Art and Design Commons^™

Cumulative Grief, Xuan Pham

Masters Theses

A written thesis to accompany the M.F.A. Exhibition Cumulative Grief, in which the artist's personal and familial narrative explores the complexity and nuances of racial grief.

"Revolution", Noelle Lilley

Capstones

When faced with gun violence in 1990s Canarsie, one 17-year-old carried his community on his back. “Revolution” chronicles the rise and fall of the Canarsie arts youth-led movement, Team Revolution, and the man at the center of it all: Divine Bradley.

Influence Of Convenience, Time-Savings, Price, And Product Variety On Amazon Prime Members And Non-Prime Shoppers’ Online Apparel Purchase Intention, Md Rashaduzzaman

Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The number of internet users and online shoppers in the United States has grown at an incredible rate over the past few decades. Greater convenience and availability of a wide assortment of apparel products at a cheaper price made online shopping very enticing to consumers. Amazon.com (Amazon) gained unprecedented popularity among consumers with its Amazon Prime program. Amazon’s retail revolutions changed consumer’s way of shopping and expectations. Both online and physical store retailers are facing tremendous pressure to fulfill that level of expectation. Thus, it is essential for retailers clearly understand the shopping expectations and preferences of Amazon Prime members …

Utilizing Repurposed Denim To Create Apparel For Those With Cerebral Palsy, Monique Rodriguez

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the most common motor disability in children. In the U.S alone one million children and adults live with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy. Due to the increasing life expectancy of individuals with CP, the number of adults with this disorder is increasing, thus their medical and social care needs are changing (Moreno-De-Luca et al., 2012). For years children and adults who live with CP struggle in finding clothing that works for them and their needs. Currently the market for adaptable clothing is small. For people with CP, the lack of adaptive clothing creates large barriers whether …

Visualizing Tedx Events: Ten Years Of “Ideas Worth Spreading”, Antonios Liamis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I have always been fascinated by how ideas are spread. Often, ideas are chosen to serve an immediate purpose, and there is an expectation that the choice will matter only insofar as it serves to achieve the desired goal. However, once an idea takes off, it becomes sufficient in itself to disseminate its message. When I first heard about the rubric “Ideas Worth Spreading” in connection with Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) conferences, I had an emotional response because I was always trying to get involved in those three categories. My fascination with the question of what makes some ideas …

Conversations With The Oregon Trail And The Silent Generation, Jose A. Camacho Quiroz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to explain the reason behind my art practise and process as it stands in August 2020, its context and relation to my life and experience as an outsider in the American culture. This process culminates in the documentation of experiences through the use and preparation of displays of personal artifacts as physical evidence and mechanisms of my transformation to my american persona through a continuing acculturation process and drift from the american generational archetype.

It is important to outline my current work state diverges from my past work since it no longer serves a …

Kofifi/Covfefe: How The Costumes Of "Sophiatown" Bring 1950s South Africa To Western Massachusetts In 2020, Emma Hollows

Masters Theses

This thesis paper reflects upon the costume design process taken by Emma Hollows to produce a realist production of the Junction Avenue Theatre Company’s musical Sophiatown at the Augusta Savage Gallery at the University of Massachusetts in May 2020. Sophiatown follows a household forcibly removed from their homes by the Native Resettlement Act of 1954 amid apartheid in South Africa. The paper discusses her attempts as a costume designer to strike a balance between replicating history and making artistic changes for theatre, while always striving to create believable characters.

The Role Of Designers In Promoting Healthy Masculinity With An Approach To Stopping Violence Against Women And Girls, Fatemeh Abolbashari

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While awareness about violence against women and girls is growing, there is still a lack of evidence about what changes behavior to prevent it from happening. As a graphic designer, I wanted to find the root problem of this issue and work towards a solution. Through my research and questioning, I concluded that this problem begins with men’s thoughts on hierarchy, language, and behavior, and supported by a prevalence of toxic masculinity in men’s culture.

