Painting Commons^™

Deadly Snow: Meditations On Muriel Rukeyser, Andrei Tarkovsky, And The Pandemic Era, Nicole Lawrence

Critical Humanities

The following personal essay meditates on Appalachian fatalism and its relationship to vaccine and mask hesitancy. The analogous relationship between ecological destruction and uncertainty with the exploitation and abuse of the body serves as a waypoint to explore Appalachia’s larger dismissal towards “protection” during the pandemic. Included are original art pieces that serve to intertextually converse with Rukeyser’s activism, West Virginia’s aesthetic schism between industrial catastrophe and symbols of prosperity, and Tarkovsky’s imagery of desolation and hope.

Review Of A Revolution In Canvas: The Rise Of Women Artists In Britain And France, 1760-1830, By Paris A. Spies-Gans, Gabrielle Stecher

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830

A review of Paris A. Spies-Gans, A Revolution on Canvas: The Rise of Women Artists in Britain and France, 1760-1830 by Gabrielle Stecher

No Canvas, No Rules, Francisca B. Ugalde

Proceedings from the Document Academy

This presentation activity is a creative exploration of the concept of DIS-EASE, as in the absence of ease, uneasiness, or discomfort.

Conceptually, I am exploring DIS-EASE in three ways:

1. As you can see, I am painting directly onto the gallery wall. As the keeper of these galleries, I can assure you that this is a big no-no. I mean how dare anyone disturb these pristine surfaces?! The rationale behind my discomfort is rooted in the idea that the gallery is a sacred space, and that these walls ought to be kept pristine so that the objects displayed against them …

Terminally Ill Documents: The Lasting Impact Of Ephemera, Deama Khader

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Murals and portraits of cultural icons such as George Floyd and Ahed Tamimi are more than aesthetically engaging objects. They can inspire viewers to act, attend protests, and share their own feelings on an issue, whether that be in the form of more street art or something as simple as a social media post. This is often how social and political movements are made.

Street art poses a unique challenge to information professionals since the documents that are created with the intention or expectation of disappearance. They are documents suffering from terminal illness. Their ephemerality is their disease. Per the …

Dream Border, Pardis Ahmadpour Mobarake

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dream Border is the result of my lived experience of relocation. The exhibition addresses the duality of being on the border between reality and imagination. In this place, the present, past, and future exist simultaneously. By engaging with personal narratives, childhood memories, as well as Iranian cultural and literary visual elements, I search for universal concepts in relocation. These works evoke the imposition of power and the many phenomena that the contemporary world endures despite globalization, such as anxiety, fear, and oppression on a small or large scale, which compel people to relocate. Uncertainty in the process of migration and …

Elevating The Queer Body, Grant Mahan

Graduate Theses

Elevating the Queer Body is an art based exploration in removing objectification in the visual consumption of my own queer body. Throughout this thesis, I explain the experience of queer objectification, and how to overcome it through abstraction in a painting practice. This research comprises spiritual ideologies, as well as the history of abstraction, to inspire me in creating an ethically consumed representation of my figure. This is achieved through an abstract depiction and veiling of my figure. Presented compositions are overlaid with Islamic inspired devotion and ornamentation as a form of elevating the body itself.

Aiii Sài Gòn Hông?, Jackie Ta, Ngoc Uyen Phuong Ta

All Theses

“Aiii Sài Gòn Hông?”

