Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Internet World Of Fan Fiction, Melissa Jean Herzing

Theses and Dissertations

Fan fiction, the most popular creative outlet for fans, allows the amateur writer an opportunity to be published and receive immediate feedback from peers. As educators, we can learn from the fan communities as they participate in online activities, especially fan fiction. Students are more likely to embrace entertaining and creative assignments. And since much of the world is linked to the Internet in one way or another, we can allow students an opportunity to not only improve their writing skills, but also enhance their knowledge of the Internet and its capabilities. My study included online interviews with fan fiction …

Experimental Navigation And The Creative Process, Teresa A. Engle

Theses and Dissertations

For this creative project, I am exploring alternate methods of navigating urban environments, and ways in which this activity can inspire creativity. This process is intended to create a new awareness of the urban landscape, break out of the prescribed, and to inspire innovation. The range of possibilities for this way of navigating is vast, and part of the challenge of my experience has been defining boundaries, assigning variables, and using strategies for exploration – making my process inherently morphological. I hope that my work here will encourage others to step out of their comfort zone and experience their environment …

From Typologies To Portraits: Catherine Opie's Photographic Manipulations Of Physiognomic Imagery, Jennifer T. Bridges

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis proposes that California contemporary photographer Catherine Opie's Being and Having series (1991) and her Portrait series (1993-1996) parody the constraining binary gender discourse and stereotypes that emanate from it. In her art Opie uses familiar codes and identity discourses associated with traditional portrait photography and typological photographs to promote a postmodern and fluid model of gender identity. Her manipulation of photographic technique and subject matter validates cultural stereotypes of gender at the same time that it destabilizes them. Opie also simultaneously highlights fallacies such as the presumed objectivity and evidential force that is associated with the discourse of …

Posthumous, Michael K. Lease

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reviews the background, influences, and evolution of three works that form Posthumous, an exhibit by the thesis candidate. The thesis begins with a series of vignettes that relate a number of personal experiences involving death, and photography, which have influenced the conceptual development of the work. Chapters devoted to each piece follow the vignettes. These chapters refer to the various influences that have led to the development of the following works: Obit to Self: April 10, 2005, Posthumous, and Jay. These influences range from the movie Hotel Rwanda, to handbills for punk-rock shows. The thesis ends with a …

The Marinhieros Project: Roseneath Rd & Patterson Ave, Jacqueline H. Crowley

Theses and Dissertations

In questioning the very nature of a thing, at its most basic level, a new assessment can be made of what the thing in question truly is. When we ask ourselves, what is a weed, we begin to pull the word apart - to decrypt the word from the cultural baggage that has collected around it over the course of the history of language.The cultural connotations of 'weed' cling to it like barnacles, removing the word from its true value. We reevaluate meaning, chronicling all the possible constructions of a word, all the possible varieties, where it came from, what …

The Civil War: A Collaboration In Direction And Choreography, Cara E. Rawlings

Theses and Dissertations

This text is a partial record of the development of the Virginia Commonwealth University production of The Civil War: A Musical that opened on April 7, 2005 for a three-week run ending April 28, 2005. The greater part of the text is devoted to the evaluation of the underlying principles of direction and choreography applied in the creation of an artistically aid financially successful production of this size. Included in the evaluation of The Civil War: A Musical are analyses of the directors' --Patti D'Beck and David Leong --individual creative processes, aesthetics, and working styles. The result of this evaluation …

Gustav Stickley's Hapke-Geiger House And Noland And Baskervill's Hunton House: Richmond Architecture Ca. 1915, Victoria Katsuko Carter

Theses and Dissertations

Textbooks teach architecture as conveniently divided into styles and periods, but in reality styles overlap. At the turn-of-the-twentieth century there were three major architectural and decorative movements in the United States: the Aesthetic Movement, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and the American Renaissance Movement. This thesis shows how superficial stylistic labels can be by comparing two very different-seeming houses of the early twentieth century: The Hapke-Geiger House of ca. 1912 in Chesterfield, Virginia, based on a Gustav Stickley Arts and Crafts design, and the Hunton House of 19 14 in Richmond, Virginia, designed in the American Renaissance style by Noland …

A Tinker's Studio, Catherine L. Hudnall

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is meant to describe and explain a space in which one can imagine things necessary for making objects that wobble, squeak, clack, creak, crank in and out, open and close, light up, roll about and generally hurl themselves into creepy existence. It is also an endeavor to describe some objects having lately taken such a journey into being. These include (but are not limited to): a chess table for one, an examining table and tray, two workbenches, chessmen and women, creaky floorboards, stairs on wheels, a stool on wheels, and Monsters of various sizes and shapes.

We Believe In Nothing, Sarah Bednarek

Theses and Dissertations

A discussion of the important aspects informing my work, including, ideology, and feminism among other issues.

