Art and Design Commons^™

Mo, Xinyao Li

Student Projects

Emotions are attitudes or experiences response to objective things, it constantly influences everyone and decides what kind of person we became. Xinyao Li, a young photographer who was obsessed with abstract photography, was once troubled by peculiar emotions, He is a person of few words. Since childhood, his quiet nature has created a gap in communication with others. People assume him dull and aloof, like his doors are shut to all people, some people advise him to change, yet he sees no “sickness” in himself, his aloof doesn't make him indifferent, and his silence and patience are not symbol of …

Generations, Jayla Watkins

Student Projects

Understanding your family can be the starting point of understanding your personal identity. Coming of age, you begin to view your family members as individuals as opposed to their titles of “Mother” or “Grandmother” names that once seemed to elude that she possessed some sort of supernatural power. As Jayla Watkins looks across 3 generations of her family, she sees different versions of the same person affected by life experiences, environments, and choices. Some oddly similar and some worlds apart. Understanding the generations of woman before her helps inform the woman she is becoming.

With influences such as Deana Lawson …

False Eidetic, Zach Sockol

Student Projects

Do memories still exist if they are forgotten?

Memories define the soul. They are created to outlast the experience, but what is left behind? A moment in time captured with the lens of the mind, it is intangible. These memories shape our worldview, our thoughts, our reality. It is the culmination of these experiences that makes us who we are, yet through reminiscence, those moments are viewed so clearly in your mind that to you it is the truth, only to hear someone else remember it completely differently. Does this mean our memories aren’t real? Will we ever be able …

Cuerpos/Vessels, Maria Jesus Alonso

Student Projects

While many still see fibers as mere “craft”, there lies a critical need to acknowledge and elevate them to the status of High Art. As far as we recognize fibers are not a feminism discourse and we elevate fibers and sculpture in this case to the same level of other high art, we will be talking about fibers for a long time. As Julia Harperin states, “To take fiber art seriously is to understand how fabric is inextricably linked to the body and is in many ways an extension of it: We wear it, we sleep under it, we are …

Makeher, Maeve R. Wallace

Student Projects

Makeher is a multi-media work that grapples with the existential dilemma of creation within the context of our increasingly unreliable world. Anchored by a concern for the implications of childbirth, my art studies themes of life's genesis and the world we leave behind.

My subject matter, an amalgamation of mirrors, planets, silver, body parts, hair, and tights, are tools with which I explore these themes. Using silver fabric, I abstract the human form. By integrating disassembled body parts with mirrors, I reflect on the fragmented and multifaceted nature of the human existence. This process is not just about the creation …

Transition From Sport To Career, Brookelyn Sears

Student Projects

This series is about the transition from sport to career. This idea is pretty universal for anyone in sports but can also be understood by anyone who has had to make transitions throughout their lives. The inspiration for this series was my class, which is the Northern Illinois University Gymnastics Class of 2023 and my own journey. This is important because of everything we have gone through together and the lessons we learned from overcoming these hardships. We have gone through major injuries, COVID, and many sacrifices we have all had to make. A big sacrifice for any student athlete …

Fragmented Relationships, Drew M. Dzurko

Student Projects

Relationships are often viewed through a binary lens. This greatly oversimplifies their intricacy, yet they can be one of the most challenging human experiences to navigate. Drawing on the symbolisms of memories Drew created digital images that embody these memories related to lost relationships. Using a binary image converter Drew created a visually simple image made up of only two colors down to each pixel. He then brought these images into a text editor on a computer which would display the raw code of an image. This revealed long strings of machine learning code that are indecipherable to the human …

Inevitable, Emilee Grummel

Student Projects

They say time heals all wounds, but in reality, time only Band-Aid's those wounds to make them more tolerable. Frank Richard Schadeck was the man who taught me how to go through life. From being my preschool teacher to teaching me how to defend and speak up for myself, he made me into the person I am today. He was not only my grandfather, but became my best friend, teacher, and mentor. Since his passing, change has become more prevalent and harder to accept.

When my grandfather was living with us, he built a miniature train set in the basement. …

Bfa Show, Alexandra Dulski

Student Projects

The works in this series explore and question gender roles and stereotypes within work and domestic environments. Throughout history, men have been the breadwinners who come home to a fully cooked meal made by a woman. But today, everyone has career goals no matter their gender identity. Women have worked hard to break down barriers put up in male-dominated work environments, such as in the sports industry. Similarly, men are now able to explore hobbies and careers that had a feminine label in the past, such as taking care of the housework and cooking.

