Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Theses and Dissertations

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
File Type

Articles 5671 - 5700 of 6866

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Transitions: Starting The Second, Full Circle, Mary Colleen Vreeland Jan 2007

Transitions: Starting The Second, Full Circle, Mary Colleen Vreeland

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis will focus on the transitional influences that have led me to start the second circle of my professional life. It is an open and honest exploration of the back-story of my life and the academic and professional influences that led me to seek a Master of Fine Arts Degree at Virginia Commonwealth University. With no parallels and therefore no excuses insinuated, I will be open and dissect more of myself as the whole focus of the thesis in hopes of offering clarity to myself and other mature and disabled students seeking to become a better teacher and artist.

Go to article

Would You Believe Me If I Said I Didn't Need You, Andrew Kozlowski Jan 2007

Would You Believe Me If I Said I Didn't Need You, Andrew Kozlowski

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is an attempt to expand upon the ideas that permeate the practice of art making that has developed over the past two years. Art criticism, theory, history, and practice are used to give definition to the boundaries of my ever-shifting body of work. Focusing on the elusive nature of communication in both public and private spheres, these projects range from installation and sculptural work, to web projects, photography, and drawing.

Go to article

The Encyclopedic Collections Of The Metropolitan Museum Of Art And The Rudolfine Kunstkammer As Expressions Of Power, Jennifer Ashley Pate Jan 2007

The Encyclopedic Collections Of The Metropolitan Museum Of Art And The Rudolfine Kunstkammer As Expressions Of Power, Jennifer Ashley Pate

Theses and Dissertations

In Western Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, collections were created as repositories of art, technology, ethnographic curiosities and natural wonders. Collecting first became a widespread practice among Italian humanists of the late Renaissance who, influenced by the work of Pliny, were driven by the desire to understand the world through the acquisition of universal knowledge. The physical configuration of such encyclopedic projects could be found in the museums created to organize and assimilate the explosion of knowledge experienced during this period.This thesis addresses the social significance of accumulating an encyclopedic collection in the form of a large, public …

Go to article

Pedagogical Fusion, David Maurice White Jan 2007

Pedagogical Fusion, David Maurice White

Theses and Dissertations

During the five semesters that I have been at VCU I have learned a great deal from the courses that I have been enrolled in but I have learned the most through my experiences as a Teaching Assistant. These experiences have been so valuable because of the wide range of subject areas in which I have been involved and the diverse instructors that I have assisted. Although I hesitate to use the word "problem" I feel that there is a tendency in teacher training for a student to latch onto one professor and model their teaching practices after that one …

Go to article

A Life In Words, Thoughts, Ideas, Images And Movement, Randy Houston Mercer Jan 2007

A Life In Words, Thoughts, Ideas, Images And Movement, Randy Houston Mercer

Theses and Dissertations

I know it is my core, my purest nature to incessantly question myself and everything around me; as we pertain to the universe. As Robert Wilson suggests "I will always ask 'What is it?' before telling you what it is." My goal is to present you with some tools with which to approach your craft, your life, your uncertainties. And though I may not always be the best example, I still wish to encourage all that read this or spend time with me to see this craft/business and indeed your life as a great, happy adventure; guided by love. Because …

Go to article

Toward A New Kinship Constellation, Nellie Helen Frances Appleby Jan 2007

Toward A New Kinship Constellation, Nellie Helen Frances Appleby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis attempts to elaborate on my artwork during my graduate studies, while contextualizing it within the framework of the art world and the works of other artists. A main project during this time was to minimize the singular interpretation and framing of a fine art photographic print, while expanding its possibilities of meaning through the addition of important ephemera and objects such as plants, drawings, moving imagery, conversation and the unknown.

Go to article

Beaut-Ease, Amanda Rae Douglas Jan 2007

Beaut-Ease, Amanda Rae Douglas

Theses and Dissertations

The Beaut-Ease product line consists of several machines that are a hybrid between beauty products and infomercial products. Both industries flourish on a level of falsehood that teeters on the brink of hilarity.

