Art and Design Commons^™

Contemplative Constructions, Katharine Greenwell

Honors Theses

This text serves as a backdrop written in support of a body of paintings. The series of paintings revolve around the relationship between mechanical and human reproduction in mapping. The text challenges the Benjaminian notion that an artwork contains one unique aura and replication of the artwork damages the aura. It argues that by displacing surrounding references from the original map, the symbols made by the cartographers hand can be seen as aesthetic marks through an unlearning of their original purpose as a tool. Using the Jakobsonian axis of selection and axis of combination I remove and gain a sense …

Nocturne Series, Jessica Kirker

Honors Theses

My oil paintings explore the mingling of interior and exterior space. Each work in this group focuses upon nocturne scenes with the inclusion of reflections. Inspiration for my work comes from photographs I have taken while walking around at night or from the windows of the space I am in. I have also layered images to develop my own created spaces. Surrealism has played a prominent role in the development of these artworks. The elongated canvases reference the human form and the presence of the viewer in front of the work. With the size of the canvas in mind, I …

A Studio Manifesto, Macy West Zimmer

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Study Of Native Colombian Tribes: Art As A Means Of Inspiration, Sofia Fernandez

Honors Theses

Study of Native Colombian Tribes: Art as a Means of Inspiration, examines Latin American art, particularly Indigenous Colombian art as a source of inspiration for the creation of a series of artworks. This project considers two Colombian tribes: Wayuu and Okaina. It emphasizes these tribes’ ancestry, history, purpose, and traditions, with the objective of giving them a voice in a community where they are underrepresented and unknown. This thesis provides a critical look into the tribe’s traditions and artistic techniques through the creation of a variety paintings, drawings, and prints. This body of work concentrates on textiles and patterns from …

The Life And Struggles Of Red Cockaded Woodpeckers, Michaela Gay

Honors Theses

This series of paintings focuses on red cockaded woodpeckers, an endangered species of bird and the longleaf pines forests which they live in and are reliant upon. I drew my inspiration mostly from personal experience with my family’s own efforts to restore one of these forests as well as my longstanding belief in the importance of protecting the environment. However, the point of these paintings is not to preach to people, but rather to show them the beauty of these trees and birds, so they can perhaps begin to care about them themselves instead of just being told that they …

‘How Has Art Refocused Consumers’ Attention Within A Visual World Through The Exploration Of Package Design?’, Frances Hackney

Honors Theses

The art of design has refocused the attention of consumers as they have entered into a visually demanding world. While this concept is complex and perplexing, stemming from endless influencing factors, the elements of design can be broken down into areas of focus to dissect the visual world of marketing. A simple way to communicate the influence of design on the consumers is to unveil the answers through the study of art.

In this thesis, the study will turn to the world of art to learn more about consumerism. The goal is to understand how visual images and the ongoing …

Complex Conversations: A Creative Exploration Into Language Used Over Direct Messages On Social Media Platforms, Arden Craft

Honors Theses

This paper details a series of paintings that explore how the language used virtually over direct messages (DMs) on social media platforms can allude to how complex notions of gender, violence, and behavior function in reality. This research questions how forms of communication or interaction exist within different spaces and contexts, as well as how the recontextualization of language can disrupt power and produce new forms of interpretation. This paper acts as a secondary source of knowledge in relation to the paintings under review and provides further explanation of their conceptual motivations. In particular, the paintings engage with Sara Ahmed’s …

Plein Air Painting In An Anthropocentric Era, Emily Marie Charles

Honors Theses

Our relationship with the natural world is defined by our set conceptions of it. These conceptions tend to objectify and idealize nature and fuel the anthropocentric era we live in. Ecophenomenology provides us with a new way of interacting with the earth; this school of thought revolves around reshaping our perceptions of the natural and developing a symbiotic relationship with it. This exchange that happens between us and the earth is invisible, so engaging in it can seem absurd and a bit abstract but in understanding that the world acts upon us as we act upon it, the agency that …

Artistic Syncretism In Latin America: From Olmec To Spanish Colonialism, Nicole Timm

Honors Theses

The purpose of this paper is to provide a historic and systematic review of colonial Latin American art. The first half will focus on the ancient arts created by the ancient civilizations that sculpted culture in Latin America centuries before the Spanish were aware another continent existed. The latter portion of the paper will look to the post-colonial period. It will begin by delving into the influence of European artistic styles blending with Latin American culture and style of painting and vice versa. The final goal of this paper is to uncover the syncretism that took place across Latin America …

