Art and Design Commons^™

Contemporary Kitsch: An Examination Through Creative Practice, Sally Stewart

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This exegesis examines the theoretical concept of contemporary kitsch within a creative practice that incorporates sculptural and installation art. Kitsch is a distinct aesthetic style. Once designated to the rubbish bin of culture, kitsch was considered to be low class, bad taste cheap fakes and copies (Greenberg, 1961; Adorno & Horkheimer, 1991; Calinescu, 1987; Dorfles, 1969). I argue, however, that this is no longer the case. This research critically examines the way in which contemporary kitsch now plays a vital and positive role in social and individual aesthetic life.

Although there are conflicting points of view and distinct variations between …

Boundless Spirit: A Steady Flame, David Versluis

Pro Rege

Welded steel and sculpture rendering

Landscape Of Consciousness, Julia R. Baugh

Theses and Dissertations

In my ceramic work, characteristics of magnified microbes, undulations of texture, and gouged shapes recur and appear to blend with inner human anatomy, woodland forms, underwater landscapes and decomposed life. Some of these influences are linked to my childhood. Other experiences come from my career in the respiratory care field and in my international travels. Like any artist, my life experiences, as much as the clay itself, are the materials of my art. My work holds some familiar concept, feeling, or recollection in a figurative piece or vessel. The decorative choices I make form a tight mesh that weaves together …

Materialize: Sculpture Using Digital Fabrication, Robert And Elaine Stein Galleries

Exhibition and Program Catalogs

This guide was created for the Materialize exhibition, curated by John Dickinson and Tess Cortes, with juror Tom Lauerman. Materialize highlighted 58 works by 27 artists that used digital processes in their design or production. This exhibition also traveled to Purdue University Galleries.

Performance Sculpture--An Exploratory Collaboration Between Sculpture And Dance, Cesia G. Kearns

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Kinetic sculpture suggests new visual possibilities when combined with dance. Wishing to explore such avenues of interaction for sculpture, this artist sought to develop pieces that could be incorporated into choreography. An artist and a choreographer wove their concepts and styles together to create a performance art piece that rose from the reciprocal influences of interactive sculpture and dance. The creative process included development of concepts, visual imagery, and movement as the artist and choreographer shared ideas. The choreography of the original dance influenced the form, structure, and conceptual elements of the sculpture, which was developed in reaction to the …

The Specific Object, Jared Lindsay Clark, Brian Christensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

“The history of painting may be characterized in terms of the gradual withdrawal of painting from the task of representing reality – or of reality from the power of painting to represent it – in favor of an increasing preoccupation with problems intrinsic to painting itself…painting and sculpture became free to pursue concerns intrinsic to themselves.”

Ergonomically Designing Art Objects, Ambika Subramaniam

Undergraduate Theses—Unrestricted

The following thesis examines the work of Ambika Subramaniam, in particular her thesis installation Ergonomically Designing Art Objects, for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture at Washington University in St. Louis. Based within a discussion of semiotics, the thesis researches furniture signification and tracks its evolution through traditional form, ergonomic function, and consumed product. Major points include the ways in which objects are capable of collapsing and retaining the semiotic divide between a sign and referent, and how that signification relates to contemporary design-oriented products. Using the chair as the exemplifying object, the thesis installation questions how objects have …

Tried It With Glasses Off Too; Sometimes., Nolan John Fedorow

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

I use a small wedge of wood as a tool to pick out food scraps that find themselves lodged between my teeth. I also use a small wedge of wood as a tool to keep a straight door from swinging freely on a crooked house. The small wedge of wood I stuff in between the floor and door as a tool is a controlling apparatus, much like landowners who use fencing to keep people from walking repeatedly through their land and inadvertently creating a path where they shouldn’t. A wooden door stopper will come to adorn a perpendicular-patterned patina across …

2014 Forces, Scott Yarbrough

Forces

No abstract provided.

Bringing Design To Life: Three-Dimensional Graphic Design, Cydnee E. Jones

Honors College Theses

For most people, graphic design is seen as a two-dimensional medium. I have challenged this preconception by creating a design that incorporates both two-dimensional and three-dimensional elements. The secondary purpose of this work is to highlight the importance of environmental sustainability, by both the use of sustainably sourced materials and by the choice of recycling as the topic of the design. The design was created with scavenged cardboard and utilizes photography and digital design techniques.