Go to article

Indeterminate Lines, Hyun Kyung Yoon Jan 2007

Indeterminate Lines, Hyun Kyung Yoon

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis work is about flow. Indeterminate lines symbolize the developing plant form and explore the perception of space by experimenting with the subject's proportion and shape. Movement is also a vital factor of space, a notion found in the early forms of cursive script (grass script) of Far Eastern calligraphy. My individual plant pieces work as dots and lines of cursive script. An installation's ceramic pieces illustrate similar flow and movement when viewed as a whole.

Go to article

Gentleman Johnny Plays War: John Burgoyne And The Blockade Of Boston, Catherine Ann Peckinpaugh Vrtis Jan 2007

Gentleman Johnny Plays War: John Burgoyne And The Blockade Of Boston, Catherine Ann Peckinpaugh Vrtis

Theses and Dissertations

John Burgoyne, a British general during the American Revolution, is best known for his defeat by the Continental Army at Saratoga. In addition to serving as a general,Burgoyne was a playwright. While in Boston during the blockade following the Battle ofBunker Hill Burgoyne combined his interests, writing a satire of the war. The Blockade of Boston, Burgoyne's play, was first presented as an afterpiece to a production of The Busybody on January 8, 1776 (Silverman 292).Accounts of the performance differ in detail, but the central event is consistent: during the performance a soldier walked out on stage and announced that …

Go to article

Portable Space And Interior Design For Dentists, Yu-Ping Liu Jan 2007

Portable Space And Interior Design For Dentists, Yu-Ping Liu

Theses and Dissertations

In the United State today, many people do not have access to adequate dental treatment, while tooth decay is the single most common chronic childhood disease-five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever. At the same time, studies show that 80% of dental illness takes place in 25% of the population, which is comprised mostly of lower socioeconomic groups. A study undertaken by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2000, concludes that poor children suffer five times as much tooth decay as their more affluent peers. Furthermore, in poor children with tooth …

Go to article

Within And Without, Shane Robert Rocheleau Jan 2007

Within And Without, Shane Robert Rocheleau

Theses and Dissertations

Within and Without is a document which illustrates my personal and artistic research into the nature of the postmodern conception of the self: that self is unfixed, multiple, and reactive. It explicates my myriad and explorative approaches to photographic portraiture. Furthermore, it indicates many of my theoretical and artistic references and how I have applied my lessons both as an artist and a researcher to maximize the effect of my concepts within the formal and aesthetic confines of my photographs. Finally, this document explains my own beliefs concerning the nature of self and how a synthesis of my influences has …

Go to article

Times New Roman, Jason Mckrindey Coates Jan 2007

Times New Roman, Jason Mckrindey Coates

Theses and Dissertations

It is difficult to say that anything will be proven in this thesis of mine. I think of it more as an account of some things that happened in my artwork over the course of graduate school and my earlier development as an artist. Some influences are listed, but certainly not all of them. Likewise, the work that is mentioned in this paper represents a sampling rather than an in-depth survey. I don't have any tables or charts.

Go to article

The Legend And Life Of Peter Francisco: Fame, Fortune, And The Deprivation Of America's Original Citizen Soldier, Wesley T. Joyner Jan 2007

The Legend And Life Of Peter Francisco: Fame, Fortune, And The Deprivation Of America's Original Citizen Soldier, Wesley T. Joyner

Theses and Dissertations

Peter Francisco is an oft-forgotten hero of the American Revolution. A dark-skinned, foreign orphan and former servant, he distinguished himself nationally as a soldier of legendary renown. However, Francisco remains largely absent from the popular modern-day memory of the Revolution. This analysis determines how and why this occurred as well as how and why Francisco remains remembered today by a small minority of American supporters. Methodologically, the analysis examines Francisco's life through a cultural studies lens. It challenges previous analyses of Francisco's life based on romance and myth not akin to historical reality. And although this interpretation gives credence to …

Go to article

A Fugitive Sea, Marian Brunn Smith Jan 2007

A Fugitive Sea, Marian Brunn Smith

Theses and Dissertations

I make images that are fragmented like ominous dreams. Described with sensuous marks of paint, they demand intimacy but reveal vulnerability as they threaten to break apart before the eyes. This thesis examines my journey over the past two years at VCU and describes my artistic beliefs and visions.

