Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Design Dogma: Redefining Tradition And Innovation Through Mahjong., Isabel L. Ahnemiller

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This design project explores the creation of a Riichi Mahjong set that bridges the traditional cultural heritage of the game with modern design, aimed at introducing the game to new audiences. Riichi Mahjong, a variant of the traditional Chinese Mahjong game, has evolved significantly over the centuries. This project focuses on the development of a visually appealing and functional set that enhances a player’s experience, while staying true to the historical roots of Mahjong. The design uses careful selection of color schemes and symbols, such as the use of both Chinese characters and Arabic numerals to encourage recognition and learning …

On Cover - Lo Lok

V Music Magazine

No abstract provided.

On Cover - Vi

V Music Magazine

No abstract provided.

Vol. 3 Full Issue

V Music Magazine

No abstract provided.

On Cover - Tina Liu

V Music Magazine

No abstract provided.

Talk - Tina Liu

V Music Magazine

No abstract provided.

Definitively Unfinished: Abraham Cruzvillegas’ Autoconstrucción, Disability Aesthetics, And Crip Materiality, Benjamin Brobst-Renaud

Theses

Abraham Cruzvillegas’ Autoconstrucción project is the sculptural manifestation of an approach to artmaking rooted in the self-built and continually evolving forms of the neighborhood where Cruzvillegas grew up (Colonia Ajusco near Mexico City). While it might seem surprising to draw a comparison between the forms of Autoconstrucción and Disability Studies, and while Cruzvillegas does not literally depict the disabled human form, Autoconstrucción resonates deeply with this critical space. Disability Aesthetics, in Tobin Siebers’ formulation, is “an attempt to theorize the representation of disability in modern art and visual culture.” Similarly, Jessica Cooley’s Crip Materiality is a methodology that “locates disability …

Summit Disease: The Ecological Horror Of Empire, Nicholas Moore

Theses

This project focuses on the use of insect imagery in art and media and the theories and concepts that have been instrumental in understanding the cultural and political significance of insect species extinction and decline. I center my work on the concept of ecohorror and highlight several artists whose work depicts insect species and conveys anxieties over ecoprecarity and climate dysfunction. I argue that depictions of insects in art and media can be interpreted in two ways - insects as destructive, monstrous contaminants and insects as constructive, beneficial terraformers - and I rely on Hayao Miyazaki’s Nausicaa of the Valley …

20th Century Graphic Design Development: Bridging Theory, History, And Practice Through Russian Constructivism, Oscar A. Gonzalez Jr.

Theses

This project centers on examining Russian Constructivism as a design movement and its influence on contemporary graphic design practices. It focuses on bridging historical theory and visual style with modern studio work, particularly through the creation of LGBTQ+ advocacy posters inspired by Constructivist aesthetics. The aim is to analyze the formal visual elements of Russian Constructivism while producing original designs that engage with current issues of identity and inclusion. Additionally, the project explores how the integration of analog and digital techniques can elevate visual messaging and creative expression.

A Wicked Game, Andrew Nikonowicz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A Wicked Gameis an installation comprised of a video game in an arcade cabinet, photographs, sound, and sculpture. The installation explores the complexity of play and personal memory. Working from the concept of “wicked” (Epstein) learning environments – domains with hidden rules, unstable structures, and inconsistent feedback – the project constructs a playable space, where players must navigate an inhospitable environment, echoing the experience of living in a world that resists accommodation.

The installation centers around an all-black arcade cabinet placed in a darkened gallery space, inviting visitors to play A Wicked Game. The game demands the player …

Descent Into The Wild: Nature, Nudity, And The Night, Mary E. Adams

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

My work explores the intersection of vulnerability, autonomy, and the female form by placing nude self-portraits within expressive, psychological landscapes. Drawing from historical representations of women in art, I subvert traditional narratives that have romanticized and objectified the female body, instead presenting figures that exist on their own terms. The night, with its inherent intimacy and uncertainty, deepens this exploration, amplifying themes of exposure, solitude, and self-reclamation.

