Painting Commons^™

Long Story Short, Hannah M. Varghese

Graphic Communication

Long Story Short and is a vintage up-cycling art brand. Our mission is to breathe new life into vintage pieces, crafting them into modern wearable art. As the name suggests, each creation tells a story while being revitalized for today’s fashion forward community.

Fast fashion and trend cycling has been a growing problem in today’s society. Things are going ‘in’ and ‘out’ quicker than they ever have. Trend cycling usually operates on a 20-year timeline. But, today’s sped up cycle encourages people to constantly over-consume in chase of the next cool thing. It’s unsustainable and an impossible chase. With a …

The Effects Of School-Based Art Therapy On Depressed Adolescents, Jasmine Nicolas

Nursing | Student Research Posters

Depression in adolescents is associated with deficient behavioral and health outcomes (Fletcher, 2019). Art therapy has been shown to be effective in treating mental health condition such as depression. A student’s academic success heavily depends on treating their depression. Community health nurses can play a vital role in advocating for adequate mental health support to improve a student’s overall well-being and academic success. The literature review contains six articles on the prevalence and impact of depression among adolescents, art therapy as an intervention for improving psychological outcomes and resilience among adolescents, and experiences of adolescent clients in art therapy within …

The Effects Of School-Based Art Therapy On Depressed Adolescents, Jasmine Nicolas

Nursing | Senior Theses

Depression in adolescents is associated with deficient behavioral and health outcomes (Fletcher, 2019). Art therapy has been shown to be effective in treating mental health condition such as depression. A student’s academic success heavily depends on treating their depression. Community health nurses can play a vital role in advocating for adequate mental health support to improve a student’s overall well-being and academic success. The literature review contains six articles on the prevalence and impact of depression among adolescents, art therapy as an intervention for improving psychological outcomes and resilience among adolescents, and experiences of adolescent clients in art therapy within …

Here And Now, Samaira 2023, Samaira G. Wilson

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Consider my work as a thread weaving through time. Illustrations of grappling with the present and its illusive constant nature. Questioning permanence. The temporary. This show, these walls, not forever, not for lease. Just a point in time. Can we hold time? Keep it? Is it ours? No. Time is something that is eaten, driven through, falling, perpetual, casual, necessary, fought against, spent, and healing.

Here and Now plays with what time feels like and is contrasted by an active voyage to another world.

Cultural Formation Of Place: Making Yourself At Home, Olivia Arratia

Art Theses and Dissertations

The environment you grow up in can become a pivotal part of your existence. The sights, smells, people, and places you experience every day can transform the way you see the world. Growing up in a Mexican-American household has brought its own set of experiences that have made me the artist I am today. I am one of many contemporary artists building on the foundations of their heritage and the Chicano movement. I am also a Mexican-American artist expanding the identity and extending the legacy in the 21st century. This paper will investigate how Mexican-American heritage has influenced my artistic …

A Renaissance: The Absurd Retelling Of Mostly True Events, Erica R. Hitzman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Throughout the following you will be taken on a fantastical retelling of the exhibition A Renaissance, and some of what lead up to it. Through the eyes of various shifting perspectives you will explore the relationships between the artist, her art, and the viewer in the hopes of unveiling how the work plays into feminist theory, its place in the Zeitgeist, and the motivations behind it. Each perspective is formatted differently, to visually mirror the shift in perspective. Presented in the first person and aligned to the right, the account of the artist discusses the process, emotion, and inspiration behind …

Combat Artist, Delvin Goode

Master's Theses

The integral bond that unites the American citizen with the selfless men and women of the Armed Forces will be strengthened through my juxtaposition of uncommonly complementary crafts. “Combat Artist”, featuring high-quality ceramic mugs, unique packaging, pristine painted panels, and kindred graphics will bridge a gap that enhances relationships between these two worlds through a shared love of country and shared culture. The resultant works create fantastic windows into my military life communicating messages full of humor, patriotism, and love. I aspire to masterfully unite ceramic techniques with proven principles of design distributed across all mediums within my work, culminating …

Art Club, Elizabeth Griggs

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

The goal of this art club is to introduce students to various painting techniques. This club is designed for those students who enjoy being creative and learning various painting techniques.

Sharing My Practice, Elayna Caron

Summer Research

In my research project I look at the intersecting lines of art and yoga and how the two are both founded around a practice. I explain what it means to share a practice and how I created workshops around art and yoga for the UPS community. I also share the images of my work that deal with ideas of art and yoga.

Combining An Intuitive Art Workshop And Neuroscience Rituals To Make Us Happy, Audrey Gran Weinberg

The STEAM Journal

One might wonder how intuitive art can connect to neuroscience and how this could be accomplished. In this descriptive article, research connecting art therapy and neuroscience has been collected and a workshop on Intuitive Painting has been described in detail. The connection was made by the author based on an article by Barker (2017), ‘4 Rituals to be more Happy,’ who writes a popular science blog. The rituals: gratefulness, expressing negative emotions, decision making and human touch were combined with Dr. Pinkie Feinstein’s method of Intuitive Painting in a small group setting. Although subjective, it would seem that at least …

Remembering Virtual Worlds: Painting And Video Games, Nathaniel M. St. Amour

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Video games create the feeling of great achievement and place the player into a role that turns them into a great hero. These experiences feel significant because they require great time and emotional investment. The monumentality of these experiences, however, are at odds with the transience of the electrical virtual worlds. The medium of oil painting helps overcome the sense of transience because of oil painting’s durable permanent way of image making and stillness. Painting’s inherent nod to history also creates a dissonance between the newness of the video game medium and the antiquity of painting, a contrast exacerbated by …

Bleeding Ink: Creativity In Grief For Resilience, Gabriel E. Sayre

Senior Honors Projects

A venomous void pierces the present.

Emanating from the past, echoing to the future.

Seething sensations burrowing beneath the bone.

Seek a road, to not corrode.

Scribe or scribble, Scavenge salvation.

Settle cement of a new foundation.

Faceless fears fading,

weakening woes waning,

mending mentality.

Internally Inspired.

Transformation Transpired.

Passages Through The Ordinary: Human Pyramid, Daniel Dean

Art & Design Faculty Research

A man picks his way across a wooded hillside, a curious reluctance in his step. In a small, two-door hatchback, pale mushrooms sprout from car seats. Drawings of edibles spread across the walls of a windowless room, where wooden furniture beckons to sit, linger, and enjoy the view. A dumpster doubles as a hot tub next to an arrangement of plywood benches and white ceramic tubs, inviting the weary to bathe their feet in salubrious salts. Close by, a set of coal-black bowls nestles into itself, while dust motes dance in a glow of orange light. Ladders and levels, carefully …