Go to article

Life Stories Of Nikkeijin Seeking Better Opportunities: The Motivation Of Brazilian Immigrants In Japan, Marisa Utida Bellini Dec 2006

Life Stories Of Nikkeijin Seeking Better Opportunities: The Motivation Of Brazilian Immigrants In Japan, Marisa Utida Bellini

Theses and Dissertations

The immigration of Brazilian-Japanese to Japan has started as recently as the early 1980s as a result of an economic downturn in Brazil and labor shortages in Japan. In a recent study published by the Ministry of Justice in Japan, there are about 250,000 Brazilians currently working throughout Japan. Even though most of the Brazilians are second or third generation of Japanese descent, they are not fluent in Japanese, thus resulting in many cultural problems and misunderstandings. Some research has examined about the immigration of Brazilians (nikkeijin) to Japan, but none has investigated their acquisition of Japanese as a second …

Go to article

A Seal Of Living Reality: The Role Of Personal Expression In Latter-Day Saint Discourse, C. Julianne Smith Dec 2006

A Seal Of Living Reality: The Role Of Personal Expression In Latter-Day Saint Discourse, C. Julianne Smith

Theses and Dissertations

A personal mode of discourse is central to Latter-day Saint culture. This mode is both pervasive throughout the culture and significant within it. Two specific genres-the personal experience narrative and the personal testimony-illustrate the importance of this discourse mode in LDS culture. Understanding the LDS personal mode of discourse is essential to properly understanding Mormonism. The personal orientation in LDS discourse mirrors a tendency towards personal expression which has become common throughout Western culture. This tendency has important roots in the Protestant religious movement. In particular, Puritanism represents a significant point of origin for American personal expression. Such expression has …

Go to article

Pilgrimage Narrative: A Pattern For Heavenly Theatre In King Lear, Alexandra Chantal Yvette Mackenzie Dec 2006

Pilgrimage Narrative: A Pattern For Heavenly Theatre In King Lear, Alexandra Chantal Yvette Mackenzie

Theses and Dissertations

I have always felt personally challenged and invigorated by one line in Peter Brook's canonical text The Empty Stage: “if the need for a true contact with a sacred invisibility through the theatre still exists, then all possible vehicles must be re-examined" (Brook 54). This thesis will endeavour to suggest and explore heavenly theatre, one possible vehicle to find that sacred invisibility. I will argue that heavenly theatre encompasses Peter Brook's understanding of holy theatre, but is more specific and tied to the manifestation of deity in the form of the Holy Spirit as understood and defined within my personal …

Go to article

The Birth Of Sacrifice: Iconographic Metaphors For Spiritual Rebirth In Master Matthias' Isenheim Altarpiece, Katherine Lena Anderson Dec 2006

The Birth Of Sacrifice: Iconographic Metaphors For Spiritual Rebirth In Master Matthias' Isenheim Altarpiece, Katherine Lena Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

While little is known concerning the events surrounding the commission of the Isenheim Altarpiece or of the artist known to us as Master Matthias Grünewald, much can be ascertained about the message of the Altarpiece through careful study of the socio-historical-religious context from which the work was commissioned and iconographic analysis of the images portrayed by Master Matthias. This thesis explores iconographic metaphors for birth and sacrifice, metaphors which work to create a theological dialogue about Christian redemption within the nine painted panels and the underlying sculpture that makes up the Isenheim Altarpiece. First, we will address the panels in …

Go to article

Once Upon A Time In A Single-Parent Family: Father And Daughter Relationships In Disney's The Little Mermaid And Beauty And The Beast, Ashli A. Sharp Dec 2006

Once Upon A Time In A Single-Parent Family: Father And Daughter Relationships In Disney's The Little Mermaid And Beauty And The Beast, Ashli A. Sharp

Theses and Dissertations

Fairy tales are adapted to fit the needs of each generation, reflecting the unique challenges of that society. In the 1980s and 1990s of the United States, issues of what constituted a family circulated as divorce increased and fatherhood was debated. At this time, Disney released two animated films featuring a father and daughter: The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Both films are adaptations of fairy tales, and they incorporate changes that specifically reflect concerns of the United States in the late-twentieth century. In the original narrative of "The Little Mermaid" the heroine is primarily raised by her …

