Art and Design Commons^™

Damned Ol' Dirt, Molly Morningglory

All Theses

damned ol’ dirt centers mindfulness and embodiment practices to foster relationships with the self, each other, and the land. These relationships intend to collectively imagine and then build an emotionally and environmentally sustainable and joyful future. My practice foregrounds clay with digital video, photography, and fabric dyeing, recording the imprint of performance. I use my hereditary understanding of clay and fibers, a trained attunement to the natural world, and my background of performance in craft (via demonstration of tactile techniques) to transfer knowledge and skill to the viewer. Through the creation of tableaus and documents of rituals based in materiality, …

The Mvohc Project, Brooke Day

All Theses

ABSTRACT

A Mvohc is a Morphic Vessel of Human Consciousness. The Mvohc Project traverses' theories of spatial identity in tandem with creative world-building as a method for examining the intricacies of the human condition and reimagining reality. My creations are designed to promote autonomy over the contemporary world's ever-evolving societal complexities to empower individuals, foster imagination and communication, and create space for positive change. This body of work incorporates fleshy biomorphic sculptures inspired by science fiction, deep-sea marine life, and the human body. The abject creatures are partnered with constructed audio-scapes that encompass the frenzy of an overarching internal monologue, …

Covid-19 Masks In Terms Of Functional, Expressive, And Aesthetic Consumer Needs, Lily Highley

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this study was to assess consumers' perspectives of COVID-19 masks under the functional, expressive, and aesthetic areas. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, masks have become an “accessory” to everyday life, and it was essential to research masks under these unique areas and explore consumer perceptions.

This study took place after background research on the topic and the FEA model. The study included a survey sent to Bumpers College students upon approval from the IRB. The data was analyzed and interpreted specifically in the FEA areas and can be useful to better understand the students at the University …

Artist Talk With Kelly Church, Kruizenga Art Museum, Lisa Barney

Kruizenga Art Museum Posters

A poster for the 2021-2022 Armstrong Lecture given by artist Kelly Church on Thursday, October 28, 2021, related to the exhibition Native American Art: Recent Acquisitions from the Kruizenga Art Museum. The exhibition was held September 10–December 11, 2021.

Humanizing The Brutalist Interior: Inspiration. Collaboration. Transformation, Leslie Saul

UMassBRUT Community

This talk covers the process behind the design of the fabric and textiles that were added to UMass Dartmouth's iconic Claire T. Carney Library during a $48 million dollar renovation of the Paul Rudolph building, completed in 2012. Interior Designer, Leslie Saul, describes how she drew inspiration from both UMass Dartmouth's genesis as a textile college and Rudolph’s original color palette to create eye-catching interior furniture and carpets in order to humanize this particular Brutalist interior.

The Hoods Of The Three Senior Doctorates At Edinburgh, Nicholas Groves

Transactions of the Burgon Society

The article tracks changes to the hoods of Doctor of Divinity, Doctor of Laws, and Doctor of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh from various sources from 1843 to 1970 in a chart with illustrations.

In Memoriam: Robin L. D. Rees, Nicholas Groves

Transactions of the Burgon Society

Obituary of Robin L. D. Rees, 1946–2021. He was a Fellow of the Society and designed the hoods of the Institute of Physics and for the Archbishop’s Certificate in Church Music.

Editor’S Note, Stephen Wolgast

Transactions of the Burgon Society

No abstract provided.

Cap And Gown? Use Of Headgear At Graduation In Uk Universities In The Twenty-First Century, Martin J. Hardcastle

Transactions of the Burgon Society

Academic headwear, partticularly in the form of the square cap or mortar-board, is perhaps the most widely recognised symbol of educational achievement in the world. This article surveys the current practice of wearing academic caps of all types at graduation ceremonies in UK universities, to understand whether there are common factors in the use or disuse of headwear, and thus tentatively to explain the wide variation in practice that is seen in the twenty-first century.

The Evolution Of Undergraduate Academic Dress At The University Of Cambridge And Its Constituent Colleges, Brian M. Newman

Transactions of the Burgon Society

This paper charts the development of the distinctive academic costume worn by undergraduate members of England’s second oldest university, Cambridge. It follows the evolution in undergraduate academic dress from differentiation based upon social class and wealth (and regulated as such by the University) to one of differentiation, in most historical cases at least, by the college of which undergraduates are members, about which the University’s only current stipulation is that gowns should be knee-length.

Primary Source: Examining Official Dress In Universities In Aotearoa New Zealand, Scott Pilkington

Transactions of the Burgon Society

No abstract provided.