Through large-scale oil paintings, I engage with ecofeminist ideas, paralleling the exploitation of women and nature while resisting their passive idealization. These figures are not objects of consumption but active presences navigating the …

Familiar Faces Of Young Adulthood, Ashleigh A. Gaude

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Exploring the connection between myself and my subjects through portraiture, I focus on capturing the fleeting, uncelebrated moments of everyday life. My work reflects my desire to document intimate, spontaneous experiences shared with friends, often recorded through candid iPhone photos. These seemingly mundane moments, such as shared laughter or quiet reflection, are immortalized through painting and elevate the ephemeral to something worth considering. Influenced by artists like Alice Neel, Jordan Casteel, and Nan Goldin, I utilize portraiture as a tool for recording the emotional and social zeitgeist of my generation. I emphasize the power of painting to preserve the essence …

Beneath The Spray Bottle, Eliana Jolanda Alzate

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

"Eliana Alzate is a Junior English Writing and Computer Science major at DePauw University. Her works explore the intersections of diasporic identity, political chaos, and artistic discovery. When she isn’t writing stories and poems, you can find Eliana filming vlogs and singing karaoke."

Confessions Of An Editor, Eliana Jolanda Alzate

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

Eliana Alzate is a Junior English Writing and Computer Science major at DePauw University. Her works explore the intersections of diasporic identity, political chaos, and artistic discovery. When she isn’t writing stories and poems, you can find Eliana filming vlogs and singing karaoke.

Three Name Givers, Grace Flores

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

Grace Flores is a Sophomore Design Studies major and Honor Scholar at DePauw University. She enjoys expressing her creativity through pastels, drawing, and landscape photography. Outside of her artistic pursuits, Grace loves running, music, and thrifting.

Cavedivers: A Multi-Media Visual And Musical Release, Emily J. Langford

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

For my graduating UNO Honors Program capstone project, I have chosen to undertake a creative project that involves recording and releasing an album with my band, Cavedivers, while also designing the visual media and advertising graphics to accompany the release. The songs we have recorded were all written and developed before the start of this project. Therefore, this project is less of a songwriting endeavor, since most of that process is already complete, and more of an experimentation and workshop in communicating music through recording and identifying effective trends within graphic design.

As an art major and musician, this has …

Animation Gumbo: Stirring Up Style, Story, And Self, Miguel Caffey

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

This project explores how animation can serve as a space for blending identity, culture, and artistic techniques. Drawing inspiration from layered works like Arcane and Spider-Verse, I fuse 2D and 3D animation methods to reflect my experience growing up mixed-race Black American and Puerto Rican. Through frame rate manipulation, layered aesthetics, and the use of 2D visual effects within 3D spaces, I experiment with storytelling that embraces contradiction and complexity rather than smoothing it away. This paper traces the evolution of my creative process, the technical challenges of merging 2D and 3D, and the broader cultural significance of hybrid storytelling. …

A Fond Retrospective: A Personal Journey Into The Worlds Of Professional Videography, Editing, And Motion Graphics, Ben Caroll-Garrett

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

In this paper I recount my beginner journey into the worlds of professional videography, editing, and motion graphics without a formal portfolio. This is a personal paper, lightly academic in nature, and mostly diaristic. There is some technical discussion around camera and software usage, as well as navigating freelance client acquisition. I recommend it for anyone looking to decide if they want to swap career paths and explore an artistic field for the sake of financial or, perhaps more profoundly, personal fulfillment.

Fabrination: Procedural Systems In Game Design, Jason Beal

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

Procedural and parametric methods have brought the automated creation of digital assets, with the assistance of tools made with procedural algorithms has allowed for a semi-automated and non-destructive workflow for the creation of finely detailed and high-quality assets in game design and more. This paper explores the important tools and methods that are used to create these assets and custom tools made for the creation of these assets, concerning three-dimensional models and game maps that can be generated at runtime. Tool creators can use rules, noise, modifiers, and generative algorithms to give users the ability to create massive content with …

Encouraging Engaging Gameplay Through Zoologically Based Creature Design, Lily Gresham

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

This culminating experience project showcases a full understanding of the process for making game ready creature models. By designing three creatures meant to provide unique challenges in their creation, the author demonstrates understanding and flexibility in the skills of 3D modelling, digital sculpting, UV unwrapping, and texturing. Each creature is meant to, in its own way, encourage engaging gameplay in the hypothetical video game they belong to.

