Art and Design Commons^™

Crafting Comics: My Journey Through The Creative Process, Carrie Hill

Honors Theses

When I was 12 years old, I drew a short, goofy comic book that followed the adventures of Carrie Hill and her wacky friends. Now as a 22-year-old graphic design student, I've continued to draw comics because they can tell stories with great depth using only a sequence of images. Whenever I read Ben Hatke's Zita the Spacegirl or Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant, I dream of publishing a graphic novel or comic strip. This dream prompted me to create several comics for my thesis, exploring different genres and styles. My original intention was to develop several 10-page comics, …

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 …

Conscious Consumerism: A Design Process For Stylish Sustainable Apparel, Luz Becerra

Honors Theses

The main objective of this paper is to explore current consumer behavior and perspective on sustainable apparel as well as future trends in the market place such as willingness to buy. I investigated the market for organic apparel brands, and identified potential areas of growth. My findings concluded that young consumers lack interest in sustainable apparel because they are not sufficiently educated in the topic and are not willing to sacrifice their style identity, consequently purchasing trendy fast-fashion items. The fashion industry is famously claimed to be the second most polluting industry in the world, so I designed a line …

Milestones, Naomi Letourneau

Honors Theses

My sculpture is inspired by cairns, mounds of rocks that represent a memorial or landmark and serve as markers along a trail. These sculptures were created combining digital fabrication and traditional sculpting methods. Inspired by milestones in my own life, the goal of this series is to encourage self-reflection in order to remind us that we all must find balance while on our own paths.

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.

Who Is The Fairest Of Them All? Disney’S Depiction Of Non-Normative Embodiment In Its Villainesses, Caroline Bradley

Honors Theses

The world of Disney has long been criticized for the lack of empowered princesses, racial representation, and unrealistic body images in its princess films. While steps have been made to provide a fairer representation through the bodies of the princesses, there has not been much progress in the way villains’ bodies are depicted. Most Disney villains exhibit a form of disability or non-normative embodiment including missing limbs, old age, or fatness. This thesis will analyze the bodies of three well-known Disney villainesses from three different eras—The Evil Queen, Ursula, and Mother Gothel—and will demonstrate how their bodies reflect the historical …

Strange-Making: A Study Of Curation, Mirel Crumb

Honors Theses

The curatorial project “Strange-Making,” a three-person exhibition held at Apothecary Gallery in March 2018, is the culmination of creative research on the application of the term “ostranenie” to contemporary painting in the region surrounding Chattanooga, Tennessee. The technique of “ostranenie” or “enstrangement” is defined in Viktor Shklovsky’s Art, As Device, 1917, as the technique of describing something familiar in a way that makes it appear unknown. “Ostranenie” was originally discussed in terms of imagery in literature. This exhibition and the curatorial statement reveals the direct connection between the role description plays in representational painting as a physical construction of an …

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 …

Drag: The Herstory And Phenomenon, Avery Green

Honors Theses

My thesis project was spilt into three parts. The first part was gathering inspiration and experiencing drag shows. The second part was designing three different dresses for drag queens and showcasing them in the spring MODA fashion show. The final part was participating in Outspoken’s Drag Show as a drag queen. My goal for my thesis was to explore the world of drag and how I can use it to inspire my own creative endeavors.

The first part of my thesis was a ton of fun. In order to experience drag and gather inspiration for my own drag, I visited …

Creating A Textile Museum Exhibit: Conservation And Accessibility, Kelly M. Lorenz

Honors Theses

This twofold study engages a collection of early-to-mid-20th century Levantine textiles held by the Institute of Archaeology and Siegfried H. Horn Museum. The first part of the study involves identifying the risks of physical deterioration posed to the collection and then providing a proposal for the storage and display of these artifacts. Keeping the museum's means in mind, the storage plan emphasizes preventive conservation, focusing on minimizing risks wherever possible to keep damage from happening in the first place. The second part provides written interpretive material for the display that informs visitors of the textiles' geographic, physical, and cultural origins.

