Sculpture Commons^™

A Different Perspective On Christmas, Jessika Hughes

Forces

No abstract provided.

Ideation And Iteration For Creatives, Sandee M. Chamberlain

KSU Distinguished Course Repository

This course addresses the development of visual literacy including concepting, initial approaches of creating an encompassing aesthetic, creating timelines for production, and exploring the refining aspects of creative production. Students will devise an advanced creative problem and provide a documented account of their creative journey to present as a process journal at the end of the course.

Dissociation, Chaimae Oualid

be Still

"Dissociation," is a reflection of the world's struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic, and how it has affected us all in ways we never could have imagined.

Through this painting, I wanted to capture the gradual, yet drastic change in emotions, lifestyles, and perception of reality that we experienced during this time. The crowd of people depicted in the painting represents the collective struggle we faced, all facing towards the unknown and moving towards it. The different facial expressions convey the range of emotions we felt during this time, from fear and worry to resilience and hope.

For me, the pandemic …

Origami Club - A Gateway Into The Art Of Self Expression, Minjae Song, Noah Vincent Rachwitz

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

The Nebraska Honors Program's Origami Club is an engaging platform for 3rd-5th graders that uses the fascinating Japanese art of origami to create a rich, interactive learning environment. Under the guidance of experienced instructors Minjae Song and Noah Rachwitz, and supplemented with YouTube tutorials, the club facilitates a captivating journey from simple projects to complex designs, skillfully developing each student's creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving capabilities. Each session is planned meticulously to ensure an immersive experience, starting with anticipation-building project reveals and culminating in the production of personal origami masterpieces. As a hands-on club, students are encouraged to question, explore, assist …

Qualia, Maxwell Henderson

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

As an artist, my work is a conduit for the exploration of "qualia" – the personal, deeply subjective experiences, emotions, and perceptions that shape our conscious lives. My artistic journey, born from a childhood in Arizona poverty and my biracial identity, has ignited a passion for inclusivity and diversity in art and society, guiding me to challenge traditional material hierarchies and conventional artistic norms.

My art interweaves the vivid aesthetics of Japanese Kutani porcelain and the natural, raw beauty of Icelandic landscapes with the fluidity and balance found in ceramic vessels. Through this fusion, I strive to redefine the role …

Bound By Matter, Carlie Antes

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

I view most aspects of life as being made up of tiny particles of matter that come together and synthesize to shape both our individual and collective human existence. Delicate threads are intricately woven together forming textiles and fabric. Tiny cellular particles shape all living species. Devices of human invention are mapped and constructed to aid in making sense of situations and surroundings. An accumulation of day-to-day moments coalesce to form complex memories and emotions. Each of these compositions are comprised of physical and/or emotional matter. This body of work utilizes the physical matter of my own lived experiences to …

Remembering Wenonah: Colonialism And The Power Of Representation, Adam Gaffey, Monica De Grazia, Iyekiyapiwiƞ Darlene St. Clair, Jill Ahlberg Yohe

CLASP Lecture Series

This panel explores how the lover’s leap narrative and its representation of Native American figures has been used to forge distinctive visions of public memory both in and beyond Winona, Minnesota. For most, details of the lover’s leap are reduced to Wenonah’s fatal action, specifically how she protested her family’s rigid customs of arranged marriage by jumping to her death from a bluff atop the Mississippi River. The goal of this panel is to offer a fuller account of the purposes this story has served in popular memory and the implications of its persistence for different audiences, past and present. …

Why Sweep The Cinders…, Gretchen Larsen

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

In my creative practice I climb down the ladder, put the glass slipper on my own foot, and build the ball for myself (and everyone I know, of course). What I mean is, instead of waiting for the prince and his kingdom to come, I have learned to pursue my own dreams. I do this by dreaming up and building objects using a mixture of traditional and new media. I work with wood, acrylic, LEDs, microcontrollers, lamp parts, and other materials including fabric and projectors. I create, live with, and create again, objects of my own design. The objects I …

Creativity, Craftsmanship, And Connection: Large-Format Sculpture Design, Jacqueline L. Puga, Gordon Hoople

The STEAM Journal

Artistry is a concept that is not usually explored in engineering yet is an invaluable skill that touches everything from product design to systems thinking. This past summer I developed conceptual designs for a large format sculpture that required connecting engineering knowledge with artistic vision. The initial phase required constant inspiration and creativity. The first step was to look at previous sculptures showcased throughout the world, such as at venues like “Burning Man,” to understand the possibilities or limitations of the space provided. Sketching varied and numerous ideas was essential in our design process. Next, we took our favorite ideas …

Future Trash, Xinan Ran

Theses and Dissertations

Xinan Ran explores the politically different, yet similar cultural habits that China and the US share under the influence of late-stage capitalism. Through her handmade, speculative products inspired by novelty gadgets, or “Unitaskers,” she examines the heightened prevalence of the contemporary wellness market. The project “Future Trash” encompasses soft sculptures, printed materials, performance, and installation.

