Ceramic Arts Commons^™

Blueprints, Sara Alfieri

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

I am captivated by the relationship between ceramic vessels and architecturally-inspired structures. My goal is to create a variety of abstract compositions that are both visually stimulating and functionally engaging. Through the act of fitting, placing, and interacting with forms and surfaces, I explore the interplay between design, function, and accessibility. These interactions, in turn, invite a deeper exploration of how we navigate and experience space, both visually and physically.

The structures in my work serve as both tangible and conceptual support systems for my ceramic vessels. While the vessels can exist independently, their connection with the structures is revealing. …

Divided Motherhood: Narrative Within The Domestic Vessel, Jacqueline Denaway

Masters Theses

This research explores the story of motherhood through that of art, craft, and the domestic vessel. It analyzes how the installation, Motherhood Divided, can be viewed as an exemplification of the conflicted divide inherent within contemporary motherhood. I posit this divide to be a result of the tension created between the impossibility of the current normative maternal ideal of intensive motherhood, and its contradiction to that of the private hidden realities of mothering.

The historical origin of intensive mothering is explored, along with its impact on current societal maternal standards. These concepts are juxtaposed with the art of Camille Henrot …

Material Memory, Rebecca S. Talbot

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Material Memory is an exhibition showcasing a curated collection of ceramic and quilted sculptures and prints. With works on pedestals, suspended quilts, and framed prints, this exhibit embodies the physical and emotional landscapes of home. The use of household objects to construct the artworks conveys themes of family memories trapped in domestic clutter.

Migdal, Ashqelon: The Ceramic Finds, Anna De Vincenz

Qadum: Journal of Excavation Reports from Israel

The ceramic material presented in this report was recovered from a salvage excavation conducted to the east of the mosque in Migdal, Ashqelon. Although most of the ceramic material was dated to the late Ottoman period, Late Roman–Byzantine ceramics, a few sherds from the Crusader period and a Mamluk-period assemblage were also uncovered. The Mamluk assemblage is characterized by imported glazed bowls and locally made, handmade geometric painted vessels. The Ottoman-period material is varied and comprises ceramics imported from Turkey, Greece and Italy. Black Gaza Ware characterizes the locally produced vessels. Smoking pipes and narghile were common at the site.

Raíces Salvadoreñas, Sueños Americanos (Salvadoran Roots, American Dreams), Katherine Y. Posada

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Raíces Salvadoreñas, Sueños Americanos (Salvadoran Roots, American Dreams) is an interdisciplinary body of work that navigates the common threads between identity, memory, and heritage through an intimate and layered approach. Rooted in personal experience, the work is deeply informed by my identity as the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, shaped equally by the cultural richness of El Salvador and the complexities of growing up in the United States. Through ceramics, installation, found objects, and video, I translate familial stories and cultural practices into tangible forms objects and environments that embody both vulnerability and resilience.

This work is an homage to the …

Xxx, Samuel Tucker Claxton

Theses and Dissertations

In XXX Tucker correlates the rise in online hookup apps and the fall of queer nightlife spaces to show how the internet has affected gay cruising spaces. They relate their installation-based work to the ideas of liminal spaces and Jean Baudrillard's

hyperreal. Further, they contextualize their practice within the scope of Robert Grober's work.

Strange World, Brooklin Grantz

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis work explores the intersections of masculine and feminine labors as they relate to the structure of domestic space. I utilize materials and processes akin to craft, construction and architecture, and domicile upkeep, noting what is shared between gendered and polarized fields while exploring uses of the grid in various instances as a structure to adhere to and antagonize: a binary. Highlighting the queerness and fluidity of materials and the similarities between seemingly disparate processes, I relate to the objects I make and alter through my own gender fluidity. I do not see masculinity or femininity as autonomous: the …

Crafting Futures: Balancing Tradition And Technology In Craft Practices, Saga Elkabbash

Theses and Dissertations

Under pressure from mass production and the decline of artisan skills, craft traditions risk becoming relics of the past. Crafting Futures challenges this by treating machines as tools of creative expression, working alongside and in harmony with traditional hand techniques. By pairing an experienced potter with a creatively deployed 3D-printer to develop a series of artifacts, this research fosters a dynamic conversation between partners. Digital fabrication can engage with, rather than replace, traditional making practices, emphasizing the role of the maker’s imagination as the site of knowledge, intuition, and improvisation. The resulting series of hybrid clay vessels reinforce not only …

Tenaciously Curious, Joe Mark Taylor

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this thesis paper, I will outline the journey I’ve taken throughout my graduate studies at the University of Montana and how it has culminated in my thesis exhibition, Tenaciously Curious. I’ll begin with an Introduction that speaks to the importance of finding ways to connect to nature, and the benefits we gain by recognizing our bodies as extensions of the organic world.

In the following section, Influences, Theory and Lineage, I’ll explore the themes that drive my research, highlight artists who have influenced my work, and discuss why this inquiry feels vital within our contemporary moment.

