Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Lanthorn, Vol. 59, No. 04, September 30, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 59, August 5, 2024 – April 14, 2025

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Lanthorn, Vol. 59, No. 03, September 16, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 59, August 5, 2024 – April 14, 2025

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Lanthorn, Vol. 59, No. 02, August 26, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 59, August 5, 2024 – April 14, 2025

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Lanthorn, Vol. 59, No. 01, August 5, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 59, August 5, 2024 – April 14, 2025

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Poetry Style Experimentation, Ian Mcguckin

Honors Projects

This project is an experimentation in different craft and stylistic approaches to poetry. Each week, a different major contemporary poet was studied through one of their collections. Their work was analyzed and dissected to reveal some of the main stylistic choices they make to achieve their individual effect. After analysis, a handful of these elements were chosen to replicate in the author's own poems. Guided by crafted prompts created to inspire the author towards the chosen poet's style or subject, two to three poems were drafted each week and then revised at the end of the week. In total, this …

Determining Autistic Aesthetics: How To Find Autistic Artists In Canada, Gerald S. Beaulieu

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

As notions of Autism slowly move from a pathological to a cultural framework it is a fair question to ask if this includes a distinctive Autistic aesthetic. This is a comparative question, evaluating a distinctive aesthetic against established norms and to do this effectively you need samples. The more samples you have the better the comparison. It certainly makes sense that individuals with divergent neurologies and sensory experiences would perceive the world and reflect it differently through their content creation across artistic disciplines. The challenge however is finding this content as works by autistic creators are exceedingly rare and hard …

Guardian, Gerald S. Beaulieu

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Gerald Beaulieu

Artist Statement

Guardian,1995. Life-sized winged figure constructed from spruce then burned black.

This work was done twenty five years ago long before I knew I was Autistic. I was an artist looking for answers. Every time I tried to fly, metaphorically, I would crash and burn. The gifted child never reaching their potential. All I could do was to get up from the ashes and try to defy gravity once again.

Collection of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton , New Brunswick, Canada.

Photo credit; Gerald Beaulieu

“I Don’T Want To Be Human”: The Neurodivergent Reader Response To Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries Series, Rachel S. Anderson

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This article explores how readers have responded to the Martha Wells series The Murderbot Diaries by identifying the titular character as neurodivergent and the recent ways in which the author has responded to questions about the character—and herself—as potentially autistic. While initially resisting this reader-supplied diagnosis, Wells has more recently acknowledged a neurodivergent identity. By examining Murderbot’s sense of self and relationship with the humans around it, this article will explore our current society’s relationship with human/machine intelligences and how we define such concepts as “neurotypical” and “human.” Specifically, this article will examine how the concept of a “governor module” …

Experimental Performative And Analog Photography, Emily H. Coghlan

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This experimental photography project, ‘Irregular Balance’, attempts to interrupt various socially constructed binaries, including both physical and neurological ones.

Materials such as pins, potatoes, thread, and tape were tested, and various modelled structures were then documented with analogue photography. Forms taken by arboreal constructions and deconstructions in local parks have also been investigated.

Twine encompassed around a sewing machine was reworked during an MA performative piece at London College of Communication in 2019. In this reflective review, the artist explores her relation to visualised concepts of perfection and imperfection, bearing in mind her spinal fusion surgery and her more recent …

Visions Of A Captured Mind: Using Expressive Film Techniques To Convey The Experience Of Liberty Deprivation As A Neurodiverse Individual, Sam H. Grant, Ken Fero

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

In this article, I make the case for the use of expressive film techniques to convey the emotional, or affective, experience of neurodiverse people who have been subjected to liberty restricting practices and policy. I do this by discussing my own experience with film practice as a man living with autism, presenting a broader philosophical case for how artistic modes of communication can close affective and social divisions between neurodiverse and neurotypical people, explaining why it is the cinematic techniques I advocate for are uniquely suited to neurodiverse people, and then I showcase some of my own work as a …

An Autistic Aesthetic Of Connectivity, Inga Hamilton

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

No abstract provided.