The In-Betweens Of Life, Laura Alison Chatham

Honors Theses

Have you ever walked through someplace too many times to count, and then one day it feels entirely new? The feeling of paying attention to an insignificant place for the first time interests me. We are constantly surrounded by buildings and trees and sidewalks and light poles, and don’t often take the time to look at them. In this series of paintings, I am taking the time to look at the overlooked. With The In-Betweens of Life, I am very particular about leaving my hand in each mark. Because the paintings are so small, the viewer is invited close to …

A Woman's Gaze, Emily Fiore

Honors Theses

My work merges my passion of thinking politically and artistically. This series, A Woman’s Gaze, is an extension of my Political Science thesis, where I focused on artists who combat the male gaze by representing women’s lives realistically, from a woman’s perspective. These paintings focus on intimate scenarios from women’s lives where the male gaze is absent. The large scale imagery brings visibility to these otherwise private moments.

The Rhetoric Of Landscape: Through Oil And Water, Alexandrea Davis

Honors Theses

“The Rhetoric of Landscape: Through Oil and Water” analyzes five water resources—Lake Erie, Lake Powell, the Aral Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Barrier Reef—and uses the visual rhetoric introduced by an accompanying series of oil pastel illustrations to compare how the beauty of the landscapes equates to their true states. This project discusses the harmful effects of human activities on water bodies, first through direct pollution and ultimately through anthropogenic climate change. Furthermore, a final summary covering the history of environmental initiatives in the United States and the idea of “wicked problems” offers an overview of reasons …

What The Walls Say: Finding Meaning And Value In Tel Aviv’S Street Art, Rachel R. Bird

Honors Theses

This thesis explores street art in Tel Aviv, Israel through anthropological concepts of value. By defining street art as an interstitial practice—one that exists between permeable, socially defined boundaries and is characterized differently by different power structures—I attempt to define some of the different regimes of value that apply to street art. Using the emerging market of “street art tours” as a fieldwork site, I look at how street art is presented and re-presented to both tourists and locals. By situating my research in a historical and geographic context, I hope to understand the ways different value schema, from economic …

Intercultural And Interreligious Bonds In The Language Of Colors, Lucy Soucek

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the interfaith elements of the artwork of three south Asian visual artists, The Singh Twins, Siona Benjamin, and Arpana Caur. All coming from various religious backgrounds, living in multicultural societies, and navigating the borders and boundaries between different religious thought, these artists create meaningful artwork which explores what it means to live in a pluralistic society. All three artists invite viewers to think differently, formulate opinions, rethink assumptions, and spark associations. They use art as a way to ignite interfaith understanding, reaching broader audiences and asking us to question how we understand our neighbors and ourselves.

Senior Thesis Paper, Paige Brown

Honors Theses

This series was centered around the idea of paintings being two parts of a whole. The purpose of these pairs is to create a dialogue between the two paintings so that they play off of each other in terms of their individual subject matter. The paintings are organized by an overarching idea that we, as individuals, have many personas that we choose to show the world depending on different situations. Each painting in the pair reflects these opposing personas we reveal to the world around us.

Surrealism: Art Of Subconscious, Yiting Paung

Honors Theses

Surrealism establishes a bridge between the physical realm and the domain of dreams and illusions. In the surreal world, logic is paradoxical; physical principles and rules are defied, only limited by imagination. The expression is a reflection of the personal experience and psychological state of the creator. During my early works in thesis, I concentrated on studying the works of Hieronymus Bosch, Inka Essenhigh, and Julie Heffernan. In First Thesis Painting , I incorporated the creature in Bosch’s vision of limbo from Limbo and the dynamic form from Romantic Painting created by Essenhigh. I set the combined creature in a …

Voices Trapped Within The Portrait: Annetje Kool Pieter Vanderlyn And The Expectations Regarding Gender In Public And Private Spheres In A Burgeoning Nation, Abigail Hollander

Honors Theses

The main subjects of this study, Pieter Vanderlyn, the attributed artist of “A Portrait of Annetje Kool” (c.1740), and Annetje Kool, the sitter, both had subversive identities relative to the sociocultural expectations of New Netherland, a Hudson River Valley based settlement. The oil portrait on canvas depicts a young woman in an elaborate dress with lace and gilt embellishments. To understand this portrait’s historical context, this thesis examines how male and female voices functioned on the margins of the moral boundaries that shaped expectations of gender appropriate thought and action during the colonial, revolutionary, and post-revolutionary eras in New York …

Creating Color: Unearthing The Chemistry Of Ceramic Glazes, Jessica Mariah Hargis

Honors Theses

There is something magical about taking lumps of cold clay and turning them into a functional form. The transofrmation process is what first peaked my interest in ceramics. I turned this visual art form my junior year of college after being completely overwhelmed by my chemistry major. Not only did Ceramics 1 teach me basic hand building and surface design techniques, but it allowed me to literally pound out my stress. I've gained a strong adoration for ceramics because it relieves my stress and gives me the opportunity to express myself.

