Art and Design Commons^™

Utility Lines, Carolyn Hartwell

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The paintings included in this Thesis Exhibition explore the theme of fragility that retains quiet strength. Combining delicacy with tenacity is how I arrived at the name of the exhibition, Utility Lines. A utility line transfers energy and is vulnerable to both weather and accident; the fragile materiality is the weakness inherent to functionality. In my work, I am deciding how much responsibility for the stability of a composition can be carried by the most tenuous elements. I test how much of the emotional and compositional load of a painting can be born by muted colors, awkward shapes and unsteady …

What Does A Rooster Say?, Kim Pfeffer

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

“What Does a Rooster Say?” Growing up in Vietnam’s K–12 public school system, I found the mandatory textbooks overwhelming, a sentiment shared by my peers. As an educator and designer, I noticed a need for improvement in Vietnam’s current textbooks. Despite numerous reforms, they still don’t effectively cater to their primary audience: the students. The newer textbooks, especially for first graders, are visually dense and complex, causing concern among researchers, parents, and educators. This led to the idea of creating an alternative. Reflecting on the older textbooks from the '80s and '90s, while not perfect, they were more user-friendly with …

Seeking Translation, Taryn Sakry

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

I am interested in how we navigate and understand the world around us. As we move through life, meeting different people and having new experiences, we develop a language of self-interpretation that allows us to communicate intangibles such as ideas, values, and emotions. Within this body of work, I explore this idea of translating self, highlighting the reinterpretation of memory and emotion through color and narrative. Seeking Translation includes woodcut, intaglio, silkscreen, and stone lithography prints. The multiplicity of printmaking allows me to experiment with the effects of different colors and juxtaposition of different materials and mediums. And while the …

Wonderland, Mai Tran

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

“WONDERLAND” is a series of large-scale print and installation work created from 2021 to 2023. This body of work showcases dream-like landscapes, Vietnamese legends and customs blended with American culture to create unique visual narratives. Elements such as mythical animals, the Ly dynasty dragon and ceramics, and the Vietnamese Nom script speak to an almost forgotten culture. In contrast, the carno-lotus (cheeseburger) plant, Walleye, Bobcat, and winter scenery reference life in the Midwest. By combining elements from the two cultures, the artist builds parallel worlds where all living things can sustain and value each other’s differences — a place without …

Above & Below, Kelly N. Munson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

“Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values yet uncaptured by language.” —Aldo Leopoldo

My work often finds itself in a lonely space. Is it science? Not really. Is it Art? Maybe. Is it Design? Sometimes. I have never fit neatly into any box. As a once want-to-be Chemist, I found the results of its study too tight and often detached. As I dove into the world of Fine Art, those efforts yielded work that was too loose—in many cases leaving me wanting a …

Fourpaintingsomedrawingsandaprintbehindapillar, Sam R. Brown

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

My work is about the interest of communication and visual story telling through the mediums of drawing and painting. This comes from my earliest artistic education through comics. My exposure to comics has informed my decisions on composition and visual language. The reason why I chose to work with this in mind is because I see a general lack of this sort of visual storytelling in contemporary art. The process of telling stories through visual media is something that had been done for millennia. Through my work I wish to take this issue and utilize it to a contemporary viewer. …

Above And Below, Kristen Brown

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

My recent graduate artwork uses abstraction of form to describe the intersection between humans and the environment while relating the landscape of our skin to the ever-changing qualities of the natural landscape surrounding us. The photographic material is stressed into three dimensional shapes, producing creasing and tears as it is being contorted by human impact. At the same time that I am creating something new, I am manipulating artifactual evidence of something that already exists in everyday life. This is akin to how our bodies are distorted by outer influence, as well as our own autonomy. Above and below the …

