Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Modern Mother: Abby Aldrich Rockefeller And The Visionary Women Who Founded The Museum Of Modern Art, Sophie Dowling

MA Theses

This thesis analyzes the role that women played in founding The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1929 during an era in which the prevailing attitude toward modern art in America was one of bewilderment and derision. MoMA was founded by three women: Lillie Plummer Bliss, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and Mary Quinn Sullivan. At a time when their male counterparts were more focused on collecting Renaissance and Old Master paintings, French decorative arts, Chinese porcelain and medieval tapestries, these women chose to collect modern art. Avant-garde art, which was shown en masse to the American public in 1913 at the …

Nft And The Future Of Art, Ying Kang

MA Theses

This thesis focuses on exploring the history of NFT, the effects of NFT on art and the future of art. There are many factors affecting NFT, including human subjective factors, such as the pursuit of economic interests and the psychology of blindly following the trend, as well as objective factors, such as macroeconomic policy changes, technological developments, COVID-19 pandemic, cultural advocacy for diversity and democratization, Russia-Ukraine conflict, collapse of major cryptocurrency entities, financial regulation, and endogenous flaws. These economic, political, technological, social, cultural and other factors are complicated and mutually influential, leading to NFT ups and downs in the past. …

Art Collecting In India Through The Ages, Muskaan Mehta

MA Theses

This study examines the evolution of art collecting in India, from royal patronage to modern practices shaped by socio-political and economic changes. It highlights the ancient tradition of art– serving spiritual, cultural, and political purposes, evolving through colonial influences that introduced Western aesthetics and private collecting. Post-independence, collecting in India became a means of reclaiming cultural identity, marked by movements like that of the Progressive Artists' Group. Three collections illustrate the diversity of contemporary Indian collecting- the personal collection of Kiran Nadar and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art focusing on public engagement and modern Indian art; Vinay Sheth’s private, …

How Social Media Is Reshaping The Art Market: Catalyzing The Rise Of The Art Agency Model In The United States, Leo Braudy

MA Theses

The art world is undergoing a fundamental transformation, marked by a shift from the traditional gallery-centric model to a talent agency model akin to those in the entertainment and music industries. This evolution is driven by the increasing influence of social media platforms, which empower artists to directly engage with audiences, bypassing the traditional gatekeepers of galleries and auction houses. Drawing on insights from industry reports, social media analytics, and case studies, this thesis explores how social media has catalyzed this shift and examines its implications for artists, collectors, and the broader art market. It argues that the rise of …

The Impact Of Social Media Influencers On Contemporary Art Trends - A Comprehensive Analysis, Babette Meng

MA Theses

Social media have revolutionized the contemporary art market, how artists promote their work, how collectors initially find pieces, and how art is valued and sold. This study investigates the effects of social media on the art industry using a mixed methods approach consisting of qualitative case studies enabled by thematic analysis and quantitative survey with statistical correlation analysis. Key findings from this paper show that with social media, the artist's visibility is vastly increased, direct-to-collector sales are promoted, and dependence on traditional galleries is reduced. The study considers the position of art influencers in the process of art promotion, which …

Barriers To Spiritual Growth, Brian A. Brunke

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examined the barriers to spiritual growth among believers, analyzing biblical and theological sources alongside perspectives from additional literature. The study identified significant obstacles to spiritual development, including persecution, cultural and religious differences, conflict, lack of understanding, and worldly influences, as illustrated in the Book of Acts. Furthermore, modern challenges, such as the implications of neuroscience for spiritual formation, lifestyle choices, and cultural shifts, also contribute to these barriers. A quantitative approach was employed, utilizing an online survey to assess spiritual growth across six dimensions: commitment to God, evangelism, engagement in spiritual disciplines, pursuit of intentional relationships, stewardship, and …

The Bridge-Builder Project: Social Justice Bridge-Builder- A Model For Addressing Racial Justice, Marguerite Williams