After taking Ceramics 1, enrolling in Ceramics 2 was …

Beauty Is Born Of The Rain: Walter Inglis Anderson's Art And Isolation, Chloe Evelyn Huff

Honors Theses

Walter “Bob” Inglis Anderson: naturist, painter, and ceramicist. Some say he was mad, while others were inclined to say that he was merely passionate regarding nature and his watercolors. However, he is highly regarded as one of the most talented artists east of the Mississippi. In the following pages, his life, art, and battles with a mental illness will be spread out and investigated closely with the primary goal of observing whether his bouts of illness affected his art. To investigate this relationship, it is necessary to examine Walter Anderson’s early life and art, along with his progression into mental …

Quiet Moments: My Artistic Exploration, Neena Jube

Honors Theses

I believe that fate led me to dive into my artistic study on the human form. I firmly believe all things happen for a reason. Every year, every day, every hour, every minute, and every second of my life play a significant role in how things turn out. Looking back on the past two decades, there have been numerous accounts that have brought me to where I am today. The classes I have taken and the interactions with various artists have led me to pursue art, one of my strongest passions, and have influenced the development of my current collection …

On The Eve, Katherine A. Macewan

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Glitter Paintings, Hilary R. Zelson

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Making
 Trifles
 Of 
Terrors, Ellen Ogden

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Abstract Expressionism: An American Phenomenon, Judee Thompson Royston

Honors Theses

One of the newest types of painting in the modern tradition is Abstract Expressionism. It began in New York around 1944. All the experience of Americans with modern art had been poured into the melting pot of the city. Present were not only eminent native artists, but also Europeans with established reputations--refugees from Fascist Spain Nazi Germany, and Occupied France. Their meetings with each other brought about interchanges on all levels of thought and practice. Out of this mixture came not an adaptation of a trend formalized abroad but a new style of painting created in America.

It is true …

The Use Of Color, Lois Kirkpatrick

Honors Theses

With receding colors or appropriate contrasts, the apparent size of a room can be markedly increased. Ceilings can be made to seem higher or lower with a coat of paint. Where there is no sunlight, its effects can be simulated with yellow walls, and excessive brightness or glare can be reduced with cool, darkish surfaces.

Forces Influencing The Art Of Vincent Van Gogh, Judee Thompson Royston

Honors Theses

The violence and brilliance of the canvases of Vincent van Gogh remain as mute reminders of a short and tragic life. A misfit in a world that could not appreciate his genius until after his death, Van Gogh lived passionately and impulsively, reaching out for vague, unattainable goals and trusting his innermost thoughts to strangers. Suffering rejection and indifference from those around him, he stands today as the archetype of the neglected genius.

Belief Even Unto Martyrdom, Susan Murray

Honors Theses

From the title of this Special Studies project it is perhaps difficult to determine that it is about Vincent van Gogh--the sensitive Dutch boy--the passionate artist--the rejected man. With this short summary of his life and the trials, the problems, and the love, I hope to show how the statement "belief even unto martyrdom" applies to van Gogh. I further will endeavor to prove that Vincent van Gogh was the father of the modern Expressionist movement.

The French Impressionists, Bill Merrell

Honors Theses

Impressionism seems to have arisen as a close study of nature and external phenomena. It was at first regarded as a meteor destined to go out, but now the name "impressionist" appears to be an imprecise description of the group of painters who in 1874 held an exhibition and by a penny-a-liner were dubbed Impressionists. They were a mixed lot: some of them were already known as followers of Courbet and Manet, others had worked under the influence of Corot, one at least was a disciple of Ingres. In 1870 they had been more or less independent painters, each going …

The Weird World Of Surrealistic Painting, Barbara Battle

Honors Theses

When the topic Surrealism is introduced to the average conversation, the general knowledge concerning it is that Dali is supposedly the main Surrealist, and that the Surrealists painted nonsensical make-believe canvases. But the weird world of Surrealistic art goes much deeper than this, and its roots are far more attached to the importance of man's existence. The movement of Surrealism, though somewhat short-lived, was one of tremendous fervor and power. The men who developed it had an entirely new insight toward not just painting pictures, but toward building a new philosophy of life.

Two of the main characteristics of Surrealism …

China Painting, Julie Ward

Honors Theses

I chose hand painting a complete twelve-place setting of china for my special studies project. I will explain how each step is done and how I chose to paint mine.