Art and Design Commons^™

Narrating Friendship: The Reciprocal Relationship Between J.B. Childers And Myself, James Thomas Engelmann

Theses and Dissertations

For the past ten months I have explored the life of a deceased artist named Joseph Barley "J.B." Childers. In the graduate catalog Gregory Volk summarizes Childers as, "an alienated Korean War Veteran, who took up painting as a refuge from his troubles, and who also doesn't exist. Childers who is naturally right-handed, painted everything left-handed because of a war wound, and so Engelmann, who is left-handed, painted with his right hand, which is quite a limitation." Of course, there's more to the story than that and the writings that follow will explain many of my reasons for pursuing this …

The Transformation Of Electricity In My Brain, Claire Watkins

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an exciting and enthralling story about the history of the world as seen through the eyes of Claire Watkins. The story takes place in the dusty corners of her art studio in the old confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia. Ms. Watkins leads her audience through such unsuspecting places as her brain, the life of an African Dung Beetle, the center of an atom and the dark reaches of outer space. The story is inspirational and thought provoking. It will force you to see the world as an interconnected web that weaves your life together with the cosmos. A …

The History Of The World, Ruby Wescoat

Theses and Dissertations

This Thesis is my effort to understand what subjects I find interesting and why. In the processes of writing and making sculpture, I discovered that my underlying fascination is in history. I am interested in places and objects for their individual qualities, but I also want to know how they relate to the world. If I am drawn to an ancient place or object, I want to examine how it fits into the contemporary world, and visa versa. The complexity of these relationships is increased by the vast number of histories (or stories) that are intertwined in the world. Over …

Content And Meaning In Abstract Animation, Pamela Turner

Kinetic Imaging Publications and Presentations

Talking about the content and meaning of abstract animation, for the practitioner or enthusiast, is like discussing why one eats chocolate or why we stand at the edge of the ocean, experiencing the sensation of the sand being sucked out from under our feet by the pull of the receding wave. Or why listening to a beautiful adagio can create such a stirring response. These experiences stand for themselves and need no explanation.

For the uninitiated, or the viewer who has little to no encounter with abstract animation, however, these moving images can be initially disconcerting and hard to understand. …

Self-Image, Tammy Jean Wymer

Theses and Dissertations

Many current media images of women have underlying messages that affect our psyche in a negative way, whether or not we are aware. These images convey an unrealistic, distorted view of ideals and perfection, which create an unattainable model to live up to. As women, we should be cherishing our uniqueness, but, rather than celebrating and accepting ourselves, we are taught to judge and conceal. This project seeks to address inner beauty as a reflection of our energy, vitality, wisdom and the mental, as well as emotional, engagement in our lives. The terms perfection and imperfection will be redefined and …

The Generation Of Forms And Thai Typeface Design, Pornprapha Phatanateacha

Theses and Dissertations

Changes in culture, design, fashion and lifestyle are very common for a developing country such as Thailand. Losing the identity and significant quality of Thai culture is the biggest concern in this rapid movement in Thai society. The biggest challenge is to preserve the existing culture within the development in the society. These problems within the rapid change not only affect Thai lifestyle and fashion but also Thai graphic design. There is a trend in poster design, advertising, and packaging to follow Western design. That influence suggests that Thai design follow a Western model in order to be as successful. …

The Integration Of Technology Into Home Space In The 2020s, Ying Li

Theses and Dissertations

Research on the current housing status in the United States, and the features of middle-class and high-end houses, revealed that home space consists of five spaces: living, work and study, resting, service and circulation. A meticulous look at the four-century American housing history disclosed that transformations in the five spaces were profoundly impacted by technology. To predict home space in the near future, research on future technology and lifestyle was performed. There will still be five home spaces, with new and improved components. Technology will bring greater comfort and flexibility to the home interior. Two design solutions for middle-class and …

From Writing To Sculpting, Orhan Tekin

Theses and Dissertations

I subscribe to the notion that art is the process of capturing a moment in life, by way of projection on to an artist's senses, and a subsequent filtering through his mind, and ultimately a materialization through his hands and instruments. However, that is just the beginning. To take a life of its own, the work of art should further find its way into the minds of its viewers or listeners again through a series of projections and filtering. The excitement of the moment that impinges upon the senses of the artist can be very powerful at times, so powerful …

Sense Of Duration, Lucie Noel Thune

Theses and Dissertations

The following writings contain different segments about the concept of time. To best describe certain feelings and thoughts concerning my ideas and work I have used poetry and short stories in a prosaic manner. I also felt it necessary to include some historic facts about the history of time and its measuring devices.