Closely Distant, Crisha Yantis

School of Art, Art History, and Design: Theses and Student Creative Work

Drawing upon my own experiences and observations of the world around me I use the figure to explore what it means to be human. This body of work addresses the universal experience of anxiety through the dynamics of both personal and interpersonal relationships, specifically focusing on fear of the unknown or what subconsciously lies just out of our comfort or understanding.

Often what is unknown is also what brings about questions of our own power and what we can or cannot control. In my work, I address ideas of power and powerlessness formally through what the figures lack. Their control …

Techno File: Pyrometric Cones, Tina M. Gebhart

Art and Art History Faculty Publications

A pyrometer measures temperature, but pyrometric cones measure heatwork. What is a cone, how does it work, and what does any of this have to do with synchronized swimmers? [excerpt]

Summary Of Creative Research Grant Results, Carin C. Fausett

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the original proposal, I indicated that this Creative Research Grant would enable me to widen my scope of artistic ability and possibility. My ability would improve through increased production which this grant would make possible through the purchase of materials and tools. The results of being accepted for this grant was a large body of work, which consisted of 25 pieces, supported by original poetry and a four page paper that explained the ideas behind the visual work. The work was completed between Jan.- june 1995. Opening night was June 19, and the show lasted until the 30th. It …

Orca Scholarship Final Paper, Jana Rogers, Linda Sullivan

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My ORCA project was creating a children’s book that teaches children international awareness. Creating a book of this nature has always been a dream. Receiving the ORCA scholarship helped finance my endeavor. Now that it is created I hope that this book will be able to influence our children in being culturally aware.

Eccentric, Darrell Tousley, Brian Christensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The definition of eccentric is to deviate from an established pattern or form, accepted usage or conduct. I feel that this one word describes best what I do. The decision do this piece was based on the simple idea that lifting more weight can make you stronger. I believe this to be true with talents as well as with muscles. Though I do not see it as my strongest piece, I feel it was the work most critical in the series I have pursued. Beginning with a formal idea that started with the artistic element of movement, I learned how …

The Weeping Wuntzel Tree, Jeffrey A. Goodsell, Brian Christensen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For this show, my work started out being a look at life, and the places we struggle to attain to, but I quickly found out that my work is more about beauty than anything. I feel that the project was very successful indeed because not only was I able to create a large body of 32 pieces for the show, but I learned some things about my work and myself that I didn’t realize before. I realized that my work, rather than being successfully narrative at this point, lends itself to more formal aspects. While I was trying to build …

Projected Surfaces, Jason Flynn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I will address the philosophies of Susan Sontag, Roland Barthes and Thomas Ruff by considering the object, materials and processes of photography as my primary motivator to create art. I will examine the contrast between photographic imagery, as an illusion of the past, and sculpture, as a physical manifestation of the present, when creating works that ask, "What else can photography be?"

Concrete Painting, Stephanie Cafcules

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the evolution of my artwork with synthetic materials through influences of the Minimalist and Process Artists of the 1960's and 1970's, inspiration from natural forms, and my exploration of concrete painting. Each work reveals discoveries of different processes and materials, accelerating the creation of new works. It is my hope this thesis will inform viewers about the process and concepts that my work embodies.

Art And Symbolism: The Technique Of Applying Hidden Meaning And Communicating Specific Ideas Through Art, Andrea C. Macbean

Senior Honors Theses

Symbolism is an artistic style frequently used in the arts. Through the course of art history, it was its own artistic movement as well. The incorporation of specific symbols, shapes, colors, or identifiable images communicates to the viewer an intended message or statement. Frequently, symbolism appears to be hidden or initially unperceived by the intended audience. In some works, symbolism is so abstract that it needs explanation or clarification to be understood completely by the viewer. This thesis will analyze a few techniques of symbolism that can be incorporated in a work of art to communicate truth, entice thought, point …

Equilibrist, David Versluis

Pro Rege

Working model (elevation and view from above); 1:12 scale maquette: wire, steel, double-ply powder coating; intended to be fabricated in tubular steel.

