Art and Design Commons^™

The Posers: Instinctual Simulation Across Time, Kathryn Mccarthy

Theses and Dissertations

The Posers is a video about the occlusion of the self in history and in love. This paper explores methods of laminating historical moments with contemporary experience to explore the passage of time and the ongoing marginalization of women.

The Shrine System: Votive Culture And Cult Sculpture, Enshrining Space In 11th To 13th Century France, Kristen N. Racaniello

Theses and Dissertations

Possible relationships between northern and southern French shrines are examined in this paper through case studies of the shrines at Chartres and Conques. The materiality of cult statues and votive objects, the body as performative tool, and institutional motivations are considered for their bearing on the shrine as a system.

Tipping Point, Pang Z. Vang

Theses and Dissertations

What happens to a woman at the tipping point under oppression in a patriarchal society? How does she behave? Pulling from the vagina dentata mythologies, and personal and collective experiences of rape culture, I formed a body of work which problematize the stereotypical narrative of victim/perpetrator. As a visual and conceptual exploration, my work explores the themes of desire, agency/non-agency, and violence [as it manifests within and outside of the body]. Utilizing visual and conceptual quotations from film, pornography and sex toys, these works subvert the exoticized stereotype of the Asian woman as sexual plaything.

For(Years<28), Ricardo A. Contreras Jr

Theses and Dissertations

A life written in code, and code written in prose.

Phantom Nation, Peter J. Hoffmeister Mr.

Theses and Dissertations

Phantom Nation is a sculptural installation consisting of “document-objects,” sculptures created using declassified and leaked U.S. government documents as their source.

Barometric Reading, Su Jung Chang

Theses and Dissertations

Barometric Reading centers on several possibilities of sequential orders of scenes to explore the perception of time, distance, and speed in video.

Theory For A Starving Obese, Ishai Shapira Kalter

Theses and Dissertations

Theory for a Starving Obese (2017) is both a book and an installation. During the years 2015-2017 I began writing Theory for a Starving Obese; a collection of essays and art criticism about exhibitions that took place in white cubes in New York. I was following my dissatisfaction, and hoped to delve deeper into the question “What is Contemporary Art?” At the end of a process, I sent seventeen envelopes to artists who exhibited solo shows in New York and whose works I have criticized. Each envelope consists of one digital drawing (שרבוט, pronounced Shirbut), DVD with the …

Mortality And Artifact, Alexander Perrelli

Theses and Dissertations

Questioning one's death is questioning the invisible. Our innate fear and anxiety mechanisms enable us to navigate crises, yet can ruin us. Minute psychological transitions can spark ingenuity, the key to individual and species survival. But improvisation is uncertain. Our vulnerability defines us. I seek to better understand my fears.

Get Me Out Of Here, Wendy F. Liszt

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis paper Get Me Out of Here discusses paintings I made and presented while preparing to finish the Hunter MFA program in spring 2017.

Between Rock And Breeze, Lena Schmid

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis project consists of a series of works on paper and songs about the collusion of the body and nature. I use a lens that both distorts and makes clearer the ineffable ways our bodies shake their boundaries, moving without us and within us.

Welcome To My Dream – Quasi Queer Fiction, Christian A. Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

Roseate and bodacious, the hand formed surfaces of Christian Rogers' paintings explore gay culture and history though a quasi-fictional lens. While utilizing folk like imagery, Christian depicts dramatic moments of love, lust, sex and violence as he takes us to queer realms.

Light And Space, Lindsay M. Burke

Theses and Dissertations

I make visceral images that are simultaneously elusive and confrontational. They are in dialogue with the historical tradition of figurative painting and drawing, but also aim to subvert those conventions. I want to catch and retain, as long as possible, the attention of my viewer by creating a familiar space that is slowly undermined. In my works the human body is dispersed in space; plants and tree parts are stand-ins for human desires, and gender is assigned to fragments of the body and to objects, then withdrawn.

Hell In Hand: Fear And Hope In The Hellmouths Of The Hours Of Catherine Of Cleves, Stephanie Lish

Theses and Dissertations

This paper is an attempt to investigate how well the borders and miniatures of The Hours of Catherine of Cleves facilitated the method of meditation recommended by Gerard Zerbolt of Zutphen and therefore was a useful tool in Catherine’s search for eternal salvation.

"Hippie Acid Freak Drag Queens:" Situating The Cockettes Within An Art Historical Context, Scott Dow

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis situates the Cockettes – a performance group rarely referenced in art historical discourse - within Bay Area performance art, second-wave feminist art, and the Gay Liberation Movement. Contextualizing the Cockettes within their contemporary art movements provides a new understanding of the group and emphasizes their significance to art history.

