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Full-Text Articles in Art and Design

Bottom Creek, Bent Mountain, Va, Genesis Chapman Jan 2010

Bottom Creek, Bent Mountain, Va, Genesis Chapman

Theses and Dissertations

The title of this thesis Bottom Creek, Bent Mountain, VA is the subject of my large ink drawings. Starting with the spring outside my window, this book describes the creeks as it flows across the mountain that I grew up on. My drawings document the experience of walking along the banks of Bottom Creek as it flows past farms fields and along the roadside. Described as a seemingly insignificant place, the creek is in fact it is one of the most basic, and important parts of this mountain’s landscape, because the creek’s natural process it is responsible for producing the …


Extra Ordinary, Lana Waldrep Jan 2010

Extra Ordinary, Lana Waldrep

Theses and Dissertations

The title of this thesis Extra Ordinary is intentionally ambiguous. Depending on how you read it, it can refer to either the very ordinary or to that which is outside of the ordinary.The works described within these pages functions similarly. From person to person and with time they move from the ordinary to beyond and back again. How can something be both mysterious and understood at the same time? How can I as a painter create a space where diametrically opposed forces can coexist and what is the effect of viewing such an object? This thesis addresses these issues with …


A Verbal Snapshot Of Visual Scrutiny Primarily In The Sphere Of Art, Matthew Alverson Jan 2010

A Verbal Snapshot Of Visual Scrutiny Primarily In The Sphere Of Art, Matthew Alverson

Theses and Dissertations

Finding and extracting meaning from the world I encounter every day is the primary motivation behind my creativity. Filtering perception and separating the important bits of information by selection or elimination is the crux of this investigation. This process is one of finding rationale in futility and applying meaning to meaningless encounters. The significance of life is not fixed and it is our responsibility to make it up to best suit the desire to have purpose. Depending on the way something is looked at determines the meaning behind it. Anything can have content if it is seen and translated a …


Detect, Bite, Slam, Ali Miharbi Jan 2010

Detect, Bite, Slam, Ali Miharbi

Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the influences, ideas and motivations behind my MFA thesis exhibition. It primarily focuses on how I developed my work for the show in connection to my previous work as well as work created by other artists who explored the impacts of new media in the last decade. With the advancement of social media, digital technologies no longer have their infamous coldness. Our perceptions and the metaphors in language are all reflected onto the machines we create while in return they also shape and redefine our lives. It becomes increasingly difficult to talk about dialectics such as machine-human, …


Altered Interactions, Kristen Rego Jan 2010

Altered Interactions, Kristen Rego

Theses and Dissertations

Surrounding materials, signage, and detritus on the daily path offer plenty to look at, if not too much. The eye seeks comfort in its passive vision by ignoring its peripheries. Identification of my personal vision reveals itself through the manipulation of ignored material. I consider hand-made vs. machine made, singular vs. the multiple particularly in plastics, packaging and other utilitarian objects. Industrial processes influence my one-person operation. Understanding the way objects are made allows for an opportunity to connect with them. I’m already surrounded by them, the least I can do is get to know them better.


Dreamfall: The Fleeting-Ness Of Memory, Hon Chen Jan 2010

Dreamfall: The Fleeting-Ness Of Memory, Hon Chen

Theses and Dissertations

My work seeks to simulate the impermanence of memory, through the creation of structures and images that translate the mind’s formless but living past into physical material and sensation. The need to search for the missing six years of my childhood memories in Thailand has been the driving force behind the works, along with the lingering emotions of emptiness and unfulfillment. I create multimedia installations with materials, such as plaster, pvc panels, acrylic, polycrylic and dura-lar, to structurally realize a subject as intangible and elusive as memory. Issues of duality, identity, impermanence and memory are underlying themes for my thesis …


Journeys Into The Unknown: A Series Of Science Architecture Tasks And Events, Space-Bound Explorations And Far-Travels, Discoveries And Misses (Near And Far), Imaginative Space-Gazing And Related Investigations, Observations, Orbits, And Other Repetitious Monitoring Tasks, Leah Beeferman Jan 2010

Journeys Into The Unknown: A Series Of Science Architecture Tasks And Events, Space-Bound Explorations And Far-Travels, Discoveries And Misses (Near And Far), Imaginative Space-Gazing And Related Investigations, Observations, Orbits, And Other Repetitious Monitoring Tasks, Leah Beeferman