Worldbuilding Through Character-Centered Narrative: The Development Of Peter Pumpkin, Andrew Lawson

Master of Fine Arts in Digital Media Culminating Experience

This capstone explores the creative development of Peter Pumpkin, a character-driven animated world built from the ground up through storytelling, design, and 3D modeling. The project focuses on how characters can shape the foundation of a larger universe—guiding everything from tone and theme to environment and visual style. At its core is the pilot episode, which introduces a whimsical, yet emotionally grounded world made up of holiday-themed realms. Through narrative breakdowns, storyboards, and evolving character arcs, the story explores ideas of identity, transformation, and finding one’s place. Stylized 2D concept art served as the starting point, later translated into 3D …

Revelry, Karina R. Mago

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

The work in this exhibition is entirely figural, each part crafted individually from clay and fired in a wood kiln. These figures are intentionally anonymous, with their only distinguishing features being the marks left by the passing flames. Certain aspects of the bodies represented have been abstracted, and lines have been carved to highlight the movement embodied by the forms. Each firing occurs over the course of two days, which is only achievable through the collective effort of multiple individuals. It took a community to bring all of these pieces together.

This body of work is a love letter to …

She: The Shadow Self, Mya Bethers

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

This multimodal poetry thesis explores the Female Shadow, an adaptation of Carl Jung’s concept of the Shadow that focuses on women’s experiences, through the themes of silence, abuse, and generational trauma. Incorporating multimodal forms such as video poetry and visual poetry alongside traditional print poetry, the collection mirrors the fragmented nature of trauma and the instability of memory. This collection draws from feminist theorists like Hélène Cixous, bell hooks, and Trinh T. Minh-ha, as well as poets engaging with Jungian concepts such as Sylvia Plath, Robert Bly, and Châtillon Coque. This work examines repression, voice, and the unconscious. Formally, it …

Cultural Implications In Global Hospitality: New Orleans To Al-Balad, Madeleine C. Helgren

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

There is a growing trend in the hospitality industry toward a more accurate cultural representation within hotel properties. Cultural accuracy within hospitality not only allows for a more exciting and unique travel experience for guests, but helps to preserve and sustain local communities and traditions.

Building upon research gained through first hand observation, interviews, and academic sources, this thesis aims to explore the integration of global hospitality brands within regionally specific cultures. The resulting conceptual projects integrate a fictional hospitality brand named Josephine into boutique hotel experiences in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the old town of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Al-Balad. …

Realistic Symbolism, Bekah Renee Anderson

Theses

This project focuses on the tools and techniques of realistic oil painting. By analyzing historical artists like Audrey Flack and Johannes Vermeer, we learn new and innovative ways to enhance the production of oil paintings. The project is interpreted through the scope of metaphoric allegorical creations based on my interpretation of vanitas, dramatic lighting, and symbolic presence of family.

Between Sense And Nonsense, Holly Marie Hennessey

Theses

This project focuses on fiber art and its relationship to abject art, emotions, and the subconscious that are all evoked through sculpture. My project challenges ideas on societal norms, identity and ambiguity as I contribute to abject art and push the conversation forward within the contemporary world. I invite my audience to embrace the unfamiliar and to allow both beauty and oddity to coexist.

Bà Noi (Paternal Grandmother), Giao Nguyen

Calliope

No abstract provided.

Confinement, Raina Oh

Calliope

No abstract provided.

I'M Still Eating Crayons., Eisey Eisenhardt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

im still eating crayons serves as a reflection on past events experienced in trying conditions after many years of rumination. The title itself is derived from my childhood inclination towards physically experiencing color and texture via chewing on crayons. An inclination that I still experience today; a wish to chew on what captivates me and break it down over time within, so that I may discover a deeper connection with those objects, ideas, and concepts. Not all made discoveries were victories, nor do they place my conscious in a better position than it was at the height of my past …

Nostalgia, Economic Revitalization, And Community Relationships In Hattiesburg's Recent Historic Preservation Efforts, Jordan Jones

Honors Theses

This paper examines the reasons behind the modern interest in historic preservation in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and argues that its supporters are driven primarily by nostalgia towards what they envision as “Old Hattiesburg” and its aesthetics, interest in economic opportunities, and the strengthened sense of community made possible through historic preservation. From the foundation of Hattiesburg to today, there have been shifts in interest in Downtown and its historic districts, and they fluctuate based on changing political, economic, and social trends. In order to contextualize Hattiesburg’s historic preservation, this thesis draws upon secondary scholarship on historic preservation, economic revitalization, and historical …