Art and Design Commons^™

Tarot - Reimagined: Monotype Tarot Landscapes, Eleanor B. Nelson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Printmaking is a form of artmaking that utilizes transferring marks from the matrix to the final piece of paper, often through a press. These processes are able to create an edition of multiple identical prints. This is typically considered the highlight of using print processes; however, the process of making monotypes allows for one original piece. Through the process of researching and creating watercolor monotypes, I made a collection of ten original pieces, all depicting different landscapes throughout the Tarot deck. Each piece is 9” x 12” printed on a 13” x 17” piece of paper and created with watercolor, …

Cartoons From Dickinson Poetry, Abby B. Tarr

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

This zine interprets poems by Emily Dickinson through cartoons. The drawings do not replace the poems. They offer a different way to understand them, translating abstract language into clear, visual moments. This approach shows how meaning can shift when it moves between forms, from text to image. The zine invites readers to engage with Dickinson’s work in a different format while still preserving the original work and context.

Pussy Protest! Protest Zines To Uplift Marginalized Voices, Alekz Nelson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

A publication of 4 separate zines made up of 12 pages each. The zines delve into the history of the Americans with Disabilities Act, trans women and their music artistry, lack of lesbian media, and inmate working conditions. These zines aim to not only raise awareness towards these issues, but spark action from readers by providing practical and doable options to pursue. With societal attitudes and political administrations becoming more conservative, spreading this information and awareness is vital to ensure that these alternatives ways of life are not forcibly erased.

Laundry Basket Small File, Dylan Copeland '26

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Dylan Copeland is a senior at DePauw University, graduating in 2026 with a degree in Studio Art. Working primarily in photography, his work challenges perception by placing familiar objects in unfamiliar contexts, creating scenes that feel both recognizable and unsettling.

Designing For Wellbeing: Expanding Frameworks, Deepening Impact, Leandro Miletto Tonetto

DRS Summer Meetings

No abstract provided.

Design For Global Health Research: Challenges And Future Perspectives, Claudia De Souza Libânio

DRS Summer Meetings

No abstract provided.

The Spark, Karen Jackson

Quill & Scope

No abstract provided.

The Duality Of Morals, Priyanka Gera

Quill & Scope

Nature makes no distinction between butterfly and moth; but humans do. Our internal compass is skewed by beauty standards, and what is ugly vs. fair. Half-moth and half-butterfly: the paradox of value. Is this morality or simply preference? Where is the truth?

2025 Summer Meeting Proceedings, Peter Lloyd, Cecilia Landa-Avila, Sara Lenzi

DRS Summer Meetings

No abstract provided.

"Naija First Aid Al" - A Voice-Activated First Aid Assistant In Local Nigerian Languages, Esther Blessing Onoruke

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

There are now major structural obstacles preventing Nigerian households from receiving emergency care right away. Manageable domestic events can turn into avoidable tragedies due to language barriers, delayed emergency response times, and a lack of basic first aid expertise. In addition to these health issues, Gender-Based Violence (GBV) continues to be a serious epidemic where survivors cannot safely seek assistance due to social shame and unequal power dynamics. A contemporary equivalent that is suited to the low-resource settings of today is required, much as the introduction of first aid manuals in 1901 effectively taught the public and democratized emergency care. …

Designing A Digital Media Experience: An Abundant Reflection On A Personal Journey In Higher Education, Student Experience, And The Adobe Creative Suite, Madison E. Warner

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

This rumination is a capstone reflection iterating the importance of brand identity when designing, and how good design is directly tied to successful events. The author reflects their personal journey through working in the industry, to their time working for an academic institution designing events for students pursuing higher education. Directly correlating their experience as a Digital Designer at a marketing firm, the author talks about the foundation that makes an event successful through measured means of defining identity, recognition, and maintaining a consistent, professional brand. Within this paper, the author highlights some of their experience in large-scale event orchestration, …

In This World: A Scalable Methodology For Scenic Design, Michael W. D. Francis

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This thesis examines how strong scenic design emerges not from how something looks, but from a clear understanding of how its world works. Rather than starting from aesthetic preference or visual trends, it outlines a process that identifies a central idea within a story and uses that idea to shape a cohesive spatial environment. By focusing on how a world behaves - what drives it, what resists change, and how its internal logic operates - design decisions begin to align, creating work that feels intentional rather than assembled. Through a series of production case studies, it evaluates how that process …

Quietude, Caroline Roberts

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

I grew up in a landscape shaped by the slow withdrawal of an ancient glacier. Its passage carved, gathered, deposited, and smoothed, a force both powerful and tender. What remains is not dramatic ruin, but a terrain of gradual accumulation. Small shifts in light, air, and temperature create an immersive atmosphere—an intimacy that comes through proximity, through a landscape encountered within reach.