Memories We Forget, Michael Dax Iacovone

Theses and Dissertations

I have always preferred the journey to the destination. When I was growing up, my family drove back and forth between Florida and New York every summer. My father did the driving, my mother sat next to him, and my older brother and sister sat in the back seat. This left the cavernous back of the family station wagon for me and the luggage. There was no radio, very little conversation, and I didn't sleep. I spent these summer trips staring for endless hours, out of the back window of the car, transfixed on the expanse of open road behind …

Defending Defense: Circular Arguments About Artmaking, Ryan Mulligan

Theses and Dissertations

This paper is a critical look at video and performance arts intrinsic relationship to culture. Investigations of storytelling, personal mythology, fear, and image saturation. Think-pieces on the nature of art in an entertainment society. Juggling a brief overview of various works and their relation to over arching themes of game theory, dark humor, and fascination with media. An in depth look at the process of the thesis show, "Defense is the Best Defense." Multiple takes on the thesis exhibit counterbalance the need for contemporary art to include description. This paper is a detailed look at the process of Ryan Mulligan's …

The Unwantables: An Exploration Of Visual Narrative, Marius I. Valdes

Theses and Dissertations

The Unwantables is a creative project that has evolved from my lifelong interest in and relationship with visual stories. To me the most compelling aspect of visual storytelling is "imagination". The author possesses the ability to create new worlds, interesting characters, and situations that can have the potential to communicate about any topic. My project explores visual narrative as a communication tool to explain the role of imagination in my life.

If Chivalry Is Dead, Women Have Killed It, Nicole Heimbach

Theses and Dissertations

I am interested in the dual meaning of pattern. Pattern is a design format used for decoration. By introducing certain images into patterns, they have the ability to give meaning or messages. The repetition of a certain image emphasizes importance to a particular idea or issue. I embroider pattern designs onto pre-manufactured clothing pattern pieces as a response to things in society that I find absurd. This body of work focuses on female iconography. The delicate nature of these materials lends themselves to feminine associations. Embroidery, which is stereotypically associated with women's work, is used to play on these clichés.Patterns …

Thalhimers Department Store: Story, History, And Theory, Elizabeth Thalhimer Smartt

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis looks at Thalhimers department store through the lenses of story, history, and theory. It first introduces the intertwining narratives of the author's paternal family and the store's history, then shares the author's personal story of Thalhimers. The second half outlines the master narrative of the American department store then applies "fantasy-theme analysis" and the symbolic convergence theory to stories and artifacts related to Thalhimers. A conclusion discusses the end of the department store era including a deeply personal goodbye from the author.

Long Walk In Flight School, William H. May Iv

Theses and Dissertations

Long Walk in Flight School is a document intended to complement a body of artwork that includes photographs, giclee prints, animation, and a twenty two page book of images. The main focus of the text is to discuss two types of exchange; my energy with tools in exchange for an object or event, which is then exchanged in the imagination of the audience for something else, a hybrid thing. These exchanges are part of the performance or presentation of the work. Beginning with a brief description of intent at the start of graduate school, it traces my development as an …

Working Space, Timothy D. Devoe

Theses and Dissertations

By altering the outward appearance of the gallery walls, I address the hidden inner temperaments and characteristics of these seemingly benign facades. Architectural rubble impacts with the gallery space in imagined collisions, exposing and distorting its hidden inner workings and structures. Sometimes my walls grow so fat that they need immediate and temporary structural solutions. They may even slump over in a pathetic heap under their own perceived mass.Using everyday wall building materials like 2x4s and drywall, or even harvesting the material directly from the gallery, I anthropomorphize the surface of the space. Rather than the architecture receding into the …

Paragon/Paragone: Raphael's Portrait Of Baldassare Castiglione (1514-16) In The Context Of Il Cortegiano, Margaret Ann Southwick

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that Raphael's portrait, Baldassare Castiglione, is three portraits in one: 1) a "speaking likeness" of the subject, 2) a portrait of the "perfect" courtier, and 3) a "shadow" portrait of the Court of Urbino in the early sixteenth century. The formal analysis of the painting is presented in the context of the paragone of word and image expounded by its subject in his masterpiece, Il Cortegiano. Both author and artist demonstrate the concepts of sprezzatura (an artful artlessness) and grazia (graceful elegance) in the creation of their portraits, as well as avoidance of affetazione (affectation). It is …

Allen D. Breck Award Winner (2004)

Quidditas

Jennifer McNabb

The Allen D. Breck Award recognizes the most distinguished paper given by a junior scholar at the annual conference.

