Art and Design Commons^™

Material Entropy, Lauren Bradshaw

All Theses

Although the sculptures of Material Entropy are not directly anthropomorphic, the corporeality of the materials is accentuated in rendering the entropic state of our ephemeral bodies. We often avoid thoughts concerning the anatomical systems that function beneath our skin as they reveal our mortality to be tangible. Clay is initially manipulated as a soft material, but once fired it gains permanence and loses the ongoing malleability of soft sculpture. Latex and fibers have been utilized in conjunction with ceramic in order to reveal the tension between dichotomies such as hard versus soft or internal versus external. The use of pantyhose …

Rror, Carter D. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Building on common definitions of terms such as machine, human, and code, this paper presents a strategy for an art practice that engages with data that has been processed and the processor as actor or character. Material is presented in such a way that rules, guidelines, logic, code, coherence may be viewed as tools to be employed for the use of obtaining and retaining power and control. Presenting digital technologies not only as a mediating force upon physical bodies but also a part of those bodies, and, furthermore, as abject and thus positioned outside an ideological structure of consumer technology, …

Man/Boy., Nick Hartman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Verisimilitude, or the appearance of being true, is a concept I turn upside down; relating it to a guise I wear as a contemporary male in a society dictated by learned social behavior and gender norms. Cultural iconography and expected gender norms are tropes I confront within my artwork. Drawings of seemingly everyday objects act as meditations or a fetishized repetition of supposed unobtainable objects and ideals that deal with masculine societal norms. Manliness, machismo, masculinity… it is all a culturally learned and expected pose placed on all men. Coming to the realization that I do not necessarily fit …

Shift; Explorations In A Changing Sense Of Self, Tara J. Ott

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In my art practice I am exploring how my “sense of self” changes as both the external and internal factors continue to shift throughout the stages of my life. I have centered on two main themes: personal experiences connected to gender that are based on the female body and changes in the formation of social identity in relation to others who are part of my life. My work mainly revolves around self-portraiture and reflections of my life, usually expressed through photography, video, painting and sculptural installations. In some bodies of work, however, I have used other women or people from …

Sights-Of-Interest: Denial Of Danger In Living Spaces, Rachel Lambert

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Exploring the illusion of protection, I constructed a fiber-based installation to recreate the experience of photographing outside and inside living spaces. This body of work is about the allure of the photographic experience. It is about the experience of seeing, noticing, and thinking that occurs while looking through the camera’s viewfinder. It is about unconsciously ignoring the physical dangers that live in the picturesque land photographed.

In response, I created a two room installation. Two household living rooms are staged as conceptual “living spaces.” One room simulates a damp swamp floor; and the other, the interior of a warm-blooded body. …

Peel, Fondle, Ogle: An Exhibition And Unfixed Parameters: A Creative Arts Praxis Investigation Of The In-Between Conditions Of The Corporeal Body: An Exegesis, Kimberley Simone Pace

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research emerged from a rejection of the corporeal body as a clean, sterile entity that can be neatly contained by the boundaries of skin. Informed by Lacan’s (1977, 1979) notions of the body and desire and Kristeva’s (1982) perspectives on the abject, I have developed a concept of the unfixed status of the body as an in-between condition. This investigation of the in-between condition of the body critically explores notions of the corporeal body as constructed physically, psychically and symbolically through my creative arts praxis concerning the body, garment, object and performance. This exegesis unveils the potential for a …