American Material Culture Commons^™

Space-Praxis: Towards A Feminist Politics Of Design, Mary C. Overholt

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

Outside of the academy and professionalized practice, design has long been central to the production of feminist, political projects. Taking what I have termed space-praxis as its central analytic, this project explores a suite of feminist interventions into the built environment—ranging from the late 1960s to present day.

Formulated in response to Michel de Certeau’s theory of spatial practices, space-praxis collapses formerly bifurcated definitions of ‘tactic’/‘strategy’ and ‘theory’/‘practice.’ It gestures towards those unruly, situated undertakings that are embedded in an ever-evolving, liberative politics. In turning outwards, away from the so-called masters of architecture, this thesis orients itself toward everyday practitioners …

Beauty And Lifestyle Subscription Services: A Modern Retailing Format For The Vigilante Collaborative Consumption Consumer, Melisa Spilinek

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Advancements in technology and ease of use of online shopping via phone applications (apps) and subscription services have fundamentally changed how consumers shop. Now more than ever, consumers are turning to time-saving technological tools that are subscription services. Subscription services provide a multitude of benefits to consumers and contribute to collaborative consumption in nearly every product and service category from coffee to apparel. To investigate beauty and lifestyle subscription services and collaborative consumption this study will utilize a mixed methods convergent design to analyze user experience including price sensitivity, subscription service apps and ease of use. Anticipated contributions to the …

The Infinite Crisis: How The American Comic Book Has Been Shaped By War, Winston Andrus

War, Diplomacy, and Society (MA) Theses

This thesis project argues that war has been the greatest catalyst for the American comic book medium to become a socio-political change agent within western society. Comic books have become one of the most pervasive influences to global popular culture, with superheroes dominating nearly every popular art form. Yet, the academic world has often ignored the comic book medium as a niche market instead of integrated into the broader discussions on cultural production and conflict studies. This paper intends to bridge the gap between what has been classified as comic book studies and the greater academic world to demonstrate the …

These Are My People: An Ethnography Of Quiltcon, Kristin Barrus

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis presents the first ethnography of QuiltCon, the annual fan and artist convention for quiltmakers who identify with and participate in a social phenomenon called the Modern Quilt Movement (MQM) within the 21st century quilt world. QuiltCon (QC) is one product of this movement. This study considers the following questions: What kinds of people attend QC, and what types of experiences and encounters do they expect at the convention? What needs are met at QC for this subset of quiltmakers who attend and for the greater community of Modern quiltmakers? What role does QC play in cementing the identity …

Uncoverings: The Research Papers Of The American Quilt Study Group, Volume 42 (2021), Joanna E. Evans, Diana Bell-Kite, Alice M. Hines, Anita B. Loscalzo, Raelana Poteat, Meta M. Van Nostran

Uncoverings Journal

Preface by Joanna E. Evans

Searching for Margaret: Race, Memory, and a North Carolina Quilt by Diana Bell-Kite and RaeLana Poteat

The Threads of Redwork: Outline Embroidered Textiles by Meta M. Van Nostran

A Tompkins County, New York, Quilt Top Mystery by Anita B. Loscalzo

Glendora Hutson’s Friendship Quilt and the Origins of a Vibrant and Innovative Quilting Community by Alice M. Hines

Contributors

Index

"With The Commodity In The Hand": A Practical Investigation Of The Intersection Of Material Culture With Performance Theory, Katharine M. Given

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the intersection of performance theory and material culture through the practices of garment reconstruction. In chapter 1, I examine key theorists in the fields of material culture and performance studies and articulate the connections between the two fields. In chapter 2, Using practice as research, I recount the experience of building reproduction garments from the eighteenth century using historically appropriate tools and methods, as well as the experience of wearing those garments. Finally, in Chapter 3, I walk through a possible historical examination of my encounter with these reconstructed garments, and consider the way in which feminine …

Table Of Contents

Hemisphere: Visual Cultures of the Americas

No abstract provided.