Searching For Green, Santiago Cal

Theses and Dissertations

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Toward The Universal, Jennifer Bracy

Theses and Dissertations

This creative project is concerned with archetypal forms expressed in art, design and communication, from Neolithic rock carvings and native American Indian petroglyphs to individual graphic languages that look to the 'primitives' like those of Joan Miro and Neville Brody. It is my belief that through the study of this diverse collection of graphic signs and archetypal forms, one can develop a system of signs that cross barriers of language and culture. A morphology, a collection of possibilities, derived from such archetypal forms, could provide designers with a foundation for the development and use of symbol signs and sign systems.

In Search Of The Meandering Absolute: The Prints Of Mitzi Humphrey, Mitzi Humphrey

Theses and Dissertations

Art is more than just a bridge to (or a reflection of) the natural world; it is a natural force in itself. The author is a strong advocate of "artist's prints," prints which are conceived and printed by the artist. She believes that there is a natural sequence of actions and thoughts which cannot be approximated by the substitution of an artist/printer collaboration unless the artist is truly involved with the printer or assistant in every step of the decision-making and mark-making processes.

The prints of this series are not about realistic pictorial space; they are about interior space--that of …

Synthesis As A Method For Elaboration, Polly Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Before I began this thesis, I examined my previous work and a consistent quality emerged. l tended to assemble (synthesize) things (entities) that were seemingly unlike (disparate). I q u e s t i o n e d my approach and its validity as a design methodology.

I found, through investigation into the nature of my p r o c e s s and the process of other artists and designers that specific methods of synthesis could be defined. In this thesis I have outlined three synthesis methodologies. They are not the only methods that exist, but were the ones …

From Constructivism To Deconstructivism, Gladys Brenner

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis deals with four major design movements, beginning with Constructivism, and ending with Deconstructivism, including two other movements, as intermediate links, that developed in the period between International - Swiss Design and Postmodernism. The purpose of this thesis is to explain in a visual time-line, the interrelationships of these movements while at the same time visually represent their concepts. Also it leads to an analysis and discussion of the role of Deconstructivism in graphic design.

Chinese Cultural Center, Wei Dong

Theses and Dissertations

During this period of high technology, designers are eager to create environments that have strong emotional appeal to people's physiology and psychology. Our exploration of the natural living space has become all the more an elusive search as modern technology advances. Interior design, in its concern for environmental engineering, endeavors to exploit the spiritual aspect of human resources. Through this message, people are inspired to higher planes of existence.A. PROJECT To design a Chinese Cultural center. B. PURPOSE 1. To introduce the traditional and contemporary Chinese culture to western people. 2. To illustrate and describe the philosophies of Chinese life …

The Effect Of Man On The Landscape And The Effect Of Land On The Manscape: Or Contingent Plans For Knowing A Mountain, Taylor Scott Baldwin

Theses and Dissertations

In my artistic practice, I emphasize personal and pan-cultural anxieties regarding civilization and the environment as an impetus for work in sculpture, video, and drawing. By locating marginal microcosmic subject matter that tellingly exhibits macrocosmic global dread, I seek to capture and distill our overwhelming eco-socio-political anxiety into a portrait of a society at a point in its history when the specter of nameless impending disaster weighs pressingly on the collective psyche. This thesis is supplementary to my work of sculpture in the Graduate School of the Arts Thesis Exhibition at the Anderson Gallery opening on April 27th, 2007. The …

The Formulation Of An Adult Dramatic Program For The Division Of Recreation And Parks In Henrico County, Virginia, Sandra Bishop

Theses and Dissertations

It is hoped that the contents of this thesis will help to provide a course of action through which the dramatic arts program may move closer to the objectives established for it by the HDRP administration. The dramatic arts program for adults, as set forth in the thesis, should create specific goals so that the HDRP may provide a consistent direction for the development of a dramatic arts program for adults. The adult dramatic arts program as formulated in the thesis should, combined with the already established dramatic arts program for youth, form a major portion of the comprehensive cultural …

Twelve Representative Patterns Of The Period 1920 Through 1945, Henry Charles Swartz

Theses and Dissertations

The twelve patterns presented in this collection represent the period 1920 through 1945. It is in no way a complete study of the period, but a representation of garments throughout this period in sketch and pattern form. The patterns presented are complete working patterns in full scale with no seams allowed. The garments have been dated according to research into the period. In addition to the pattern, sketch, and description of each garment, construction notes are included to aid in the building of these garments. Hopefully this collection will be useful for theatre costuming or where ever there is a …

Dialogues In Light And Temperature, Stephen Althouse

Theses and Dissertations

The work illustrated and discussed in this paper was exhibited in the Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, November, 1974, as my graduate show. Presented here is a written explanation of the work contained in that show.

