Art and Design Commons^™

Women's Work: The Sublime Is Now, Michelle Blackstone

MFA in Visual Arts Theses

What influences the lens through which we view art and the value we ascribe to it? This paper investigates the ways in which the historically gendered philosophy of “The Sublime,” a lack of institutional access, and traditionally gendered materials have acted as impediments for women in the arts. Discussion is given to the ways that masculine rhetoric in terms of “The Sublime” prevented women from attaining what was once considered the highest level of artistic achievement. Further attention is given to obstructions female artists face(d) in terms of gaining intuitional access within the art world. Finally, I examine the ways …

Future Trash, Xinan Ran

Theses and Dissertations

Xinan Ran explores the politically different, yet similar cultural habits that China and the US share under the influence of late-stage capitalism. Through her handmade, speculative products inspired by novelty gadgets, or “Unitaskers,” she examines the heightened prevalence of the contemporary wellness market. The project “Future Trash” encompasses soft sculptures, printed materials, performance, and installation.

Seam/Seem; Exploring Material, Craft And Embodiment Through Textile Sculpture, Heather Baumbach

MFA in Visual Arts Theses

I will argue that transforming textile materials from their origin as planate fiber, and manipulating shape and form through the employment of traditional craft techniques creates soft sculptures imbued with references to the human body. By highlighting the connections between the poetics of textiles and those of skin and the body, I examine themes of feminism, domesticity and labor encouraging speculation about intimacy, fragility, and embodiment.

Conceal Reveal, Jacquelyn A. Bolton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My work is rooted in the human condition expressed through the materiality of textile and fiber arts and its connection to spirituality. The human condition, as I understand it, is the state of being a person complete with a mind, body, and spirit. This includes all the experiences a person encounters in life—birth, growth, aging, conflict, love, loss, grief, injury, relationships, trauma, rejection, joy, acceptance, and so on. The human condition answers the question: What does it mean to be a person? We are in flux. This ever-changing aspect of “being” is captured in the inherent qualities that are found …

My Sitayana: Sewing Seeds Of Empowerment, Dhea Kothari

Honors Theses

This thesis is an exploration of sculpture and installation. My project depicts a narrative of generational emancipation of women. The narrative was inspired by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel, ‘Forest of Enchantments,’ in which she rewrites the ‘Ramayana’ with Sita, the female character, as the protagonist instead. The Ramayana is a popular Hindu mythological story that revolves around Prince Rama’s quest to rescue his wife Sita from the perils of the villain Raavana. This story encapsulates the undertones of the patriarchal culture in India. This My thesis installation stands as a symbol of generational transformation of love and what it means …

A Parar Para Avanzar: To Stop/To Stand/To Strike To Advance, Christina N. Barrera

Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents the first fragments of a political framework outlining how I situate my work, which lives between “craft” and “art” models of making and between colonized and colonizing traditions. My writing proposes ways of making and being informed by practices, strategies, and organizing that work towards greater autonomy and liberation under these conditions.

Through The Eye Of The Needle: Embroidery As A Tool For Intimacy, Feminism, And Activism, Kristin D. Howell

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the work of contemporary women artists who utilize embroidery as their primary medium. The careful execution of each artwork, whether created by career artists or amateur participants in artist-led projects, simultaneously engages with the legacy of the embroidery arts and explores new strategies of expression.

Until Its Calmness Can Claim You, Gabrielle Mchugh

Theses and Dissertations

This is an invitation to pause //

This is an externalization of my inner landscape, a highlight of what I value in my everyday and what comprises my lexicon of a sacred space. The following is a journey of nets, quiet, the sacred, space, and the in-between; where I share research and questions that are the foundation for my thesis work, Until Its calmness can claim you.

// This is an invitation to find moments of quiet in the noise

Contemporary Handicraft, Textile Art, And Feminist Social Critique, Kaitlynn Blow

Honors Theses

My thesis looks at the work of female contemporary artists who use what has historically been considered “women’s craft” such as embroidery, knitting, stitching and other various textile arts. Since the Women’s Art Movement of the 1970s, women have used these creative outlets to express discontent and injustice in their lives revolving around gender and identity. In my research, three main themes emerged as addressed in each chapter. The first theme addresses the topic of domesticity and memory including unseen female labor, such as domestic chores and motherhood, and how fabric holds memories. Chapter two covers gender politics- specifically the …

Good Grief, Madeleine Pearl Buzbee

Senior Projects Spring 2020

“Good Grief” is a memorial project that began with the loss of my childhood best friend, Camille Sdao (1998-2019). She was a light.

Grief is a thing that is carried, compartmentalized, expanded, forgotten, and remembered. Grief is nothing and everything at the same time. Grief explodes, lingers, leaves and returns again. Grief is blue. I know this because Louise Bourgeois, Maggie Nelson, Taryn Simon, the Pacific Ocean, my tears, the sky, my mother, and my grandmother have taught me this. Loss means wading in deep waters for a long time and you must build a boat to stay afloat.