In Saigon, “Ai… hông?” is a phrase that street vendors often shout to advertise what they sell for the day. This body of work, “Aiii Sài Gòn Hông?” (Translates: “Saigon, anyone?”) invites the audience to take a glimpse into the vivid everyday life in contemporary Vietnam through a perspective of a Saigon local. Utilizing the modalities of painting and sculpture, I collect, accumulate and organize parts of the streets and marketplace by manipulating and amplifying certain key visual elements. The goal of the work is to reconstruct an experiential space that speaks not only to the …

Michelangelo Buonarroti And Homophobia In The Renaissance, Grace T. O. Ray

The Confluence

Tommaso de’ Cavalieri was a young man with an aristocratic background when he first met famous artist Michelangelo Buonarroti in Rome. Tommaso was known to be an incomparable physical beauty, with intelligence and elegant manners, as well as being a member of one of the most illustrious families of Rome—the Orsini. Some have said this is what drew the artist to Cavalieri from the start. Though not much is known about their encounter, it is confirmed that Cavalieri remained a close and loyal companion to Michelangelo for thirty-two years until the artist’s death in 1564. Furthermore, throughout their years together …

Promoting Longevity Through Engagement In Purposeful Occupations, Jennifer K. Fortuna

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Ron Henry, an artist based in Grand Junction, CO, provided the cover art for the Fall 2022 edition of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). “On the Trail to Durango” is a 36” x 36” painting made from oil and acrylic on gesso board. Ron has been creating beautiful art since he was a child. Art has provided Ron with a strong sense of purpose throughout his life. At age 90, Ron attributes his longevity to living a healthy lifestyle and regular engagement in purposeful occupations, such as painting. In this tenth anniversary issue of OJOT, Occupation and the …

Scrubbing Off The Grime, Angelena M. Chaishowarat

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

Artist Statement

This piece is centered around isolation and caring for one’s inner child. The inner child is someone each of us has, and it is our job as the adult, to look after, keep safe, and protect this child. Growing up as an Asian American in the southern region of the United States, I felt an immense amount of isolation and lack of belonging. From a young age I felt alone, weird, strange, and out of place. I knew I looked different than most of my classmates, I knew my packed lunch was different, and I knew my last …

Black Lives Matter: Keep Your Eyes On The Prize (2021), Gregory T. Wilkins

The International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education

The image is of a woman of African descent who is wearing a colorful headdress which cascades down one side of her head to her tattered sweater. One eye is blind. The other eye has a target over it with her eye looking to the side. The target represents the world looking at her, targeting/labeling her because of the color of her skin, and it also represents her looking out into the world focusing intently on the future. Her eye is looking to the side engaging the periphery; she is ready and fully aware of her surroundings. Pending on the …

Black Lives Matter: Hands Up, Don't Shoot (2021), Gregory T. Wilkins

The International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education

The image is of a multi-colored background with crochet thread radiating across the canvas. White Fleece letters are quilted onto the canvas spelling out the words ‘Hands Up, Don't Shoot’

Aeneid: A Depiction Of Dido In Dutch Golden Age Art, Rebecca R. Kaczmarek

Parnassus: Classical Journal

No abstract provided.

Looking For Beauty: Humboldt’S Plein Air Community Shows Why Art Matters, Cm Phillips

Trade & Scholarly Monographs

This historic publication serves as Humboldt County's first anthology of painters. It showcases a snapshot in time of thirty-seven members of Humboldt's Plein Air community—from beginners to world-renown professionals—in an avant-garde design that blends layers of paintings with commentaries about them, photographs of the artists, and responses to the prompt, "Does art matter in this crossroads of our time?"

Now more than ever, it is an important question to ask. In this book, you'll find answers from thirty-seven different artists, with each response as unique as Humboldt's thriving Plein Air community. In he words of Plein Air painter Steven Taylor, …

At Dusk, Michelle Paterok

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In supplement to my Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, this dossier is composed of an extended artist statement, photographic documentation of artwork, a transcribed interview with artist Ben Reeves, and a curriculum vitae. These components contextualize the motivation and research that inform my studio work in painting. The extended artist statement describes the personal and theoretical foundation of my Master’s thesis project—a series of paintings collectively titled At Dusk, which documents everyday interior space in order to explore the invocations of colour, light and atmosphere. The interview with Ben Reeves provides insight into his artistic practice in painting, …

Colby Museum Of Art: Faith Ringgold “Story Quilt” Acquired, Bob Keyes

Colby Magazine

The Colby Museum of Art adds a coveted Faith Ringgold story quilt to its collection.