Being In The Place Of Possibility, Laura Domencic

MFA in Visual Arts Theses

This paper explores my art practice as a phenomenological search for understanding how to be in the world. It begins with a description of my practice as a way to access the place of possibility that exists between faith and doubt. I examine materiality in art making to encourage consideration of both the physical and temporal nature of experience and to find balance with the increasingly incorporeal experience of the digital world. I discuss the materials and processes of drawing, sewing, and printmaking within their historical contexts. This paper connects my practice with artists who consider the act of perception …

Intimate Nevada: Artists Respond, Lauren Paljusaj, Anne Savage

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Creative Works Winner

Most of us know Nevada beyond the Strip. It’s a place of houses, of shopping plazas, of movie theaters, and grocery stores. A place of hotels that are also places of work. A place of basins, ranges, vistas, and nature. A place of personal history. For Intimate Nevada: Artists Respond, curators Lauren Paljusaj (ENG BA ‘20) and Anne Savage (CFA BA ‘22), draw on photographs found in UNLV Special Collections to uncover the intimate visuality of a Nevada of past centuries. The exhibition focuses on how the imaged built landscape of early 20th century Southern Nevada …

Uncoverings: The Research Papers Of The American Quilt Study Group, Volume 41 (2020), Joanna E. Evans, Deanna Allred, Linda Baumgarten, Hallie Bond, Mary Bywater Cross, Gretchen Guidess, Kimberley Smith Ivey, Charlene Bongiorno Stephens, William G. Stephens, Rosa Thornley

Uncoverings Journal

Preface by Joanna E. Evans

Unraveling the Mysteries of a White Quilt One Quilt, Two Cultures, and ­ree Approaches by Linda Baumgarten, Gretchen Guidess, and Kimberly Ivey

“Nothing Thou Love Be Lost or Die”: An 1846 Friendship Quilt Made at the Vermont Asylum for the Insane by Charlene Bongiorno Stephens and William G. Stephens

Seeking the Evidence: ­The Solar System Quilt and Artist Ellen Harding Baker by Mary Bywater Cross

“For Top-Cover Warmth” North Country Comforters, 1800–1970s by Hallie E. Bond

“Reach Out and Touch Someone”: Examining How Instagram Has Become a Conduit for Quiltmaking Communities by Deanna Allred and …

(In)Equality., Jongin Choi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

(in)Equality. centers around my experiences as a transnational person and those around me who have affected my current concept of equality and cultural histories. My visual methodologies cover digital photography and editing, inkjet printing, and laser engraving: multimedia in a process of new discovery, translation between analog and digital, and rearticulation. The exhibition includes portraits peering down from above, illuminated by projected patterns and manipulated messages from Nike’s “Equality.” (2017). The purpose of this thesis paper is to describe the elements of identity, marginalization, and personal reaction to advertising, as well as the and theories which have shaped this project. …

Schottenfeld, Judith Dian (Fa 1309), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 1309. Student folk studies project titled “Construction of the White Oak Basket, ”which includes an interview with Walter Logsdon about the traditional basket making process in Edmonson County, Kentucky. Project includes sheets with a brief description of each traditional practice, tool, and photo.

Fekety, Steve (Fa 1311), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 1311. Student folk studies project titled “Basket Making,” about the traditional basket making process in Wax, Grayson County, Kentucky. Project includes sheets with a brief description of each traditional practice, illustration, material, tool, and/or photo.

Waldrop, Melanie (Fa 1310), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Manuscripts Small Collection 1310. Student folk studies project titled “Basketmaking for Walter Logsdon: ‘A Way of Life,’” which includes two interviews with Walter Logsdon about the traditional basket making process in Edmonson County, Kentucky. Project includes sheets with a brief description of each traditional practice, tool, and photo.

Sadewasser, Judith K. "Judi" (Fa 1308), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on "Additional Files" below) for Folklife Archives Project 1308. Student folk studies project titled “The Folkways of Walter D. Logsdon: Basketmaker,” which includes an interview with Walter Logsdon about the traditional basket making process in Edmonson County, Kentucky. Project includes interview transcriptions along with sheets with a brief description of each traditional practice, tool, and photo.

