Art and Design Commons^™

Generations, Jayla Watkins

Student Projects

Understanding your family can be the starting point of understanding your personal identity. Coming of age, you begin to view your family members as individuals as opposed to their titles of “Mother” or “Grandmother” names that once seemed to elude that she possessed some sort of supernatural power. As Jayla Watkins looks across 3 generations of her family, she sees different versions of the same person affected by life experiences, environments, and choices. Some oddly similar and some worlds apart. Understanding the generations of woman before her helps inform the woman she is becoming.

With influences such as Deana Lawson …

Makeher, Maeve R. Wallace

Student Projects

Makeher is a multi-media work that grapples with the existential dilemma of creation within the context of our increasingly unreliable world. Anchored by a concern for the implications of childbirth, my art studies themes of life's genesis and the world we leave behind.

My subject matter, an amalgamation of mirrors, planets, silver, body parts, hair, and tights, are tools with which I explore these themes. Using silver fabric, I abstract the human form. By integrating disassembled body parts with mirrors, I reflect on the fragmented and multifaceted nature of the human existence. This process is not just about the creation …

Fragmented Relationships, Drew M. Dzurko

Student Projects

Relationships are often viewed through a binary lens. This greatly oversimplifies their intricacy, yet they can be one of the most challenging human experiences to navigate. Drawing on the symbolisms of memories Drew created digital images that embody these memories related to lost relationships. Using a binary image converter Drew created a visually simple image made up of only two colors down to each pixel. He then brought these images into a text editor on a computer which would display the raw code of an image. This revealed long strings of machine learning code that are indecipherable to the human …

Monuments Are For The Living: The Confederate Mound Monument And The Falsehood Of Reconciliation Statues, Janelle O'Malley

Student Projects

In 2015 the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) began tracking Confederate symbol usage in the United States, namely focusing on confederate flags and monuments. That same year a white supremacist fatally shot nine Black worshippers at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. The shooter in this case had confederate symbols all over their home. This sparked conversation nationally about confederate symbolism and its true purpose. In turn, the conversation led to highly contested debates on confederate monuments and statues. Between 2015 and 2020, 148 confederate statues were removed from the public eye. But the most shocking …

Art Education As Mutual Aid: Community And Social Justice Based Initiatives, Janelle O'Malley

Student Projects

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, education has drastically changed. The months of pandemic coupled with rising political upheaval left issues with schooling at the bottom of the list. Yet, the repercussions of the pandemic have forever changed the face of our educational system. Especially hard hit during this time was subjects deemed unimportant such as music and art. These classes, which already have faced their fair amount of cutbacks, were once again left on the chopping block. Even though the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 ensured that art would be treated as a core subject, it …

You Belong Here: A Critical Look At Community Engagement In Museum Education Through K-16 Place Based Pedagogy, Janelle O'Malley

Student Projects

Historically museums exist as object centered spaces with little consideration of the community and artists that support them. Therefore museums as pedagogical sites must reorient themselves to become people centered spaces incorporating participatory pedagogical experiences for both community members and artists.

There is a lack of research in place-based pedagogies in museum education. It is important now more than ever to recognize the need to center community in museum education. This study will seek to investigate how museums can exact meaningful change through their educational practices and create a sense of belonging in museums for their immediate community. The outcomes …

Reaching Across Community Lines: How Informal Visual Art Educational Programming Bridges The Gap, Janelle O'Malley

Student Projects

Economic disparity in underserved communities is in large part responsible for a lack of access to quality visual arts education. The communities most in need are often hit first when it comes to funding the arts, and the students suffer these financial consequences. How can we ensure those underserved communities receive a complete education with the visual arts? What other ways can access to the visual arts be provided to schools?