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Bridge-Builder Project demonstrates that social justice is based on God’s Character, God’s Covenant, and God’s Call. God consistently addressed inequities affecting the oppressed, the orphaned, the imprisoned, and the widowed. Social justice has been associated with political parties; however, it is clearly reflected in God’s view of humanity. For the Christian, our frame of reference begins with God. Scripture offers a clear framework. That framework begins with understanding humanity through the lens of the One who made us – God. God created each diverse human being in His Image—Imago Dei. Based on this premise, God values humanity and that …

The Proprietor Of Battersea: The Life And Legacy Of American Founder John Banister (1734–1788), Davis C. Simmons

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the multifaceted life of Colonel John Banister (1734–1788) during the eighteenth century. Using a biographical methodology, the study highlights his significance as an American founder from Virginia. It provides a chronological account of his accomplishments and a detailed analysis of his complex character as a politician, slave owner, and public figure of cultural importance. The research draws on primary sources such as letters and official records, as well as secondary sources including biographies and historiographies that have received limited attention. The thesis argues that Banister’s role as a Revolutionary leader and American founder is underrepresented in current …

Tradition Reimagined, Andrea Ortiz

MA Projects

Tradition Reimagined explores the dynamic intersection of traditional Mexican craftsmanship and contemporary art, celebrating the rich cultural heritage of Mexico while embracing innovative artistic practices. This exhibition brings together an extraordinary collaboration between Mexican artisans, whose ancestral techniques have been passed down through generations, and contemporary artists who reinterpret these traditions through a modern lens. Hosted at Galería Kurimanzutto’s Chelsea space in New York, the exhibition highlights the importance of preserving artisanal practices in an era where immediacy and mass production threaten their sustainability. Artisans from regions such as Oaxaca, Jalisco, Chiapas, and Puebla bring their expertise in weaving, ceramics, …

Things Of Beauty: Madame De Pompadour, Patroness Of 18th Century French Arts, Mitaali Vohra

MA Projects

Things of Beauty: Madame de Pompadour, Patroness of 18th Century French Arts takes the shape of an exhibition that will be held at The National Gallery London, starting Thursday, December 12 2024 as a commemoration of a sophisticated, international icon of style, luxury and the arts - Marquise de Pompadour. The exhibition opens the following week of one of the most important decorative arts auctions of the year - Treasures London at Sotheby’s, which will be held on December 4, 2024 and present for sale, works of historical and bold scale, design and beauty, including a chance find of four …

Artcatalyze Investments: Empowering Art Investment Innovation, Wan Yu Hung

MA Projects

The Art Investment Fund represents an ambitious fusion of art expertise with state-of-the-art Web3 and cryptocurrency technology, poised to revolutionize the landscape of art investment. At its core, the Fund is dedicated to establishing a secure and transparent art investment trading platform that caters to the needs of artists and collectors alike. Anchored by a team of seasoned art advisors, the Fund offers personalized guidance tailored to each client's unique financial goals, ensuring that investment decisions are informed and strategic. Additionally, a cadre of skilled art restorers plays a crucial role in preserving the integrity and enhancing the long-term appreciation …

Catalysta Proyecto: A Hybrid Approach To Showcasing Latin American Art In The Dominican Republic, Valerie Cabrera Brugal

MA Projects

Catalysta is a contemporary online art gallery that exclusively features Latin American artists, creating a dedicated platform for these voices to be seen and celebrated on the global stage. Our mission is to simplify the often-overwhelming experience of entering the art world, especially for young collectors who are new to the process. Our product offers a streamlined and accessible way to discover and purchase high-quality artwork without the traditional barriers. By providing information on the artist’s background, a description of the artwork and full disclosure of the price we offer a simple way of accessing and acquiring an art piece. …

