Painting Commons^™

Food Porn, Amanda Jordan

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Food Porn explores the seductive allure of consumer food culture, tapping into themes of desire, indulgence, and excess. Inspired by the bold colors and compositions of pop art, my work exaggerates the appeal of everyday treats, mirroring the glossy, hyper-stylized nature of advertising. Through large-scale formats, repetition, and vibrant hues, I examine how food imagery fuels obsession, status, and identity. The way we consume food visually is just as powerful as the act of eating itself, blurring the line between sustenance and spectacle. By magnifying these visual temptations, my paintings invite viewers to reflect on their own cravings, the power …

There's Still Time To, Lily Kip

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

There's Still Time To is a body of work composed of 51 photo-derived oil paintings. Each piece illustrates a relational situation which resists straightforward interpretation and generates infinite narrative possibilities. My source images come from my adolescent engagements with smartphone photography and social media, but the painted results are not focused on "photography" as a subject. Instead, I paint the photo to re-tread old memories and old relationships. The ambiguity of each figurative situation reflects the lived experience of relating to others and also serves as an invitation to the viewer who must base any assumptions about the painting on …

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 …

Theopoetics Prothesis: An Exploration In Faith And Form, Elise Aleman, Elise Aleman

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

My work is rooted in the biblical definition of faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Like the Bible’s layered complexity—its patterns, metaphors, and cultural references—faith is not merely intellectual but an active trust in what is unseen. It transcends knowledge, anchoring itself in conviction and hope. This intersection of theology and lived experience is at the core of my practice.

Theopoetics—a framework that fuses theology and artistic expression—shapes my approach, allowing faith to be embodied through form rather than merely explained. Two seemingly distinct bodies of work—one centered …

Guanacos De Corazón, Ana Marcela Sinnett

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the intersections of indigeneity, mestizaje, and decolonial aesthetics through a mixed-media art practice rooted in Salvadoran history and identity. Drawing on ancestral traditions such as indigo dyeing and backstrap weaving, Guanacos de Corazón investigates how materiality, folklore, and handcraft function as forms of visual resistance, meaning art that disrupts dominant narratives, critiques systems of power, and reclaims erased cultural memory.

Through formal analysis, historical context, and interviews with Salvadoran artists, this thesis challenges ideas of mestizaje that promote cultural and ethnic superiority and contribute to the erasure of ancestral beliefs.

How do we rescue ancestral traditions that …

Saints And Syncretism In Global Christian Art, Alexandra Lewis, Andie Near, Charles Mason, Gracie Allen, Signe Bieganski, Shannon Smith, Emma Waldvogel, Lauren Carpenter, Ashley Keltsch, Sophia Funston, Mariam Tiews, Emma Brenny, Anne Heath

Kruizenga Art Museum Exhibition Catalogs

Kruizenga Art Museum, Hope College Catalog for the exhibition: Saints and Syncretism in Global Christian Art. Exhibition dates: January 14 – May 17, 2025. Alexandra Lewis, photographer, designer. Andie Near, photographer.

Kruizenga Art Museum Online Collection - Exhibition Gallery

The Body Is On, Kitty F. Davies

Theses and Dissertations

THE BODY IS ON is a visual art exhibition that considers queer embodiment, pervert as political identity, the arriving climate catastrophe, and difficulty in artmaking. I make use of various concepts from Deleuze and Guattari to interconnect my own with the primary goal to ask: what does futurity look like or mean in these climates (in both a literal, warming sense and an increasingly fascistic, political one), and how do we actualize that future?

Mark & Gesture, William E. Pugh

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This paper explores the development of my painting and printmaking practice through the lens of process, artistic influence, and creative community. At the heart of my work is a dedication to mark-making in printmaking and painting as gesture and authorship and as a visual language shaped by process, scale, layering, and texture. My work is influenced by artists such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Wayne Thiebaud, and Peter Max, as well as by my personal history with music. The paper reflects on how process, interdisciplinary influence, and artistic dialogue shape a practice rooted in both personal exploration and discovery.

