Art and Design Commons^™

Distraction And Community: The Magic Of Playtime, Heather Alfaro

Graduate School of Art Theses

Experiencing awkward encounters due to an anxious disposition, I create work that fulfills my own needs to fulfill the needs of others. By manipulating environments and providing props and crafted items, I take control of the situation to function within. Using craft, gift-giving and play, I encourage the audience to participate within my work—fostering community by providing an opportunity to play. Being ever fleeting, the encounters with the work and with the other participants distracts to allow the audience to lose themselves. When the work is gone, the memory lives on to comfort, and to inspire.

Black Matter, Kahlil Irving

Graduate School of Art Theses

History as we know it, is inherited. Racism, fascism, white supremacy, and Eurocentric dominance have been presented as normal and acceptable within our society for many years. This has allowed police officers to execute Black American’s and not be acquitted for their horrendous crimes. As an activist I want to challenge the status quo. As an artist I am interested in investigating how I can present ideas embody or reflect contemporary issues and concerns. Using different colors can aggressively change how an object is perceived. Historical objects hold many important.

I explore many mediums, but an anchor material that I …