Where does this violence come from? What has society done to raise this kind of man? Violence against women and girls is being couched in …

Glut And Guzzle, Ashley Kay Gardner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In Glut and Guzzle I explore my relationship with my partner, our sexualities and how to navigate these outside of the LDS faith of my childhood, and their struggles with gender, sexual expression and mental illness. This exploration landed on seductive and repulsive imagery of food and body. I use color, texture and size as a tool similar to visual tools of advertising to seduce my viewer. This is an exploration of how gender norms and the visual language of advertising that infiltrates daily lives and through media and religion can shape identity and gender roles. I utilize advanced 3D …

Washing The River In Relation To Interpellation, Theatricality And Spectatorship, Patricia Miller

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Patricia Miller's Master of Fine Arts Thesis Paper

Master's Project, Patricia Miller

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Patricia Miller is an Inland Empire based artist, who was born and raised in San Bernardino, California. She creates abstract plywood sculptures that promote mental health awareness. Her work is an investigation of the unhealthy relationships that many people have with society, the fine art world, their environment, and themselves.

Fair World 64: A Text-Based Game Of The 1964–1965 World's Fair, Christofer R. Gass

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The project is a text-based game of a typical day during the first season of the 1964 World’s Fair in what is now Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The 1964-1965 World’s Fair, that Robert Moses presided over as president, was one of the largest and most expensive fairs ever created, but only days after the last fairgoer left through the turnstile most of the many pavilions that brought education, entertainment, and joy to so many people were destroyed to leave a vast open space that is relatively empty to this day. Although most of the pavilions were either relocated or demolished, there …

Art, Movement And The Body: An Art-Based Research Exploration Of Slow, Gentle, And Repetitive Painting Movements, Melissa Hedlund Nelson

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Art-based research explored the effects of using slow, gentle, and repetitive painting movements paired with pauses during this painting process. Five participants completed four painting sessions that were filmed; sessions consisted of painting with acrylic paints on canvas or Bristol board and reflective writing. Embodied response paintings were created by myself in response to participant paintings. A reflective research process consisting of documentation, reflection, and examination, was used to help in the materialization of outcomes. The inquiry yielded the following outcomes: it was challenging to paint slowly, there was an increase in connection to present moment awareness and immersion, a …

Theatre Crawl: A Series Of Community Engagement Projects, Anna Rich

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis will focus on Theatre Crawl, a devised and immersive theatre experience grounded in the techniques of drama therapy. Beginning as a creative outlet for drama therapy graduate students at Lesley University, Theatre Crawl has provided performance opportunities for students to exercise the creative and theatrical skills which initially brought many of them to the field of drama therapy. From April 2018 to January 2020, four Theatre Crawl events have been facilitated. All events originated from the belief that providing opportunities for drama therapists to engage in personal art-making is an essential practice for the field of drama therapy …

Zentangles For Mental Health Awareness, Rachel Immel

Honors Projects

The world is starting to see the rise of a stress related epidemic. Finding time to balance the struggles of everyday life, like academics, finances, careers and relationships, while also maintaining personal mental health is becoming increasingly difficult. This is what prompted me to use my project as an opportunity to help people relieve stress and create a community through the use of art, especially during a time where social interaction has been severely limited due to COVID-19.

My project is a series of live-streamed Zentangle art classes I hosted personally that were open to the public through Zoom. Zentangle …

The Work Of Art In The Age Of Surveillance: Towards A Society Of Civil Power, Grace Eunhae Cho

Graduate School of Art Theses

State and corporate power have expanded and enforced their dominant territory and influence through the development of visual technology. Art and visual technology are inseparable. Thus, art has been utilized as an essential tool through which power glamorizes and visualizes its authority. Over the course of the modern age, power has increasingly adopted different strategies in order to conceal its appearance. In particular, the development of information and communication technology has enabled power to be not only invisible but also intangible. This thesis, "The Work of Art in The Age of Surveillance: Towards A Society of Civil Power," explores how …

"My Self Is The Art Is": An Art Installation Exploring Self-Reflection In Art-Making, Alexis Rubertino

Honors Projects

This is an art-installation which explores the following question: How does self-reflection play a role in art-making, particularly involving tacit artist-viewer communication?