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis expansively and inclusively puts forth the imaginings, research, processes and experiences behind my two thesis exhibitions, "Journeys into the unknown: a series of science architecture tasks and events, space-bound explorations and far-travels, discoveries and misses (near and far), imaginative space-gazing and related investigations, observations, orbits, and other repetitious monitoring tasks" and "Timed travel: asystematic accounts of regular and geometrical timekeeping, orbital flight, repetitive rotations and other journeys into actual time and slow space." It begins with an abstract interpretation of the dial: a tool not limited to scientific measurement but, instead, a gauge of an object’s overall position …


A Post-Communist Picnic, Yi Sheng Jan 2010

A Post-Communist Picnic, Yi Sheng

Theses and Dissertations

Signaling the moon, packing balls of mud, carving a big sphere, cleaning with a giant unwieldy mop, playing with indigo, wrangling cardboard, setting sunflowers ablaze, playing a tune with a soda bottle, taking a walk with other people’s laundry, kindling smoke signals, weaving a bed, cracking seeds all night, listening to sleep, dressing a plant, these are some of the activities that have been incorporated into my work over the last two years. Most ideas begin in the studio and then are realized outside. Many of the tasks mentioned allow me to easily integrate into a crowd, where the project …


Me And You, Nicole Andreoni Jan 2010

Me And You, Nicole Andreoni

Theses and Dissertations

My work seeks to reveal the relationships between woman and man, woman and self, and woman and the space which she inhabits. Through personal memoirs and everyday observations the private becomes public, and moments of intimacy transpire. Intimacy requires dialogue, transparency, reciprocity, and self-disclosure, all things that I have been reflecting upon in my work over the last two years. Relationships are formed within the works and through the experience of the viewer with the art. Figures and abstraction coexist next to one another informing the viewer of things familiar, creating closeness, while also spatially confusing the viewer, creating a …


The Everyday In America, Janet Bruhn Jan 2010

The Everyday In America, Janet Bruhn

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: My vanilla, Grade A, white bread, run-of-the-mill, middle-of-the-road, threadbare, well-worn, moth-eaten, potato sack, butterscotch, grass stained America: Mundane American life is an existence clinging to the ordinary, where a quilt of mass- mediated preferences and ingrained traditions define many people, specifically from north to south and east to west. Yet, the tastes and dialects of people within the mundane are complex. Ideological preferences are rooted in immigrant history and political persuasion. Various modes of realism have been used by American painters such as The Ash Can School, Regionalists of the 1930’s, and Pop Art. The notion of the real …


The Adventures Of A Young Artist, And The Promise Of The Digital Culture In Art, Jonathan Marshall Jan 2010

The Adventures Of A Young Artist, And The Promise Of The Digital Culture In Art, Jonathan Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

An analysis and explanation of my reasons for working in video, painting and drawing, and sculpture, considering the technological developments of the past decade; the possibility to use the internet as a distribution tool for works of art, and to shift the decision-making balance of the art-world; the ways that this approach is a democratic format for output in the arts and within communities of artists; an explanation of my studio practice while a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University.


Talk To Me, I Am Listening, Larbi Sami Ben Dec 2009

Talk To Me, I Am Listening, Larbi Sami Ben

Theses and Dissertations

An introductory conversation with a new person I just met usually goes like this: So, where is your accent from ? Are you American? Well, yes, .....but no. Not really. I do have American citizenship and I lived in the US for fifteen years but I grew up in France. Ok, so you’re French? Well, yes, but .....not totally. My mother is French but my father is Tunisian. Ok, so you’re Tunisian? Well, yes, but... not wholly. I don’t speak Arabic, so I don’t totally feel Tunisian. So what are you? American? French? Tunisian? With my work, I ask the …


Unseen, Sohee Kwon Nov 2009

Unseen, Sohee Kwon

Theses and Dissertations

Photography conveys informative data, aesthetic value, and a conceptual message very much like graphic design. In the hands of the photographer, the viewfinder of a camera becomes an editing tool. Editing by point of view, use of color and cropping determines a great deal about the communication made by imagery. In my creative project, I will explore photography as a means to generate form, concept, and content. As a result of this exploration, I expect to find new ways of approaching graphic design problems. My goal is to develop themes that combine aspects of photography and graphic design. Themes could …


