Art and Design Commons^™

The Met Costume Institute: Evolution, Metamorphosis, And Cultural Phenomenon, Shelby Kanski

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Seen And Unseen, The Milspouse Project, Michelle Henning

Senior Honors Projects

MICHELLE HENNING (Art)

Seen and Unseen, The MilSpouse Project

Sponsor: Lilla Samson (Art and Art History, Emerita)

I was a military spouse for 20 years. To honor this closing chapter of my life, I developed a project to interview and paint several military friends. My intention was to create a theme of the overlooked, often unseen, spouse. This is not absolute, and it is not to detract from the service of the soldier; but Military Spouses are often misunderstood or mis-represented. I hope to celebrate the inspiring people that form the group known as "MilSpouses". For that reason, I interviewed …

East Of Adams, Autumn Walter

Senior Honors Projects

East of Adams is a photography project that explores the conservationist messaging ofAnsel Adams’s historical work and translates this work into shooting the Acadia National Park in Maine. Adams is well known for his documentation of our national parks in the western United States during the 1930s and 1940s. Armed with his large format camera he created his images in order to speak to the importance of conserving the natural beauty ofAmerica’s unique wild lands. Inspired by Adams’s drive to use photography in order tomotivate conservation, East of Adams will focus on similar goals within the Eastern United States at …

An Examination Of Non-Traditional Bridal Wear And Its Primary Consumer, Erica Thalmann, Kristina Dimaria

Senior Honors Projects

Bridal wear has traditionally been viewed as big white dresses. But as times change, so do brides’ preferences for bridal wear. Jumpsuits, rompers, short dresses, and other “non-traditional” choices are experiencing an increased demand in the market. Unfortunately, brides who seek these options are often not met with a promising assortment. This study examined primary consumers of non-traditional bridal wear. Specifically, we sought to find out whether women who belong to the LGBTQ community choose to consume more non-traditional bridal wear compared to heterosexual brides. The study also examined through which channels (e.g., online, in store, etc.) consumers predominantly purchase …

Elevating The Environment Through Artistic Expression, Becky Gumbrewicz

Senior Honors Projects

REBECCA GUMBREWICZ (Environmental Science and Management)

Elevating the Environment Through Artistic Expression

Sponsor: Judith Swift (Communication Studies, Coastal Institute)

Currently there are multiple areas of environmental concern that require not only scientific research but increased public awareness in order to motivate further action toward preservation of our environment or remediation of human impacts. To promote a broader perspective of the most effective ways to communicate science, this project offers the culmination of an environmentally-focused art showcase of student interpretations of science that one could posit elevated public perception of the environment. An integral part of conducting research is understanding how …

From Eye Sore To Eye Catching: Improving Function And Appeal Of Campus Spaces, Katherine E. Gorham

Senior Honors Projects

An interior space has a lot of power over an individual. It can dictate one’s mood, efficiency, confidence, and more. Most people can recall a time when a room had a negative effect on their mindset and productivity level due to its lack of color, light, or comfort. A functional, well lit, warm space makes for an uplifting and motivating work environment. Throughout my college career, I have encountered several spaces across the University of Rhode Island campus that aren’t the most visually appealing, comfortable, or inspiring, yet they still have plenty of potential. The goal of my project was …

A Girl's Guide To Nail Art, Emma Rohnstock

Senior Honors Projects

Nail art has led me to be more creative in my life and helped me find my passions of film, photography, and art. I started sharing my nail art through an online blog, but wanted to formalize my interest through a book and possibly a publication in the future. By making this book, I wanted children who read it to learn a new skill and find inspiration in each technique. Nail art has allowed me to express myself and discover my creativity, so I hope this book will allow a younger audience to do the same. I wanted to share …

Theatrical Scenic Design: Creating And Presenting A Professional Portfolio, Isabella Pellino

Senior Honors Projects

The Kennedy Center for the American College Theatre Festival is a regional and national conference where students can compete against other students with their Acting, Directing, Stage Management, and Design skills. Students present scenes, participate in workshops, and present their designs from shows their universities produced in that year. I attended this year’s “KCACTF Region 1:New England” festival from January 30th to February 4th (having been selected to present in the Design Technology Exhibition) and presented a scenic design I created for the URI Theatre production of Body Awareness in April of 2017.

Theatre is a fast-paced industry, and artists …

Designing Towards A Dream, Danielle Alexys Williams

Senior Honors Projects

Fashion has been a part of the world since the beginning of time and will continue to advance. From the Victorian Era and cage crinoline skirts, to contemporary time and casual clothing, styles have come and gone. As a textiles, fashion merchandising and design major, my goal is to continue this process that allows people to de ne themselves every day. is lead to the project: Designing Towards a Dream.

Designing Towards a Dream was created to advance my skills in the design aspect of fashion. During the rst semester research was completed to investigate the relationship between women and …

Bilingualism And The American Family, Caitlin M. Nickerson

Senior Honors Projects

Bilingualism is the ability to speak more than one language fluently. People of all ages may aspire to learn a second or third language in order to fulfill both personal goals and communicate with a variety of people in different contexts. Irrespective of one’s walk of life or socioeconomic status, being bilingual is a valuable skill. Although English is the language of power in the United States, there are hundreds of other languages spoken in this country.