Toumai Words: Songs From Your Primordial Ancestor, Vernell D. Dunams

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Reconceptualizing Space: Multisensory Rooms And The Immersive Art Experience, Melanie Zebrowski

Honors Theses

The modern human being lives in human built society, very much separated from the natural world. Often, the thoughts, ideas, and feelings that filter through from our built environments do more to disconnect us from ourselves and the present moment rather than help us feel centered in it. As an artist, I’ve set out to build a multisensory, immersive art installation with the intent to use this space as a way to connect more deeply to ourselves and our surroundings. This thesis is an exploration into the psychology of lived-in spaces as well as an experiment to see if installation …

This Book Is Valuable: An Anthology Of Essays On Design And The Perception Of Value In Luxury Fashion Objects, Carlos Velasco

Honors Theses

This Book is Valuable seeks to analyze how different concepts related to design and culture have influenced the apparent and perceived value of luxury fashion objects. This question is explored in different contexts to provide clarity and observation to the contemporary construction of value through systems of design.

This thesis is an anthology of three essays. The first essay is about immaterial capitalism, a system of knowledge, skill and imagination based capital. The second essay is about the strategy of artification, using fine art as a way to link systems of value together. It is also about how luxury conglomerates …

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.

Interpreted Fashions Of The Yoruba Tribe, Ramea Starling

Honors Theses

The visual presentation that I have created is a representation of the popular fashions of the Yoruba tribe found in Nigeria. The purpose of this fashion line that I have created is to bring culture awareness about the West African tribe to everyone who comes into contact with my line. Historically, the Yoruba Tribes culture mainly focuses on family, religion, and fashion (through their unique sense of textiles) so I really wanted to showcase this in a line. As a fashion design student at Western I also wanted to take this opportunity to display the skills that I have learned …

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 …

The Sustainable Future Of The Modern Fashion Industry, Zhanna Kutsenkova

Honors Theses

Sustainable fashion is a recent movement within the fashion industry that aims to reduce textile waste and environmental depletion while increasing ethical treatment of workers; the goal is to slow down the global production and consumption process in order to form an industry that will be more sustainable in the long run. Along with the development of more socially and eco-conscious production and marketing practices, there is still room for the sustainable fashion movement to grow beyond its current scope. With the support of growing information networks and brand transparency consumers will be better equipped than ever before to make …

Metagames: Postmodern Narrative And Agency In The Video Games Of Davey Wreden, Richard J. Andrews

Honors Theses

This study aims to determine how contemporary video games utilize self-reflexive narrative techniques to explore the strengths and weaknesses of video games as an artistic narrative medium. This study combines emergent digital game theory with established literary theory about self-reflexive narrative (also known as ‘metafiction.’) This synthesis is further informed by observing first hand player interaction with self-reflexive gaming platforms. A focus on the problems of ontology and epistemology for both gamers and readers allows comparison between treatments of these problems in both digital game theory and metafictional studies. My study compares these concepts and applies them to the operations …

Engagement With The Visual Arts Increases Mindfulness, Lydia G. Fogo

Honors Theses

For many cultures throughout the ages, art has been synonymous with healing and has held a key role in many ancient spiritual and religious healing rituals. Traditionally, art has also been held as a hallowed and fundamental part of society and culture. However, the role of art is changing. Today the value of art-making is in increasingly under scrutiny and often dubbed an unnecessary and unimportant luxury. Art is being slowly removed from school curricula and faces defunding. While art has never been more available, still too often art is quarantined in the isolated halls of museums and available only …

Floccinaucinihilipilification, Bonnie A. Buffington

Honors Theses

Floccinaucinihilipilification is one of the longest words in the English language. It is mainly used as a curiosity, and means the action or habit of estimating something as worthless. Stumbling upon words like this has always brought me a small amount of joy, and the moment I learned this word I knew it encapsulated everything this project was meant to be. The allure it held went beyond the definition, which I connected to the difficulties I experienced when beginning this creative research endeavor. I chose it thinking of the titles of many scientific research papers; they contain words that are …

1984: Book Arts As A Driver Of Thought Expansion, Kelly Brandon

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Taino Revival, Carla Sofia Zorrilla Baquero

Honors Theses

The Taino people were the first known inhabitants of La Hispaniola. They started a foundation of culture for the Dominican Republic that currently lives in the museum, El Museo del Hombre Dominicano. This museum is one of the most important promoters of our identity to the world, which means that how it looks and what is in it is ultimately how we present ourselves to the rest of the world. Which is why, as an effort to protect our identity and heritage, I propose this revamp and rebrand.