Journey To Enlightenment: The Spiritual Essence Of Himalayan Art, Danji Jiang

MA Projects

"Journey to Enlightenment: The Spiritual Essence of Himalayan Art" is a groundbreaking and relocatable exhibition, with its inaugural presentation envisioned at Hong Kong's M+ Museum. This immersive exhibition redefines how audiences engage with Himalayan art, shifting the focus from its historical and decorative interpretations to its intangible essence—the spiritual energy, emotional resonance, and universal truths that inspired its creation. By integrating advanced technologies such as VR, AI, and lighting design, the exhibition reconstructs the original context in which these artifacts were created, offering a transformative experience that bridges the gap between ancient spiritual practices and contemporary engagement. The concept of …

Hom: House Of Mexico In New York, Victoria Espinosa

MA Projects

New York City remains the epicenter of the global art world, attracting curators, collectors, museum directors, and other key players who are constantly seeking new ideas and emerging talent. For Mexican artists, having a presence in this dynamic environment is essential for gaining the visibility and recognition they deserve on the international stage. To address this need, I am committed to establishing a dedicated space in New York—not as a commercial gallery or museum, but as a non-profit platform showcasing the depth and diversity of Mexican arts & culture. The goal is to create a bridge between Mexican creativity and …

Paris: One Hundred Years Later, Olympia Rizzo Buaron

MA Projects

From April through October of 1925, the heart of Paris hosted the (the 1925 Paris Exposition), a monumental event that transformed the city into a showcase of artistic and industrial innovation.1 The year 2025 marks the one hundredth anniversary of this historic exposition. The French government initiated and funded the project during the interwar period, a time characterized by dynamic cultural shifts, a spirit of liberation, and a widespread embrace of modernity. Commonly referred to as the Roaring Twenties, this era was defined by a blend of hedonism, artistic innovation, and social upheaval, deeply shaped by the aftermath of World …

The Art Of Masking And Performing For The Perfect Marriage In William Shakespeare’S The Taming Of The Shrew, Rita Oliva

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores how William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew exaggerates the art of masking and performing as necessary social techniques for women surviving the patriarchal culture of Padua. Through close analysis of Katherine and Bianca Minola, both sisters adopt performative identities, the “shrew” and the “ideal woman,” that reflect, resist, and expose the restrictive gender norms governing female behavior, qualifications for marriage, and worth. While Bianca’s apparent passivity and rhetorical femininity promote her to manipulate societal expectations to her advantage, Katherine’s refusal to submit to the societal and cultural standards of Padua results in her categorization of a …

Cather, Silko, Hunt: Rethinking Prosperity Twentieth-Century Explorations Of Interiority, Materiality, And Transcendence, Aileen Montoya

Dissertations and Theses

• Interiority
• Materiality
• Transcendence
• Prosperity
• Modernism
• Subjectivity
• Narrative Identity
• Spiritual Landscapes

The Representation Of Feminine Beauty In Generative Artificial Intelligence Models, Haley R. Stacy

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology advances, its influence on media and societal perceptions becomes increasingly significant. This dissertation explores how popular generative visual AI models represent women and the implications for racial and body type inclusivity. This study examines women’s perceptions of AI-generated representations. Two primary research questions are being explored: (1) How do AI-generated algorithms represent women in visual outputs when prompted with broad beauty-related keywords? (2) How do women perceive their representation in these AI-generated visual outputs? Through a detailed analysis of AI-generated imagery, the research uncovers implicit and explicit biases within these systems. The research also gathered …

A Guide For Spiritual Leadership And Christian Discipleship- Be Optimistic, Embrace Your Culture, Nurture Your Gift: Integrating The Beatitudes, The Fruit Of The Spirit, And Emotional Intelligence For Multigenerational Leadership, Adriane Smalls-Owens

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL) Capstone Abstracts

Title of Project: A Guide for Spiritual Leadership and Christian Discipleship

Be Optimistic, Embrace Your Culture, Nurture Your Gift:

