Art and Design Commons^™

Reading And Creating Visual Image, James Massa

Open Educational Resources

Students will learn how to read a visual image (a photo and a poster). Next, they will use the skills that they have learned to create a visual image that addresses audience, purpose, and medium.

Sun Tunnels (1973-76) By Nancy Holt: One Earthwork's Interdisciplinary Approach, Hikmet Loe

Creative Collaborations

In 1973, American artist Nancy Holt (1938-2014) extended her studio practice into the land, employing light, vision, and perception through photography, film, installations, and poetics. By creating her monumental earthwork Sun Tunnels (1973-76), Holt became a leader within Land art, one of the few female artists working in a male-dominated discipline.

Sun Tunnels—located near the border of Western Utah and Eastern Nevada—is comprised of four concrete tunnels placed in an “X” pattern on the Great Salt Lake Desert’s alkaline floor. Each tunnel measures 18’ (L) x 9’ 2 1⁄2” (D); the overall work measures 9’ 2 1⁄2” x 68’ …

Human Nature, Mary Robb

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Human Nature explores my personal observations and life experiences through the use of my narrative ceramic sculptures. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics or behaviors to non-human entities, such as animals. Some animals are more desirable than others, but all have value and purpose. They exist for a reason. They all bleed. They just want to be. People are like that. I became untrusting of humans after a childhood trauma and began relating more to animals than humans. I observed many similarities in wild animals with my experience. They are continually on alert searching for food and watching for …

Instinct, Eric Sanders

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

There is a convergence point of my interests that I explore in this body of work. As a service member and wildlife enthusiast, I pursue not only an outlet for my own creative expression and illustrative ambitions, but a platform to support creative advocacy for military service members and their families. With the principles of relational aesthetics and art as social practice supporting illustrative and design-centric work, I have found that convergence. This dream continues to manifest in Noble Instinct Artworks, a creative-based company I founded that incorporates the fine art methodology, business practices, and artistic collaboration with outreach potential …

Mechanisms Of Nourishment, Raymond Lloyd Brown Iii

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written thesis is a description and analysis of the ceramic work of Ray Brown. Included in this thesis is an explanation and defense of my work in my exhibition Mechanisms of Nourishment. It also unpacks the conceptual, technical, and formal aspects of the work.

The research explored in this written thesis discusses the relationship between the aesthetic and utilitarian components of pottery. From an analytical, iterative approach to form, I strive to isolate proportions that evoke a sense of volume and repetition. My references to Mid Century Modern and Streamlining Era design guide my efforts into dynamic mechanisms of …

Contextualizing And Reconstructing A Model Birch Bark Canoe, Jen Mikes

Art Conservation Master's Projects

To perform a well-informed conservation treatment on an object, it is crucial to understand its context, history, and significance. When an object presents with little provenance or context, it can be difficult to determine the course that its treatment should follow. In this project, a structurally unstable birch bark canoe model of unknown origin was examined, researched, and treated. The treatment campaign was customized for the object based on literature research, owner consultation, and materials experimentation. The canoe model was structurally stabilized with adhesive and adhesive reactivated Japanese tissue, it was locally humidified and reshaped with Gore-Tex sandwiches, and was …

Wound-Dwelling: Empowerment Through Masochistic Experiences, Nizlyn

MFA in Visual Arts Theses

The psychoanalytic concept of the Skin Ego Theory describes the skin as a passage for pain and pleasure to travel through. Remnants of external experiences as well as internal struggles affect the penetrable barrier of the somatic wrapping and leave inscriptions on the flesh. Through my work, I have been exploring the skin’s ability to protect, envelope, and inscribe meaning through my papercuts, oil paintings, and clay sculptures. I procure the marks on my body through kink and BDSM, which then influence the work. Though my bruises may fade with time, my skin becomes tougher. By recontextualizing Skin Ego Theory …

Weird Critters: A Visual Narrative Inspired By Paleontology And Teratology, Kate Murray

