Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons^™

Queerform/Ing, Matthew Solon-Lee Weimer

Art Theses and Dissertations

My artwork is situated within and around vessels and the Queer Homoerotic World and explores sexuality as a Demisexual within them. This is accomplished through the two processes of my creation, Minivague and Queerform/ing: balancing sexual tension and explicit expression, while subverting traditional norms and stereotypes with queerness to distance oneself from stereotypical Gay Art. Altering/emphasizing makes the artwork more romantic, lighter, whimsical, softer, and tender than the figure/s and the situations actually are. The process is also emphasizing what one sees or wants to be seen. The Pink Boy becomes a celebration of intimacy of any form. I discuss …

Fragmented Bodies, Lauren Careese Alexander

Art Theses and Dissertations

Through Memory Webs and fragmented ceramic vessels, I express what it feels like to grow up living in a biracial body. I utilize mixed media to emulate a mixed-race experience. My Memory Webs are fashioned by painting on scraps of canvas and attaching them with crocheted wire and ribbon to speak to how my memory has impacted my identity. My fragmented ceramic vessels are cut up and stitched back together to represent disjointedness and un-belonging. All of my work is contextualized through the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and what the Monster may represent for people of color. I also …

Mindspace: A Multi-Media Art Exhibition On C-Ptsd Awareness, Emma Wallace

Student Research Symposium

"Mindspace" is an autobiographical art exhibition aimed at raising awareness about Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) through a multi-sensory experience. The exhibition combines sculpture, lights, sound, and video projection to immerse viewers in the intricate emotional landscape of C-PTSD. Through a series of sculptural installations and carefully curated lighting and audio, visitors are invited to explore the internal world of an artist affected by C-PTSD and learn how it differs from PTSD and other types of mental health issues.

“Mindspace" incorporates specially composed soundscapes that offer an intimate look into the artist’s thoughts and memories, which range from spoken word …

Laughing In The Wrong Places: Daniel Clowes And The Danger Of Nostalgia, Liam Cassidy

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

This essay explores the relationship between art objects and our past, narrowing in on nostalgia as a malevolent force in American culture that will lead to its eventual downfall. Focusing on Daniel Clowes’ latest graphic novel Monica as a case study, I demonstrate how graphic stories like this seek to reflect rather than interpret, and are often more closely aligned to the creator’s biography than an attempt at broad strokes or political pandering. The essay uses interviews with Clowes at various points of his career, reviews of Monica, academic essays on Clowes, as well as articles and books dissecting …

I'M Not A Robot, Dean Krueger

Graduate Artistry Projects and Performances

My dystopian short film "The Ballad of Viktor GRC-01" seeks to tap into the essence of animation as a humanist art form, a distorted mirror to reality rendered in pencil. The mark making and compositions more closely resemble German expressionist woodcuts, or early 20^th century comic strips with stark contrasting monochromatic ink blotches and screen tones.

Character dynamics are implied through staging and body language as opposed to dialogue, and based off the assumption of the audience being willing to fill in their own gaps of meaning in the ambiguity, not dissimilar to a receptive audience to abstract modern …

Leg, Veronica L. Storc

Graduate Artistry Projects and Performances

Legs suggest stability. Leg alone is more precarious. Thus, “Leg: versus “legs” is an homage to the delicate balance of navigating life’s ambiguity. To be human, is to exist within a span of time, witnessing and participating in change. Yet, much of one’s internal experience goes unseen. The pieces within Leg translate nebulous inner contemplations into abstracted figures, serving as portraits of the emotional self. It is informative to reflect on the elements of our experience that exist beyond mundane demands.

Endo/Exo, Delaney Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist, Delaney Shae Rogers, discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Endo / Exo, held at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City, TN. The exhibition dates are from March 25th through April 5th, 2024, with a public reception held April 5th, 2024. The author provides insight into the concept behind the work in the exhibition and shares how the making process and specific materials impact the work. This body of work explores coping with grief, anxiety, and the state of the world through the process of making and communicating otherwise difficult topics through visually digestible symbolic language.