The Implementation Of A Systematic Method For Identifying The Root Causes Of Manufacturing Negative Process Yield In A North American Fastener Manufacturing Facility, Bradley J. Venable

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Negative process yield is an unexplained expense that does have a significant impact on profits. As like most other manufacturing processes, there are multiple processing operations that a finished good can be exposed to during the course of the entire process. Negative process yield can occur during these known operations but without accurate reporting and data collection, it becomes a moot point. In order to investigate this unexplainable phenomena properly, understanding of what could possibly cause this from occurring must be achieved. In the case of the North American fastener manufacturing plant, missing pieces that are not accounted for through …

Jet Magazine: Celebrating Black Female Beauty, Jazmyn Shepherd

XULAneXUS

Once referred to as, “the Negro bible” by famed actor and comedian Redd Foxx^[1], Jet has continued to be a pioneer in representing Black Americans as beyond the stereotypes to which they are so often relegated. The magazine has not only provided accurate coverage throughout momentous Black historical movements such as the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s, the Black is Beautiful movement of the late 1960s, and the Natural Hair Movement of the 2000s, but it has also catered to the daily interests of Black Americans, such as fashion and beauty, lifestyle advice, dating advice, politics, health …

Uncoverings: The Research Papers Of The American Quilt Study Group, Volume 40 (2019), Laurel Horton, Terry Tickhill Terrell, Katha Kievit, Linda Welters, Margaret T. Ordoñez

Uncoverings Journal

Preface by Laurel Horton

Prickly Elegance: Identifying and Dating Disocactus Motifs on Early Chintz by Terry Tickhill Terrell

Edmund Potter: Nineteenth Century Calico Printer by Katha Kievit

Delaines: A Forgotten Fabric by Linda Welters and Margaret T. Ordoñez

Contributors

Index

Heritage, Tradition, And Craft In Quiltmaking (Fa 1131), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1131. Collection contains Interviews, photographs, and informant data sheets relating to Sandy Staebell's project with quiltmakers in Allen County and Monroe County, Kentucky and Macon County, Tennessee for the 2017-2018 Osby Lee Hire and Lillian K. Garrison Hire Memorial Lecture Series.

“After-Ozymandias”: The Colonization Of Symbols And The American Monument, H. R. Membreno-Canales

Theses and Dissertations

After-Ozymandias examines the visual rhetoric of American patriotism through its many symbols, including flags and monuments. My thesis project consists of photographs of empty plinths, objects, products and archival materials. Countless relics remain today memorializing leaders and empires that inevitably declined, from antiquity to modern times. Looking back at distant history feels like a luxury, though: the question for our time in America is whether we have the strength of mind as a society to scrutinize our history, warts and all.

A Sumitography: A Listing Of Postage Stamps Celebrating Contributions To Civil And Human Rights By Martin Luther King Jr. And Associates, Lillie R. Jenkins

Perkins Faculty Research and Special Events

This "sumitography" (from Latin "sumit" means postage stamp) is a listing of postage stamps celebrating contributions to civil right and human rights by Martin Luther King Jr. and associates. In addition to USA postage stamps, this listing includes stamps from other nations, including Cuba, Ghana, Sweden, Turks & Caicos Islands, and others. Also included are postage stamps honoring King associates--in the struggle for civil and human rights, Mohandas K. Gandi, Rosa Partks, A. Philp Randolph, and Malcolm X.

Cederquist, Nancy (Fa 378), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

FFinding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 378. Multiple interviews with Mrs. James Hall conducted by Nancy Cederquist on 22 February 1985, 1 April 1985, and 22 April 1985. Hall, a resident of Bowling Green, discusses her passion for quilting, her preferred patterns, fabric care, and her experiences with a local quilting group.

Uncoverings: The Research Papers Of The American Quilt Study Group, Volume 39 (2018), Janice E. Frisch, Kathryn Berenson, Ronda Harrell Mcallen, Joyce Fullerton Smith, Xenia E. Cord, Marla R. Miller

Uncoverings Journal

Preface by Janice E. Frisch

Political Partisanship in the Tristan Furnishings by Kathryn Berenson

The Chintz Gardens of Achsah Goodwin Wilkins, a Baltimore Quilter by Ronda Harrell McAllen

Family, Friends, Merchants, and Religion in the Early 1840s by Joyce Fullerton Smith

Ohio, the Border State: A Regional Study of Vessel, Vine, and Floral Quilt Borders by Xenia E. Cord

Invited Paper

Embedding: Putting Hadassah Chapin Ely’s Wholecloth Quilt in Context by Marla R. Miller

Contributors

Index

Review Of John James Audubon: The Nature Of The American Woodsman, By Gregory Nobles, Matthew Guzman