Research, Analysis And Conservation Treatment Of A 19th Century Watercolor, Abby Schleicher

Art Conservation Master's Projects

This project focused on a watercolor from the mid- nineteenth century referred to as [Sailboats and Windmill] by Edward Tucker. The research concentrated on the popularity of watercolors in Britain in the 18th and 19th century along with the techniques and materials developed around this time. Visual examination along with multi-modal imaging techniques and scientific analysis utilizing X-ray fluorescence and Micro-Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Spectroscopy aided understanding and identification of materials.

Imprints: The Marks We Make, Patricia Botts

Graduate Theses

When walking throughout a cemetery, you may notice the small dash on a tombstone between the year of someone’s birth and their death. Have you ever given thought as to how a tiny line can represent so much? Even a small mark, such as the dash, can represent volumes in the entirety of a person’s life and the imprint they leave on those around them. In my work, I use various types of line as symbols associated with representations of life. I am most interested in lines as visual representation of physical and psychological wounds, both newly created and those …

The Anatomy Of Human Occupation, Jennifer K. Fortuna

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Dr. Emily Balog, PhD., OTR/L, ECHM, an occupational therapy professor and artist based in New Jersey, provided the cover art for the Summer 2022 edition of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). “The Knitting Brain” is an 11” x 15” painting made from watercolors. The inspiration for this painting came from years of experience working with individuals with head injury, stroke, and mental illness. The piece is from her Anatomy of Human Occupation series. This collection of paintings is a unique and authentic representation of Dr. Balog’s love of the human body and the healing power of occupation. Dr. …

Imagining Costumbrismo: Connecting Image And Text In Nineteenth-Century Colombian Cuadros De Costumbres, María Sol Echarren

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Influenced by nineteenth-century scientific trends, Costumbrismo was a literary and artistic genre combining aspects of Romanticism and Realism and presenting traditional customs of autochthonous daily life. Nineteenth-century cuadros de costumbres, or “sketches of manners,” often used local color to depict national scenes, regional types, and cultural traditions. The cuadros, comprised of short but illustrative writings published as periodical pamphlets, contained visually charged descriptive language infused with a didactic objective in order to shape readers’ perspectives about the nation and present specific sociopolitical philosophies.

This dissertation analyzes the connections between literature and art through the written cuadros de costumbres …

Building Hca Bridges, Lorraine Fugazzi

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

On June 28, 2021, the incoming residents reported for their first day of orientation at HCA Florida Westside Hospital (HFWH). This GME program is a joint venture and requires the same level of commitment from HCA Florida Northwest Hospital (HFNWH). As a new employee, I was immediately impressed with the residents, leadership, and staff. Everyone was relaxed, excited, attentive, and cooperative. I met people from all over the world, from different religions, and of different sexual orientations. The following day the same group of residents attended orientation at HFNWH and the leadership and staff were equally impressive. I went home …

Mixed Messages, Hannah Duggan

Masters Theses

The bodies of work that I have created during graduate school stem from my interest in mass media, culture studies and spectatorship in the digital era. My research engages digital technology and media studies to consider the ethics and ambivalence associated with spectatorship. Using traditional art mediums, I explore social and digital media, revealing tensions through representation and materiality. This translation from digital to analogue media is pivotal in all my work. Handmade objects introduce slippage and meaning as they break from the limiting format of the screen. This thesis will explore the research and content that inspired the creation …

Artemisia Gentileschi: A Deeper Look Into Burghley House Susanna, Emma M. Rochlin

University Honors Theses

In this article Emma Rochlin investigates the debated topic amongst art historians regarding Artemisia Gentileschi's Susanna and the Elders of 1622. References to the research of Mary Garrard, stated in her book Artemisia Gentileschi Around 1622 encouraged this discussion. Rochlin examines expressions, landscapes, and signatures while referencing other paintings during this period of Gentileschi's career, along with the discoveries of Garrard, in order to decipher the authenticity of this painting.

