Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Impression, Storm, Victoria Rego, Victoria Anne Rego

All NMU Master's Theses

This novel, set in a cypress swamp near Charleston, South Carolina, explores issues in gender, sexuality, the body, and place. An experiment in form, the novel is structured to replicate the passing of a hurricane over land. This model allows the narrative to expand its scope to encompass the swamp as a larger entity amidst the ecosystem of the coastal south. By weaving together the narratives of the plant, animal, human, ghost, and mythic members of the swamp, the narrative seeks to interrogate the ways that these different levels of an ecosystem intercede upon, assist, and redirect each other in …

A Moment Of Peace: An Artistic Representation Of The Influence Of Healthcare On Social Disruption, Nafisa Choudhury

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

This original pen-and-ink artwork features a lily on the water symbolizing peace. As war, distrust, chaos and coups wreak havoc throughout many developing nations, healthcare workers and public health officials should be encouraged that we do in fact have a part to play in managing the human health affected by the disruption. Health work can provide a zone of comfort, spread solidarity and understanding, and manage the human toll of war. Healthcare workers have major roles in peace-keeping efforts as a result of these determinations and their impact on peace should be acknowledged and lauded. We hope that as we …

Art And Aids: Viral Strategies For Visibility, Stephen Baylor Pillow

Honors Theses

“Art & AIDS: Viral Strategies for Visibility” examines the complex relationships between social stigma, healthcare, homophobia, and mortality, and how these impacted the lives of Western artists and manifested in their works. Most of the art discussed in this thesis was produced during the height of the AIDS crisis (late-1980s to mid-1990s). During this period, gay artists and their allies employed new strategies in their work to inspire activism, and convey intense emotions –– predominantly frustration, grief, and anxiety –– associated with HIV/AIDS. In the U.S., the inaction of the Reagan administration was largely due to widespread homophobia kindled by …

Consumer, Catherine Romsey

Art & Art History Student Scholarship

Faculty Mentor: Professor James Janecek, Art and Art History

Race To The Finish: An Obstacle Course With A Biological Twist, Kayli Fagan

Art & Art History Student Scholarship

Major: Business Management and Studio Art
Faculty Mentor: Professor James Janecek, Art and Art History

The Button Bash: A Minigame, Miranda Balossi Ventre

Art & Art History Student Scholarship

Major: Psychology
Faculty Mentor: Professor James Janecek, Art and Art History

Beauty And Decay, Chiung-Ling Jyan Siebert

Theses and Dissertations

The intention of the project is to create an environment where the viewer can explore and form a personal narrative in the process of organic interaction with the work. At first glance, the scale of the installation will attract the viewer to the exhibition, however, upon close investigation he will discover there is deterioration, decay, and mutation. The ideas of time, beauty, decay, mortality, and interdependence will be discussed in this paper. The visitors are invited to interact with the work. I hope through spontaneous interaction the arrangements from the viewer will result in evolution of the work. The balance …

Life Repurposed: Finding A New Calling Through Meaningful Occupation, Jennifer K. Fortuna

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Kelly Allen, an occupational therapist and artist based in Grand Rapids, MI, provided the cover art for the Spring 2021 edition of the Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). “Follow” is a 16” x 20” painting made from oil on panel. The painting, which features a coati from Central America, is from Kelly’s Animal Totem series. After more than 2 decades as a fine artist and educator, she began searching for a career change. Kelly’s background in fine art and her desire to help others prepared her for a career in occupational therapy. Certain events in Kelly’s life aligned not …

Yo, Mi Persona Y México, Jaime Trinidad

Theses and Dissertations

For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with understanding who I am. What makes me is something I try to make sense of through art. When I started working on this my graduation show, the idea behind it was to make a portrait of the Mexico I know, but when the pandemic hit, I found myself locked down at home, completely alone in a new country for the first time. This led me to question my existence and the belief systems I espoused and prompted me to try to understand myself better in the context of a …

Tomorrow Is The Worst Day Since Yesterday, Matthew Carlson

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Susan Sontag wrote: “Illness is the night-side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other space”.

This work addresses aspects of that citizenship. I used my experiences as a person living with a disability and as a parent to a son with Autism to explore the dichotomy of this dual citizenship. The …

Overcome: Farmington Honors Journal, Volume 3, Spring 2021, University Of Maine At Farmington

Honors Journal

This marks our third Journal for the University of Maine at Farmington’s Honors Department. Looking back at the works submitted to us this year we no-ticed a common thread between them. The delicate thread we discovered was that our artists were working through things, whether that be the shape of the loss of a loved one or struggles with self identity. It became apparent as we read, that humans have the strength to overcome, to show growth and discover through writing and art different ways to cope and to identify. Their work has shown that our struggle during this pandemic …

Chemistry Meets Art: Instrumental Analysis At The Lcva, James Rakes, Mia Arrieta, Kaleigh Beale, Adonel Grubb

Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

This project is an ongoing collaboration between the Longwood chemistry program and the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts. The demonstration shows the capabilities of the X-ray fluorescence spectrophotometer as a non-destructive elemental analysis technique. Our class visited the LCVA to analyze several pieces in their art collections. We were able to utilize the XRF instrument to analyze the elemental composition of glass and metal, painted pottery and porcelain, oil paintings, and metals. This project lays the groundwork for further research using X-ray fluorescence for non-destructive chemical analysis.

