Art and Design Commons^™

Tactile Arts Club, Hayden Hauge, Rowan Havranek

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

Students will build tactile skills while learning how to crochet, knit, and sew, and they will have a finished project in their hands at the conclusion of the club.

The Hurt And The Healing: An Artistic Investigation Into The Stigma Surrounding Substance Use Disorder, Kenny Kelley

Undergraduate Theses

This interdisciplinary, creative thesis aims to deconstruct the stigma directed towards individuals who struggle with substance use disorder (SUD) through the use of a solo art exhibit on Bellarmine University's campus. This exhibit features two large-scale installation sculptures and curated art pieces created by individuals at Crossroads Recovery Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to the gallery exhibition, this research-based written reflection is also included. One of the sculptures portrays the “hurt” that stigma causes for those who struggle with SUD. In contrast, the second sculpture represents the “healing” that can be achieved for people struggling with SUD when stigma …

Beyond Elements And Principles: Bringing A Visual Culture Curriculum To High School Art, Julie Winston

Theses

The elements and principles of design are the building blocks that art students use to create a composition. These foundational tools have been used by art students throughout their elementary and secondary school years, as required by state and national art standards. This project is an example of how to enrich high school introductory art classes by implementing lessons that include visual culture education. A combination of successful art museum teen programs and existing visual culture curriculum were used to aid in the development of a semester’s worth of lessons that emphasize visual culture. Visual culture curricula produces more student …

Vaccinate: Posters From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Aaron Sutherlen, Judy Diamond, Meghan Leadabrand, Julia Mcquillan, St Patrick Reid

Zea E-Books Collection

In 2022 we are living through a global pandemic, and vaccines are one of the most effective strategies for slowing the spread of infectious disease, minimizing symptoms, and lowering healthcare demands. In short, vaccines save lives and can reduce the risk of contagion from social interaction.

In the United States in late 2021, after the vaccines had been broadly available for almost a year, one in five adults still chose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Art can disrupt what is embedded in our minds and open us up to new perspectives and insights. We hope to offer access to …

Promoting Longevity Through Engagement In Purposeful Occupations, Jennifer K. Fortuna

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Ron Henry, an artist based in Grand Junction, CO, provided the cover art for the Fall 2022 edition of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). “On the Trail to Durango” is a 36” x 36” painting made from oil and acrylic on gesso board. Ron has been creating beautiful art since he was a child. Art has provided Ron with a strong sense of purpose throughout his life. At age 90, Ron attributes his longevity to living a healthy lifestyle and regular engagement in purposeful occupations, such as painting. In this tenth anniversary issue of OJOT, Occupation and the …

Sorrow Cannot Resurrect, Sharon Mathew

be Still

The magenta skull symbolizes life and death while the sword passing through the skull is a symbol of life’s ever present cycle of conflicts, grief, and sorrow. The ambiguous gray of the sword is used to convey the fact that we will all encounter an incredibly vast variety of struggles throughout the course of our lives. It is also outlined with gold detailing as a play on the phrase “every cloud has a silver lining. As the sword pierces the skull, out pours technicolor tears and blood. The bright colors represent the immense beauty and growth that we can find …

In The Face Of Conflict, Mohammed Khatib

be Still

In the chaos of conflict, amongst the confusion, emotion, and fear lies truth like the eye of a raging storm. Within this, one may find peace, tranquility, and the storm will follow in suit.

Black Lives Matter: Keep Your Eyes On The Prize (2021), Gregory T. Wilkins

The International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education

The image is of a woman of African descent who is wearing a colorful headdress which cascades down one side of her head to her tattered sweater. One eye is blind. The other eye has a target over it with her eye looking to the side. The target represents the world looking at her, targeting/labeling her because of the color of her skin, and it also represents her looking out into the world focusing intently on the future. Her eye is looking to the side engaging the periphery; she is ready and fully aware of her surroundings. Pending on the …

Black Lives Matter: Hands Up, Don't Shoot (2021), Gregory T. Wilkins

The International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education

The image is of a multi-colored background with crochet thread radiating across the canvas. White Fleece letters are quilted onto the canvas spelling out the words ‘Hands Up, Don't Shoot’

Stop Telling Women To Smile: Stories Of Street Harassment And How We’Re Taking Back Our Power, Mio Yoshizaki

Feminist Pedagogy

This book review addresses the author, Fazlalizadeh's approach to art as social justice, overarching definitions of gender-based street harassment, and intersectionality. This review also offers suggestions for how feminist educators may utilize Stop telling women to smile in classrooms.

Colby Museum Of Art: Faith Ringgold “Story Quilt” Acquired, Bob Keyes

Colby Magazine

The Colby Museum of Art adds a coveted Faith Ringgold story quilt to its collection.