‘Different Forms Of Gowns For All Sorts Of Scholars In Their Several Ranks’: Academic Undress At Oxford In 1635, Alex Kerr

Transactions of the Burgon Society

This is a study of a one-page manuscript in the Oxford University Archives with the title ‘Different Forms of Gowns for All Sorts of Scholars in their Several Ranks’, dated June 1635. It was clearly written in connection with the Laudian Code of statutes, which was drafted in 1634 and adopted in 1636. The Code included regulations on university dress and its use at Oxford that would remain in force for 134 years. The document gives a concise specification for Oxford gowns at a time when other written records providing such detail are lacking and pictorial evidence is sparse. This …

A Grave Decent Gown: The 1690 Glasgow Gown Order, Neil K. Dickson

Transactions of the Burgon Society

In 1690 the University of Glasgow ordered gown for two of its officers, the invoice for which is in the University’s archives. This article relies on the document to examine the designs of the gowns in details, to see how they influenced academic dress at the University to the present day, and to understand the political statement they made at the time, when newly appointed officers were seeking to exercise their authority in the context of a changed national political scene.

Reflections Of Designing The Academic Dress Of The University Of Hertfordshire, Bruce Christianson

Transactions of the Burgon Society

Thirty years ago the authors were involved in the design of the academic dress for the new University of Hertfordshire. In this article they reflect upon the process and describe the conversations and discussions that led to the university’s dress for graduates, staff, faculty and officers.

The Hands That Weave Stories, Elanna Hawkins

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

There is a narrative encoded in carpets of Morocco, and I set out with the initial intention to learn how to “read” them—thinking that a Western sense of language is present from the symbols and patterns in the rug. As I progressed in my research and met the skilled women artisans, I realized that I needed to rethink how a story that doesn’t necessarily require a written format can be told to relate to these cultural totems of Morocco. Through in-person experience and online research, I discovered many designs and backgrounds unique to specific regions and areas. Rugs can tell …

The Embroidered Tablecloth: How Locale Influences Eastern European Jewish Textile Production, Elena Solomon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Recent scholarship frames craft as distinct from art and as an encapsulation of cultural expression at a given moment. Building on that framework, this thesis analyzes the shifting attitudes towards the production of handmade textiles among Eastern European Jews in the US in the twentieth century, as influenced by their migration. To demonstrate the textile environment at that time, this thesis examines pre- and post-migration primary sources and autobiographical writing, including Mary Antin’s The Promised Land, supplemented with interviews of first- and second-generation immigrants to Chicago. In contrast with stereotypes about craft as historically stable, defining craft as regional …

The Clothing Left Behind: A Collection Of Stories, Grace Coleman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Beyond its material use, clothing can have powerful emotional effects such as easing grief from personal loss or serving as a memory recall aid for individuals with dementia. It was during my graduate program that I became interested in exploring the idea that clothing can be powerful beyond its aesthetic. Peter Stallybrass’s essay Worn Worlds: Clothes, Mourning and the Life of Things highlighting clothing’s ability to evoke memories and emotions was influential in setting me on my path to research clothing’s connection to memories. Whether it was embodied identity, grief, dementia, mourning rituals, or collective mourning, I was looking at …

Auxetic Structures From 3d Printed Hybrid Textiles, Subin Shajoo, David Schmelzeisen, Christopher Pastore

Kanbar College Faculty Papers

Auxetic structures have been produced using 3D printing and knitted textile materials. A review of other auxetic textiles is presented along with the new materials. A range of configurations were developed, prototyped, and tested to demonstrate significant auxetic response, including Poisson’s ratio up to negative one. The concept of 4D textiles was employed to create environmentally responsive hinges in some structures, allowing the material to change shape in response to thermal stimulus.

Mélange De Motifs: Custom Pattern Designs Inspired By The Interiors, Architecture, And Gardens Of Vaux-Le-Vicomte, Jill Christine Harmon

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

How can a historic precedent be successfully employed to inform modern design? History will always provide a degree of influence in contemporary design. In design, a historic precedent can be the backbone of a creative concept and stands as a relevant and informative aspect throughout the project. The precedent acts as a basis in developing designs with substance and meaning and is a fundamental practice in architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design. Delving into the history of Vaux-le-Vicomte, often referred to as Vaux, provided three relevant aspects which compose the historic precedent for this MFA project. First, the creative initiative …

Mending What’S Invisible, Chaehee Yoon

Masters Theses

A written thesis to accompany the M.F.A. Exhibition Mending What’s Invisible, in which the artist’s personal experiences and memories explore the cultural identities and femininity in Korea and the US. These identities are explored by using traditional Korean motifs, embroidery patterns, and the visual images of the artist's childhood photographs in the projects of “Reconnecting of Nostalgia” and “Mutating”. Also the visual clips of the artist's hometown is demonstrated in the video project “Things I hated” that discusses criticalities of Korean cultures and a sense of nostalgia for childhood in Korea. The project comes out of a personal need to …

The Cunning Little Vixen: A Folktale Illustrated On Stage, Mikayla Reid

Masters Theses

This thesis paper reflects upon the costume design process taken by Mikayla Reid to explore how color choice and application within designs can help create storybook characters off the page and onto the stage. This concept is explored through the costume designs for the opera The Cunning Little Vixen, a production theoretically staged at the Alice Busch Opera Theater for the Glimmerglass Festival in New York. The paper discusses Reid’s attempt to create designs that still feel like watercolor illustrations, even when realized in physical garments. It follows her process as she tests different dye techniques in search for what …

Accumulations Of (Not) Doing, Richenda Cope

Masters Theses

As I encounter life during a global pandemic, caused by a virus that has us all homebound, I continue my own struggle with a different virus that keeps me not only homebound, but bed bound as well. In this thesis project, I make my way around and through the questions of chronic illness, self-worth, productivity and a changing relationship to time that arise in this dual viral experience - situating the personal within a larger social/political context.

