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Visual Representation Of Black Individuals At The Forefront Of Underground Railroad Interpretation, Alison Spongr

Museum Studies Theses

This thesis is grounded in a reflection and analysis of the building of an institution whose foundation and visuals position the narratives of Black individuals at the forefront of Underground Railroad interpretation. In 2018, the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Center opened to the public after decades in the making. Its permanent exhibition, One More River to Cross, set in motion a shift in power – of whose stories are represented and shared – generated by visual activism.

“Between the American Revolution in 1776 and the end of the Civil War in 1865, thousands of freedom seekers escaped slavery …

Function And Aesthetic Value: An Analysis Of The Milwaukee Public Museum's Thai Royal Silver Collection, Aislinn Sanders

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes 45 objects from the Thai Royal Silver collection currently housed at the Milwaukee Public Museum (MPM). Of these, 41 were donated by a single donor, Dr. Louis Schapiro, who collected the objects during his time working as Medical Advisor for the King of Siam in 1931-1932. Following his death, his son Mark held onto the objects until 1969, when they became a part of the MPM’s collection. The chosen objects include boxes, bowls, and other types of vessels. Through researching this collection, the following questions guided the direction for this thesis: How did the silver industry begin …

Claim, Consume, Curate: Placing Value On Functional Art, Heather Rose Sheets Hanlon

Theses and Dissertations

This paper is the written portion of the thesis requirements for University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Art History, Museums and Curatorial program. It corresponds with the other component, a museum-style exhibition in the Emile H. Mathis Art Gallery, as its catalog. The catalog and exhibition together address the factors of change in decorative art reception since the modern era and how museum institutions can continue to broaden the conditioned meanings of such art in a dynamic, responsive way.

These changes and suggestions are illustrated through objects and their display in the exhibition vignettes “The Home,” “The Boutique,” “The Museum,” and “Storing Stuff.” …

Distorted Norms: German Expressionist Prints And The Legacy Of The Early German Masters, Youngchul Shin

Theses and Dissertations

German Expressionism, one of the most influential art movements of the twentieth century, was the source of unprecedented experiments in printmaking. Although the works appear modern to our eyes, Expressionist printmakers drew heavily from the early history of printmaking, which emerged in northern Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The early history of the print included the development of the woodcut, the innovation of the printing press, and the invention of new printmaking techniques such as engraving and drypoint. The ways in which German Expressionists drew upon their heritage in printmaking is evident in three key ways: the revival …

Face. Off. Faceoff: Mapping African Representations In Western Art Institutions, Samantha Lyn Goral Maloney

Theses and Dissertations

In this project, I analyze the influential perceptions of African art objects, cultures, and histories formed through audience interactions with museum representations of Africa. In the Western world, curiosity cabinets and natural history museums first presented African objects as cultural artifacts aimed to intrigue and educate viewers about distant, exotic lands. Later, art museums reclassified African objects as art and some displays highlighted this shift, but African art exhibitions largely conformed to the anthropological models previously established. Scholars have analyzed these distinct display techniques while considering the visual environment from which these works were historically significant. Despite this critical scholarship, …

Northwest Coast Native American Art: The Relationship Between Museums, Native Americans And Artists, Karrie E. Myers

Museum Studies Theses

Museums today have many responsibilities, including protecting and understanding objects in their care. Many also have relationships with groups of people whose items or artworks are housed within their institutions. This paper explores the relationship between museums and Northwest Coast Native Americans and their artists. Participating museums include those in and out of the Northwest Coast region, such as the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, the Burke Museum, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Museum. Museum professionals who conducted research for some of these museums included Franz Boas, …

Archival Enactment, Retelling 'The Big Book': Alison Knowles, Something Else Press And Fluxus, Meghan A. Dellacrosse

Theses and Dissertations

"Archival Enactment, Retelling 'The Big Book': Alison Knowles, Something Else Press and Fluxus," positions Knowles’ Big Book (1966) as a case study of historical methodology and interdisciplinary artistic practice in the post-war period. This comprehensive analysis of Big Book, a work of art no longer extant, contextualizes its publisher, Something Else Press through Dick Higgins’ concept of “intermedia,” and important lesser-known junctures relevant to Fluxus and the group’s leader George Maciunas are illuminated. Knowles' early and lesser-known silkscreen paintings are also examined.

Semi-Living: Tissue Culture & Art Project's Challenge To New Museum Theory, Leigh Margaret Wilcox

Theses and Dissertations

With the rising visibility of modern innovations in biotechnology that have been defining factors in the turn into the twenty-first century, it is not surprising that artists would engage and critique the implications of these scientific advancements. One artistic partnership working to raise awareness through the critique of biotechnological progressions in their work is the collaboration Tissue Culture & Art Project (TC&A) comprised of artists Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr. Working to bridge the gap between the fields of arts and sciences, TC&A employ living and growing cells as the foundation for their semi-living sculptures and manipulate and coach the …

The Application Of The Automated National Cataloging System For Archaeological Cataloging, Linda Novak Vrooman

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Trying To Publish An Article On American Painter Thomas Eakins, Elise Hempel

Masters Theses

Freelance writing for magazines is an uncertain business; that is, one cannot specifically school oneself to guarantee even a modicum of success in this career. A writer may, of course, learn the "proper" procedures for preparing and submitting an article by reading any of several reference books written by those who have "made it" in the business. These procedures vary, however, with each author; also, they say little or nothing about the actual business of writing well. Ultimately, then, a writer must test the waters of freelance magazine writing by trying and failing and trying again.

This paper details the …