Go to article

Man Down South, Joseph B. Plicka Nov 2006

Man Down South, Joseph B. Plicka

Theses and Dissertations

In this novella the main character, David Crumm, is getting older and decides not to wait around and die on his frozen ranch, but to retire to warmer climates. He leaves everything with his daughter, gets in his truck and drives south with his dog. In Florida, he accidentally hits and kills a migrant woman on her bicycle. The woman has a young son who survives the accident and, through a number of converging factors, David is compelled to personally take the boy back to his relatives in Nicaragua. The book then deals with David's experiences as he heads farther …

Go to article

Willa Cather: Male Roles And Self-Definition In My Antonia, The Professor's House, And "Neighbor Rosicky", Kristina Anne Everton Nov 2006

Willa Cather: Male Roles And Self-Definition In My Antonia, The Professor's House, And "Neighbor Rosicky", Kristina Anne Everton

Theses and Dissertations

Gender roles are a tool used by society to set acceptable boundaries and ideals upon the sexes, and during the early part of the twentieth century in America those gender boundaries began to blur. As a result of the 19th Amendment, men must have felt their decreasing importance because women were no longer solely dependent upon them, and gender roles shifted as woman began to occupy territory that was traditionally held by men. The “New Woman" entered the workforce, and refused to accept traditional female gender conventions. In response to the “New Woman," Theodore Roosevelt and other leading males sought …

Go to article

Resurrecting Lope's Autos, Errol Leroy King Nov 2006

Resurrecting Lope's Autos, Errol Leroy King

Theses and Dissertations

By the turn of the seventeenth century, the auto sacramental quickly became the most elaborate dramatic genre in Spain. Shortly after the Council of Trent, professional playwrights replaced clerics who had previously written autos for the Corpus Christi celebrations held each year, but none were more influential than Lope de Vega in refining thematic, literary, and staging elements and techniques. At the middle of the nineteenth century, critics began to study the genre that a royal decree had banned almost a century earlier; however, few have dedicated much time to Lope's autos. As a result, most critics have misunderstood …

Go to article

Multilingual Phoneme Models For Rapid Speech Processing System Development, Eric G. Hansen Sep 2006

Multilingual Phoneme Models For Rapid Speech Processing System Development, Eric G. Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

Current speech recognition systems tend to be developed only for commercially viable languages. The resources needed for a typical speech recognition system include hundreds of hours of transcribed speech for acoustic models and 10 to 100 million words of text for language models; both of these requirements can be costly in time and money. The goal of this research is to facilitate rapid development of speech systems to new languages by using multilingual phoneme models to alleviate requirements for large amounts of transcribed speech. The Global Phone database, winch contains transcribed speech from 15 languages, is used as source data …

Go to article

Versions Of America: Reading American Literature For Identity And Difference, Raj G. Chetty Aug 2006

Versions Of America: Reading American Literature For Identity And Difference, Raj G. Chetty

Theses and Dissertations

My paper examines how American authors of the South Asian Diaspora (Indian-American or South Asian American) can be read 1) as simply American and 2) without regard to ethnicity. I develop this argument using American authors Jhumpa Lahiri, a first generation American of Bengali-Indian descent, and Bharati Mukherjee, an American of Bengali-Indian origin. I borrow from Deepika Bahri's materialist aesthetics in postcolonialism (in turn borrowed from members of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory) and include theoretical insights from Rey Chow, Graham Huggan, and R. Radhakrishnan regarding multiculturalism, identity politics, and diaspora studies. Huggan and Radhakrishnan's insights are especially useful …

Go to article

Interrogating History Or Making History? Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Delillo's Libra, And The Shaping Of Collective Memory, Mark Spencer Mills Aug 2006

Interrogating History Or Making History? Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, Delillo's Libra, And The Shaping Of Collective Memory, Mark Spencer Mills

