Arts and Humanities Commons^™

How Can I Be Ok With The E/And Of The World?, Jessica I. Joyce

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dossier, a companion to my MFA thesis exhibition, communicates research on climate anxiety and contemporary art’s engagement with the Climate Emergency. It gathers contemporary art and fiction, graphic novels, environmental philosophy, Indigenous literature and theory, and feminist theory. The Comprehensive Artist Statement articulates how I process and respond to my own climate anxiety through my contemporary painting practice. A material commitment is elucidated, and a collaborative painting strategy outlined, both in the service of better connecting my tangible studio output with my research to form a cohesive whole. These experiments influenced the images and art materials that I worked …

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 …

Examining How Artistic Expression In The Classroom Can Increase Students' Academic Performance And Understanding Of Course Material, Jake Taylor Marrazzo

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study examined how artistic expression in the classroom can increase students’ academic performance and understanding of course material. This study consisted of graduate students in the Masters of Arts in Higher Education program at Rowan University, during the Fall/Spring 2023-2024 semesters, enrolled in at least one of the following courses: Crisis Management, Higher Education in America, and The College Student. The study utilized an artistic expression activity, painting, in connection with participants' course material and readings to understand the benefits of artistic expression on student success in the classroom. Some findings of this study show that artistic …

Good Enough, Haley Levin

Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers

The seven-foot-tall sculptural painting Good Enough explores the cultural significance of trophies in contemporary American society. As an ancient object representing achievement and reward, the irony of trophies’ current junk-status pokes at absurd contradictions embedded in American culture. I offer context on the evolution of “the readymade” from Dada to Pop Art to 90s assemblage, and position Good Enough’s handmade, tender approach as a celebratory twist to that lineage of cultural critique.

Omnipresence And An Outlier, Cheyenne Monk

Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers

In this thesis, I explore the possibility of existence outside the confines of labeled identity through the lens of art, drawing inspiration from personal experiences of racial alienation and the desire to transcend societal labels. Through figurations and world-building, I challenge the notion that one's identity must be defined by categories such as race and gender. By removing categorical physicalities and portraying violence as a means to confront bias-motivated aggression, I aim to provoke dialogue on prejudice without further alienation. Through a blend of surrealism, abstraction, and neo-expressionism, I create tense yet playful presentations of bodies to communicate themes of …

The Land Of Reverie, Sarah Moon

MFA in Visual Art

As children we are fascinated by the mythical. Imagining the attractive or even the disturbing serves as an escape from reality. By painting unicorns, vast surreal landscapes, and imaginative playscapes my work expands the white cube gallery into an immersive extension of my imagination. By viewing the canvas as a portal into a world where limitations dissolve, I paint acidic colors, fluid boundaries, and a malleable reality.

My studio practice is inspired by artists who experiment with color and scale like Kenny Scharf, Katharina Grosse, and Pipilotti Rist. In my colorful, large-scale works I explore the transformative power of play …

The Fuller The Bucket Is, The Harder It Is To Fly, Jacob Littlejohn

Theses and Dissertations

My abstract paintings are informed by the momentary sublime rooted in the vastness of the natural world. Based on imagined and real landscapes, the work evokes minutia and phenomena that affect our perceptions of reality, and signifies a longing to reconnect with the natural world.

Suspicion And The Witch’S Tit, Shayna R. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Shayna Miller’s paintings are built up panels with protruding points, appearing as if a mass is pushing up from behind the burlap-stretched painting surface. In Suspicion and the Witch’s Tit, Miller contextualizes her work in relation to a history of shaped painting and frames her discussion around references related to suspicion, embodiment, and rejection.

Welcome To The Apocalypse, Demetrius E. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

DW’s abstract, vibrant, and bipolar paintings stem from a place of personal biography and collectively shared experience. In this paper, he examines the apocalypse, human nature, tragedy, and the demise of adolescence in our era in the face of increasing technological advances.

Authentic Fake: Authenticity And Authentication., Suyun Son

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My thesis exhibition questions the modern sanctification of authenticity. No longer believing in objective truths, the postmodern society seeks epistemic grounding on being true to oneself. The categories of authentic-or-fake replaced the binary of true-or-false. But authenticity is a trojan horse for authentication. As a Korean American artist, I'm encouraged to express my “authentic” Korean identity. This encouragement can also imply my works will receive recognition as authentic and meaningful only when they embody Korean cultural expression. Authenticity becomes a performance for the sake of authentication. Ironically, authenticity turns into an act of conformity/confirmation. Authenticity demands you stay true to …