Reifying Digital Histories, Ed Ryan

Honors Theses

The use of sites like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat is rooted in nowness. Most users rarely think about the long-term aspects of their relationship with the networks to which they belong, instead focusing on an ever-refreshing interface filled with fresh content. But what happens to this content when it is removed from its familiar digital context? Do the archived interactions, updates, tweets, and other pieces of our digital histories take on new meaning when placed onto a physical substrate? Using the form of the book and my personal Twitter archive, I have addressed my own digital history, looking specifically …

Challenging The Postwar Narrative: The Art And Agenda Of Boris Lurie, Kiersten Signe Remster

Honors Theses

Art history is shaped, studied, and taught based on narratives, artistic movements, and the biographies of celebrated artists. While contributing to an understanding of prevalent traditions and artists working in those traditions, these narratives are also constructions of inclusion and exclusion that establish art historical placement for certain artists while relegating others to historical obscurity. It is clear what happens to the critical fortunes of artists who are placed within these narratives. Yet what happens to the artists who do not fit within any of the categories established by these constructions? Are they then to be understood as simply minor …

A Picture Of Health: Art And Medicine In The Lives Of Late 19th-Century Artists Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec And Vincent Van Gogh, Smith Jessie

Honors Theses

For this thesis, I wanted to explore a topic that I found interesting and that I could really enjoy researching. After a study abroad course in southern France in August 2015 during which we explored the locations that inspired artworks by Vincent van Gogh, I found my topic: health and art. After more research, I discovered that this topic could develop into a thesis. Specifically, this project investigates the ways in which the medical conditions of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Vincent van Gogh affected their perspectives and relationships, and in turn, their artwork. In it, I explore the biographies of …

Taste-Making Mechanisms In The Contemporary Art World, Zachary Creel

Honors Theses

This Honors Thesis explores the taste-making roles of various institutions within the art world. A taste-maker is a person or institution which is capable of growing an artist's reputation and increasing his/her visibility within the purview of the public. This paper identifies Museums, Commercial Galleries, Biennials, Art Fairs, and Art Critics as key taste-makers and argues that the validation which each of them offers to an artist is critical to their rise to notoriety and fame. These institutions also act as gate-keepers between the artists and the public, oftentimes deciding which artists' work will meet with exposure to larger audiences. …

Dress And Womanhood Of Ancient Rome, Eliza Burbano

Honors Theses

Fashion transcends its own role of imagery, as it becomes the medium through which individuals express their place in society. Fashion history would not consider the ancient world as part of the history of the discipline. Nevertheless, the function of dress in ancient cultures like that of Rome has definitely helped shape social hierarchies that are still present today. Clothing structured Roman society deeply, just as class, race, and sexuality did. Scholar Kelly Olson (2002) defines the function of clothing as part of a sign system. This study argues that dress in ancient Rome goes beyond this idea, in that …

Modern Interpretations Of Ancient Roman Mosaics, Emily Pastore

Honors Theses

Ancient Roman mosaics have much to offer the modern viewer. This thesis takes into account modern archaeology and conservation techniques in studying and classifying these works of art. Since the thesis is focused on comparing the histories of and the mosaics found in the Ancient Roman port cities of Populonia and Ostia, it begins with the historical background of both cities. With close ties to the sea and to various religious cults, both cities held much in common, which can be seen in the mosaics they designed. I then discuss mosaic conservation and classification techniques in chapters two and three. …