Tradiciones, Selena Medellin

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

In the organic ceramic forms I create, I provide a look into memories of growing up with my late grandfather, a first generation Mexican-American. Our house was adorned with Mexican paintings, an altar for those that had passed, and traditional textiles such as sarapes, rugs, and blankets. I learned stories of our ancestors, the myths and legends of our native land, and that you must celebrate both life and death. I use the combination of ceramics and mixed media to convey both the vibrancy and solemnity of Mexican tradition. In my work, I reference Aztec Gods and Goddesses, Mexican textiles, …

Black Lives Matter: Keep Your Eyes On The Prize (2021), Gregory T. Wilkins

The International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education

The image is of a woman of African descent who is wearing a colorful headdress which cascades down one side of her head to her tattered sweater. One eye is blind. The other eye has a target over it with her eye looking to the side. The target represents the world looking at her, targeting/labeling her because of the color of her skin, and it also represents her looking out into the world focusing intently on the future. Her eye is looking to the side engaging the periphery; she is ready and fully aware of her surroundings. Pending on the …

Black Lives Matter: Hands Up, Don't Shoot (2021), Gregory T. Wilkins

The International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education

The image is of a multi-colored background with crochet thread radiating across the canvas. White Fleece letters are quilted onto the canvas spelling out the words ‘Hands Up, Don't Shoot’

Tangible Transformation: Change In Intangible Times, Rhonda R. Dass

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Pulling the intangible cloud to the forefront, this exhibition transforms the ethereal image of the cloud into the tangible paper and canvas representations that flirt between what is and what can be. I combine techniques from drawing, painting, and papermaking, to create clouds that leave the heavens and solidify and yet spark the imagination in new directions. Presented as my thesis exhibition, my exploration of the ever-shifting cloud scape helps express my understandings in and about a transforming world of change. Two years ago, when the world turned sideways, I was in the middle of a series of paintings and …

Assimilating Antiquated Attachments, Brittney Wegener

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Intention is a stage set for all the world to perceive. I intend to shake the status quo, I intend to break loose from that which I think I know, I intend to learn, and yet unlearn, I intend to make and be the most liminal that I can be bridging the spaces in between. I hope in the following lines that you too may come to believe in the we. Down the rabbit hole she goes, into the deep confines of her mind. Upon approaching the curious, contorting caterpillar she’s asked, “Whoooo are yooou, I said AGH WHOO ARE …

Pain & Glory, Wardah Sabrie

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Behind the glass, the work exists in many styles. Through all of them, Sabrie finds a release of her emotional extremes, leading her to a place of tranquility. In this print and installation collection, Sabrie intends to show her perspective on Somali culture as well as her emotional and mental health issues through delightful patterns and colors. She creates works about her relationships with the people that she cares so much about in her life. They are the leading muses for her ideas that then are compose into prints. In addition to that, her culture plays a huge role in …

Novaturient, Robert Tyler Willmore

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

John Muir famously said, "The mountains are calling and I must go." The yearning ache to visit and connect with natural wild landscapes is real. Through brush and pigment, I attempt to capture the mystery and wonder of wild landscapes that have inspired me to be a novaturient soul. The power of landscape is generally symbolic yet uniquely concrete. Exploring the balancing conflicts of nature has led me to comprehend the universe and my place in it.

By mimicking the naturalist who breaks down wild spaces into macro-focused observations, I translate my experience with landscape into relationships of line, shape, …

Mythology Of Uncertainty, Connor Johanson

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

I think of my work as a mythology under constant revision that reevaluates our human perceptions of the natural world. The root of mythology comes to us from ancient Greek mythos. The original meaning of mythos was simply an account from memory–your mythos could be what your day was like, what happened and how you felt. We are all in the continuous process of building narratives of our individual lives, our cultures, and the world around us.