In The Performance Of A Lifetime: Pepper Plinkett, Lily Camille Hollinden

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This narrative depicts a caricature of the human experience through the eyes of my alter- ego character, Pepper Plinkett. Pepper is a symbol of my personal philosophies of what it means to be human, and serves as a protagonist and guide through an infinite, ambiguous natural world. This exhibition is a celebration of the vibrancy, curiosity, and ridiculousness of a lifetime. The uniqueness of humor as a specifically human trait and its use as a tool of communication, particularly in expressing authenticity, is the driving force behind my use of clowns in my work. I take an absurdist approach to …

Finding The Green, Bridget Miller

WWU Honors College Senior Projects

This series of watercolor paintings pays homage to the importance of green spaces in urban environments, specifically within the boundaries of Western Washington University’s (WWU’s) campus. Bellingham, Washington, a relatively rainy and cloudy region, sees a significant number of gray, cloudy days. Gray clouds, combined with gray pavement, combined with the gray ocean, can lead to feelings of dreariness and depression. However, urban planning principles suggest that existing among green spaces (parks, hikes, trees, grass, etc.) plays an integral role in a community’s overall mental health. The following paintings depict several of the many coniferous trees to be found around …

Long Story Short, Hannah M. Varghese

Graphic Communication

Long Story Short and is a vintage up-cycling art brand. Our mission is to breathe new life into vintage pieces, crafting them into modern wearable art. As the name suggests, each creation tells a story while being revitalized for today’s fashion forward community.

Fast fashion and trend cycling has been a growing problem in today’s society. Things are going ‘in’ and ‘out’ quicker than they ever have. Trend cycling usually operates on a 20-year timeline. But, today’s sped up cycle encourages people to constantly over-consume in chase of the next cool thing. It’s unsustainable and an impossible chase. With a …

In This Time And Place, Christy Aggens

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

I seek out and spend time in relatively wild outdoor locations and create art based on my observations. The resulting work explores time and place, while the creation of the work increases my engagement with the environment. This process serves as a reminder that time is relative and life itself is continuous.

I start by finding time in locations where nature has been given a chance to thrive and where the sound of human activity is at a minimum. During these retreats, I use my senses to absorb information and document the experience by journaling, making recordings, taking photographs, drawing, …

Repeat After Me, Bonnie Morano

Theses and Dissertations

Bonnie Morano’s devotional abstract oil paintings are an offering of conviction reconciled with joy. Balancing spiritual zeal with geometric space, she creates mirrored compositions filled with gravitas and play. The sacred and domestic join together in maximal harmony, examining alternative arrangements of transcendental experience.

Affectionate Facsimiles, Julio C. Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The paintings in Affectionate Facsimiles are journeys into the expansiveness of color and memory via the accumulation of gestural action. Sporadic freneticism is used to archive desire and time and their relationship to identity. Thin and translucent layers are built up in bursts of intensity as palimpsests of intentioned labor.

Place-Conscious Vs. Place-Bound, Julie Avetisyan

Theses and Dissertations

Julie Avetisyan’s installation of sculptures, paintings and printmaking works are driven by an exploration of constructed identity that is not place-bound, but place-conscious. In this paper, she explores how her art practice generates world building under the context of the Armenian Diaspora – considering histories of indigeneity, migration, and assimilation.

Jennifer Packer’S Unique Employment Of Color: How The Artist Uses Hue To Mystify And Politicize Simultaneously, Jackson Gifford

Rushton Journal of Undergraduate Humanities Research

Jennifer Packer has immensely impacted the art world since her emergence a decade ago. An African American woman, Packer uses her art to depict, analyze, and complicate the intricacies of living in the United States as a Black person. Packer’s singular style of intimate portraits bordering on the abstract makes her work both intellectually and visually engaging. This essay argues that Packer uses color, through various techniques, to address the socio-political dilemmas she wants to get at in her work. At the same time, she uses these hues in abstraction to lift her paintings away from reality.

Preventive Conservation Of Easel Paintings For Collectors In China: Navigating Challenges And Exploring Feasible Solutions, Di Lu

MA Theses

This thesis explores the unique challenges faced by art collectors in China, particularly those investing in easel paintings amidst the rapid growth of the Chinese art market. These collectors, often constrained by budget limitations and limited access to high-quality conservation materials and expertise, face significant risks in preserving their cultural assets. The study delves into these specific risks and challenges, aiming to identify feasible strategies for preventive conservation within the Chinese context. Through an extensive review of literature, qualitative interviews with conservators, collectors, and experts, and in-depth case studies, this research offers practical, cost-effective recommendations for alternative materials and methods …

Catherine Nelson, Senior Art Exhibition Portfolio, Macrocosm, Catherine Nelson

Senior Art Portfolios

This is artwork by Catherine Nelson, created for the Spring 2024 Senior Art Exhibition at St. Norbert College.