Time Enough At Last, Scott Lerner

Masters Theses

As an art history buff and sci-fi aficionado, I’m constantly thinking about the stories told of human progress, or lack thereof. Have modern humans surpassed their ancient ancestors or have they only managed to create more technologically advanced ways of carrying on with their same base drives for power, status, and violence? If we turn to popular media, this question becomes particularly intriguing. Our visions of the future are often just a confused jumble of the past; we reanimate old ideas and images when trying to imagine the things to come. An example of this can be found in Star …

New Revelations, Ineke Lynne Knudsen

Masters Theses

This project imagines a not-so-distant American future where Christians and conservatives have triggered the Apocalypse. In my paintings of the Apocalypse, all the desires of conservative Christians have come to pass: the eradication of people of color and queer folks, a revitalization of the American frontier and wilderness, and the return of Jesus Christ in the form of the Rapture. I’m specifically painting White conservative Christian girls, and I’m interested in their unique intersectionality of being a White conservative (an identity rife with racist social implications), being female (an identity deeply abused within the Christian subculture), and being a child …

Baseball Camp And Other Stories, Lucas Mockler

Masters Theses

Of the questions I ask myself concerning the making of a painting, the one that continues to drive the work is this - where do the facilities and properties of technique in paint handling meet the action and then final experience of the painting? In the attempt to answer this question I have made work from the building up of my life. I have dug out from the memories of childhood and the metamorphosis of fictions into personal realities. I have added new movements and marks and built abstractions in the dark. The hope would be that as I work …

Tobetitled, Dylan Riley

Masters Theses

My practice is rooted in an investigation of digital and painted images. It meditates on the interbred way in which contemporary images are produced and consumed through painting and error-prone processes of mechanical reproduction. As seeing is, for many, our confirmation sense (you have to see it to believe it) I search for the power structures and epistemological values within contemporary images, particularly representations of objects. My work explores how the meaning of objectivity has shifted over time and how images respond to that shift. Heavily relying on image making software, I first create compositions digitally before translating them to …

Matingkad - Flamboyant, Bhen Alan

Masters Theses

In the Tagalog language, matingkad is used when describing colors or light. Its English translation, flamboyant, usually describes a character of a person - a queer, performer, drag?

People have called me flamboyant due to the way I dress, my gestures, and how I approach my work. Because of this, I have experience discrimination and abuse towards my race and gender, as well as my citizenship status. Therefore I have learned to begin employing flamboyance to be opaque (matingkad na kulay).

With this experience, I had to adjust the opacity of my body as a way of survival …

Paradigms Of Horror, Xingge Zhang

Masters Theses

“It seems an unaccountable pleasure which the spectators of a well-written tragedy receive from sorrow, terror, anxiety and other passions, that are in themselves disagreeable and uneasy” (Hume, 1757).

Horror, said Adorno in another context, was beyond the scope of psychology. Horror tries to frighten, shock, horrify, and disgust using a variety of visual and auditory leitmotifs and devices, including reference to the supernatural, the abnormal, mutilation, blood, gore, the infliction of pain, death, deformity, putrefaction, darkness, invasion, mutation, extreme instability, and the unknown. Supernatural or uncanny narratives can shape, distort, or reflect the storyline in literary works, but also …

Pace/Place/Space/Tempo—The Choreography Of Equity And Expressions Of Black Living, Vessna Scheff

Masters Theses

My skin is natural. My skin is political. My hair is natural. My hair is political. My speech is natural. My speech is political. There’s no such thing as apolitical.

My current interdisciplinary practice in painting and performance focuses on how Black diasporic identities hold, create, and process subsistence narratives. For this research, I am asking the questions: What role does pace play in resistance strategies and how can it be communicated through tempo? How are unspoken histories conveyed through movement, silence, the glance of an eye, fat crackling in a cast iron, pushing play on a walkman, and seeds …