Consumed …

Loop, Lap, Leap, Hannah Schutzengel

Theses and Dissertations

My paintings use slow, subtle gestures to create experiences of quiet emotion: casual warmth and comfort, playfulness, ease. My focus is the irregularity of a poured liquid; the slow release of an ironed crease; the push and pull of care against things drooping apart.

Qipao And Female Fashion In Republican China And Shanghai (1912-1937): The Discovery And Expression Of Individuality, Qingxuan Han

Senior Projects Fall 2019

This project is an attempt to understand the Chinese dress qipao in Republican China, with a primary concentration in Shanghai, and its associations with body politics, urbanscape, modernity, personal and national identity, and sociocultural practices. In particular, I argue that qipao, amongst other fashions of Republican China, had been one of the earliest examples of the modern expression of individuality through fashion in China; I strive to discover how this practice was enabled by its contemporary social environment as well as technological advancements.

Public Health Implications Of Retailer Resale Of Returned Textile Clothing Merchandise, Antonette M. A. Francis-Shearer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Historically, 18th century anecdotal accounts of the decimation of several tribes of U.S. of the Native American population by trading of infected textile blankets alludes to the role of retail in the transmission of infectious disease. This study explores implications of the modern day retail organization practice of reselling returned clothing textiles from a public health infectious disease perspective. A qualitative multi-case study, utilized responses from 20 open-ended, unstructured interviews of retail employees assigned to the returns process. Additionally, several informal observations of select U.S.based, top-ranked clothing retail organizations, identified by the National Retail Federation were completed. Select federal, state, …

Tracing Patterns: Making Sense Of Experience, Isabelle Davis

Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers

In my life, I have developed several practices in attempt to preserve my memories in a way that I can relive them, knowing exactly how I felt at the time. Two of these practices are the practice of frequently journaling, and the practice of keeping objects for their sentimental value. For my thesis, I used journal entries and sentimental objects as a starting point for creating a metaphor for how I process emotions in my life. I created a quilt out of 36 excerpts of journal entries from throughout college to symbolize the way it is comforting to me to …

Creating A Textile Museum Exhibit: Conservation And Accessibility, Kelly M. Lorenz

Honors Theses

This twofold study engages a collection of early-to-mid-20th century Levantine textiles held by the Institute of Archaeology and Siegfried H. Horn Museum. The first part of the study involves identifying the risks of physical deterioration posed to the collection and then providing a proposal for the storage and display of these artifacts. Keeping the museum's means in mind, the storage plan emphasizes preventive conservation, focusing on minimizing risks wherever possible to keep damage from happening in the first place. The second part provides written interpretive material for the display that informs visitors of the textiles' geographic, physical, and cultural origins.

Adornment And Modesty A Symbiotic Relationship Between Surface Design And Social Behavior, Hawa Stwodah

Theses and Dissertations

The impulse to beautifying clothing through acts of adornments or embellishments is an innate characteristic of humans. The added decorative details are used for identification and visual communication by the wearer and comprehension and visual appreciation by the viewer.

This thesis investigates the recent attention to female modesty, labeled as the Modesty Movement--the community that has developed around the apparel segment of the Movement and the framework of the behavior encompassing the participants within Movement. Additionally, the thesis focuses on adornment through the lens of textile/surface design (embellishment) specific to the Greater Middle East and the northern provinces of India …

Jacobean Textile Design: Surviving (And Thriving) Through The Test Of Time, Janis L. Wild

Senior Theses

Jacobean textile design sprang from the Tree of Life motif, an ancient design that carried religious symbolism for many early cultures. It represented a greater power and as such could provide protection and even fertility.

When trade routes opened up between the East and West in the early 17^th century, Europeans were eager for items made in the East and in particular for textiles from India embellished with The Tree of Life. This increase in trade provided a booming time for commerce.

During the reign of James I in the early 1600’s, the English designers added their own creative …

Bounded Surface, Emilie Sayward Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between surface, perception, and structure has occupied my graduate studies. Locating, transforming, and transcending the surface requires play with perceptive abilities not only of vision, but of touch, hearing, and the other senses as well. How do the interactions of sense with the qualities of a surface determine our perception of the world? What role does the extension of the senses play in one's ability to perceive surface and structure? Using sense information gleaned from surfaces, the tectonics of our world are made visible. Might this relationship be played backwards as well? Composed structures produce surfaces upon which …

Innate, Kiara Pelissier

Theses and Dissertations

I often think of life as a tight rope stretching across an expanse. Our inner strength enables us to walk forward across it. When this fails us, we fall. But in those moments when we prevail, we soar and float as though weightless and timeless. As a gymnast I learned that control of one's insecurities results in a powerful and balanced presence of body. Give into them and the body becomes uncertain and clumsy. Rarely is life this transparent. Many forms of tension manifest themselves in physical, spiritual, and emotional unrest. How does the physical contour of the skin reflect …