Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Delicate Balance, Lily Taylor

Masters Theses

There's a silver key from Lowe’s for the front door and a smaller unmarked gold key for the back door. There are two identical RISD keys–studio and storage closet. There’s the key to my mom’s apartment and another to the gallery where I used to work on Saturdays. There’s the key to the bike lock that I’ve kept on the ring even though my bike was stolen. I tried splitting up all the keys and creating two different sets–daily keys and occasional keys–but I never had the occasional keys when I needed them.

I have been making paintings of the …

Silence Created Distance, Jason Lange

Writing Theses

No abstract provided.

To Excavate An Absence, Margaret Compton

Graduate Theses

This thesis is an exploration of memory’s fluctuating aspects, utilizing natural materials and casting processes to create a sculptural body of work deeply rooted in materialized metaphor. Examining the relationship between mold and cast, part and whole, and interior and exterior, I utilize casting as a framework to understand the duality of remembering and forgetting. Memories, much like the natural landscape, are ephemeral, fading, and fracturing over time. Both external environments and internal mental landscapes share the common language of erosion, existing as present or absent, remembered or forgotten. Conestee Nature Preserve in Mauldin, South Carolina, serves as my “site” …

¡Mujeres Chéveres! – Cool Women!, Hernan A. Gonzales Mejia

LSU Master's Theses

¡MUJERES CHÉVERES! – Cool Women! is a body of work and writing that looks into the history of feminism and analyzes the activism of Colombian women, highlighting their resilience and spirit. Policarpa Salavarrieta, Maria Cano, Madre Laura Montoya, and Adriana Ocampo are a few examples of Colombian women’s contributions to social movements and gender equality. Movements like “Estamos Listas” in Medellín are discussed for their role in advocating for women’s rights and societal change.

As a self-identified feminist male, this body of work, draws from my upbringing among influential women to investigate the societal roles of Colombian women. This …

Hame, Russell Clarke

Dance (MFA) Theses

Researcher Russell Clarke contemplates the need for human belonging, looking into ways that human belonging shows up in the contemporary world. Clarke explores the interconnection between his identity and memories from his childhood along with exploring his life’s journey of searching for belonging. He focuses his research on main themes throughout his life that have influenced his need to belong: family, migration, dance, and his connection to the outdoors. Growing up in Scotland and later migrating to America, Clarke found his relationship with his family and dance as constant threads entangling and influencing his life—the call of his homeland is …

Catch, Eric London

Screenwriting and Film Studies Theses (MA/MFA)

What does it take to make the MLB? In the feature screenplay, Catch, by Eric London, brothers Austin and Garrett chase their dream of being drafted to the big leagues. Their coach, and father, leads them through the process of being scouted. He would define his coaching style as, “tough love,” or, “what it takes to go pro,” while others may call it abuse. Austin and Garrett must tackle their toxic relationship with each other and their father during their journey to the MLB draft.

Encouraging Intergenerational Faith Transmission And Spiritual Growth In Home And Church: Reconnecting Youth And Older Generations Through Family Systems Concepts At The Adelaide Seventh-Day Adventist Church, The Bahamas, Larry L. Green

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

This Doctor of Ministry (DMin) project addresses a pressing issue within the church context of the Adelaide Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Bahamas. We first observed sporadic attendance of our youth (Gen Z and Millennials) and their lack of identity with the church. Wider observation revealed weak relationships among the various generations within our church as well as in our homes. This absence of relatedness across generations potentially hinders some from embracing the community’s faith and growing spiritually.

Method

This study aimed to understand and address the nuanced factors contributing to this generational disconnection through the intervention of an …

How To Forget, Jesse D. Hoyle

Theses and Dissertations

How To Forget was born from a need to give tangible form to the psychic residue left behind by a life lived. Through the use of silk-screening of red clay mud onto ink-jet photographs, archival textiles, and site-specific installations, I attempt to tie and/or divorce myself from my own and my family's extended history and examine the function of memory within the dynamics of the archive. How To Forget takes a non-linear, non-chronological approach to this examination, compressing decades of time and space through the manipulation of the archive and my own self-portraiture, designed specifically to deny myself from its …

A Strategy For Developing A Mentoring Ministry At Mount Olive Baptist Church In Kings Mountain, North Carolina, Charles Leon Webber

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Mentoring within the community of faith is a disciple-making process. Yet, research reveals bringing people together for shared learning experiences is a rarity. A four-week mentor training project at Mount Olive Baptist Church was developed to address the perceived need. Senior adult leaders received mentorship and training to engage with young adults. Although the statistical analysis was inconclusive, the project training sessions and qualitative feedback revealed positively a quest for other efforts in this direction.