I consider the self to be the recognition of a sum of experiences which constitute a sense of being: the self is experiential baggage that actively shapes the way one experiences the world. Artists must analyze their self and assume the viewer’s self to fulfill the intention of their art.

Art, loosely defined, points at or interacts with life and living – artists gather materials (visuals, ideas, audios, objects, etc.) and combine them to provide juxtapositions which create …

Exploring A Qualitative Approach To Arts Advocacy And Evaluation, Lycette C. Belisle

Undergraduate Theses

The quantitative impact of the arts has become an increasingly important factor in determining the overall value of a project, and is often used to determine acceptance of submissions, public recognition and funding disbursement. This project evaluates current understandings of how the arts function within society, popular methods for determining the value of the arts and explores how qualitative reasoning can be utilized to communicate the value of supporting artistic endeavors. While placing a numerical value on the arts based on data collection can be important, this project will aim to evaluate the implications of relying so heavily on facts …

Reclaiming Images Of Black Women: An Investigation Of Black Womanhood In Visual Communication, Taylor Simone Thomas

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

This thesis investigates how Black womanhood has been visually represented in hopes to either recognize Black women as full, nuanced, and legitimate participants of society or to reinforce monolithic representations built from the constructs of social, political, and economic oppression. It also gives an analysis of Black feminism and how Black feminist thought can be applied to the creative process in hopes of challenging visual misrepresentations of Black womanhood. The aim of this thesis is to show that artists and visual communicators do have a responsibility to be conscious of the messages conveyed in their work. In addition, they must …

Modeling Disability: Softly Making The Invisible Visible, Libby Evan

Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers

“I am not asking for pity. I am telling you about my disability.” -Eli Clare

In the following Bachelor of Fine Arts thesis statement, you will not find someone overcoming their disability. You will not find a tale of inspiration. You will not find a cure for ableism. You simply will find an individual's experience of disability— my experience of disability.

My invisible disability puts the medical model and social model of disability in constant tension as I navigate everyday life living with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and severe arthritis. Both models seek to find blame for disability, whether in searching …

The Complexities Of Intimacy, Brie Henderson

Graduate School of Art Theses

Through my research I have discovered there are many complexities that exist within the topic of intimacy. Of these complexities, I chose to explore the topics attachment and codependency in my final series. Attachment and codependency are deeply rooted in psychology, poetry, and many artist’s practices. The relationship between poetry and my work has become deeply intertwined. I combine poetry with my work as a way to document my feelings and to inspire the titles for my paintings. Through a series of intimate watercolor paintings, I reference bodies, intimate interactions and the ambiguity within the two. This ambiguity asks viewers …

Blurring The Boundary: Reinvigorating Joy In The Mundane Through Juxtaposition, Taylor M. Fulton

Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers

There is an inherent tension between interior and exterior as experienced by the human body. We live an overwhelming majority of our lives indoors, yet we are consistently compelled towards the natural world. This compulsion is necessitated by biophilia, driving a desire to be around lifelike processes.

The boundary between interior and exterior mandates that we live our lives on one side or the other at a time, never simultaneously existing both indoors and outdoors. A disparity between the spaces is therefore maintained by the boundary. This perpetual separation sets up for the perfect use of juxtaposition, which is utilized …

Dunidedcudigunadie, Lawrence Reid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses his Master of Fine Arts exhibit, titled DUNIDEDCUDIGUNADIE. The exhibit is to be held at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City, TN, from April 2nd to April 10th, 2020. A live reception will be held the evening of April 3rd, featuring a performance with the work, titled Look at You!