Groundswell, Ursula Gullow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses the artwork of her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Groundswell, held at Tipton Gallery in Johnson City, March 11 – 22, 2024. The exhibition includes wall pieces, sculpture, plaster, and ceramic objects that explore the traditional parameters of painting and its presentation.

Ideas discussed include the philosophy of history, and the origin of European art tropes such as odalisques, flowers, and birds. Framing devices, deconstructed paintings, fiber arts, ceramics, 18^th Century decorative art, plaster, the studio practice, Walter Benjamin, David Lowenthal, Gustave Courbet, Jean Honoré Fragonard, Titus Kaphar, Valerie Hegarty, and maximalism are also surveyed.

In A State Of Becoming, Benjamin Conley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist discusses his Master of Fine Arts exhibition titled, In a State of Becoming. The exhibition was on view at the Tipton Gallery in downtown Johnson City, TN from February 26 March 8, 2024. In a State of Becoming showcased three large scale paintings, five multimedia prints, two sculptural installations, and a video projection installation. Conley's thesis research and current artistic practice revolve around the interfaces, connections, and relationships of humans and animals. Conley explicitly uses language like "animal" to describe "non-human animals" in his work's context. The exhibited works focused primarily on how the artist and/or the viewer …

Take A Hike: A Documentary Following First Time Hikers, Katherine Hopper

Honors Theses

There is a substantial body of research showing that spending time exercising in nature can improve college students' mental health. Mental illness diagnoses are on the rise, and yet many students don't seek time outside. This documentary seeks to bridge the gap between research and people's lifestyles and habits. The documentary features five first time hikers on a four mile hike. The purpose of the documentary is to show viewers the benefits of exercising outdoors. The documentary was filmed over the course of two months, with each participant hiking individually. The hope is that this documentary will encourage others to …

The Impact Of Testimonies On Partner Development Strategies: Mission Work In Europe, Kimberly Witte

Senior Honors Theses

This study seeks to answer how first-world missionaries can utilize research findings on the effectiveness of testimonials and apply that knowledge to partner development strategies. Research trends demonstrate that most missionaries are being sent to countries with the largest practicing Christian populations, such as those in Africa or South America, and are more likely to receive financial partnerships. Europe has a high rate of non-practicing Christians and is a cultural intersection due to the refugee crisis, leading to a need for mission work. This research will culminate in the creation of a prayer guide, highlighting testimonies of individuals impacted by …

Jsper (Just Stablediffusion Plus Easy Retraining), Adam Rusterholz, Meghan Finn, Zach Zolliecoffer, Zach Judy

ATU Research Symposium

JSPER is an an AI art generation Web Application that is both flexible and accessible. Our goal is to enable anyone to create and use their own customized art models, regardless of technical skill level. These models can be trained on almost anything, from a person, to an animal, to a specific object, or even style. The user only has to upload a handful of images of their subject. Then, training settings get optimized at the push of a button to match the type of subject the user is training. After training, their customized model can be used to generate …

“Making The Bed”: Challenging Ideologies Of Ownership, Nonlocality, And Romanticism In The Age Of The Anthropocene, Ainsley P. Foster

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

The current Age of the Anthropocene marks a recent and rapid transition into a period in climate history that is notably defined by human impact. Modern Western sentiments of grief, frustration, and romanticism as a result of the interplay between domestic and corporate spaces seem to culminate in an overall attitude of apathy and acceptance of the Age of the Anthropocene. Various art forms collaborate to create the current conversation of the causatory and reactionary relationship that humans have with the Anthropocene, offering interpretations of how individuals and corporations view ownership of and responsibilities to the environment. There is a …

Photography, Architecture, And Environment: An Architectural Analysis Of Edward Ruscha’S 26 Gasoline Stations, Rebecca Tonguis