Integrating the Beatitudes, the Fruit of the Spirit, and Emotional

Intelligence for Multigenerational Leadership

Defense Date: April 8, 2025

Candidate Name: Adriane Smalls-Owens

Personal Email Address: [email protected]

First Advisor: Dr. Emile Hawkins

Second Advisor: Dr. Bethany Peters

DSL Final Project

Project Type: Manuscript

Project Overview: The book introduces the integrated concepts of Be Optimistic,

Embrace Your Culture, Nurture Your Gift as The B.E.N. Model

for Spiritual Leadership and Christian Discipleship by

integrating the Beatitudes, the Fruit of the Spirit, and Emotional …

All That May Become A Man: Dynamics Of Gender And Violence In Macbeth, Lauren M. Schuster

West Chester University Master’s Theses

The text of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is rife with the language of gender crisis, with the titular character and his wife struggling against the repressive nature of patriarchal gender norms. It is this conflict between individual gender expression and societal ideals of gender that underscores the play’s central conflict, with Lady Macbeth’s rejection of typical femininity as an inciting force for the murder of King Duncan and the chaos that follows. In my reading of Macbeth, I focus on the rhetoric of material sex and gender performativity. In doing so, I examine what such rhetoric suggests about the patriarchal structures …

Finding Meaning In Modern Crisis: Hypermodernity And The Vita Activa, Jacob B. Tease

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Hannah Arendt’s 1958 book The Human Condition describes modernity through the lens of the vita activa. While useful in understanding human experience with modernity, the way the world has advanced makes the vita activa insufficient for describing our present world. I argue that the world is now in a state of hypermodernity, and use the vita activa to describe how powerlessness develops in the face of large-scale hypermodern crisis. The concern of hypermodernity is that humans experience an inability to perform true action, and this results in powerlessness. Hypermodern powerlessness translates into an inability to meaningfully affect …

Limitations Of Secular Values In Constitutions Of The Kingdom Of Thailand: A Critical Study Of The Concepts Of Rights And Liberty, Chayanin Nuisin

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This dissertation aims to examine the limitations of secular values within the context of all twenty constitutions of the Kingdom of Thailand. The analysis focuses in particular on rights and liberties as core secular values. The study considers their origins, development, and the obstacles that have hindered the realization of rights and liberties in Thai society. The findings suggest that secular values—especially modern concepts of rights and liberties—emerged during the Reformation period under King Rama V, when Siam sought to adjust itself to the conditions of modernity. This was a period marked by strong Western influence, which brought with it …

L1 Chinese Learners’ Interlanguage Of English Infinitive And Gerund Verbal Complements, Sixin Qin

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research, following the Interlanguage Hypothesis (Selinker, 1972), examined L1 Chinese learners’ interlanguage of English infinitive and gerund constructions and probed into the psycholinguistic factors influencing the development of their interlanguage. The targeted verbs were verbs that can be followed by both infinitive and gerund complements, depending on the contexts, i.e., forget, remember, stop, and regret. A guided story oral production (GSOP) task and a semi-structured interview were conducted individually with 31 L1 Chinese learners, whose English proficiency was at an intermediate level. The results showcased that L1 Chinese learners’ interlanguage of English infinitives and gerunds was motivated by multiple …

Grieving In Doorways: A Critical Autoethnographic Exploration Of Embodied Knowledge Amid Shifting Reality And Radical Possibility, Holly Rae

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This thesis is a critical autoethnographic exploration of embodied knowledge amid shifting reality and radical possibility. Beginning and ending with my own body, I explore how grief, as an embodied companion, offers wisdom and power in moments of profound change. Rooted in a methodology of slowness, rest, walking, and active listening, this work resists the extractive pace of modernity and instead invites building a relationship with grief and discomfort. This research is an experiment in co-creating knowledge with bodies and their intersectionality within systems that would keep us separate from knowing our embodied knowledge. As a location of research for …