Emma Fry, Senior Art Exhibition Portfolio, Swarm, Emma Fry

Senior Art Portfolios

This work is created for the Senior Art Exhibition 2024. This work explores the feeling of being alienated by communities.

Fear Of God: Exploring Transformative Potential, Misunderstanding, Systemic Challenges, And The Future., Jermaine Ollivierre

Theses and Dissertations

This personal journey is a testament to the transformative power of play within my practice. It is a love story between me and the institution, sparked by my fervor for communal creativity in a graduate school environment. Through creative endeavors like public art installations and silent artist talks, I confront racial dynamics and institutional reluctance to engage with complex issues like Black Lives Matter. My personal experiences of alienation are woven into the broader themes of community building, communication, and systemic change. I navigate the complexities of group mentality and exclusion by deliberately using unconventional forms of expression, such as …

From Paintbrush To Screen: Intermediality In Luchino Visconti And Pier Paolo Pasolini's Cinematic Worlds, Zoey Pather

Senior Projects Spring 2024

An exploration of role of intermediality and pictorial citations within two prominent post-war Italian directors, Luchino Visconti's "Il Gattopardo" (1963) and "Senso" (1954), and Pier Paolo Pasolini's "La Ricotta" (1963) and "Teorema" (1968).

Carnesvirtuales, Brandon Alvarado

Senior Projects Spring 2024

Artist Statement

carnesVirtuales

I believe my painting practice over the past year has been an act of reverence towards my subjects, while at the same time, an act of reflection upon how they have shaped my life. I depict the subjects of my paintings as I see them and feel them, not necessarily as I wish them to be. My paintings are born from a digital realm that is becoming increasingly intertwined with the physical world. There is an inextricable synthesis between my perceived identity and my experiences within the digital world. The physical manifestation of these paintings is my …

Through Low Brain's Slap & Stick, Caleb Harrison Pitney

Senior Projects Spring 2024

Through Low Brain’s Slap & Stick is a show of expression with a goal in moving towards exploration and understanding the relationship between the world, my perceptions of it, and the aesthetic productions which result from them.

A slow crawl towards acceptance has been a defining feature of this project. In order to produce work that I am satisfied with and also to enjoy the act of creation, I have had to identify which imposed notions of artistic practice to set aside as to not interfere with my person. Being most interested in works of expression, the goal of my …

Pocket Lint, Scout Olip

Senior Projects Spring 2024

Submitted to The Division of Arts

Every Angel Is Terrifying, Jonah James Romm

Senior Projects Spring 2024

Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the Angels’

Orders? and even if one of them pressed me

suddenly to his heart: I’d be consumed

in his more potent being. For beauty is nothing

but the beginning of terror, which we can still barely endure,

and while we stand in wonder it coolly disdains

to destroy us. Every Angel is terrifying.

The title of my exhibition borrows from the poem “The First Elegy” by Rainer Maria Rilke. I was drawn to this poem because of how it uses the angel as a catalyst to intertwine beauty and terror. …

Not Too Pink, Not Too Blue, Lucy Marcella-Ray Galyean

Senior Projects Spring 2024

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

This show depicts various people and places from my life and dreams. Thus, the actual process of how I recall my dreams informed how I approached making this body of work. In my paintings, instead of focusing on realism, I tried to describe the subject matter depending if “I” was telling the story from the subject's point of view and feeling their emotion, or whether I was watching a scene from the outside. To depict those perspectives, I spent varying amounts of time in different areas to curate awareness …

Adult Recess, Claire De Los Rios

Senior Projects Spring 2024

I am a very sentimental person. I have always had an attachment to things. Things being anything and everything from antique boxes to clay figurines I made when I was six. The list goes on. Each object is an embodiment of a feeling, and I desperately hold on to these “things” (despite others’ disapproval) because I am afraid to let go and forget that feeling. Whether that feeling is shame or pure joy, I have a hard time letting go. As I have gotten older and taken a harder look at my things, I see a complex timeline of my …

At The Table, Payton Olivia Brown

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This written document is the accompanying thesis for my Master of Fine Arts exhibition, At the Table. This document, as well as my artwork, investigates the profound impact that food has on one’s life by strengthening connections with others, upholding traditions, and cherishing memories. It also elaborates on the inspirations, research, and experimentation utilized in the process of creating the exhibition. Through an array of paintings, mixed media, and sculptural work, this exhibition is intended to depict my own personal experiences and memories in relation to food.

Although I am making autobiographical artwork, I am also trying to portray the …