebtedness: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams And The Problem Of Debt In A Revolutionary Age, Martha Salazar Cantu

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I examine how the issue of debt contributed to the political tensions between the New England region and the Chesapeake region during the Revolutionary Age. The merging of the two regions’ economies into one federal union caused political divisions, which remained beyond the period of the Early Republic. Examining the cultural attitudes of each region towards debt provides a better understanding of the political problems between these two regions. The integration of the consignment culture of the Southern states with the Puritan ethic of the New England states caused economic difficulties for the young Republic. The research …

Tabacaleros Al Grito De Guerra: The Mexican Tobacco Industry And The U.S.-Mexico War, Jorge A. Hernandez

Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes the role of the Mexican tobacco industry during the chaotic years from 1845 to 1847. In nineteenth-century Mexico the tobacco industry was an important financial contributor to Mexican government’s efforts to sustain the war against the United States. Without any significant success, the Mexican government tried to confront and solve the problems limiting the amount of revenues that was expected from the tobacco industry. Regional interests, political factionalism, administrative negligence, and tobacco contraband limited the amount of money the tobacco industry contributed. In spite of all the problems the tobacco industry experienced between 1845 and 1847, the …

Racial Intolerance During The California Gold Rush, Raul David Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and lasted to the mid-1850s. Though short in duration, the impact the Gold Rush had in the United States, along with populations from many areas in the rest of the world, proved detrimental to many different ethnic groups that arrived to the mines and came into contact with various cultures, principally the white Anglo-American culture. This thesis focuses on themes such as race, gender roles, free labor versus unfree labor, extra-legal violence, and informal laws passed in the mines to exclude foreigners. It addresses why certain nationalities were taxed and targeted as foes, …