Honors Program Theses

Attempts to fuse fantasy and science fiction art work tend to be unidirectional. The artists begin with things that don’t make sense and then force them to make sense to the audience. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. In some images, dinosaurs are given mechanically sound contraptions; dragons are given tendons, and basilisks are drawn with surprising accuracy. It applies science to the fictional to create an image that is plausible. However, my experience with developmental biology and paleontology suggests that it is equally possible to take it in the other direction and begin with things that …

Infinity And The Egosphere: Reflections On Immersive Art, Amanda Owens

Scripps Senior Theses

This paper looks at immersive, viewer-centric art spaces, like Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms, in the context of the growing popularity of Pop Up museums or experiences that exist essentially as a backdrop for taking photos. By considering them together as one object of contemporary popular culture, we can more fully understand the deeper characteristics of late capitalist society.

The Self, My Self, And Female Portraiture, Kenza Fernandez

Scripps Senior Theses

Growing up in Mexico was a privilege for many reasons. I am most grateful for its history of preservation and storytelling through art, specifically portraiture. I learned about my country's history and its most influential figures primarily through visuals. From mesoamerican sculptures to Mexican modern mural art, one did not have to be literate or speak vernacular Spanish to understand the story of our culture through time. It is this visual way of recording history that I have decided to turn to for interpretation and self exploration. Throughout the course of this academic year, I will be creating a series …

Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery (Sewing) Society: Handcraft As A Metaphorical Tool For The Abolitionist Cause, Hinda Mandell

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

In 1851, in Rochester, New York, a group of six women banded together as the founding members of an anti-slavery group in order to support the work of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass. They called themselves the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery (Sewing) Society, although they dropped “Sewing” from the group’s name in 1855. Yet the fact that “Sewing” was included in the original name of this reformist group indicates the foundational role of craft not only as a guiding activity but also central as an activist mechanism to abolish the institution of slavery. They were the benefactors of Frederick Douglass, himself regarded …

When You're Young, Andrew Zhang '22

Distinguished Student Work - Visual Arts

Painting

Atticus, Lily Song '23

Distinguished Student Work - Visual Arts

Drawing & Illustration

Reflections Of Rondo, Alexander Mathew Thomas

Art and Art History Honors Projects

Reflections of Rondo is a temporal, visual exploration of the I-94 freeway’s relationship with and implications on the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota.

As a prominent center of Black community and culture since the 1900s, Rondo had a thriving, working-class population that built families, businesses, and markers of place and identity in a socially segregated city. They had built “a city within a city” that welcomed people of all backgrounds and classes.

However, with the passing of the Federal Interstate Highway Act in 1956, the state was able to move forward with their plan of building a highway that …

Artistic Agency, Feminine Labor, And The Female Body In Buddhist Hair Embroideries Of The Ming And Qing Dynasties, Chloe Y. Lai

Honors Papers

Hair embroideries were an entirely female and Buddhist practice in late Imperial China, and thus operate within the bounds imposed on women by societal structures of economy and labor, and moral expectations of Confucianism and Buddhism. This was not a common practice and mostly limited to a few gentry women already connected to the art world through their husband or father (an already small demographic). Recent scholarship on Chinese Buddhist hair embroidered works by the art historian Li Yuhang analyzes them as objects of religious devotion and ritualized practice that involves repetition and incorporating the body to accumulate karmic merit, …

The Space Between, Joanne D. Laudolff

Graduate Artistry Projects and Performances

"The Space Between". This paper explains the process and techniques, the structural concepts, the main objectives, historical influences and philosophical and aesthetic concepts of my Master of Arts show. This show was influenced by care taking of my mother as she transitioned to the other side. The oil and cold wax and mixed media paintings depict this journey.