A Sense Of Place: A Personal Exploration, Analysis And Re-Interpretation Of Diverse Places, Hyejin Park Aug 2009

A Sense Of Place: A Personal Exploration, Analysis And Re-Interpretation Of Diverse Places, Hyejin Park

Theses and Dissertations

Every city/place has unique, distinctive qualities. Individuals acquire a sense of place in accordance with their own experiences and perspectives, which may not be the same as the experiences and viewpoints of another person. In this project, I explore, analyze, and re-interpret three places that have creatively and emotionally influenced me and remained in my memory: Times Square, New York City; Insadong, Seoul, South Korea; and Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia. To comprehend and draw a sense of place, I observe, feel, and document the characteristics of each place through different methods and processes, based on my own experiences. In addition, …


Mobile Exhibition System, Sanford Jillian Columbus Aug 2009

Mobile Exhibition System, Sanford Jillian Columbus

Theses and Dissertations

Through the development and design of a Mobile Exhibition System (MES) in this thesis, I will demonstrate the benefits and possibilities of a flexible and mobile system within an exhibition environment. A flexible system will be able to adapt to a wide range of content, while at the same time, maintaining a synergy between its form and function. By the reuse and reappropriation of shipping containers as the exhibition envelope, the goal of mobility can be achieved, reaching out to those who might not otherwise experience learning through an exhibition environment.


Design By Accident, Mengfu Zhang Aug 2009

Design By Accident, Mengfu Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Accident is a metaphor for life. From an arbitrary point in time, we potentially preview the entirety of existence. There is a Chinese idiom called “ blessing or bane,” which implies that a misfortune may perhaps soon turn into a blessing. Focusing on accident as a design method implies making the best out of a bad situation. An accident reveals invisible circumstances and potentialities in the world, both familiar and unfamiliar. Looking into the unpredictable world, I can begin to release my control, take a breath, and see what might happen if I do not fight the situation. I am …


Crafting Authenticity, Allison N. Schumacher Jul 2009

Crafting Authenticity, Allison N. Schumacher

Theses and Dissertations

Authenticity is what we want from the world around us, from others, and crucially from ourselves and what we make. As it relates to graphic design, I define authenticity as a perceived match between form and purpose. For the designer, its quality is found in the process of simultaneously developing a concept and crafting the design/object.


Creative Insubordination, John Henry Blatter May 2009

Creative Insubordination, John Henry Blatter

Theses and Dissertations

In today’s lexicon a ‘Daily Constitutional’ usually refers to a daily walk. But in actuality, a ‘Daily Constitutional’ is something that one does on a daily basis that is beneficial to one’s constitution or healthful(1); and one’s constitution being the aggregate of a person’s physical and psychological characteristics(2). With this definition, the daily constitutional refers to any daily activity that improves a person’s physical or mental health. At various stages in my life I may have understood my constitutional to be any number of things and it was not until I came into my own did I truly discover my …


The Certainty Of Uncertainty, Julie Nagle May 2009

The Certainty Of Uncertainty, Julie Nagle

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I investigate the limitations of memory, physical and psychological effects on individuals’ perception that effect memory, and the impact of those limitations on our ability to recall objective truth. The paper is introduced with an explanation of my interest in the subjective narrative voice in historical accounts and questions the possibility of a completely objective voice. In the first chapter, a fantastical biographical story of the life of Tycho Brahe is used as an example of the difficulty in parsing truth from legend. Descriptions of changes in scientific methods exemplify the uncertainty of scientific fact. I propose …


Collapse, Mia Feuer May 2009

Collapse, Mia Feuer

Theses and Dissertations

Through large sculptural works that are often caricatures of representational objects, my work explores the complicated moments and tangled histories of childhood Jewish schooling in Winnipeg and travels to Israel and Palestine as an adult. My thesis exhibition Collapse, as well as most of my graduate work, examines my investigation through manmade constructions that control and restrict or unite and connect the movement of others. Sculptures about a destroyed bridge’s imagined longing for exotic places, a giant onion serving as a resuscitation mechanism against tear gas or a construction crane to Armageddon are some examples of work that explore the …


A Tlapalizquixochitl Tree, Christopher Mahonski May 2009

A Tlapalizquixochitl Tree, Christopher Mahonski

Theses and Dissertations

This writing was done in correlation to my thesis show, The Void, the Coach and the Future.