In the section …

The Creative Front, Aleksandr O. Barrett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Abstract

In this paper, I will discuss my thesis exhibition, The Creative Front, focusing on my materials, content, and context as they relate to each piece or body of work. This exhibition is the culmination of my work, which centers on my experience with the Russo-Ukrainian war. My work can be interpreted metaphorically, poetically, and directly through sculpture, installation, sound, and film. I am portraying very human stories and experiences from a full-scale war raging in Europe. My work is immersive, placing the viewer in an atmosphere of war, and conveying a sense of urgency and compassion for those who …

Exploring Power Dynamics In Ghana Through Ceramic Sculpture, Collins Yaw Antwi

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The works in this thesis explore the implications of power dynamics such as inequality, power struggle, and oppression within Ghana’s society. I abstract specific elements such as coins, and especially cowry shells which honors Ghana’s past through their use as a source of currency in the colonial era and further serves as a metaphor that represents power. Platters and bowls from different cultures serve as a container for these dynamic symbols of power. By incorporating these elements in my sculptures, I bring attention to the struggle and challenges Ghanaians have experienced over the years. In other ways, I find it …

Love Letter, Amy S. Duval Ms

Theses and Dissertations

I applied to graduate school to reconnect with and better understand my studio practice, acquire language, and to disrupt my known ways of making. Generally speaking, I see my practice as being about being seen, and unseen, and the pain and pleasure of being perceived. I’ve learned about my ways of being in the studio. I’ve come closer to speaking honestly about my relationship with my materials, processes, tools, how I value my own labor, and how this informs my work. I am grateful for the cascade of small epiphanies that came and left me while I worked in my …

Braiding Culture Through Ceramics & Mixed Media Sculpture, Joy M. Okokon

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Stories are embedded in each strand of Nigerian hair, serving as a bridge across generations and embodying the legacy of cultural expression. Hair-making, a skill passed down through generations in my family, began as a personal practice and has evolved into a powerful means of exploring and showcasing the cultural significance of hair braiding through creative works. The sculptures included in this thesis, Braiding Culture Through Ceramics & Mixed Media Sculpture, feature hair sculpture, afro combs, stools, adire batik made from materials such as clay, wood, glaze and cotton fabric. These materials are carefully selected for their cultural relevance and …

Wavering Masculinities, Riley Rist

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Wavering Masculinities is a compilation of anthropological research, exploration of self-identity/belonging, and deep dive into the cultural expectations of heterosexuality (as it relates to gender expression). The works convey a physical connection to my anthropological research to produce imagery about masculine behaviors and appearances, and the deviations of those appearances and behaviors. This exhibition looks at the line between masculine and feminine expression from the male-identifying perspective to inquire about the amount of feminine traits that can be possessed until sexuality is questioned/assumed (and why does being feminine have to be a bad thing?! )

A New Perspective

DePaul Magazine

The DePaul Art Museum foregrounds inclusiveness, partnership and social justice to reframe the role of cultural institutions.

Uncanny Bodies, Samantha Neu

MFA in Visual Art

In “Uncanny Bodies,” unseemly bits are revealed, sensibilities are questioned, and solid ground morphs into shaky mounds. I delve into how the uncanny challenges traditional views and societal norms about the body. My artwork emphasizes the fluid and often unsettling experiences of physical existence, blurring the boundaries between personal and collective perceptions. Through distortions and manipulation of scale, the familiar is rendered alien in my sculptures, prints, and paintings. Through this ambiguity, I hope to offer space for the viewer to navigate their body’s emotional and physical relationship to the unknown.

Raisin Fingers, Sophia Hatzikos

Graduate School of Art Theses

I am a sculptor that uses site reactive interactions, video documentation, and studio-based processes to explore landscape. I investigate my multifaceted relationship of self to my sensorial memory of landscape. Through themes of memory, loss and longing intertwined with my personal connection to water. I identify the intersections of sculpture and landscape seeking ways in which environments shapes decisions in the making process.

Through case studies of two distinct landscapes, Malaki and Tyson, I look at how these environments serve as sources of inspiration and material for experimentation. By identifying the ways in which I researched at each site respectively …

Családi, Joelle Nagy

LSU Master's Theses

Családi (Magyar/Hungarian) adjective: related to the family; related to the home

CSALÁDI is a compendium of paintings and sculpture that narrate and itemize memories, mementos, and feelings from my childhood in relation to the home. It is an autobiographical agglomeration of objects and spaces that I am honoring and remembering through the act of creating. I am effectuating the feminine and maternal instinct of gathering and arranging my memories pertaining to personal history and inherited cultural identity through altar-making. Idiosyncratic items are collected and bound through color association and sensory memory. Constructing interior and exterior spaces of the home in …

Waste Illuminates Worlds: Printed Modular Lamp Design Based On Brick And Clay Tile, Yechen Zhu

Masters Theses

The building industry in the New England area is often in a state of entropy, with abandoned brick buildings contributing to urban decay. The recycling rate of brick and clay tile wastes generated by construction and demolition is only 12.2%, meaning the majority is sent to landfills. The expansion of landfills can lead to significant environmental and community challenges, including increased traffic from waste transport, habitat destruction, ecosystem degradation, and contributions to climate change. Specifically, the Bethlehem landfill in New Hampshire, which is planned to undergo a 5.71-acre lateral expansion through 2026, has already encountered issues such as leachate spills …

Folding (And Unfolding): A Site-Responsive Strategy For Reusing Construction And Demolition Waste, Jennifer Ansley

Masters Theses

Discarding—in its most reductive formulation— is a sorting operation that makes distinctions between materials (as well as objects, people, communities, and landscapes) based on perceived value. In her book Waste of the World, Nicky Gregson, therefore, argues for a more careful collection-curation strategy that revalues and re-signifies “waste” to make it available for repair and reuse. Gregson, however, points to limited space and infrastructural capacity as a potential barrier to the development of new material handling strategies. My design responds by proposing a network of walls and paths that operate in each of the sites I’ve identified as an …