Objects And Apparitions: A Portable Museum, Yesuk Seo

Masters Theses

My work transcends the boundaries between painterly printmaking and sculpture. Through hand-pulled silkscreen prints, I create abstract pixelated images depicting our constantly changing relationship with meaning and reality. Memories are often glamorized and distorted whether it is our childhood home, our neighborhood, or the city. My practice archives my family history and traces patterns in memory and space by using invisibility as a phenomena to render newer explorations of abstraction, in time and in urban landscapes. Objects & Apparitions: A Portable Museum, pairs moiré patterns of ghostly printmaking with wooden objects in specific arrangements. It captures my nomadic journey between …

From Far Gone, Back, Courtney Renae Causey

Graduate Thesis Collection

From Far Gone, Back is a short story collection that explores multigenerational families living in and around the changing landscape of Atlanta, GA. It asks what comes of the decisions we are forced to make for those around us and ourselves while surviving the best way we know how.

Inevitable, Emilee Grummel

Student Projects

They say time heals all wounds, but in reality, time only Band-Aid's those wounds to make them more tolerable. Frank Richard Schadeck was the man who taught me how to go through life. From being my preschool teacher to teaching me how to defend and speak up for myself, he made me into the person I am today. He was not only my grandfather, but became my best friend, teacher, and mentor. Since his passing, change has become more prevalent and harder to accept.

When my grandfather was living with us, he built a miniature train set in the basement. …

Witness, Revival, Testimony, Laura Ann Schroeder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The artist, Laura Ann Schroeder, discusses her Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition, Witness, Revival, Testimony, which was installed at Tipton Gallery in Johnson City, TN from March 2, 2023 through March 31, 2023, with a public reception held on March 24, 2023. The exhibition consisted of a collection of sculptural works and installations that evoke scenes and memories from the artist’s childhood. This body of work deconstructs the traditional family dynamic and the private domestic space through recreations of everyday life. The artworks are primarily made with repurposed consumer textiles and techniques like stitching and quilting that have historically …

Naturally: Memory In Verse, Heather L. Drouse

English Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis is a collection of free verse poetry that I have written that share a common theme of nature and family. This is a creative work that explores my personal memories and the feelings associated with them with the intention to spread joy and cause readers to reflect upon similar experiences they might have had as children. It consists of four major sections -- mother, father, love, and bridges -- and 18 poems, with "love" having 7 minor sections.

The Disintegration Of Marriage In Ryusuke Hamaguchi’S Happy Hour (2015), Afra Nariman

Film and Media Studies (MA) Theses

By using Happy Hour as a case study, this thesis argues Ryusuke Hamaguchi's approach to the Japanese home drama genre presents a changing perspective on the institution of marriage in contemporary Japanese society, reflecting shifts in gender roles and the growing trend of singlehood amongst Japanese youth. This perspective contrasts with the values portrayed in Ozu's films, which emphasize the vitality of marriage and the necessity of forming a family for happiness. The thesis analyzes the thematic and narrative elements of Happy Hour, focusing on the portrayal of marriage as a source of alienation and loneliness. It also discusses the …

Impressions And Arrows: Forming Faithful Preteen Hearts, Wes Gallagher

Doctor of Ministry

This project seeks to address the following NPO: Christian parents in today’s culture need resources and training to face the challenge and have conversations with their pre-teen children about matters of God and faith. Today's Christian parents often struggle to share their faith and values with their children. Parents feel that their own relationship with God is too shallow, that their calendar is too full, and that their relationship with their children is inadequate. Several reassurances surfaced from this research. First, parents and extended families really do have an impact on the faith of their children. Of course, involvement in …

Guidebook On Making A House A Home, Alana Stallings

Scripps Senior Theses

This is a collection of poems by Alana Stallings that translates emotional trauma into fictional landscape and character. Both of these operate within the energetic structure of a home, at once pushing against and obeying this enforced confinement. Within that tension, Stallings explores questions of family, selfhood, belonging, displacement, and cycles.

Unable To Locate A Fire, Lily Isabel Taggart

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Conversations In The Dark, Rasheeda Janay Graham

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

Heritole, Rayelle Damarus Cato

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College.

This project is the first few chapters of my novel in progress titled “Heritole”. The story is in the perspective of Nia Sinclair telling the story of when she attended her first year of Datiam Academy, one of the most prestigious schools for (Obsidite) witches. With the help of her new friends, Devyn and Medora, they help her navigate her first year and prepare for The Game, a competition where witches face off to see who is the best witch amongst them. Nia must make the decision …

Craters Of The Moon, Mckinlay V. Daggatt

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Craters of the Moon

When I feel like my brain has run out of storage I stand under an open sky and I imagine the room between myself and the moon. Between us is 1.26 billion miles of empty space, and I put my thoughts there so they have somewhere to go. I let the places I’ve seen, the media I’ve consumed, and the people I’ve interacted with settle into the craters of the moon. This work shows you the world I’ve built there.

