Art Practice Commons^™

Art Of Aging – A Portraiture Study, Alaina Mann

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The process of aging can be viewed through different lenses within our society. In the past, scientists and medical professionals performed various studies to better understand and analyze different facets of aging, medicine, and health in general. Historically the arts have reflected multiple aspects of medicine and treatments while more recently, the arts have been used in a research capacity to provide different ways to represent illness, suffering, and care. This study used art-based research methods and portraiture to gather qualitative observations on the older populations within our community. Data collected included drawings, a field journal, and interviews. This study …

Standing On The Edge Of A Dream, Parto Ahmadpour Mobarake

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Standing On the Edge of a Dream delves into the intricate tapestry of lived experiences shaped by relocation, emphasizing the nuanced space that exists between reality and imagination. As an individual who has undergone the transformative journey of immigration, I recognize that the concept of relocation is like standing on the edge of a dream. This notion becomes a living structure, intricately woven with threads from our past, present, and future. My artistic exploration extends beyond my artworks, yet it remains deeply rooted in my personal narratives. The artworks in the exhibition continue to draw inspiration from personal memories and …

Examining Our Relationship With Death: A Participatory Art Project, Lia A. Davido

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Death is a fact of life, yet researchers such as Caitlin Doughty, Todd Harra, Ernest Becker, and others, have found that people deem death a taboo topic of conversation. Doughty herself started a social movement, death positivity, to encourage this taboo to be broken, and to normalize talking about death. However these researchers published their findings in the early to mid 2010’s, before a major pandemic made death a more common occurrence for people. Inspired by previous researchers' experiences, this project asks the question: How do people feel about death now, and can socially engaged art create a space where …

Eco-Interoception: What Plants, Fungi And Protista Have Taught My Body, Sara Riley Dotterer

Art Theses and Dissertations

To me, ecology is the relational, full-body awareness that I am made up of and deeply connected to everything around me; and for better or worse, this is reciprocal. I form ecotones, an ecological transitional zone between two ecosystems, with the world around me. I use this ecotonal lens to blur binaries and dissolve boundaries between me and the world “outside my body.” During my Masters of Fine Arts at Southern Methodist University, I have continuously explored and represented the lives of various more-than-human species outside of my body, including plants, fungi and protista through an ecotonal lens. Although these …

The Hospitality Of Doubt, Ian Grieve

Art Theses and Dissertations

This paper discusses the last two years of research toward a Master of Fine Art in Studio Art. I mainly address my painting practice, but while in the program, I have worked in collage, ceramics, intaglio printmaking, and sculpture. My paintings are thick, multilayered, and often contain ambiguous narratives. The pictures develop through engagement, openness, and response within the work. I seek and embrace connection with viewers of the work. The spectator ‘completes’ the art and enhances or alters the artworks meaning by observing it and applying their individual perspectives. I seek to incorporate a sense of nostalgia and familiarity. …

The Great Unlearning, Catherine Mccrory Pears

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Great Unlearning is a conceptual exploration: sifting through experiences and objects to overcome psychological pain, expectations of society, individual upbringing, and outside influences in an ongoing quest for authenticity. To both embrace personal history and honor loved ones while letting go of lingering negativity is challenging. Using objects culled from my life, examining the past, and incorporating items gathered along my path through nature, the work seeks personal healing while promoting the power of all people to break from indoctrination, group think, and mob mentality to make better choices to live a satisfying and peaceful existence…hopefully in a democratic …

Artificial: A Study On The Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Art, Hayden Ernst

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

In the past three to five years there have been significant improvements made in AI due to improvements in computing capacity, the collection and use of big data, and an increase in public interest and funding for research. Programs such as ChatGPT, DALL•E, and Midjourney have also gained tremendous popularity in a relatively short amount of time. This led me to this project in which I aimed to gain a deeper understanding of these art generator AI and where they fit into art as a whole. My goal was to give recommendations to museums and exhibits in Omaha on what …

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.

From Ictus To Raptus, Andrea Abel

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Multidisciplinary Studies of Bard College

FROM ICTUS TO RAPTUS

From Ictus to Raptus is a story about the emergence of sound. This performance is only a human attempt to capture the Event from which all existence emerges (Ictus), and an attempt to interpret and rejoice in the resulting complexity of the world, by tracing multiplicity back to singularity and reuniting it with its origin (Raptus).