Stimming As A Form Of Autistic Aesthetic Experience, Neuroqueering Landscape, Sam Metz

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Sam Metz is an artist based in Hull who creates work that engages with the concept of ‘neuroqueering’. They create sculptural installations that incorporate both film and animation while exploring body-based responses to ecology. As a neurodivergent artist and curator with sensory processing differences, Sam creates work in non-verbal ways that begin and end in movement and embodied interactions without recourse to traditionally privileged verbal and written forms of communication. Recently they created a series of work called ‘Porosity’ which looked at embodied sensory relationships to the Humber Estuary, with a focus on stimming and ecological perception.

Sam, through their …

Strange Stranger: A Visceral Skin Glaze Exploration Into The Neurodivergent Sensory Experience, Sam J. Lucas

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Sam Lucas

Sam creates ambiguous figurative objects predominantly in clay. Her creative practice draws on her experience of being a neurodivergent woman today, by exploring aspects of her own unique neurotype.

The visceral glaze exploration pieces were the precursor to the final forms for her body of work called ‘Strange stranger’ where she is exploring the weight and awkwardness of being in the body, the pain this alienation can cause, and ironically the beauty and humour that results from this diversity.

The surfaces of the pieces were attempting to describe the interoceptive, exteroceptive and alexithymic confusion that can occur at …

Space For The Savant: An Update On Henry Higgins’S Autism, Abby Zwart

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Henry Higgins, one of the leads of Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, has been retrospectively diagnosed as an autistic character by lay readers and two scholars (Rodelle Weintraub, 2006; Sonya Loftis Freeman, 2014). Weintraub’s work is accurate but outdated, and Loftis presents several valid concerns about labelling Higgins an autistic savant, but Henry Higgins should be embraced as a neurodivergent character because today, a decade after the last publication addressing his neurostatus, society has a much more nuanced understanding of autism that can easily make space for his inclusion in the retrospective canon of neurodivergent characters.

No Longer On Fire, Vikki M. Parker

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Capturing the poetic, lyrical essence of the ethereal universe, the pencil portal births whispers of the self in these Sourcedoodle collections, beginning as intuitive drawings and revealing their deeper essence through digital wizardry, healing art comes through for remembering the soul's purpose. A journey to gently collect the fragmented parts of a broken self. Like little souls dancing, each image has a story, a capturing of energy, an anchoring of light intensity, a glorious weaving of fluidity and a playful curiosity. A permission to be whole & a celebration of source discovering embodiment underpins this spiritual quest for discovering existence …

My Mind Is A Forest: An Autistic Wandering Through The Language Of Silence And The Poems Of Mary Oliver, Torri Blue

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

The autistic experience has been widely medicalized, pathologized, mischaracterized, and misunderstood. Through this series of essays, I attempt to paint an alternative picture of (an) autistic life—one not defined by deficits, but (at the risk of sounding cliché) differences—by re-storying autism through an Autistic Poetic.

Autistic Poetics, or the poetry of autistic existence, offers to our imagination a new way of relating to the world—alternative pictures of what it means to be human and all the possibilities therein. Autists, as human beings who often express being more at home with the earth-others and more-than-human world, can offer our writings as …

N°13 Of The Collection N°11 : « Life Origine », Eddie Delvaux

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

In general I only write a text for the entire collection but not for a single work. Here is the text related to the collection.

Model: Illustration

Collection: N°13 of the collection n°11 : « Life Origine »

Title: « La naissance Ffgwanariis »

Artist: « Eddie Louis Delvaux »

Size: 70x100 cm

Nature: Markers « Posca », Highlighter « Stabilo », Paper brand « Canson », Pencils

Price: 950 euros

Framing: « Angle Var », Brand « Nielsen »

Langage: No calligraphic

Collection No. 11: "Life Origin"

In the Extrarian galaxy, the era of the first beings flourishes abundantly! …

Sculpting Aesthetic Experiences Through Autistic Indigenous Knowledge, Manuel A. Sánchez Peña

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

The intersection between the autistic mind and the experience of aesthetic elements sculpts a distinct lens through which individuals could explain and appreciate the human experience. Differences between neurotypicals and autistics in terms of sensory experience, cognition and communication, combined with knowledge produced by the Philosophy, Psychology, and Anthropology fields in Aesthetics permit the application of the Neurodiversity Paradigm as a source to explain the perception of aesthetics in the collective. The complexity of these experiences in autistic people not only expands deeper comprehension on aesthetic experiences and all its relativisms, but also illustrates neurodiversity as a form of cultural …

Fine Arts Gallery: Dylan Mackenzie, Dylan Mackenzie

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

Dylan has a diagnosis of ASD [Autism Spectrum Disorder]. This impacts his ability to communicate - he is (mostly) non-verbal, and as a result this affects his learning and emotional development. Dylan will likely require support throughout his life. Nonetheless, he is physically fit and active, loving and good humoured.