There are a number of different ways in which children can become bilingual. For example, they may enter the school system speaking the …

Creative Nonnatives: Painting Invasive Insects Of The United States, Monica Tynan

Senior Honors Projects

An invasive species is a nonnative organism that may cause damage to an ecosystem. Invasive species cause problems in an environment by outcompeting native organisms for resources or by feeding upon native species. Invasive insects in particular can harm an ecosystem by consuming foliage and decreasing biodiversity. During my experience at the Preisser Lab at the University of Rhode Island, I witnessed rsthand the damage that invasive insects can do to a tree population, and I learned about how ecosystem dynamics can be disrupted by the introduction of a nonnative species.

My project portrays an aesthetically pleasing visualization of several …

Bleeding Ink: Creativity In Grief For Resilience, Gabriel E. Sayre

Senior Honors Projects

A venomous void pierces the present.

Emanating from the past, echoing to the future.

Seething sensations burrowing beneath the bone.

Seek a road, to not corrode.

Scribe or scribble, Scavenge salvation.

Settle cement of a new foundation.

Faceless fears fading,

weakening woes waning,

mending mentality.

Internally Inspired.

Transformation Transpired.

Project Anonymous: When Anonymity Meets Artwork, Robert J. Riglietti

Senior Honors Projects

In an attempt to build a new type of even playing field for artists, Kira Wencek and I developed an anonymous art sharing web app under the moniker of Project Anonymous. In an attempt to mitigate the drawbacks of current online avenues for creative content sharing, the app addresses privacy issues, visibility issues, and external artist influence. As the theorist of the group, using research from Manuel Castelles, Danah Boyd, and Jaron Lanier, I assisted in shaping the functionality and oversaw the general direction of the application. This assisted me in theorizing the hypothetical outcomes and social impacts that the …

Alternative Process Photography: Beyond Digital And Film, Laura Michaud

Senior Honors Projects

The first permanent photograph was created in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce. To do this, he coated light sensitive chemicals on a metal plate and exposed it in a camera obscura (a box with a small hole; a “pinhole camera”). Once the plate was properly exposed to light, he used more chemicals to stop the plate from being light sensitive and make the image permanent on the plate. Throughout the years, many photographers and chemists used many different chemicals, materials, and procedures to create permanent and beautiful images (i.e. Daguerreotypes, Calotypes, Heliographs, etc). With each new process, the previous processes …

Nasty People: An Illustrated Guide To Understanding Sex, Sophia Weaver

Senior Honors Projects

Sex made me and it probably made you too, but for many of us sex remains a mystery for our entire lives. I see sexual images every day, but I rarely hear it discussed openly or factually. This is problematic. If most people are having sex and most people have a lot of misinformation about it, STDs, unwanted pregnancies and even sexual assaults are much more likely. Research suggests that increased (and well developed) sex ed. can reduce all of the possible negative outcomes of sexual misinformation. My observations of everyday life and my research in academia have given me …

The World Of The Cat's Table: Literature Through Production Design Analysis, Andrea J. Johnson

Senior Honors Projects

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje is a rich piece of literature that has a diverse set of characters confined to one pivotal location, a ship. Just as the novel builds a world around its characters, in this project I attempted to build a space around immersive design choices.

Production Design is a visual response to analytic reading. By taking a written piece or concept and creating the physical/visual atmosphere for the work, a production designer’s job is to create the overall look and tone of a creative production, be it for a film, play, or museum space. This is …

Illustrations Of Child Anxiety, Erica G. O'Connell

Senior Honors Projects

I have found through my experience at The University of Rhode Island that two things are lacking; attention to the arts, and conversation about mental illness. Books are not only used as an educational tool for literacy among children but also as a way to introduce challenging topics. Combining my two majors, Art and Psychology, I aimed to create a real life tool that exposes children to the topic of mental health. The targeted age group for this book is between 4 through 6 years. By introducing this conversation to children at an appropriate level of learning, my hope is …

Walking Alone At Night, Amanda L. Grattan

Senior Honors Projects

One in four women face sexual abuse before the age of eighteen. One in five women are survivors of rape. With college campus rape allegations coming forward and being reported in mainstream and social media, the conversation about sexual assault and rape is extremely relevant and college students are taking a stand.