Although we’ve made great progress as …

Monuments Are For The Living: The Confederate Mound Monument And The Falsehood Of Reconciliation Statues, Janelle O'Malley

Student Projects

In 2015 the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) began tracking Confederate symbol usage in the United States, namely focusing on confederate flags and monuments. That same year a white supremacist fatally shot nine Black worshippers at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C. The shooter in this case had confederate symbols all over their home. This sparked conversation nationally about confederate symbolism and its true purpose. In turn, the conversation led to highly contested debates on confederate monuments and statues. Between 2015 and 2020, 148 confederate statues were removed from the public eye. But the most shocking …

Food Insecurity Among Niu College Students, Hannah Schaumberg

Student Projects

Many people with certain privileges never notice them, because they are so fixated on the hasty generalizations of what is seen on the surface rather than the interior aspects. For many students, understanding and recognizing privileges is the main concept to understanding their surroundings. The concept of reflecting on their interactions and knowledge of food insecurity will be curasol among communities. By researching the concepts of food insecurities among NIU students, we can bring awareness of the topic within society. The focus is to understand which intersectional groups are affected by food insecurity and to bring awareness of the subject …

Vitality, Bernadette K. Curl

Student Projects

Vitality is a study of life, joy, and motion. It is in response to the portraits of models in endless magazines made to look as though they mourn their own vitality, standing stock-still and vaguely bored. These images are also made as archival evidence that, as Phil Ochs said: “In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty.”

These portraits were made under studio lighting on medium format, high speed, black and white negative film, and medium format, colour positive film. The materials are chosen for their ability to capture truth over fact.

I asked my subjects beforehand to …

Crochet As An Allegory, Maeve R. Wallace

Student Projects

I have created a series of photographic installations that are inspired by the work of feminist and queer thinkers. I draw parallels between the manipulation of a weaved material through crochet and the way feminists work to continually create change. I find that the physicality, patience, detail, and repetition that comes with crocheting yarn or creating a photo mimics the ways in which activists, and more specifically feminists, have worked to combat the oppression and intersectional oppressions they face. String theory, potentially a theory of everything, proposes that in the quantum realm, stings, or loops, are the foundation of all …

Ours, Emma J. Vitallo

Student Projects

This semester I have been researching and reading about artistic relationships, specifically Just Kids – detailing the collaborative partnership between Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. I began working collaboratively and using my peers’ photographic knowledge and personal practices to understand more about my own photographic practice, style, and rituals. By making environmental portraits on a whim of five of my closest peers turned mentors turned collaborators and friends I am documenting our shared experiences in locations they occur. These locations are specific and significant to our connections – each of us shares these spaces with each other, our ideas, our …

Art Education As Mutual Aid: Community And Social Justice Based Initiatives, Janelle O'Malley

Student Projects

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, education has drastically changed. The months of pandemic coupled with rising political upheaval left issues with schooling at the bottom of the list. Yet, the repercussions of the pandemic have forever changed the face of our educational system. Especially hard hit during this time was subjects deemed unimportant such as music and art. These classes, which already have faced their fair amount of cutbacks, were once again left on the chopping block. Even though the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015 ensured that art would be treated as a core subject, it …

Waiting To Be Seen, Sarah L. Napp

Student Projects

Personal knowledge through constant introspection is the cornerstone of "Waiting To Be Seen". Through this series of paintings, I became aware of the depth of the shape of my thinking as a result of accepting my vulnerabilities.

You Belong Here: A Critical Look At Community Engagement In Museum Education Through K-16 Place Based Pedagogy, Janelle O'Malley

Student Projects

Historically museums exist as object centered spaces with little consideration of the community and artists that support them. Therefore museums as pedagogical sites must reorient themselves to become people centered spaces incorporating participatory pedagogical experiences for both community members and artists.

There is a lack of research in place-based pedagogies in museum education. It is important now more than ever to recognize the need to center community in museum education. This study will seek to investigate how museums can exact meaningful change through their educational practices and create a sense of belonging in museums for their immediate community. The outcomes …

Reaching Across Community Lines: How Informal Visual Art Educational Programming Bridges The Gap, Janelle O'Malley

Student Projects

Economic disparity in underserved communities is in large part responsible for a lack of access to quality visual arts education. The communities most in need are often hit first when it comes to funding the arts, and the students suffer these financial consequences. How can we ensure those underserved communities receive a complete education with the visual arts? What other ways can access to the visual arts be provided to schools?

The Invocation, Zeinab Saab

Student Projects

No abstract provided.