Microhabitats In An Urban Greenspace: Function In The Beauty, Kalie Schultz

Honors Projects

This project combines science with art, with a focus on microhabitats in a unique natural space in an urban area. It is set in the Highlands Nature Preserve and the mediums used are photography and digital illustration. The goal of the project is to bring the viewer in from a wide, landscape perspective into a more close and detailed perspective of the multiple microhabitats that exist in the nature preserve. It shows how beauty can be hiding in plain sight for anyone to see if they look close enough. It also aims to show how the beauty is not just …

Holy Frit, Michele M. Desmarais

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Holy Frit (2021), directed by Justin Monroe.

Colonialism, Cohabitation, And Charismatic Llamas: Representations Of Animals In Felipe Guaman Poma De Ayala's El Primer Nueva Corónica Y Buen Gobierno, Laura Varela Mejia

Art History Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes the role of animals, specifically llamas, in El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno, a manuscript that dates to 1615-16, and was hand-written and illustrated by the Andean author Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala. Through the lens of animal studies, I analyze the manner in which Poma represented llamas to convey greater ideas surrounding the nature of colonial life under the Spanish empire, as well as the nostalgic remembrance of Inca practices before the conquest.

My study focuses on three of the Corónica’s drawings: “The second age of the world: Noah,” and how its reinterpretation …

The Messenger

The Messenger

forward

onward so as to make progress; toward a successful conclusion.

“There is a way forward

and yes

it is with a broken

heart

but it is our own way

collectively convened,

pondered,

Shared.”

Alice Walker

Observing The Transformation Of Sketches When Rendered In Different Scenarios, Cade Fallaw

Senior Theses

The purpose of the project was to see how a single image of my house transformed when I drew multiple iterations of it under different conditions. Each condition was applied to the artist (me); either by limiting my physical state or by creating a specific mental frame that I drew from. This project consists of 31 sketches of my house: 24 of them were drawn with applied conditions and 7 were drawn from memory. As expected, the greatest differences between the drawings occurred when a greater constraint was placed on the artist, such as when I drew using three different …

Searching: Waves, Spencer Molnar

Theses and Dissertations

This supportive statement examines a philosophical conception of the self and how it can be identified through experience, consciousness, and perception by focusing on a human inclination to rationalize, or concretize, that which is everchanging. The methods of exploring this concept were achieved by examining the formal structure of composition and materials through the process of visual art. By pushing against historical traditions of creating spatial illusions in visual art, we can conclude that the legibility of an artwork is equally dependent on the experiential world as it is the social construction of image making. The question that is left …

Indigenous Australian Latter-Day Saint Dot Art: A Convergence Of Tradition And Faith, Katie Loveless

Student Works

This research documents the female Indigenous Australian artists in the Northern Territory of Australia who are creating Latter-Day Saint narratives using the method of traditional dot art. These pieces of art are visually mesmerizing and filled with important symbolism- both from the perspectives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ and Indigenous Australian culture. Dot art is a sacred method of communication for Indigenous people and traditionally reserved for male tribal members for the purpose of creating symbolic ancient "dream" narratives only to be understood by indigenous Australians. Church narratives have only recently started to be depicted in …

The Erasure Of Black Women, Tamara D. Anderson, Maya Anderson

#CritEdPol: Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies at Swarthmore College

To what do we owe Black women? Everything. To be Black and female in America means that you are ignored, silenced, and sometimes erased. the very fabric of history would be quite different for all of us without the contributions, tears, blood, and love of Black women. As a result of the intersection of patriarchy and white supremacy, Black women are too often left exhausted, overworked, and left out of the historical narrative. This multi-modal creative work is a call to action to end the erasure of Black women with scholarship, visual art, and poetry.

Dustin Harewood Pt. 1, Dustin Harewood, Justin D. Weakland

Bold Visual Arts: Voices behind Murals in Jacksonville

Mr. Harewood is an art professor at Florida State College of Jacksonville. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of immigrant parents from Barbados. His history covers drawing comics in his youth, formal art education at the University of North Carolina, an internship at Marvel Comics, and as an art professor and community art advocate in Jacksonville. Mr. Harewood also describes several of his mural projects, his art influences, and what the COVID-19 pandemic was like for him.