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

When we think about American ornithology, John James Audubon is often the first name that comes to mind. As evidence to Audubon’s lasting ability to enrapture readers, it bears repeating that an original Double Elephant Folio of Birds of America sold for an astounding $11.5 million in 2010 (2). Yet, for a man who produced such stunning and memorable visual and literary work on the avifauna of North America, some of the important details of his life and origins have remained highly contested. Even though Gregory Nobles’s new biography is not explicitly tied to the study of the Great Plains, …

Good Game, Greyory Blake

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis and its corresponding art installation, Lessons from Ziggy, attempts to deconstruct the variables prevalent within several complex systems, analyze their transformations, and propose a methodology for reasserting the soap box within the display pedestal. In this text, there are several key and specific examples of the transformation of various signifiers (i.e. media-bred fear’s transformation into a political tactic of surveillance, contemporary freneticism’s transformation into complacency, and community’s transformation into nationalism as a state weapon). In this essay, all of these concepts are contextualized within the exponential growth of new technologies. That is to say, all of these semiotic …

Design Plan For The Sawmill Town History Wing At The Texas Forestry Museum, Kendall D. Gay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Texas Forestry Museum in Lufkin, Texas is the only forestry museum in the state. It preserves artifacts and educates visitors about Texas’ forest industry history. The museum has a Sawmill Town History Wing that is outdated and in need of a refreshing exhibit design based on current best practices. Using a previous museum audit as a guide, the new exhibit will have better flow, panel aesthetics, content, and interactive elements. By creating a new exhibit, the museum is better able to educate and entertain the visitors about Texas’ forest industry history.

Precolumbian Textiles In The Ethnological Museum In Berlin, Lena Bjerregaard, Torben Huss

Zea E-Books Collection

The Ethnological Museum in Berlin, Germany, houses Europe’s largest collection of PreColumbian textiles—around 9000 well-preserved examples. Lena Bjerregaard, editor and compiler of this volume, was the conservator for these materials from 2000 to 2014, and she worked with many international researchers to analyze and publicize the collection. This book includes seven of their essays about the museum’s holdings – by Bea Hoffmann, Ann Peters, Susan Bergh, Lena Bjerregaard, Jane Feltham, Katalin Nagy, and Gary Urton. The book’s second part is a 177-page catalogue, arranged by periods and styles, of 273 selected items that represent the collection as fully as possible, …

The Short Story And The Photographic: Twentieth-Century Imagetexts In And Of The Americas, Lucienne Muller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the visuality of the short story from an intermedial point of view, that is, with a focus on the relationship between the short story and the photographic visual. This analysis draws from photographic theory and from the writings of photographer and writer Julio Cortazar whose philosophy puts forward the idea of a reader who becomes the inventive co-creator of the fictional work.

Uncoverings: The Research Papers Of The American Quilt Study Group, Volume 38 (2017), Lynne Zacek Bassett, Dana Fobes Bowne, Deborah Cooney, Dale Drake, Anita B. Loscalzo, Rachel May, Ronda Harrell Mcallen, Kathy Moore, Linda Welters

Uncoverings Journal

Foreword by Lynne Zacek Bassett

"Old Quilt Brought to America" by Dana Fobes Bowne

The Cushman Quilt Tops: A Tale of North and South by Rachel May and Linda Welters

Louisiana Acadian Cotonnade Quilts: Preserving the Weaving Heritage of a People by Dale Drake

Baltimore Album Quilts: New Research by Deborah Cooney and Ronda Harrell McAllen

Whence Garlands, Swags, Bowknots, and Baskets? Four Neoclassical Design Motifs Found in American Quilts by Anita Loscalzo

The Mystery of the Harlequin Star Quilts: Finding and Naming a Previously Unidentified Regional Design by Kathleen L. Moore

Contributors

Index

Northwest Coast Native American Art: The Relationship Between Museums, Native Americans And Artists, Karrie E. Myers

Museum Studies Theses

Museums today have many responsibilities, including protecting and understanding objects in their care. Many also have relationships with groups of people whose items or artworks are housed within their institutions. This paper explores the relationship between museums and Northwest Coast Native Americans and their artists. Participating museums include those in and out of the Northwest Coast region, such as the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, the Burke Museum, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian Museum. Museum professionals who conducted research for some of these museums included Franz Boas, …