On A Saturday, Thoughts And Revelations, Maria Pithara May 2009

On A Saturday, Thoughts And Revelations, Maria Pithara

Theses and Dissertations

A favorite poet, a strange woman on the beach, pictures I love to look at. Back yard voyeurism, some thoughts on portraiture and why I couldn’t be a photographer. Strange rituals that make sense. Unexpected revelations. Two kinds of light. This essay presents part of the constellation of thoughts, images and ideas that have informed my most recent video installation, Saturday.


Nature Calls, Angela White May 2009

Nature Calls, Angela White

Theses and Dissertations

I am wandering wonderingly through the unplanned material atmosphere shaped by differences in temperature and moisture. The chaotic nature of weather phenomena is the catalyst for visual exploration of the subterranean catacombs of reality. The work is metaphor of nature and its creation of form and substance. Observing art and nature: I am allowing nature to be the instigator of art.


Lollipop, Don't Be A Hero, Jennida Chase May 2009

Lollipop, Don't Be A Hero, Jennida Chase

Theses and Dissertations

Lollipop, Don’t Be a Hero explores the conceptual and visual themes that are presented in my MFA thesis exhibition. This thesis recounts the development of my work during the two years of graduate study at the VCU Photography and Film Department. The research looks into historical and contemporary ideas within art, social and philosophical commentary and literature, which influence my creative process and aesthetic. This work investigates the idea of giving a voice to a specific section of the working class.


The Ambassador's Residence At 909 West Franklin, Jonathan Janis May 2009

The Ambassador's Residence At 909 West Franklin, Jonathan Janis

Theses and Dissertations

In redesigning the century old Scott House into a modern Class IV residence of an US Ambassador, his/her family, and staff the concepts of transparency, circulation, and materiality and the ideas of openness and design as a display of national identity are explored.


Hotel + Urban Community Interwoven, Cilvia Jones May 2009

Hotel + Urban Community Interwoven, Cilvia Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Infusion is a gallery hotel that seeks to promote and encourage interaction between the local people of the community and traveling guests. More than just a hotel for rest and relaxation, Infusion will display a public gallery making art the universal language for their guests and the locals.


In Pursuit Of Harmony: Calligraphy & Typography, Feifei Fan May 2009

In Pursuit Of Harmony: Calligraphy & Typography, Feifei Fan

Theses and Dissertations

Chinese calligraphy and Western typography have been evolving for around five thousands years. During this time, they have developed quite different characteristics. Compared with the geometrical form and precision of Western printing types, Chinese calligraphy features abstract shapes and spontaneous strokes. These differences result in a gap that prevents a harmonious and organic relationship between them. This project explores the possibilities of combining these two historical visual systems, demonstrates specific methods and approaches for creating compelling formal relationships, and endeavors to establish a friendly, organic and harmonious dialogue between Chinese calligraphy and Western typography. The outcome of this project is …


Vernal, Jason Orvis Dilworth May 2009

Vernal, Jason Orvis Dilworth

Theses and Dissertations

Culminating with a dream, this project transverses theoretical and geographical boundaries with explorations into the message-carrying potential of video, sound, performance, print, and web. Stories and content are extracted from an autobiographical history of one small western town turned boomtown. That town, the center from which the project emerges, is Vernal, Utah.


The Dismissive Actually, Alexander Egner May 2009

The Dismissive Actually, Alexander Egner

Theses and Dissertations

This project is about giving in to the impulse of ideas. My mind is a little messy and cluttered, swirling with bits of stimuli. The spark of an idea happens when the bits collide. I prefer not to initiate or control the process so much as keep it fed and active. Through graphic design, I bear witness to these ideas, giving them form as a series of visible, tangible objects. Viewed comprehensively, the work establishes an ongoing chronicle of my creative life and mind.


Modes Of Participation: Co-Creative Approaches To The Design Process, Carissa Henriques May 2009

Modes Of Participation: Co-Creative Approaches To The Design Process, Carissa Henriques

Theses and Dissertations

This project explores the notion of participation within the graphic design and problem-solving process. Through projects using generative tools and collaboration, I explore ways to instigate controlled participation from designers and non-designers. I observe and document how the methods and means of participation affect the creative process during these projects.