The following thesis explores the artist’s formative years – investigating how childhood experiences combine with artistic and theoretical influences to inform his art-making process.

“Damn, You Reek Of Pr”: Anti-Establishment Rhetoric And Resistance To Advertising Within Science Fiction Film Discussions In The Reddit Movie Community, Bailey R. Tinsley

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Quarantining And Dining, Madeline Flagg

Honors Projects

Quarantining and Dining captures and reflects the many ways in which comfort is provided through food. The project content was collected through food culture research, interviews, and observation and then mediated through Instagram. The Instagram feed has a designed aesthetic architecture and branding system that makes it distinct and identifiable. The Instagram account name can be found @Quarantininganddining. Although the project is rooted in Midwestern food culture, the perspectives provided are from across the United States, as well as from numerous occupations in order to express a diverse range of perspectives. The Instagram account encourages interaction and an exchange of …

Breast Dressing: A Critical Review Of Post-Surgical Bras, Adi Sieradzki

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Breast cancer is acknowledged in the United States as a phenomenon. With more than 3 million women either diagnosed or treated for it as of 2019, it is a seminal part of the American healthcare map. However, the market for the kinds of bras and bandages patients have to wear after surgery remains mostly overlooked and outdated. This thesis aims to explore what it means to bandage or dress a breast that has been altered either in combative or cosmetic procedures. Why post-surgical wound care for breasts still mostly looks like a sports bra? How do breast cancer patients rehabilitate …

The Modern Formulation Of Chinese Art History And The Building Of A Nation In Early Twentieth-Century China, Chennie Huang

Dissertations and Theses

At the dawn of the twentieth century, the Chinese formulation of art history underwent dramatic changes. It moved away from the traditional narratives that did not follow a strict chronology to adopt the Western linear model which emphasizes progress and national identity. Based on the premodern tradition, the modern formulations of Chinese art history began as a political strategy for nation building amid the political upheavals, including military attacks on China that led to the end of Qing imperial rule and the beginning of the Republican era (1912-1949).

In the early 1900s, while exiled in Japan, Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873-1929), …

Bubbles & Bought-Ins: Reevaluating Price Movements In The Art Market, Silas Wuerth

Honors Projects

Employs two tests for bubbles in the art market. First, a right-hand forward recursive augmented Dickey-Fuller test to identify explosive price movements. Second, a test for the statistical significance of hedonic regression price index coefficients after controlling for equity market performance. Finds strong evidence for a speculative bubble in the pre-Great Recession "Post-War & Contemporary" market. Evidence for this bubble diminishes but does not dissipate after accounting for the effect of failed sales on index returns.

Consciousness Vis-À-Vis The Restraints Of Language, Angela-Maria Martinez

Honors Program Theses

In my work, I explore the overlooked complexities of linguistics within the languages I speak and I examine the philosophical ideologies that surround the different perspectives offered by those languages I do not understand. As a bilingual, I have often pondered about the languages I speak fluently and how their differences allowed me to understand my surroundings in distinctive ways. Through the use of peaceful colors and audio, a combination of abstract and minimalist imagery, and a time-based medium, I seek to reveal the undiscovered possibilities of spoken language. It is through tranquil imagery and audio that I attempt to …

Beyond Interventions: A Case Study Of The Denver Art Museum’S Native Arts Artist-In-Residency Program, Madison Sussmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Denver Art Museum’s Native Arts Artist-in-Residency Program is an inter-departmental project dedicated to the collaboration between the museum, artists, and visitors. The residency and the physical studio were established to formalize artist involvement in the museum. There is no written mission statement for the program, but visitor engagement is central to the organization of the program and experience of the artist. This thesis explores the question: What can the experiences of the artists and museum professionals involved in the Native Arts Artist-in-Residency program tell about the residency’s contribution to critical museology and decolonization? Through exploring the definitions of critical …