The Possibilities Of The Video Game Exhibition, Elizabeth Legere 2762328

Theses and Dissertations

This paper is an examination of video games as an artistic medium, and of their current presentation in art museums like the Museum of Modern Art in New York, as well as an attempt to come up with better modes of presentation for them within a museum space. Using a general understanding of video game theory and aesthetics, it might be possible to begin to look at solutions to the issues posed by current methods of presentation and interpretation, and to examine whether video games’ complicated aesthetic and artistic importance can be better highlighted by a new mode of display …

Nature, Essence And Spirit: An Artistic Process Of Space, Lines And Color From The Level Of Cells To The Large Oceanic Water World, Odra O. Arriaga

Theses and Dissertations

The methods, experimentations, philosophies and influential artists mentioned in this thesis all form part of my artistic exploration and art from the level of cells to the large oceanic water world. As an artist of Fine Arts at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley, my main emphasis is to associate these concepts with my personal experiences, cultural traditions and artistic perspectives with my likes for lines, colors and spaces in what I called, Nature, Essence and Spirit. Furthermore, my artistic approach was mostly influenced by the views of artists such as, Vasily Kandinsky, Frank Stella, Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee, …

Narrative Art And The Portrayal Of Faith And Social Injustice, Raul Cabrera

Theses and Dissertations

The artwork I strive to create infuses what interests me and is important to me all the while taking issues I feel are important to address and incorporating them as well. In the case of the exhibit Spiritual Awakening, the passion of creating narrative imagery in the form of a graphic novel as well as the yearning to express my faith was the vehicle to bring to light many social injustices in the form of criminal activity from murder to corruption. Though these themes have been seen in different aspects in a variety of mediums, rarely have they been conveyed …

I Like America: Painting In The Expanded Field, Isaac Aden

Theses and Dissertations

Using Structuralist theory, Krauss created a Klein group diagram. the diagram included site sculpture, construction, marked sites, and axiomatic structures.Could the same strategy be applied to painting? As I attempted to engage painting from a critical perspective, I formed of a body of work entitled Painting in the Expanded Field.

The Untitled Black Burlesque History Project, Sekiya Dorsett

Theses and Dissertations

The Untitled Black Burlesque History Project is a character driven short documentary featuring Chicava Honeychild, a neo-burlesque1 dancer who is unearthing a hidden Black burlesque history. As Chicava searches for her “stripper grandmas,” she mentors a new generation of burlesque performers who are of women of color. Chicava Honeychild first meeting with Black burlesque Jean Idelle is interwoven with the burlesque journey of Henrietta, Chicava Honeychild’s burlesque student. As Henrietta is honing her burlesque craft in preparation for her first performance, we learn about Jean’s dynamic life as a burlesque dancer in the 1940s and 1950s. Utilizing burlesque as a …

A Window The Color Of Her Sunburn, Joana Stillwell

Theses and Dissertations

I use video and material fragments to investigate the collapse of virtual and physical spaces as memories, lived environments, and digital interfaces become overlaid and interchangeable. I am interested in the capacity for technology to propose alternative strategies in which to engage with the world as we continue to extend ourselves in new and enduring methods. Seemingly unremarkable fragments offer new potentials in questioning meaning, worth, and care within spaces of downtime, boredom, and play.

This document accompanies my thesis exhibition a window the color of her sunburn. It provides background information on selected fragments and residues from my own …

Understanding The Expressive Cartoon Drawings Of A Student With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Michael S. Collins

Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the highly expressive comic drawings of Amy, a child with autism. This study connects larger fields of research: the study of how people with autism spectrum disorder [ASD] process faces and emotions; and, research about artists with ASD. Amy's understanding of emotion was analyzed by asking her to view and identify humans and cartoon characters expressing different emotions. Her ability to illustrate emotion is tested by asking her to respond to various drawing prompts. The study concluded that Amy has difficulty identifying the emotions of humans and cartoons, but she does have the ability to illustrate …

Design For Disassembly - A Circular Approach, Wajiha Pervez

Theses and Dissertations

As the world becomes increasingly aware of the need to better care for the environment, innovative business models are helping to counter the damage of the fast fashion system - a phenomenon in the fashion industry whereby production processes are expedited in order to get new trends to the market as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Designing products with a focus on their renewability can shift the product-consumer relationship. The closed loop concept of a “circular economy” is emerging as a viable and promising solution to the current linear business model.

This study explores the possibilities of a more mindful …

Designing For Divorce: New Rituls And Artifacts For An Evolving World, Yang Soon Ju Ms.