Art 101: Introduction To Art Oer Curation, Erica L. Schiller

Curated OER Collections

This OER curation is an annotated bibliography of prospective OER for the GVSU course ART 101: Introduction to Art.

The Anatomy Of Human Occupation, Jennifer K. Fortuna

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Dr. Emily Balog, PhD., OTR/L, ECHM, an occupational therapy professor and artist based in New Jersey, provided the cover art for the Summer 2022 edition of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). “The Knitting Brain” is an 11” x 15” painting made from watercolors. The inspiration for this painting came from years of experience working with individuals with head injury, stroke, and mental illness. The piece is from her Anatomy of Human Occupation series. This collection of paintings is a unique and authentic representation of Dr. Balog’s love of the human body and the healing power of occupation. Dr. …

Internet Art: An Interactive Timeline Resource, Laurel Vaccaro

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Link to Interactive Timeline Resource (ITR): https://sites.google.com/view/itr-internet-art/home

The purpose of this study was to first collect and summarize the history of internet art from its inception to current day and, second, to create an interactive timeline resource (ITR) designed for K-12 art application. Current approaches to internet art include recommendations that students engage with social media in the K-12 setting, yet gaps in the literature have neglected to address the actual history of internet art as a feature of a student’s K-12 art experiences. Initial research started from a preliminary hypothesis that highlighted the irony of students using the internet …

Half In Dream: The Tangle In The Grid, Abbey L. Paccia

Masters Theses

Half in Dream: The Tangle in the Grid discusses the form and content of a physical art installation by the same name. The site-specific installation is a large three-dimensional collage of natural ephemera collected from the area around Amherst, Massachusetts, which interacts with natural lighting conditions to illuminate a gallery-facing image of ever-moving light and shadow. The written work elaborates some of the many details within the structure of the artwork, and reveals the philosophies, embodied practices, and methodologies that informed the visual work's creation. Woven throughout are reflections on phenomenology, walking practice, General Systems Theory, collective making, narrative arts, …

Somewhere In The Universe: Senior Thesis 2022, Mallory Nelson

Honors Theses

My senior thesis, entitled Somewhere in the Universe, is an exploration of what makes a place believable, and how I as an artist can make something that doesn’t exist feel like it could. However, one of my favorite parts about art is its ability to be interpreted in unique ways. I may have had a set of intentions and ideas when creating this project, but I also am open to the ways different people interpret this art.

The conceptual basis of my thesis is an attempt at worldbuilding. These worlds are based on various Greek and Roman Goddesses from the …

Entities: A Field Of Imaginary Games, Thrasyvoulos Ioannis Kalaitzidis

LSU Master's Theses

With this body of work, I am looking for visual symbols that help communicate unuttered meanings through storytelling and stimulate an affectual response to the viewer. This exploration is presented in two different forms: a surreal sculptural installation and a board game. The installation consists of large-scale sculptures made from light and soft materials (polyurethane foam, plastic waste, paper) that are available to move inside the gallery, while the board game is presented as a set of 3D prints with instructions on how the participants can play it. The materials used in the installation suggest a way to transform waste …

Necessary Myths, Jessica Ramsey

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

My thesis essay was inspired by my search for a belief system that could transform despair over what will be lost through climate change into valuing what we still have. In researching the earliest iterations of belief structures, I came across the Maros-Pangkep cave paintings. These paintings are the oldest known works of art, and by my interpretation the first evidence of religious life. They are a series of representational paintings which tell a story, and I was inspired to emulate this methodology in my own exploration of belief.

My essay investigates the relationship between images and religion. Through W.J.T …

Cultural Formation Of Place: Making Yourself At Home, Olivia Arratia

Art Theses and Dissertations

The environment you grow up in can become a pivotal part of your existence. The sights, smells, people, and places you experience every day can transform the way you see the world. Growing up in a Mexican-American household has brought its own set of experiences that have made me the artist I am today. I am one of many contemporary artists building on the foundations of their heritage and the Chicano movement. I am also a Mexican-American artist expanding the identity and extending the legacy in the 21st century. This paper will investigate how Mexican-American heritage has influenced my artistic …

Break Time, Quinlan Maggio

Theses and Dissertations

In this graduate thesis artist Quinlan Maggio describes their two-part art project in which they create site-specific private/public spaces and encounters within a larger public, specifically, that of the Hunter MFA community and its art-viewing audience.

T.R.A.S.H.:Trans-Relational-Affective-Stuff-Horde, Sg P

Theses and Dissertations

T.R.A.S.H. allies the moral confusion underlying (student) debt and the unregulated art market in order to establish a rigorous framework for “RED HOT SHAME”—an open edition contractual performance. In treating an art collector as a collections agency, the Debt Object becomes an Art Object.