Repercussions: The Pressure To Be Thin, Shuhan Liu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

My MFA thesis and supporting exhibition will highlight ceramics work I have created with the intention of dissecting the relationship between a soul and reality to convey the story of tension and anxiety and show it in a way that would let viewers identify with my discomfort and anxiety. The inspiration for my work came from the severe body anxiety that I faced that broke out during the three years of psychological stress caused by the pandemic. Using personal narratives as a starting point, I created object-based artwork that addresses the external pressures I feel to be skinny. As an …

Bitter Sweet, Hanna M. Kesty

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written document is the accompanying thesis for my Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, Bitter Sweet. The exhibition featured traditional framed prints with sculptural accents that reveal brutally honest negative personal experiences, interactions, and emotions, paired with delicately cute aesthetics. My work embodies the necessity of personal artistic expression to process years of emotional repression. The prints and sculptures in the exhibition focus around a collection of insults and harsh comments coupled with feelings of loneliness and isolation. I allow personal vulnerability to show, to reinforce that these moments have molded and shaped who I am and will continue to …

Calliope, Georgia Southern University

Calliope Magazine

Volume 40 2021-2022

Perplexions: Perceptions, Plexi And Prose, Amy B. Nelson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

An understanding of our world is unique to each individual and their experiences. While experiences are often shared, we all process them according to our own schema. Through exploration into the multiple facets of plexiglass, my work examines trauma, loss and its lasting effect on a person's memory of the past, present and perception of the future. These experiences can cause an abrupt shift in personal schema and reshape one’s perception of the world. Through the combination of visual and linguistic stimuli, my trauma-informed work can be a catalyst for my viewers to discuss what they are experiencing and why. …

Neosublime, Reframing The Philosophical, Kathy Varadi

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Why have the sunsets and sunrises become so amazingly colorful and awe inspiring recently? Eighteenth century philosophers said such events were examples of the sublime. They defined the sublime as that which is the most absolutely great combined with an underlying element of fear usually caused by the actions of God. This infers that the sublime is something that you can’t fully understand or wrap your head around and leaves you speechless and spell bound. Contemporary art critics say that the sublime is no longer applicable to art because it has been overused. I disagree, and in my art, I …

การออกแบบเรขศิลป์สำหรับวัสดุห่อของขวัญ โดยใช้แนวคิดการสื่อความหมายของภาษาดอกไม้ (ฟลอริโอกราฟี), เทพธิดา เทพคุ้มกัน

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยการออกแบบเรขศิลป์สำหรับวัสดุห่อของขวัญโดยใช้แนวคิดการสื่อความหมายของภาษาดอกไม้ (ฟลอริโอกราฟี) มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อหากลยุทธ์และแนวทางการออกแบบเรขศิลป์ โดยใช้แนวคิดการสื่อความหมายของภาษาดอกไม้ (ฟลอริโอกราฟี) ขั้นตอนและวิธีดำเนินการวิจัย โดยการรวบรวมข้อมูลและวิเคราะห์ข้อมูลภาษาดอกไม้และธุรกิจวัสดุห่อของขวัญจากบทความ ดิจิทัลแพลตฟอร์ม งานวิจัย และสื่ออินเทอร์เน็ต โดยนำข้อมูลจากการวิเคราะห์มาสร้างแบบสอบถาม เพื่อสัมภาษณ์กลุ่มเป้าหมาย และสัมภาษณ์ผู้เชี่ยวชาญทางด้านการออกแบบ ทำให้ได้ข้อมูลที่นำมาใช้ในการออกแบบต่อไป สรุปผลวิจัยพบว่า 1.) สารที่ต้องการจะสื่อ คือ Hidden Flower (ความลับที่ซ่อนอยู่ในดอกไม้) และบุคลิกภาพของงานที่เหมาะสม คือ ดึงดูดใจ ขี้เล่น และมีเสน่ห์ 2.)แนวทางการออกแบบเรขศิลป์ที่เหมาะสม ใช้การวาดแบบ Hand drawn, ตัวอักษรใช้แบบ Calligraphy Mix และใช้โทนสีจากบุคลิกภาพของงานคือ สีม่วง สีชมพู และสีเหลือง