Human stories and values–mythos–underlie metaphors and analogies, meaning that no discussion of scientific ideas can be free of cultural bias. Discussion of symbiotic …

Replicant, John Grabko

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Artist Statement

This body of work explores technology throughout modern history into today, and how it affects society and the people within. There are many sides to technological innovation, and as time goes on it also changes our own priorities; even how we choose to either reject reality or intensify the effects of mass consumerism. Technology can also change the way we look at currency itself, surprise us with an unexpected reality or change what we view as beauty. Within this work I utilize drawing, printmaking, and collage to visualize our observed reality, the implications of the decisions we make, …

Reclaim, Harris Benjamin Deno

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

I make ceramic and mixed media objects that embody interaction with material. Translated from the simple utterance of the hand the material articulates the labor. As in any relationship there are miscommunications and disagreements; Desperation, struggle, and honest interaction are apparent on the surface of the labored forms. Objects are created in an immediate fashion, the intimacy of the moment folded into the material. Each interaction an embodiment of the human experience. I think of these works as entries in a journal; The gravity of a moment is captured, relieving the mind by bearing that weight.

Whenever approaching a work, …

Wild Connections, Sarah Huttner

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

My work is about the variety of relationships occurring in nature, whether it is the small delicate touch of a bumblebee landing on a flower to collect pollen, or the struggle between native and invasive plants fighting for survival in the prairies. “Wild Connections” is a visual response to learning about the inner workings of various ecosystems and placing emphasis on those which I find deserving of more awareness. Using traditional and experimental printmaking methods, I capture the relaxing elegance of the habitats and simplistic beauty of their creatures to place emphasis on their importance in our environment. Occasionally subtle …

Prey And Predators, Roberta Zamma Gallarati

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This exhibition focuses mainly on the relationship between Prey and Predators in the animal world. The idea comes from the many documentaries I watch about animals. In particular, I love the pent-up tension that is created moments before the predator attacks. What I want to represent in my drawings is role changing or the exception to the rule, when the traditional predator becomes a prey and vice versa. The subverted roles offer a new perspective of the Prey and Predator relationship by empowering the traditional prey with the same courage, strategy, and aggressiveness of the traditional predators in a sort …

Profile In Scale, Jason Boldt

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

I started gaining and interest in sculpture after seeing and learning about Frank Lloyd Wright and his use of natural materials integrated into planar and linear forms. I appreciate how he creates buildings such as Fallingwater, a home built for a family, where the structure is part of nature rather than intruding in on it.

The underlying feature between all of my work is the relationship between different forms that are integrated together. My sculptures include different media, such as wood, stone, metal, and found objects. My latest projects, however, include creating maquettes, which are miniaturized versions of larger objects. …

Home Is Where The Morphine Is, Morgan Sierra

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The thesis exhibition I create will be an installation that is centered around a fictional narrative starring a vivacious mental patient, and containing the people, places, and things in which she interacts with in her life at the hospital. As the audience moves through the gallery, they are immersed into the main character's world, seeing and analyzing the rooms and objects through the eyes and mind of the protagonist. The confidence in which the patient speaks of her environment could lead spectators to believe that her experiences in the hospital are an irrefutable truth. It is only after closely looking …

Augmentation Of Music, Kyle Lenzen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

My main inspiration for my work is music. I convey the idea of music in a physical and conceptual way. The way I represent music in my work is through Collage, Silhouettes, and Abstract Shapes. The main elements that I use can be found in album art, musicians and musical notation. Music has been a huge influence on my life. I want to share that influence and bring people together through my work. Music creates connections with anybody and can bridge different cultures together.

One way to document music is using the staff. The basic staff uses five lines and …

Misfits, Hanna Newman

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

My figurative ceramic sculptures are comprised of deconstructed, fragmented and simplified renderings of the human form. Within these sculptures I integrate materials such as human hair, fabric, wood and plaster cast body parts to mimic limbs and body mass, creating diversity in the tactile surface quality. The pastel tones, bright colors and additions of hair further obscures the realistic appearance of these beings. Clay's malleability fuels my intuitive creative process and allows me to replicate the human form in ranges from anatomical accuracy to biomorphic abstraction.