Getting Your Name Out There: Traveling Acting Companies And Royal And Aristocratic Prestige In Tudor England, James H. Forse

Quidditas

Records published to date concerning early English drama suggest that in the first third of the sixteenth century touring activity by municipal, amateur acting companies exceeded that of royal and aristocratic troupes. But after about 1535, the religious, social, and economic policies of Henry VIII, and Edward VI, severely limited locally based performances. At the same time tours by royal acting troupes substantially increased. Yet of all the Tudors, it was Elizabeth who seems to have realized the potential of her acting troupe representing the monarch's presence throughout the kingdom. From the beginning of her reign the Queen’s Men appeared …

Front Matter

Quidditas

No abstract provided.

Building Zion: The Latter-Day Saint Legacy Of Urban Planning, Craig D. Galli

BYU Studies

As with the founding of Plymouth Colony, distinctive historical circumstances and theological beliefs converged to motivate early Latter-day Saint community builders. While the historic roots of Salt Lake City are well known to virtually every grade school student in Utah and to Church members around the world, aspects of our remarkable legacy of urban and transportation planning remain obscure. The physical design and community values underlying early attempts to build Zion provide useful perspective and inspiration as today's community leaders now grapple with managing urban growth along Utah's Wasatch Front (from Brigham City to Nephi and Grantsville to Kamas) and …

Trust (And Social Capital) In Cultural Theory, Marco Verweij

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.

Joseph Bates: Originator Of Seventh-Day Adventist Mission Theory, George R. Knight

Faculty Publications

Joseph Bates was Seventh-day Adventism’s first theologian as well as the denominations first mission theorist. In the late 1840s he developed a chain- of-events approach to history and prophecy centering on the flow of events from Revelation 12:17-14:20. His prophetic chain-of-events logic eventually drove the denomination into worldwide mission as an eschatological imperative.

In Front Of Kataragama Under The Sacred Bo Tree: What Jesus Teaches Us About Mission, Rudolf Maier

Faculty Publications

This is a mission story that paints a picture of holistic missions. It illustrates what the results of establishing relationships between individuals and communities can lead to. It relates the story of the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman and connects it to the authors own mission experience in Sri Lanka.

Post Reformation Ecclesiology And Missiology--From The Radicals To Wesley: Moving Out Of The Shadow Of Luther And Calvin, Woodrow W. Whidden

Faculty Publications

Whidden’s essay compares the key theological/ecclesiological factors of the Magisterial Reformation tradition with the Radical and Wesleyan ethos and their respective visions of discipleship, theology, ethics, and mission. He then argues that movements which are Arminian in their soteriology; functional, not institutional, in their ecclesiology; and emphasize discipleship (including strict discipline), sanctification, and Gospel ethics are more likely to have a missional bent.

The Epistle To The Hebrews And Patron-Client Relationships: Toward A Missiological Appropriation, Cheryl D. Doss

Faculty Publications

Missionaries in cultures where patron-client relationships are common can find their participation in such relationships difficult. Recent New Testament scholarship has illuminated the patron-client relationships implicitly described in the epistle to the Hebrews. Utilizing this scholarship, this article explores the patron-client relationships illustrated in the epistle to the Hebrews seeking biblical principles to guide missionary life and practice.

Valuing Diversity As An Imperative For Fulfilling The Mission Of The Church, Walter B. T. Douglas

Faculty Publications

Demographic shifts, cultural and ethnic diversity, globalization, and the rapid expansion of the church in the southern hemisphere strongly suggest that the future growth of Adventism may emerge in the developing nations. This article is an attempt to engage in conversation on the changing face of Adventism and the challenge this new Adventism presents across cultural, ethnic, and racially diverse communities. This article provides the church with a window of opportunity to view diversity not as an event but as a process to maximize and explore the richness of its diversity and to see it not as a problem to …

Mission And Unity, Patricia Jo Gustin

Faculty Publications

In a world fractured by divisions of all kinds, the church in the twenty-first century faces massive challenges for developing and maintaining unity. This article examines some of the ways the church has traditionally met this challenge and then focuses on the place of cross-cultural mission in aiding the church to meet it.

Parallel Structures: Challenges And Opportunities, Bruce L. Bauer

Faculty Publications

This article presents a case study of the Vietnam house-church movement, looking at the challenges and opportunities that often exist when security concerns and governmental persecution force the creation of a parallel structure through which God can work. The article suggests ways to maintain administrative linkage and supervision between parallel structures and gives several reasons why parallel structures may be necessary in our present sinful world.

Beyond The 10/40 Window: When All You Thought You Had To Do Is Not Enough, Bruce Campbell Moyer

Faculty Publications

There is always a danger in being overly focused on a task. When this happens, we can fail to see other tasks or parallel tasks that are equally demanding. This paper focuses on some other “windows,” beyond the “10/40 Window,” that also call for serious attention, concerted prayer, specialized training, their own unique strategies, and a variety of personnel/gifts.