Bononia Docet: Marcantonio Raimondi, Humanism, And Artisanal Culture In Renaissance Bologna, Giancarlo Fiorenza

Art and Design

A new interpretation of an enigmatic engraving by Marcantonio Raimondi from his early career in Bologna sheds light on the artist’s cultural connections during his formative years. With its assimilation of alchemical, poetic, and hieroglyphic imagery, Raimondi’s engraving points to a nexus of activities in Bologna that clustered around intellectual circles and artists’ workshops. In particular, the artist appears to have engaged directly with the famed Bolognese physician Alessandro Achillini in order to develop his novel composition, a relationship which has previously gone unnoticed. Raimondi’s initial vocation as a goldsmith, together with his training under Francesco Francia, about which we …

(Hypo)Maniac, Marlow Underwood

The Laureate

No abstract provided.

Normal Editions Workshop Newsletter, 2021-22, Wonsook Kim School Of Art And Design

Normal Editions Workshop Newsletter

Annual newsletter for the Normal Editions Workshop, School of Art, Illinois State University.

Merging Modest With Complexity, Mark Garry

Doctoral

This thesis will enable a retrospective critical examination of aspects of my practice as an artist from 2005 - 2020. The research question addresses the implication of multiple forms of inter-reliance enabled in the practice. This will be enabled by opening a discursive space that retrospectively, integrates and critically examines the role and function of inter-reliance as a structural methodology and how this is implicated in the practice over this period.

This thesis will use term inter-reliance to define a play of relations where individual art works when viewed in isolation exist only in partial illumination as a form of …

Mother Water, Crystal J. Hammerschmidt

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Water is life. That which nurtures, sustains and nourishes. My mother is truly my water. The one who gave me life and has supported and nurtured me though and through. While wading through the challenges and adversity of graduate school, she has been there every step of the way; and while I struggled to find what I was trying to say, I was quietly toiling over thoughts of my own fertility, maternal instincts and desire to nurture something and I began to acknowledge the mortality of my own mother.

The materials and images I combine are deeply connected to my …

Federal Fashion: Uniform Modification, Self-Expression, And The Union Infantry Officer Of The American Civil War, Clayton Davis

Theses

The military uniforms of the American Civil War, particularly on the Union side, varied tremendously through time and location. There were an endless number of combinations􀂲myriad boots and hats, coats and jackets, insignias, and trousers. That was true for officers, especially commissioned officers, who exercised the greatest aesthetic freedom. Scattered works have broached the topic of officer uniforms, especially those of Confederate officers, though their Union counterparts have gone under the microscope also. Invariably, these works include non-regulation uniforms, either compiled by officers from separate pieces or handmade by one of the hundreds of tailors working across the nation. However, …

Mfa Thesis Exhibition - Enormous, Wendy (Suat Huay) Tan

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Artist Wendy (Suat Huay) Tan

MFA Sculpture

Artworks Statement

We all see the world in different ways and we all see it from a human scale. Observing small creatures in nature has always fascinated me. There is a small world that exists just below our feet which is full of beauty and excitement. These seemingly insignificant little creatures such as ants can represent a microcosm of human existence.

Ants live with us on every continent and their existence may seem valueless but in fact their lives have enormous ecological importance. One in every thousand insects is an ant. Their total …

Inhumane, Jordan Brown

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

My Goal is to bring awareness to the plight of wild creatures who have lost their habitats due to pollution and urban sprawl. I will be making porcelain vessels that influence people to think about their role on the environment. Both terrestrial and aquatic life has been impacted by humans through poaching, non-traditional medical practices, and human activity in the ocean. By making impressionable clay urns, I hope to bring light to these issues that affect animals. Through research I have been enthused by the steep historical forms from Greece, China, and Europe. Their exceptional skill and knowledge of the …