Remedios Varo: Peregrinaciones, Julia Condes

Honors Undergraduate Theses

At the time of her death, the artist Remedios Varo (1908–1963) left behind over 500 works of art, the majority of which were created in her adopted country of Mexico. Known for her meticulously crafted fantastical paintings, Varo underwent exile and displacement due to first the Spanish Civil War, and later World War II, which led her to relocate to Mexico, where she would create prolifically for the remainder of her life. This paper will examine the effect of those experiences on the artist and the work she produced, attesting to Varo’s ability to translate complex emotions regarding the human …

All Alone, Rachel Sisley

EMET Projects

This artwork depicts a child all alone while she is being cared for in a pediatric hospital.

Bad News, Rachel Sisley

EMET Projects

This is a representation of a patient sitting on the edge of his hospital bed. It is based on a memory I have from a clinical rotation, in which someone was diagnosed with cancer with a very poor prognosis. The dark green coating the room and his body represents the overwhelming fear he possibly feels. The blue represents sadness, while the red represents anger.

The Brilliant Embodiment Of Creativity, Afsah Ali Hussain

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

When someone is given the opportunity to utilize creative liberty, they have access to an infinitely diverse palette of colors, mediums, patterns, and shapes to form a unique amalgamation of artistic styles that conveys different ideas and stories. This painting has been created using watercolor paint, permanent markers, acrylic paint, and multicolored glitter to portray a dream-like, tropical bird in flight. The background of the painting is not as detailed as the prominent, avian figure in question, and that is to leave some ambiguity as to the exact whereabouts of this majestic creature, which is to be determined solely by …

A New Perspective

DePaul Magazine

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

La Creatividad En Peligro: Como La Inteligencia Artificial Es Un Reto Para Los Artistas., Nathaly Cisneros

Capstones

Los artistas digitales han creado obras maestras que nos han dejado sin aliento con sus pinceles digitales, lápices y pinturas. Desde retratos que parecen saltar de la pantalla hasta paisajes que nos transportan a mundos desconocidos, su arte ha sido una fuente constante de inspiración.

Pero en los últimos años, una nueva fuerza ha comenzado a cambiar el juego. La inteligencia artificial ha estado avanzando a pasos agigantados y ahora se perfila como una amenaza para el futuro de los artistas digitales. ¿Qué significa esto para el arte y la creatividad?

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xe8UxDMekX_SwiIppyt_JppK8M-lB-YWNWGyeyShlJM/edit?usp=sharing

Ettingerian Matrixial Theory Glossary For This Artizein Issue, R. Michael Fisher, Barbara Bickel

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

A glossary to assist the navigation and learning of Matrixial Theory especially for those new to it. It is based on the Ettingerian Matrixial terms found in this special issue. Definitions are in process and are a combination of different Artizein authors understandings of the terms as referred to in this issue as compiled by co-editors R. Michael Fisher and Barbara Bickel.

Hidden In A Handbag, Emmaline Landes

Honors Theses

The Hidden in a Handbag exhibition is comprised of a series of three medium size paintings using a heightened color palette. The painting style used for the artwork draws on elements of Photorealism as pioneered by Aubrey Flack. My work focuses on the personal act of revealing the contents of a woman’s spilled purse. By requesting that friends and family share the spilled contents of their purses without alteration, as well as the contents of my own purse, I capture a raw and private glimpse into these women’s daily lives. These paintings are rendered in larger-than-life detail, so that these …

Icy Tears, Emily Loera

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

Emily Loera is a Junior double majoring in Design Studies and Asian Studies. She is on the Women’s Track and Field team and involved in many other organizations on DePauw's campus. She loves to share her art with others, read, and hang out with her friends.

Mother Earth, Jane Duffy

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

Jane Duffy is an interdisciplinary artist who is pursuing Art and Writing at DePauw University. She specializes in acrylic paintings and ink drawings, but does a wide range of creative work in all sorts of artistic fields, including murals and window art.

Snowy Stare, Emily Loera

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

Emily Loera is a Junior double majoring in Design Studies and Asian Studies. She is on the Women’s Track and Field team and involved in many other organizations on DePauw's campus. She loves to share her art with others, read, and hang out with her friends.

Alpine Jubilance, Justine Vandenberg

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

Justine Vandenberg is an Environmental Fellow student at DePauw University majoring in Sustainability Science and Environmental Studies. She is also a writer, poet, and photographer who is passionate about using artistic forms to advocate for the health of ecosystems and human communities. She finds beauty in hiking, gardening, and mountain life.