Theses and Dissertations

In the wake of the post-structuralist skepticism of language and language's ability to represent reality, the philosophy of history has likewise been questioned, since we gain our knowledge and understanding of the past primarily through language—through written and spoken testimony, and through subsequent historiography. Various post-structuralist critics have pointed out that history is never entirely recoverable, but accessible only indirectly through what is written and documented about it. What is written and documented is in turn determined by the contents and the nature of the archive. What we know about history is largely mediated and limited by the problems inherent …

Go to article

James Thurber's Little Man And The Battle Of The Sexes: The Humor Of Gender And Conflict, Andrew S. Jorgensen Aug 2006

James Thurber's Little Man And The Battle Of The Sexes: The Humor Of Gender And Conflict, Andrew S. Jorgensen

Theses and Dissertations

James Thurber, along with others who wrote for The New Yorker magazine, developed the 'little man' comic figure. The little man as a central character was a shift from earlier nineteenth-century traditions in humor. This twentieth-century protagonist was a comic antihero whose function was to create sympathy rather than scorn and bring into question the values and behaviors of society rather than affirm them, as earlier comic figures did. The little man was urban, inept, frustrated, childlike, suspicious, and stubborn. His female counterpart was often a foil: confident and controlling enough to highlight his most pitiable and funniest features. Contradictory …

Go to article

The American Way: What Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, And The X-Men Reveal About America, Joseph J. Darowski Jul 2006

The American Way: What Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, And The X-Men Reveal About America, Joseph J. Darowski

Theses and Dissertations

Comic book superheroes have become adopted into American popular culture, and yet few have considered why these characters resonate with Americans. The first comic book superhero premiered in 1938 when Superman appeared on the cover of the first issue of Action Comics. For almost seventy years his adventures and the adventures of other costumed heroes have been continually published. Batman soon joined Superman as a popular costumed crime-fighter, and the early 1960s saw another generation of superheroes created that would be embraced in American culture. Among this new group of heroes were Spider-Man and the X-Men, who have proved as …

Go to article

Speaking Out Of The Dust: Religious Reenactments With The Specific Iconic Identity Of Place, Heidi Diane Lewis Jul 2006

Speaking Out Of The Dust: Religious Reenactments With The Specific Iconic Identity Of Place, Heidi Diane Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

Sometimes, the place where a play is performed is as important as or more important than the play itself. The first known theatrical rituals were performed in spaces which came to hold deep religious significance. Many religious traditions regard certain places as sacred because of spiritually significant events which took place there, sometimes involving the presence of Deity. In an effort to build on that sacrality, sometimes religious cultures bring theatre to these spaces, which, in turn, tend to alter the nature of the theatrical event. This seems especially true in regards to theatre which presents a re-enactment of the …

Go to article

An Interpretation Of Modern: Costume Designs For An Adaptation Of Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Priscilla Ruth Hao Jul 2006

An Interpretation Of Modern: Costume Designs For An Adaptation Of Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Priscilla Ruth Hao

Theses and Dissertations

Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona, is accredited as being one of his early comedies. It is not as widely popular as Taming of the Shrew or A Midsummer's Night, and is also known "as the comedy with a problem ending", this being the immediate forgiveness of Silvia to Valentine and Julia to Proteus. My initial reaction to this ending was of disgust and wonderment of how a 21st century audience would react to this. The director, Alex Mackenzie, a fellow graduate MA student, approached the script with very strong initial concepts but at the same time her approach was …

Go to article

Personal Scripture Study Of Prospective Missionaries, Eric Lyon Wing Jul 2006

Personal Scripture Study Of Prospective Missionaries, Eric Lyon Wing

Theses and Dissertations

The call of Church leaders to "raise the bar" placed direct attention on the preparation of future missionaries. Also, the new Preach My Gospel missionary guide emphasized effective personal scripture study in order for missionaries to fulfill their purposes of teaching by the Spirit and inviting others to come unto Christ. Thus, "raising the bar" and Preach My Gospel together created an important focus on the personal scripture study of prospective missionaries. However, available social research offered little indication of the state of scripture study among future missionaries. Consequently, this study maintained an exploratory design and utilized qualitative research methods …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last