I am inspired by the relationship between interiority and exteriority, between the mind and …

Fruitcake, Joshua Schutz

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

I explore figurative ceramics in relationship to gesture and sexual identity. The surfaces reference art history, decorative arts, and popular culture. The quasi-functional components of the work are inspired by my personal relationship with domestic objects and space. But also from the results of capitalism, which has created a materialistic, consumer-based society with heteronormative ideals. I respond to this heteronormativity by utilizing humor as a strategy to discuss subversive topics while simultaneously drawing in the viewer. I intend for the viewer to reflect on the purpose and narrative behind such flamboyant objects.

Imágenes Fragmentadas Y Alucinantes: Encuentros Iconotextuales Y Diálogos Extraordinarios Hispano/A/Mericanos, Sandra Lucia Castaneda Medina

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Las series que componen mi tesis recrean, a través del arte mixto y la multimedia, los trabajos literarios de los escritores latinoamericanos Jorge Luis Borges, "El aleph" (serie "el bosque"); Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo (serie "reminiscencias"); y Ciro Alegría, "La sirena del bosque" (serie "insania humana"). Sus partes (esas imágenes del bosque y de los intramuros de insania, y los recuerdos del pasado que permanecen vivos) dialogan entre sí y dan una idea sobre aquellos puntos de yuxtaposición en donde lo extraordinario y el eterno retorno de lo mismo se hacen evidentes. Mi interés en la filosofía, la historia y …

Chroma Pneuma, Shayna Tietje

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

I was conducting process trials based on water. As I reacted to what was being produced, I found myself having little moments of joyful discovery. I was fascinated to observe patterns and implied textures that were generated through natural process; these patterns mimic the fractal nature of repetitive structures on a micro to macro scale that we see within our natural world. Patterns whose resemblance ranges from formations found in semi- precious stones, such as jasper or agate; to satellite imagery of branching river systems and sites of massive erosion. While the implied texture of the work was being influenced …

Elements, Stephen Anthony Geffre

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis consisted of a gallery exhibition titled “Elements” featuring sculpture created by Stephen Geffre for his Master of Arts in Sculpture from University of Minnesota-Mankato, located in Mankato Minnesota. The exhibition ran from October 16, 2017 to October 31, 2017. The artwork explored sacredness---sacredness rooted in the natural, sacredness rooted within the minds of human kind, sacredness in the form of the classical elements Earth, Air, Fire and Water.

All the work was created in part with material that was going to be thrown away or sold at a fraction of its cost because of its imperfection.

Painting The Persona, Reed Dean White

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

I am an oil painter who paints the human form as a subject. My technique varies between loose transparent glazes to more realistic impasto, revealing the process in which I paint. My colors are often exaggerated and unrealistic. I choose to paint people in my community because it reveals a story about the time and place I live in. I enjoy painting people because we are interesting as physical objects: color, form, the way our bodies change as we age, what we chose to wear, etc.. We come in many different sizes, colors, shapes, our postures and facial expressions articulate …

North Of The Heart East Of Victory, Joel Hansen

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Just as music can be described as colorful and text can provide texture, art has a voice. That voice can scream, whisper or babble incoherently. It can also sing. Making art sing is the overarching goal of all my work. There are no formulas or templates, of which I am aware, on how to accomplish this but if I think of individual pieces as songs, a series as an album and exhibits as concerts art can become sonorous. Shadows and highlights act as rhythm. Color and composition behave as melodies and arrangements. If I've done my job correctly the art …

Concerning The Interaction Of Forms, Luke Splinter

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

"Concerning the Interaction of Forms" is exactly what is in my mind when creating and thinking about work. I am concerned with all of the interactions that can be made when thinking about and looking at forms. How do the forms interact with one another? How do they interact with the space they are placed in? How do they interact with the viewer? These are the questions that concern me the most when creating work

When making work I do so with the help of basic geometric shapes, mathematic ratios, and the feeling I get from the form as it …