Bloody Show, Leonie Weber

Theses and Dissertations

Leonie Weber reflects on how reproductive, domestic, and emotional labor is addressed in her artwork, and her experience as an artist-parent in the art world. Moreover, she specifically discusses mothers who are navigating their own artistic paths. Her practice encompasses sculpture, printmaking, performance, and installation.

Subject To Change, Shauna Steinbach

Theses and Dissertations

Making visible what is often unseen, muted, or ignored, Shauna Steinbach discusses the unscientific models that make up their sculpture and installation practice. Steinbach’s work explores philosophical thoughts and inquiries surrounding imprints, impermanence, and interdependence. The deaths are small until they are big.

Waiting To Exhale, Abigail H. Ogle

Theses and Dissertations

We breathe as a measure of time, it keeps us alive, and fabricates the pattern of our lives. We are punctuated by “snarls,” “glitches,” or moments of irregularity – of trying to catch one's breath, having it taken away, or gasping for it. It is the punctuation of sighs, huffs, sniffs, scoffs, screams, and deep intakes that appear as glitches in the breathing system.

In our daily rhythm of breathing, the presence of the glitch, defined as potentiality, can create space for something unexpected or new to arise. Using the wind from fans and approximately 1,260 square feet of silk, …

Welcome To The Sitting Garden At The Busy Hands Museum, Stacie Sabady

Theses and Dissertations

I wanted to attend VCU to learn how to unravel my mind and find the words to describe it. While I did make progress in that area, my surprise discovery is that I need to unravel my body too. It has become unbalanced from years of neglect. When working, I find solace through escape. I find a positive outlet for my perfectionist tendencies. I find a way to visually illustrate my obsessive qualities. Throughout the years of these findings, I have ignored my body pleading with me to take it easy. I have always honored the materials and the tools, …

Site, Sight, Swipe, Prada Marfa: A Case Study In Public Art, Cultural Tourism, And Image-Based Social Media Engagement, Ha'ani Joy Hogan

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

Through a case study of Prada Marfa, a site-specific public art sculpture located in West Texas, this dissertation examines the connection of public art, cultural tourism, and image-based social media engagement. Little scholarship that combines all three areas of study exists. To fill this gap, this study incorporates five methods of research to determine how one public art sculpture's existence can contribute to its surrounding community by prompting economic activity and influencing the way that community is seen through a public lens. The five methods encompass a historical analysis of news articles about The City of Marfa and Prada …

Found And Fabricated, Molly S. Davis

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

My MFA written thesis addresses work completed and shown in a thesis exhibition at West Virginia University as well as significant influences to my studio process. While my stated focus is sculpture, the work presented in the exhibition consisted of three sculptural pieces and two sets of prints. This thesis, along with the supporting exhibition, addresses my investigations into the physical properties and tendencies of materials and how that information can guide and inform a work of art. Physical characteristics of the materials such as color, texture, shape, and weight are emphasized and guide the creation of the works in …

The Game Of Absolute, Rupeng Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis paper writing is a collection of short stories. Or it could be thought of as a small magazine or even an instruction manual for my work. There is a loose correspondence between its content and the symbols used in my installations. It is also realistically and physically presented in my exhibition as part of a "game box". The chaotic and contradictory narrative of this collection of short stories stems from my exhaustive pursuit of the elements that I try to approach in each story. This insatiable pattern of compulsive organization is also evident in the content of my …

Grand Gestures, Oscar Danielson Haas

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Whether it be in a single sculpture or a large installation, I seek to create a reciprocal relationship between the viewer and my work, making the audience feel as though they are living amongst the sculptures, sensing each piece’s emotions and intentions. By working at full scales that mimic those of our everyday lives, I attempt to personify each piece and imply a sort of sentience within them. I want each individual viewer to have their own idea of how a piece might move or act once unfrozen from its place in the gallery. Each piece in my show is …

Endure, James C. Toomey

Senior Projects Spring 2023

The work is tubular: fistulous, circulatory.

It starts out as a body and obscures into something sprawling and replicating, perhaps cancerous.

Some parts are handmade paper. I begin with a pulp and strip it in water, then pour it into thin sheets— it dries practically weightless. It shrivels and shrinks and clings to itself, tenderly. It leaves caverns inside.

The work withers how I might expect skin to act when it is no longer living. I was sixteen when I held my father while he died. When I peel away my paper sheets, it is how I imagine it might …

Create Space–Create Communal Change: An Exploration Of Tactics Used By Augusta Savage And Theaster Gates, Ardel'paschal P. Sampson

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.