Theses and Dissertations

Our interactions with objects build cultural codes, reflecting lifestyles, values, and identities beyond functional expectations. With open connectivity in the contemporary consumer environments, we have access to homogenized material cultures not only for daily activities but also for ceremonies and rituals to mark important events, such as birth, marriage, and death. What will happen to our cultural codes and diverse traditions when various cultural norms meet, exchange, clash, hybridize, and evolve?

In this research, globalized material cultures were investigated to discover metaphoric comparisons, to formulate conceptual frameworks, and to develop informed design, which can address evolving cultural conditions appropriately, in …

Pebbles Is A Girl That Doesn't Know Anything, Grace A. Kubilius

Theses and Dissertations

I am not quite sure how to be a woman. It’s complicated, contradictory and highly surveilled. I make videos, sculptures and wearable objects that attempt to rationalize my female identity. The body is a sustained fixture in my work: as an armature, as an absent actor for constructed environments, as fragment and as the literal inclusion of my image. It is through these various modes of dis/embodiment that I negotiate the complexities of gendered existence. Crumbling ceramic and paper objects, pieced fabric forms, videos, beauty products, and delicate flowers reference splintered narratives and unwieldy terrains. I consider the idea of …

Lesson Plans Integrating Art With Steam: Providing Students With Universal Education Experience, Karolyn L. Turner

Theses and Dissertations

With funding being cut in public schools, many students are no longer being exposed to the arts. Studies have shown that integrating art with math and science leads to a more successful student. As an alternative to classroom instruction, museum education can be used to not only develop art skills, but can also assimilate those skills into math, science, and engineering. As an intern at the Columbus Museum in Columbus, Georgia, I developed lesson plans for teachers to use in the classroom. Alternatively, students may come to the museum to participate in the activities. The lesson plans will be presented …

Patterns Of Existence: An Analysis Of The Personal Inspirations, Historical Influences, And Motivations, Julianna M. Wells

Theses and Dissertations

For my Honors Alternative to Thesis Project, I proposed to create a solo exhibition of my artwork and research the inspiration behind my paintings. I found that my influences range from the artists of the Dutch Baroque Period to the American Realist artists such as Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer, and Edward Hopper. I explore these ideas because I am fascinated with the mysteries of the natural world. My paintings are contemplations on personal ephemeral moments I experience. My exhibition, paper, and talk highlight the parts of my background that have influenced my artwork, my artist statement, the research I have …

Ineffable: Latency In Symbolic Languages, Sirah Yoo

Theses and Dissertations

The design process demands comprehensive knowledge of visual signs and symbols with a focus on visual literacy; it is related to visual syntax, semantics, and the pragmatics of contexts. My work is an interdisciplinary investigation into how designers integrate polysemantic signs into their design process for particular and highly individualized audiences. By analyzing the role of signs in specific contexts across the spectrum of arts, society, literature, and semiotics, a designer's understanding of the cyclical nature of interpretation and reinterpretation in complex environments creates an avenue for cultivating a new schema that provides further levels of interpretations and different access …

Your Turn, Doctor, Leyla Mozayen

Theses and Dissertations

Between incurably degenerative illness and the graffiti which ignited the Syrian Civil War, YOUR TURN, DOCTOR complicates hope. When myths of revolution, of wellness, no longer console—love as measured in anything but loss. Within a multidisciplinary project how an increasingly painful embodiment intersects the material excess of capitalism is explored. Can objects function as a political demand, necessitating changes in the way the world is ordered? Who for? To understand one kind of oppression in necessary sterility and another in marginalization so profound blindness can result. That is to ask, how long must one be told they do not see …

Skinface, Islam Shehab

Theses and Dissertations

Throughout history, skin manipulation was primarily practiced for cultural, tribal, or religious purposes. In the contemporary landscape, skin manipulation has been objectified and commercialized. This is exemplified through bio-upholstery, foreign materials under our skin and changing the skin structure.

This thesis investigates skin manipulation, with the intent to focus experimentation on the skin’s lines of cleavage, a topographical map drawn on our skin and used to define the direction where skin has the most and least flexibility. The aim is to connect and explore materials that can be used as a second skin, while at the same time examining and …

Synergy: Game Design + Qur'an Memorization, Sultana Jesmine Moulana

Theses and Dissertations

The rise of digital technology has transformed nearly every part of our daily lives, including the way we learn and memorize. Such transformations raise interesting questions for one of the most long-standing and demanding memorization tasks in the world: the memorization of the Islamic holy book, The Qur’an. For Muslims, The Qur’an is a timeless, sacred text, cradling within its covers many profound images, stories, and parables. Despite rigorous research in the fields of game design and memorization techniques, very little work has been done in combining these two areas of research to create a game-based memorization experience of The …