Material Encounters: Making Memory Beyond The Mind, Ariel Wills

Masters Theses

Can acts of making carry the memories of our embeddedness within the world? This thesis explores how making things can nurture a sense of kinship that cuts across the organic and inorganic, erasing the distinction between living and dead, material and spiritual. Through handwork such as art-making, sewing, knitting, cooking, woodworking, and beyond, the burden of remembering and of archiving is shared across human and non-human bodies, cultivated through practices of making, and through the materials themselves. By recounting the stories of my family’s experience as Jewish immigrants in the United States, I aim to reveal how their domestic practices …

Shift: Moving Art Classes Into Rural America, Amy Schmierbach Mfa

Art & Design Faculty Publications

For the past 25 years academia has worked to create virtual and on-line classes. They have become mainstream and an expectation at each university. They want to keep education accessible for individuals unable to come to campus or that live in remote locations. Across the country universities have shrinking enrollment for their on-campus courses. The student that do come to campus learn differently than what most professors have been taught themselves. These students are passionate about the world and they want to impact their communities. The usual lecture or art demo may not be enough to prepare our students for …

Dal And Rice, Anushka Divecha

Masters Theses

I have always been a nostalgic person. I have boxes of old photographs, letters, birthday cards and objects from significant days in my life. I have confetti from different concerts, friendship bracelets and old diaries. While typically not represented by keepsakes, memories of food are some of my strongest. They encompass all five senses, which is perhaps why they are so powerful. Every time I smell a spice or taste something familiar, I am instantly transported to a certain place and time.

As a textile artist, I use materials, textures, imagery, and senses to evoke place and time. This year …

Transformers: Versatile Apparel For A Sustainable World, Zihan Amy Peng

Masters Theses

This collection and book were inspired by a TED talk called “I broke up with fast fashion and you should too” by founder of The UpCycle Project Gabriella Smith. After I heard this inspiring talk, I reflected a lot on my own habits of clothes shopping during different life stages, how I became a fan of fast fashion, and how Covid-19 has impacted the way I shop and dress. I soon dug further into the ugly truth about the fast fashion industry’s environmental impacts, how their marketing strategies lure the general public to consume more products, and potential solutions to …

Building Narratives: Instilling Old Stories In New Spaces, Sharanya Aggarwal

Masters Theses

Here in Gurugram, tall, uniform, cold, imposing buildings loom over a newly developed metropolis, futilely competing with each other to become remarkable landmarks of the near future. Here, I close my eyes and fondly remember the celebratory streets and inextinguishable, vibrant atmosphere of New Delhi, one of the oldest cities in the country, which I used to joyfully call my home. Opening my eyes, all I see when I look outside my window are either vast spans of bare land or vertical skyscrapers and construction sites. Memories of home, objects, places, and streets are my living archive of my past …

Textile Architecture, Zoe Yates

Masters Theses

The escalating climate crisis has exposed many cracks in conventional building systems. Modern architectural processes contribute to climate change by consuming high levels of energy throughout the building cycle—from sourcing materials to construction to energy use once buildings are in use. Conventional architecture’s emphasis on heaviness and permanence makes these problems unavoidable. Light, temporary architecture is a solution to both the environmental impacts of the practice (the cause) and to the challenges of living in ever more impermanent situations (the effect). As climate change continues to manifest in rising global temperatures, sea level rise, drought, unpredictable weather, and natural disasters, …

Insecurities: Tracing Displacement And Migration, Hammad Abid

Masters Theses

“Insecurities: Tracing Displacement and Migration,” the title of both my thesis work and thesis book, calls attention to displacement and forced migration as a disruption in the continuity of place, relationships, identity, memory, and time. Through a collection of textiles, I try to capture the psychological, social, and physical effects of forced migration and communicate the impact of political violence on identity and coexistence.

In this book, I position myself within the context of how the current Indian government is attempting to rewrite the nation’s history and distort India’s pluralistic story. I tell a personal narrative of displacement in harrowing …

Out Of Bounds, Luciana Iwamoto

Masters Theses

Humans have an inescapable desire for rationality, structure, and order. We seek efficiency and certainty in our individual and communal lives. We have been encouraged to believe that most things are under our control until something strikes us and brings to consciousness the limits of our knowledge. It’s usually nature’s wild power that overwhelms our faculty of reason and reminds us of our limits. Philosophers called this sensation of overwhelm in the face of nature the sublime experience. In modern cities, surrounded by skyscrapers, we are reminded of our own technological achievements, while nature feels disconnected and distant. Yet, if …