Art and Design Commons^™

Existential Flux, Heather Roessler

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My wok is a place for meditation (through play and ritual) to grapple with ideas around what it means to be alive. I explore my own history, psychology and the nature of things, to better understand myself. I create because of the need to build a familiarity with the unknown and the uncomfortable and to accept that which is out of my control. While seeking to understand and learn from my own personal confrontations with death, I also find my own form of spirituality.

Losing my hold on graspable things, as time and change tend to bring, witnessing the dualities …

Dearest, Grace Tessein

LSU Master's Theses

Dearest is the examination of what remains of a person, looking to the objects they cherished most while contemplating the inevitability of their certain absence. The work questions the futility of preservation in the measure of time, the failure of memories held in fragile containers, and the decay of the physical body. The materials that compose Dearest are chosen for their innate longevity and their ability to evoke remembrance.

Real Goner, Nicholas Cox

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis paper is to tell the story behind, and outline the theoretical and conceptual framework underlying the exhibition, Real Goner. The exhibition combines a number of elements drawn from music and art history, as well as the theoretical writings of Albert Camus, Guy Debord, and Joseph Kosuth. Together, these elements produce a cryptic exhibition that attempts to address the inherent chaos, and apparent meaninglessness of existence; and to see art as a proposition, a performance, and a practice. The exhibition addresses issues of celebrity, the production and consumption of culture, and where that cycle leaves us …

Narratives Of Loss, Carla R. Stine

MSU Graduate Theses

My research revolves around impermanence, loss, and the grief that accompanies loss. My thesis work consists of digital collages interlaced with short stories, an interactive digital media piece, traditionally-made collages, a picture book, art objects, and an assortment of other supporting work. My ultimate aim is to employ both traditional techniques and digital skills to create visual narratives that supply glimpses into my personal history of loss and that speak to life’s brevity.

Danse Macabre: Origins, Evolution, And Execution, Steven A. Bardon

Theses and Dissertations

The Danse Macabre is an allegory in which all living things -grand and otherwise -are equally escorted to death’s embrace. Most cultures, from ancient to contemporary, have a belief in an afterlife and interpreted death through funerary practices and religious artwork. Such spirituality associated with Danse Macabre is especially influential within the arts, such as visual storytelling. Two series in particular, FaustFall and Cardinal Junction, incorporate the Danse Macabre allegory through its implementation into accompanying concepts: like the Faustian archetype, the Gothic narrative, and the Byronic hero. Through exploring the Danse Macabre within their dystopian narratives, the notion of a …