This body of ceramic work emerges from an attempt to create such an atmosphere. I am interested in how an object might carry a similar quietude—not as absence or restraint, but as an active force. It is the …

Grit, Nikita Nenashev

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Grit is the pursuit of intuition and sustained attention in the search for expression. My work aims to create a sense of both familiarity and mystery by operating between the framework of utility and abstraction. I investigate the liminal space between what is known and unknown, creating surfaces and forms that challenge our perceptions of beauty.

Working gesturally and swiftly invites the clay to reveal indicators of its character, leaving evidence of the forces involved in the creation of each form. Textured and scorched surfaces, produced through the firing process, reflect the transformation of malleable material into a state of …

Promethean, Jordan B. Snow

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The ancient Greek myth speaks of Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind. I engaged this body of work without the use of maquette, drawings or markings. What emerges from this method is archetypal in nature. I leave the tool marks as my fingerprints laid bare.

Leveraging Generative Artificial Intelligence To Launch An Independent Game Studio, Douglas Evans

Theses

This project report examines how Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) can be integrated into the early formation and operations of an independent/indie game studio. Using a qualitative, practice-based single-case study approach, the project focused on Boar’s Head Studio, LLC. A human-in-the-loop approach was maintained with Generative AI used to support company formation, ideation, planning, documentation, analysis, coding assistance, marketing preparation, and community-building preparation

The report concludes that Generative AI can serve as a meaningful system integrated into the studio pipeline when used with structured, repeatable, human-in-the-loop processes. The project contributes a practical, case-based framework that may be useful to other …

Maa’: An Analysis From The May Weber Ethnographic Study Collection, Claire T. Chilla

Department of Anthropology

An analysis of Maa’ textiles from Sulawesi Indonesia. Discusses both the artistic symbolism, possible physical creation, and the spiritual connection of the textile for the Torajans. Informs through the lens of globalization, colonization, and funerary practices from the country of origin.

“Who Are We?”: Exploring Adolescent Identity And Community Through Collaborative Mural Art, Rachel E. Stacy

Honors Theses

This thesis explores how participation in a high school mural club influences students’ sense of personal identity and community. By creating and leading a mural club, I guided students in designing and painting murals around their school and extending this work into the local community, all focused on how students defined themselves within the context of the school’s motto: “A Star is Rising”. I used qualitative methods including surveys, observational notes, artist statements, and visual documentation to examine and analyze how students experienced identity and collaboration throughout the process. The findings show that the creation of these murals provided students …

Unraveling The Modernist Grid: An Exploration Of Femininity And Containment In Design History, Riley Hayes

Honors Theses

This paper examines the Swiss grid as both a foundational tool of modernist graphic design and a cultural system embedded with ideological assumptions about order, neutrality, and authority. While the Swiss design tradition is widely celebrated for its clarity, rationality, and universality, this study argues that such principles are not neutral but historically situated, shaping how postwar Western visual culture organizes information, bodies, and value systems. Focusing on the circulation of Swiss design principles through editorial and advertising media, the paper situates the grid as a structuring logic that extends beyond layout into the framing of identity and gender. This …

Examining Dimensions And Patterns Of Arts Participation In Relation To Positive Youth Development Outcomes Across Socioeconomic Contexts, Yasmine Perry

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Grounded in the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory and the Positive Youth Development framework, the purpose of the current study was to examine how dimensions of arts participation, specifically breadth, intensity, and duration, relate to Positive Youth Development (PYD) outcomes and whether socioeconomic status (SES) moderates these associations over time. Data were drawn from three waves of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development. The analytic sample included 747 adolescents aged 12 to 18, capturing a developmental period marked by identity exploration and increased engagement in organized activities. A combination of longitudinal, person-centered, and moderation analyses was used to …