Art and Design Commons^™

Umbrales (Thresholds), Maureen Scally

Masters Theses

Umbrales is Spanish for Thresholds.

Thresholds are by nature ambivalent spaces, inviting two distinct realities into play. As an artist, I materialize my experiences as a migrant into an architectural form. A series of textile walls shape a space that is simultaneously interior and exterior so that the audience circulates in the negative space in between. It is in the construction of this threshold condition — a simultaneous placement, neither here nor there — that a complex narrative of place unfolds.

A Thesis, Or Digressions On Sculptural Practice: In Which, Concepts & Influences Thereof Are Explained, Set Forth, Catalogued, Or Divulged By Way Of Commentaries To A Poem, First Conceived By The Artist, Fed Through Chatg.P.T., And Re-Edited By The Artist, To Which Are Added, Annotated References, Impressions And Ruminations Thereof, Also Including Private Thoughts & Personal Accounts Of The Artist, Jaimie An

Masters Theses

This thesis is an exercise in, perhaps a futile, attempt to trace just some of the ideas, stories, and musings I might meander through in my process. It’s not quite a map, nor is it a neat catalogue; it is a haphazard collection of tickets and receipts from a travel abroad, carelessly tossed in a carry-on, only to be stashed upon returning home. These ideas are derived from much greater thinkers and authors than myself; I am a mere collector or a translator, if that, and not a very good one, for much is lost. I do not claim comprehensive …

Lucid Dream: Embracing Uncertainty, Zhiyun Zhang

Masters Theses

Glass is a tool, a projection surface, a medium for optical phenomena. It creates a tangible link between physical space and perception, transcending the physical realm to reshape our sensory perceptions and resonate within our psyche, deepening our understanding. Inspired by cosmic and natural phenomena, my installations narrate the contemplation of the moon and the appreciation of rainbows. They reference historic optical technologies, incorporating glass, mirrors, light, darkness, and space to produce an encounter that extends beyond personal experience, resonating with our collective unconscious, uniting us in profound ways. The blurred boundaries between observer and observed, reality and illusion, sensory …

Sweet Relief, Aaron Feltman

Masters Theses

Relief holds both an emotional and a physical connotation; both the lifting of a burden or emotional baggage and the description of an object with forms that protrude from a planar surface. This thesis explores the ways in which these connotations can co-mingle and inform each other through the creation of hand-carved wooden reliefs. The relief becomes a vessel through which an emotional connection can be formed between viewer and maker by way of a shared sense of labor.

Wood, a material grown from the earth, is transformed into an entirely human-created form, the car; embodying the just-as-human desire for …

Modern Times, Will Beattie

Masters Theses

At the intersection of glass, photography and sound lies issues of perspective, framing, and information. These factors as well as the conceptual space between object and image offer an opportunity to explore the way we register narrative through contradicting signifiers. Glass historically has been used as an instrument to reveal spaces, moments, and phenomena previously imperceptible to the human eye. This rendering of previously unseen spaces through language, technology or vision, may work to reorient the viewers’ perspective and allow for a new understanding of the world. The power of disruption as a potential catalyst is central to my studio …

Naturify 2300, Yarina Yiwei Dai

Masters Theses

In my art practice, I explore the interplay between human desires to manipulate and anthropomorphize nature, as seen in the technological augmentation of plants and living entities. This investigation delves into how this intersection, alongside empathy towards these creations, contributes to fears of uncontrollability and the risks of addiction and excessive dependence on technology.

Bioengineering and genetic modification have cultivated unprecedented developments, allowing humans to manipulate the fundamental building blocks of life. My research speculates on this technology further, modifying the genetic code of organisms and creating bioengineered wearable entities with enhanced traits or entirely new functionalities. The primary objective …