Dustin Harewood Pt. 2, Dustin Harewood, Justin D. Weakland

Bold Visual Arts: Voices behind Murals in Jacksonville

Mr. Harewood is an art professor at Florida State College of Jacksonville. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of immigrant parents from Barbados. His history covers drawing comics in his youth, formal art education at the University of North Carolina, an internship at Marvel Comics, and as an art professor and community art advocate in Jacksonville. Mr. Harewood also describes several of his mural projects, his art influences, and what the COVID-19 pandemic was like for him.

Study Of Native Colombian Tribes: Art As A Means Of Inspiration, Sofia Fernandez

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Study of Native Colombian Tribes: Art as a Means of Inspiration, examines Latin American art, particularly Indigenous Colombian art as a source of inspiration for the creation of a series of artworks. This project considers two Colombian tribes: Wayuu and Okaina. It emphasizes these tribes’ ancestry, history, purpose, and traditions, with the objective of giving them a voice in a community where they are underrepresented and unknown. This thesis provides a critical look into the tribe’s traditions and artistic techniques through the creation of a variety paintings, drawings, and prints. This body of work concentrates on textiles and patterns from …

State, Transnational Citizenship And The Transformative Power Of Art: The Nsk State In Time, Barbara Orel

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

This article deals with one of the most intriguing art projects at the intersection of art and social experiment—The NSK State in Time. This is a paradigmatic transnational state that does not have a territory and whose citizenship can be obtained regardless of one’s nationality, citizenship, race, religion or political convictions. It was established in 1992 by the Slovenian art collective Neue Slowenische Kunst—the NSK, and has seen continuous manifestations in various sociopolitical contexts worldwide. The most prominent one in recent time took place in 2017, when the NSK State opened its own pavilion at the Venice Biennale—a …

Abandoned Spaces, Anthony Tate

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

The goal of this project is to show how color can display an emotional connection to the environment. How colors can be portrayed to human emotions without telling the audience. As well as having the audience imagining what kind of economy that used to be in the environment. The objective is to create a game that will tell a story from the environment and how colors are used to help tell a story of the environment. This thesis project is a game that attempts to show how colors can be related to emotions.

Sugimoto’S Middle Brow And The Collective Horizon, Aaron Francis Ward

Japanese Society and Culture

Is art for everyone? Although attendance at art galleries has risen rapidly at the start of the 21st century, so too has the price of art, and the perception that art is an object of conspicuous consumption. The current paper presents a discussion of the possibilities that the photography of Hiroshi Sugimoto offers an artistic oeuvre that countenances the current state of the art market and is open to the aesthetic appreciation of a broader audience. As middlebrow mode of cultural production (Bourdieu 1996), photography is an artistic form that most people are familiar with, rendering it a medium that …

Movement In Stillness, Shalini Chaliki

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

These images feature the Lower Antelope Canyon which was originally called Hasdestwazi, a Navajo word that means “spiral rock arches.” After hundreds of years, monsoons, winds, and flash floods eroded the slot canyon into the geological wonder that it is today. It enchants tourists and engulfs visitors as it flows around them in every direction. Just east of Page, Arizona, the massive sandstone formation is sacred to the Navajo Nation for its representation of Mother Nature’s many gifts and the passage to time; it is also a reminder that things are larger and greater than ones’ self. While these photos …

Dancescape Poster 2021, Winona State University, Emily Becker

Dancescape Posters

A poster for the Winona State University Theatre and Dance Department's annual Dancescape. This is a poster for the Dancscape 2021: A Dance Film Festival.

Futurs Utopiques Et Dystopiques : Comment La Fiction Aide À Penser L’Évolution, Ivan Magrin-Chagnolleau

Presidential Fellows Articles and Research

Cet article aborde le thème des futurs utopiques et dystopiques tel qu’il nous est transmis à travers la philosophie et la fiction (littérature et cinéma), et montre comment ces notions nous aident à penser l’évolution. Il propose une exploration historique des termes « utopie » et « dystopie », agrémentée d’exemples appartenant à la littérature, à la philosophie et au cinéma. L’article souligne aussi l’importance de réhabiliter l’utopie comme moyen d’inventer un futur radicalement différent.

Creating A New Normal Through Engagement In Meaningful Occupation, Jennifer K. Fortuna Phd, Otr/L

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Katie Edick, an occupational therapist and artist based in Portland, Michigan, provided the cover art for the Winter 2021 edition of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). “Katie Bird” is a 4” x 6” watercolor painting. After receiving a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer (MBC), Katie set out to find a new purpose and leave a legacy. She made the decision to live with intention and choose life experiences that create joy. Through engagement in meaningful occupations, such as painting and patient advocacy, Katie is creating a new normal.