The Porcelain Groups, Robert Edward Chance

Theses and Dissertations

My background in clay has emphasized the development of technical considerations in functional ceramics as well as the search for personal images. The past two years have seen an emphasis on the exploration of technical areas chosen to lead to the development of a familiarity with techniques and a solidification of statement. The process has nurtured in me the realization that the objects I produce do not represent an attempt to attain an axiom of art but are personal statements developed through an empirical use of forms and images.

The Development Of An Idea, Marianne Stikas

Theses and Dissertations

Whereas certain people start with a recollection or an experience and paint that experience, to some of us the act of doing it becomes the experience; so that we are not quite clear why we are engaged in a particular work. And because we are more interested in plastic matters than we are in a matter of words one can begin a picture and carry it through and stop it and do nothing about the title at all.

I believe that this statement by Baziotes has a great deal to do with the way I feel about my painting. Perhaps …

Fan Free Funnies No. 2 (April 1973)

Fan Free Funnies, 1973

A special publication of the Commonwealth Times, an all-comics black-and-white tabloid published for three issues in 1973.

Fan Free Funnies No. 1 (February 1973)

Fan Free Funnies, 1973

A special publication of the Commonwealth Times, an all-comics black-and-white tabloid published for three issues in 1973.

Fan Free Funnies No. 3 (Summer 1973)

Fan Free Funnies, 1973

A special publication of the Commonwealth Times, an all-comics black-and-white tabloid published for three issues in 1973.

Four Objects: A Visual Hearing, Katharine Nuckols Gilbert

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis statement is of a two part nature. The first part shows photographs of my creative products in the process of making them and in their completed state. The second part deals with the process involved in my mental activity as these objects were created.

I have presented the photographs of my work first because I feel that viewing the work before reading the text is of primary importance. Visual comprehension of my work is my major purpose.

The photographs in the visual appendix are objects that exist within my world. They are abstractions. They are but a few …

Letter From Meredith Monk To Richard Carlyon, 1968 February 29, Meredith Monk

Bang Arts Festival Documents

Typewritten letter from Meredith Monk to Richard Carlyon [misspelled Carline in the letter], dated February 29, 1968. Monk inquires about performing at RPI, per suggestion of Yvonne Rainer. Enclosed are several news clippings reviewing Monk's work.

Performance Notes, R. Carlyon, Bird Park Lake: A Vue Gram, Bang Arts Festival 1966, Richard Carlyon

Bang Arts Festival Documents

A single page of performance notes from Richard Carlyon about the March 22, 1966 performance of "Bird Park Lake: A Vue Gram." Typewritten text with handwritten marginalia. Transcription of handwritten notes: "(From R. Carlyon's Notes), projectionists: Carlton Gunn, Sam West, Robert Barefoot, Carlton Gunn, Sam West, William Livingston were students at RPI, C.A. & D. Dept."

Artistic Tiles, American Encaustic Tiling Co.

Artistic Tiles from the American Encaustic Tiling Company

A manufacturer's catalog consisting of 89 unnumbered leaves of photographs and illustrations of embossed art tiles, some displayed as surrounding a mantle and some displayed on their own. Details for the tiles are given including size of tiles and assigned numbers, presumably corresponding to their manufacturing number. Included is a drawing of "a modern bathroom," as well as "profiles, of a few of our base, cap, cove, bead, and door trim tiles."

Ceramic Mosaic Tile : Mounted On Paper, American Encaustic Tiling Co.

Artistic Tiles from the American Encaustic Tiling Company

A manufacturer's catalog consisting of seventy-one color plates which depict available patterns, sizing, colors, lettering and numbers for myriad styles of floor tile design.

Illustrated Catalogue Of Art Tiles Made By J. G. & J. F. Low (1887), J.G. & J.F. Low (Firm)

Low Art Tile Book Collection

Photographs and color illustrations of tiles. This 1887 catalogue is incomplete. Compared with a 1990 reproduction of an intact 1887 catalogue, VCU Libraries’ copy lacks the following: six of 51 plates of unglazed designs (1-4, 12, and 51), the front and back covers, a title page, a reference key, a price list, and at least three pages of advertisements. Of particular note, however, are four lithographed plates (7-10) labeled “Moorish Designs,” which are not present in other Low catalogues.