Emma Sulkowicz, a senior at Colombia University, took a firm stand when she developed a performance piece where she carried around the dorm room mattress, which she was raped on. Her story made it’s way to the mainstream media, including the cover of …

Reimagining The Silver Screen: Contemporary Film Stills, Kyle Demartino

Senior Honors Projects

During the late 19^th century longer rolls of celluloid photographic film, and motion picture cameras were first introduced, which allowed for the capture of rapid sequences of still images at a relatively high speeds. The first films shown to audiences on a larger screen, although rudimentary, caused people to gasp or run from the cinema, as they believed the images on screen were real. As technology increased feature films progressed from only showing a simple static event to creating full stories spanning over various sets and containing multiple characters. With the advent of sound, filmmakers were given another tool …

Moss Mural, Chelsea Fredrikson

Senior Honors Projects

Moss Mural: Bridging the Arts and Sciences

Chelsea Fredrikson

Major: Fine Arts

Advisor: Robert Dilworth

Advisor Department: Fine Arts

Date 5-2012

Abstract

When we are young, in elementary school, we are encouraged to learn subjects together. Fine arts, science, math, and literature all work as one, and overlap to teach us valuable lessons and tools we can use as we grow. But as we become older school systems segregate subjects, forcing students to chose a direction. Do I have a creative mind, or a logical mind?

As an art student I’ve tried over the course of my college …

Classic Tailoring For Women's Wear, Michelle Mccarthy

Senior Honors Projects

A well-tailored jacket is considered to be a staple item in a working-woman’s wardrobe. Generally characterized as a garment with notched collar and lapels and a lining, these “tailored” garments are expected to fit appropriately and be constructed to a high level of quality. Classic tailoring, also known as bespoke tailoring in the UK, refers to the methods and techniques used to build a completely original and unique suit for your client.

For this project, each of my clients are members of my family: my younger cousin, myself, my mother, and my grandmother. Presenting four generations in my family, I …

The Fabrication Of Gender: Concept To Catwalk, Emily J. Pascoe

Senior Honors Projects

Gender, as I have come to understand it, is a vast, variable and personal response to one’s society and culture. As an interpretation of one’s biological sex it is a prominent aspect in our lives. Because of this prominence, attributes of gender are revealed in many forms. In relevance to fashion gender is manifested visually. Traits of femininity, androgyny and masculinity are rendered in dress and appearance.

I have portrayed these traits by using editorial fashion images to create a visual gender continuum. Using images from a compilation of current fashion magazines, whose target consumers are either men or women, …

Aids Art: Activism On Canvas, Lucy Sumners

Senior Honors Projects

Protest art is all around us. Whether we realize it or not, we are influenced by the political, social, or cultural messages that are within the artworks. I have always been interested in the effects of disease on a population and disease has had an effect on artists and the artworks that they produce throughout the ages. Today, AIDS has affected almost every single person on this planet and is a topic that enters political debates, affects the social constructs of society and carries many negative cultural connotations. AIDS first stormed through the United States in the early 1980s affecting …

From Script To Stage: A Costume Designer’S Perspective, Laura M. Gifford

Senior Honors Projects

In the process of designing the costumes for a show, it is important to understand the psyche of each of the characters. The completion of thorough research can give valuable insight into the characters, as well as details of the setting of the play. A designer then takes this information, in the form of photographs, journals, period documents, and modern analysis and combines it to achieve a unified vision of the play’s environment. They must then work with the director and other designers to present this vision to the audience. This semester, I had the opportunity to explore this process …

The Concept And Use Of Beauty Within The Church, Patrick Greene

Senior Honors Projects

An empty room with a table at one end and some chairs facing this table hardly sounds like a church. And if a room similar to this were to be used for a church there would doubtless be decorations brought in, altar cloths, candles and a cross or crucifix. It seems to be that the employment of beauty within church services may be more than just a common element of a church service. Through my senior project I plan to come to a better understanding of how and why beauty is used within church services. I plan on looking at …

Biolojam – The Educational Comic, Stacey Barrie

Senior Honors Projects

BioloJam is a biology comic aimed towards 7th and 8th grade students. The goal of the project was to create an educational resource that students would find entertaining and enlightening. The project is available on the web and is free to use for educational purposes by teachers, students, and parents. There are two comics: the larger, more complicated “Cell Breakout” and the smaller, more conversational “Giraffic Park.” In Cell Breakout, the three heroes are trapped inside a video game in a plant cell, and learn all about cell functions as they try to escape. In Giraffic Park, the trio are …

Mirror Of Culture: The Study Of A Nineteenth-Century Sewing Diary, Elizabeth M. Dellabadia

Senior Honors Projects

Hidden inside the library of the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts is wonderful resource for the study of late nineteenth-century America. When Ann Eliza Cunningham was middle aged, she compiled a sewing diary that included scraps of material from dresses she wore or China trade fabrics brought home by her father. Ann Eliza not only included assorted swatches; but she associated the fabrics with different events in her life. She includes swatches from dresses she wore on her wedding day in 1856, for Thanksgiving, and for various family celebrations like birthday parties. Similar to the work of a …

Donde Habite El Olvido (Reflected In The Photograph), Michaela Mccaughey

Senior Honors Projects

The concept of place, so intangible and yet embedded in all, remains a complicated and debated philosophical topic. What is place? Why are we drawn to certain places and averse to others? Why does a sense of home continue to feel so necessary to us – when there we are nurtured by it and when separated we long for it. Art works, places in themselves, provoke similar questions in us. We are drawn to certain works of art; they signify something to us in their being-in-the-world. Their place matters to us. Art is a place you can return (home) to. …