“For My Will Is As Strong As Yours And My Kingdom As Great”, Anna L. Cone

Theses and Dissertations

My work responds to trauma, systems of power and abuses of power. The pieces give materiality to unseen labor and devalued knowledge, often disseminated from the “feminine,” domestic spaces of kitchens and baths, through practices of magic, astrology, ritual and baking. My materials–jello, hair and kitchen ingredients–refer to complex histories, brought present through film and performance.

Don't You Want To Be Happy?, Mario Rocha Rodriguez Jr

Honors Capstones

My capstone project is an exhibition of my artwork using visual distortions to convey a message to the viewer. I created nine new pieces out of the original seven proposed over the course of the semester with themes all relating to firsthand experiences that I think people can learn from. For the exhibit, I displayed ten pieces with two works that were made prior to the current semester. In conclusion, I present ideas that I have been holding in for the past 4 years.

Bare: The Modern Female Nude Uncovered, Tasha A. Determan

Honors Thesis

My honors thesis criticizes representations of the female nude and advocates for diverse expression of the female body. The research encompasses two series of artwork and a written component examining and reflecting upon the artwork. The first series is Venus of Fruit, which assesses past depictions and associations of the female nude specifically objectification and sexualization in western art. The sculptures are four cast bronze nude figures within an apple, a banana, and a pineapple. The figures are Venuses trapped within nature, beauty, fertility, and sexualization. The second series is Venus Anew, which examines the naked and the …

Vitality, Bernadette K. Curl

Student Projects

Vitality is a study of life, joy, and motion. It is in response to the portraits of models in endless magazines made to look as though they mourn their own vitality, standing stock-still and vaguely bored. These images are also made as archival evidence that, as Phil Ochs said: “In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty.”

These portraits were made under studio lighting on medium format, high speed, black and white negative film, and medium format, colour positive film. The materials are chosen for their ability to capture truth over fact.

I asked my subjects beforehand to …

Mama, Hannah Scott

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

“By writing herself, woman will return to the body which has been more than confiscated from her, which has been turned into the uncanny stranger on display” (Cixous, 1975). Through a depth of research into feminist perspectives on motherhood, I have created an art installation titled, "Mama". From my research, I have found many artists who make work about their experiences in raising children, women’s work and labor, and the trauma of giving birth. Louis Bourgeois, Natalie Loveless, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Mary Kelly, and Jenny Saville are a handful of artists whose work on motherhood has greatly inspired me to …

Hesed: Redeemed Brokenness In A Multimedia Retelling Of The Biblical Story Of Ruth, Elizabeth R. Kijowski

ELAIA

Through the powerful interaction between the visual arts and music, an ancient story of brokenness and redemption is retold. This thesis seeks to give greater insight into this multimedia retelling of the biblical book of Ruth. Scholarly sources were reviewed to deepen understanding, and works from professional visual artists and musicians were examined for this project to come together. The end product is this thesis as well as a body of art and a five-movement piece of music. This combination of visual art and music allows the relevance of the biblical book of Ruth to be seen in the transforming …

Crochet As An Allegory, Maeve R. Wallace

Student Projects

I have created a series of photographic installations that are inspired by the work of feminist and queer thinkers. I draw parallels between the manipulation of a weaved material through crochet and the way feminists work to continually create change. I find that the physicality, patience, detail, and repetition that comes with crocheting yarn or creating a photo mimics the ways in which activists, and more specifically feminists, have worked to combat the oppression and intersectional oppressions they face. String theory, potentially a theory of everything, proposes that in the quantum realm, stings, or loops, are the foundation of all …

Women And Dada: Reimagining Dada Through The Work Of Beatrice Wood And Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Violet E. Webster

Student Theses and Dissertations

This paper serves to investigate the relationship between the Dada art movement of the early twentieth century and the progression of the women’s liberation movement through the life and works of female Dada artists Sophie Taeuber-Arp and Beatrice Wood. My thesis combines the emergence of modernism and Dada’s utilization of new industrial materials with the reappropriation of material significance seen in Taeuber-Arp’s multi-media work. The first section “Dada Overview” contextualizes both Dada and the post-Victorian evolution of the early twentieth century. In “Beatrice Wood’s Expansion of the Subject” I show how Wood’s work centered around the subconscious narrative of women …

100 Seconds To Midnight, Melissa Medina

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My artistic practice focuses on the concept of mortality and investigates the human condition. Through my work, I often personify the concept of death and investigate the several forms that it may take across several cultures. The skull is most often used as a symbol of mortality, and it serves as one of the key elements in my work. I am drawn to the elements portrayed in classical memento mori paintings, and as a result, I have borrowed certain objects commonly used in these works and have paired them alongside more modern elements to create a new narrative. With this …