Place-Based Learning Practices: A Diptych Case Study Of Human And More-Than-Human Relationality At The Tribal And Western Academic Institutional Interface, Karley M. Rojas-Vienneau

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The ‘Place-Based Learning Practices Project’ is a graduate project under the Native American Studies Department Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute (FSL). Making contributions at the intersection of Western academia and Indigenous science, it imagines and realizes content, policies, and protocols surrounding two case studies and the larger cal poly humboldt (cph) institution which respect, honor, and uplift Indigenous sovereignty and resurgence in partnership with the Blue Lake Rancheria Tribe and the greater regional tribal community. Encompassing two projects internal and external to the institution, I aim to address the construction of controlled and protective environments …

True Crime Podcasts As A Scene Of Feminist Reckoning: A Comparative Analysis Of My Favorite Murder And Sistas Who Kill, Rachel C.C. Matteri

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research examines the cultural impact and ethical implications of true crime podcasts (TCPs). In recent years, TCPs have become a powerful cultural force, with White women often emerging as the primary storytellers and most visible participants in the genre. Their dominance in this space is not neutral and it carries representational weight. It explores the potential for feminist activity made possible by the auditory, self-publishing genre of podcasting. This work focuses on the buddy-comedy subgenre of TCPs. The concerns of this text are that TCPs are dominated by White feminist values and are not an intersectional feminist project. Textual …

The Experience Of Child Language Brokering In Latin/Hispanic Students: Understanding How Clb Shapes Attitudes Towards Higher Education, Noemi Maldonado

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Immigrants often pursuing a better life than that in their own places of birth migrate to the states. In order to make lives in the states they bring their families with them or begin to create their own already inside the host country. With little knowledge of the place, they arrive and with nothing more than the help of their children, they seek to find a place in the society they became a part of. Immigrant children or those who come from migrant families often must help their parents, caretakers, or extended family manage the English language and American culture …

Hope Transforms: An Analysis Of The Novel Indiana, Jemimah "Miah" Dawn Lodes

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

George Sand’s Indiana (1832), often misread as a romance, critiques France’s failure to uphold Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité—freedom, equality, and unity—by excluding people of color, women, and peasants during its shift from the Ancien Régime’s monarchy to the democratic Nouveau Régime, now in its Fifth Republic. This study surveys the French literary canon through textual analysis, engaging writers like La Fontaine, Molière, Marivaux, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Danton, Duras, and Dracius. While analyzing these authors, this study also investigates Sir Ralph Brown’s transformational monologue as well as the relationship between Hamlet’s Ophelia and the Amistad voyage, where hundreds of souls were …

“We Weren't Just Reading About Adventures; We Were Living Them”: Immersion, Transgressive Play, And Dungeons & Dragons, Nicolas Poulter

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Dungeons & Dragons is a game that has existed since 1974 with a singular focus: to tell epic stories with your friends. Currently on its 5th edition of the game, the ability to tell stories has been highlighted like never before. With an emphasis on storytelling and collaboration, there are bound to be moments that are difficult. These are called transgressive play experiences. This project will endeavor to explain how D&D, by design, is the perfect game to engage in transgressive play experiences. Because of this, I believe future projects studying benevolent transgressive play should consider D&D as the medium …

Breaking Barriers: The First-Generation Experience In Pursuit Of The American Dream, Milagros Ortega

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This project examines the common misconceptions surrounding First-Generation Latino college students and challenges the dominant narrative that portrays them as unprepared, unsupported, and unmotivated. Through narrative and content analysis of the short films, Ni de Aquí, Ni de Allá and Turns in the Road, this project explores the overlapping challenges that complicate their educational journeys. These challenges, financial instability, lack of guidance, and sociocultural dissonance, represent three core barriers commonly faced by first-generation Latino college students. Guided by theoretical frameworks such as the Immigrant Optimism Hypothesis, W.E.B Du Bois’ theory of double consciousness, Gloria Anzaldúa’s concept of Nepantla, and Yosso’s …