His love of the outdoors inspires his artistic practice, and he attends regular classes and workshops at Project Ability - a Glasgow-based visual arts organisation which creates artistic opportunities for people of all ages with disabilities and people with lived experience of mental ill-health.

He explores experiences through lyrical and …

Beauty In The Gothic: Forms Of Autistic Aesthetics, Elinor Rowlands

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This article will explore how Divergent forms of autistic communication and expression, within an artistic context, convey an aesthetic that awakens otherworldly realms existing between the physical world and portals of invention. These otherworldly creations are often made manifest through modes of stimming.

For autistic artists who use stimming (repetitive motions and actions) in their artwork and texts, intuition plays a key role, and many, particularly female and non-binary, recognize the role Gothic also plays in their work.

This article will use Serres philosophy on intuition and definitions of the Gothic to show how autistic artists may use both in …

Resonant Perceptions: Exploring Autistic Aesthetics Through Embodied Cognition, James Hutson, Piper Hutson

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This study investigates the nuanced realm of aesthetic preferences among individuals with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC) compared to neurotypical individuals, addressing a significant gap in understanding the diverse perceptual experiences within the neurodiverse community. The impetus for this study stems from the growing recognition of neurodiversity and the need to appreciate how individuals with ASC uniquely experience and interpret their environment, particularly in the context of aesthetics. Employing a dual-method approach, the research integrates data from comprehensive surveys and in-depth interviews to construct a comparative analysis of aesthetic preferences and experiences. Participants encompassed a broad demographic spectrum, ensuring a diverse …

A Walk With The Cailleach, Shelley Wallace

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

I’ve been working on a larger scale with various media and tools for mark-making to get my whole body involved in the movement. It’s taken time for me to work this intuitively, allow my body to shape spaces that communicate beyond words and the small, tight, figurative works I’ve long squeezed me into. For me the silent paint, and mixed media, speak louder and connect on a deeper emotional level in abstract form, speak when words fail me. I work spontaneously and instinctively but I’m also shaping a visual language through the poetry of line and movement, and the poetry …

The Rainbow Spectrum, Archana Kadam

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This poem is written from the perspective of an autistic child; who is learning to use an emotional thermometer to recognize, communicate, and regulate basic feelings.

Finding Liminality In Literature: The Decentered Voice And Its Power To Rewrite Cultural Narratives, Melissa M. Damico

Masters Theses

This thesis will dissect the flaws within the current Western culture narrative and how specific works of literature have the ability to challenge and subvert this outdated narrative, teaching society to embrace and empathize with both marginalized and oppressed human and non-human communities. It will address how the decentered voices within the literature I have selected create liminal experiences for readers, blurring subjectivity and eradicating the cultural boundaries and binary oppositions that have kept us trapped and blinded for decades. My first chapter will explore the psychological functions of the current cultural narrative, specifically Baudrillard’s concept of the hyperreal as …

The Support Of Participation In Music Education, Karsten C. Wimbush

Masters Projects

Music programs within most public schools struggle with adequate support and participation. Increasing demand for advanced placement courses, perceived financial commitments, cultural barriers, family history, district course offerings, local interpretation of education policy, and other factors impact what students and families participate in school music. The music teacher’s situation has further impact on the issue, as the unique characteristics of a music teacher’s responsibilities create stressors that reduce effectiveness and increase burnout. This project searches the research on this issue and provides a guide for the music teacher to better facilitate a supported, growing music program. In order to create …

Lanthorn, Vol. 58, No. 17, April 15, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 58, August 7, 2023 - April 15, 2024

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Lanthorn, Vol. 58, No. 16, April 8, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 58, August 7, 2023 - April 15, 2024

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Grand Valley Magazine, Vol. 23, No 2, Spring 2024, Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley Magazine

Grand Valley Magazine is a quarterly publication about Grand Valley State University produced by University Communications since 2001.

Lanthorn, Vol. 58, No. 15, March 25, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 58, August 7, 2023 - April 15, 2024

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Lanthorn, Vol. 58, No. 14, March 11, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 58, August 7, 2023 - April 15, 2024

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.