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This presentation explores Edward Ruscha’s photobook 26 Gasoline Stations through an architectural lens. Specifically, it treats Ruscha’s work as historic evidence of how consumption, industry, and commodity have infiltrated all kinds of environmental contexts through architectural manifestations. Known for being the first artist’s book, 26 Gasoline Stations ambiguously exists as both fine art and documentation of everyday conditions, with the overall graphic character highlighting its perceived focus on overarching narrative. Since gasoline stations are the primary subject of each of the 26 photographs, the subject of this work is arguably architecture, suggesting that the historic relationship between mass gas consumption—or …

Exploring Narrative Strengths In Animated Storytelling, Amelia Kretzer

Honors Theses

This thesis explores tactics for effective narrative development for animation through the analyses of key works of strong animated films synthesized with literature discussing narrative frameworks. This research resulted in a shortlist of animated storytelling best practices—six principles to reflect on in the creation of effective stories for animation. Additionally, an original 2D animated short film was created utilizing the principles on the shortlist in its development as an outpouring of this research.

Primordial, Fel Nikoli Mccoy

CGU MFA Theses

The culmination of my desire to reconcile with my existence through art is to create myths. Mythology, however fantastical it may be, was once how people conveyed their deepest experiences to one another. I became a mythmaker because I needed to communicate my experience: my efforts to reclaim my indigenous Mexican heritage, my anxieties about surveillance and judgment, and my belief in preserving the lands I live on. The myths I create are mashups of the cultural influences in my life with the intent of understanding my identity and positionality in contemporary society. PRIMORDIAL is a collection of my work …

Reflective Perspective, Lisa Heikka-Huber

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

‘Reflective Perspectives’ is a personal tribute to glass. After working in glass for over 20 years creating functional sculpted objects, I decided it was time to take a break and complete my BFA in sculpture. Influenced heavily from my sculptor parents, I sought to learn their craft and focus my art practice to combine metals with hollow glass sculpture. Taking a mold from my face frozen in the expression I make while blowing glass. Each bubble represents the constant influx of ideas for glass that flowed and formed in my brain throughout the years. Each idea started out as a …

Creating An Index To Graduate Theses To Support Their Discoverability, Ellen Petraits

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

As a Research and Instruction Librarian, one of the most frequent questions I'm asked is how to find past theses on a particular topic or theme. There is an active thesis culture at RISD that goes beyond writing and binding a text. An exhibition is held in the graduate gallery to celebrate a curated selection of theses at the beginning of the academic year. (See Book of Thesis Books) Theses can range in format from an artist book to a loose-leaf portfolio. Many emphasize the visual and are a bridge to the student’s studio work. They may include unusual or …

What Does One Billion Dollars Look Like?: Visualizing Extreme Wealth, William Mahoney Luckman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The word “billion” is a mathematical abstraction related to “big,” but it is difficult to understand the vast difference in value between one million and one billion; even harder to understand the vast difference in purchasing power between one billion dollars, and the average U.S. yearly income. Perhaps most difficult to conceive of is what that purchasing power and huge mass of capital translates to in terms of power. This project blends design, text, facts, and figures into an interactive narrative website that helps the user better understand their position in relation to extreme wealth: https://whatdoesonebilliondollarslooklike.website/

The site incorporates …

Digital Transformation And Design For Maintainability In Industrial Design, Ahmed Tarek Mohamed Fathy, Salwa El Ghareeb, Yasser Shaban

Journal of Art, Design and Music

In this paper, we explore the impact of the rapid digital transformation in Applied Arts and Design and its influence on the realm of Maintainability. We examine how CAD, 3D modeling, have revolutionized the conceptualization and prototyping stages, enabling precise idea communication and immersive representations. Specifically, we focus on Design for Maintainability (DfMn) and its critical aspects such as repairability, serviceability, maintainability, and reliability, which significantly affect cost and user satisfaction. By leveraging this tool, designers can create highly maintainable and user-friendly products. The transformative potential of this tool in industrial design is highlighted, providing promising avenues for future research …