I’m inspired by the landscapes around me. The difference between the natural world and the man-made …

Of Monsters And Men: Deconstructing Patriarchal Relationships While Redefining "Family" In Seville, Annika Johnson

Scripps Senior Theses

After growing up with an abusive, alcoholic, narcissist for a father, I did not realize how abnormal my perception of family was until I studied abroad in Spain at age 19. The healthy family dynamics of my hosts–a Sevillan family of five who mirrored the structure of my childhood family unit of Mom, Dad, my sister, brother, and me–challenged my notion of home as a place of survival and of paternal figures as monsters. This experience led me to the questions: Do patriarchal societies inherently create monsters that we have to face or are the monsters the exception? How do …

Fraz, Caitlyn Frazer

Master's Theses

Phrase /fraz/ noun:

A small group of words standing together as a conceptual unit, typically forming a component of a clause.

Frazer:

My last name. A word that encapsulates my family's stories, creativity, and legacy.

Fraz:

The title of my thesis show, it combines both the former words into one. Fraz is the idea of pulling family history and distilling it into visual storytelling through graphic design and creating the conceptual unit that is me. I am a unit that is multifaceted and strive to have work that is dimensional and encompass aspects of all different media including photography, sculpture, …

Bloodlines, Tyler Dallis

Master's Theses

Connections are valuable in everyday life. Bloodlines speaks about my personal connections to my biological, adoptive, and found families, along with my heritage and what it means to be a contemporary Indigenous artist. I am not much of a sentimental person when it comes to physical objects, but I collect memories of the people closest to me. Through the process of collecting memories, I am creating a mental Rolodex of experience, people, things, and events from my life. When building my pieces, I braid these memories into the clay as I coil the form to completion. Embedding them into the …

A Theory Of General Relativity, Madeleine Mae Morris

Theses and Dissertations

"A Theory of General Relativity" is a quiet exploration into the poetic and scientific ways we inhabit space and time. This work is a manifestation of the time I spent being my grandmother's caretaker and exists now in the form of an artist book, an exhibition of framed photographs with glass objects, and this written thesis. Throughout those five years, I became consumed by the relationships between Mothers and Daughters, which brought into excruciatingly sharp focus seemingly simple questions like: who are we, what have we done to each other, what do we owe to each other, do I reap …

Mrs. Blackbird And The Visiting Chair, Taylor Barnhart

MSU Graduate Theses

The following thesis is a middle grade novel exploring the events of one summer in the lives of two siblings, Susannah and Sawyer. The siblings are grieving the recent death of their mother and, at the same time, attempting to navigate the emotional withdrawal of their father. During the summer, the siblings get to know their eccentric neighbor, Mrs. Blackbird, who communicates with the spirit of her dead husband through an old armchair which is rumored to have magical powers. The novel deals primarily with the theme of grief and its pervasive nature in people’s lives. The story looks at …

Invisible Ailments: A Collection, Jane L. Godiner

Honors Projects

"Invisible Ailments" is a collection of short stories that trace the depth, breath, and sweeping range of lived experiences of people struggling with mental illness. While it is a work of fiction, the people in these stories might feel eerily familiar — to your friends, your family members, your loved ones, or, if you're brave enough to admit it, yourself.

Family Members' Education And Cognitive Functioning Among Older Adults: Investigating The Mediating Role Of Health Behaviors, Lu Tian

All ETDs from UAB

Despite a well-established relationship between education and cognitive performance in later life, few studies have considered the effects of educational attainment of the family. The education of one's parents can help prevent cognitive decline, as parents (G1) with more education can transfer more health knowledge, teach health literacy, and cultivate healthy lifestyles. This downward spillover between parental education (G1) and older adults’ (G2) cognitive health is well documented. For the downstream effect, attention is often given to maternal education rather than paternal education. Another line of research examined intergenerational transmissions from children (G3) to parents (G2), finding that having well-educated …

My Backyard Garden, Hezekiah Smithstein

Pitzer Senior Theses

This thesis follows my attempts to create a new relationship with the land outside my house, through transforming my weed-choked backyard into a native plant garden. Through styles of memoir, essay, and literary journalism, I examine what it means to take care of the outdoor home, as a human family part of an urban ecosystem. This project explores ideas surrounding people and plants, the effects on a space of actions and interactions both past and present, and brings into conversation different ideas and philosophies from homeowner to ecologist, city park to indigenous author, that shape the way we think and …

The Biome Within: Conception And Change In The Paradise Valley, Austin Kirchhoff

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Biome Within is an essay collection that meditates on change. Born and raised in the Paradise Valley of southwest Montana, Austin recounts stories from her childhood, painting a picture of rural life in the Valley that contrasts with its modern-day incarnation as a luxury get-away and millionaire’s playground. Even as Austin pines for a time and a place that no longer exists, embodying the nostalgia that she identifies in the Valley’s transplants, the reader comes to understand that the author – and her family’s way of making a living – are culpable in creating the changes that she now …