Melissa Ichiuji: In The Flesh, Shannon Egan

Schmucker Art Catalogs

When she dances, acts, sculpts, sews or films, artist Melissa Ichiuji presents the human figure in political and personal terms, examining its various states of desire or distortion. This exhibition In the Flesh presents three discrete recent bodies of Ichiuji’s work: a series of busts of political figures from the 2012 election season entitled Fair Game, a trio of life-sized sculptures of female bodies, and lastly, Everything to Lose, a film and corresponding photographs of the artist donning an elaborately sculpted costume. Despite seeming differences in medium and subject in this exhibition, Ichiuji works with similar materials and …

Art In The Library: From The Collection Of The Thomas G. Carpenter Library, University Of North Florida, Thomas G. Carpenter Library

Art in the Library Catalog

The Thomas G. Carpenter Library’s Art in the Library project began in 2008. Since the project’s inception the collection has grown to more than 100 pieces through the generosity of artists and collectors. Many of the works are by artists from northeast Florida. This is a selection of the pieces that may be found on display throughout the library’s four floors.

Catalog contains work by the following artists: Nofa Dixon, Diane Farris, John Bunker, Mindy Hawkins, Tom Farrell, Anthony Whiting, Louise Freshman Brown, Susanne Schuenke, Susanna Richter-Helman, Tiffany Leach, Jonathan Lux, Marilyn Taylor, Steve Williams, Christie Holechek, Sydney McKenna, Jerry …

Ritual Process, Kevin A. Baer

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

My art is a means for investigating the passage of time, the decay of physical things, and the truth of mortality. I explore these concepts through process-oriented sculptures that emphasize ritual and material. The process is communicated with the creation of relics, often existing as drawings or the remains of degenerated sculptures. These relics bear witness to the process. I focus on themes of temporal change and death because they remain central to our metaphysical and physical existence. I see a diminished reverence for the power of death in our culture, and through my work I aim to pay homage …

A House Not Of Our Choosing, Melisa D. Cadell Ms

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores our existence through the confinement of the human body. The exhibition of “A House Not of Our Choosing,” was presented at the Tipton Gallery, 126 Spring Street Johnson City, Tennessee, from March 1, 2013, to March 8, 2013. It will visually describe Cadell’s thoughts regarding the figure as a fragile vessel. The installation is designed to require the viewer to closely examine the work from multiple perspectives.

The exhibition consists of sculpted paper, etched, painted, manipulated glass slides, and projection. Research discusses the work produced over a three-year period. Exploration and reflection in the areas of religion, …

2013 Forces, Scott Yarbrough

Forces

No abstract provided.

The Bridge, Volume 10, 2013, Bridgewater State University

the bridge

Volume 10 Staff
Ryan Dipetta, Editor-in-chief, Literature
Alexa Noé, Editor-in-chief, Art & Design
Kacy Blais
Meaghan Casey
Gabriella Diniz
Brett French
Andrew Laverty
Jessica Melendy
William Regan
Lee Anne Wentzell
Kate Camerlin, Consultant
Caytlin Buckle, Consultant

Melanie Joy McNaughton, Faculty Advisor
John Mulrooney, Faculty Advisor

[ ] (Making Sense Of What Is Known And What Is Unknown, Jake Weigel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ontological curiosity of how "things" work and how our perceptions are shaped are two of the most innate and difficult questions to answer as there is a vast amount of information that is unknowable. The great void of this unknown is the driving force behind all mystical, alchemical and religious endeavors throughout human history, which seek to alleviate the discomfort of such nature. The art that I create is from a complex development of research and experience into this area of philosophy. It seeks to visualize the immaterial in order to have a better grasp on the difficult questions. …

Taxidermy Of Thought, Jason Walker

All Student Theses and Dissertations

Sculpture is how I bring to life the dark corners of my mind. There have always been images of creatures, geology, and botanical life swirling around my head. Images that often include spires of exoskeleton, creeping tendrils searching for sustenance, or something that moves in an unnatural way. After years of envisioning and automatically sketching out these "things" it is beginning to get a bit crowded in there. It was time to excise this world in my mind and bring it into existence through my hands.

Using many different materials, including plaster, wire, paper mache, epoxy, urethane resins, many different …

Perceptions Of The Ordinary, Natalie J. Tobacyk

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This thesis explores the progression of my work through my graduate studies at the University of New Orleans. I examine the central psychological themes of the human experience. Through painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture, I investigate various ways of translating personal and universal experiences into open-ended visual allegories. These psychological narratives are intended to function ambiguously- allowing the viewer to develop their own ideas and responses to the work. Using the figure paired with symbols and also using mass-produced common objects to function as the figure; placing them in ambiguous environments, I juxtapose physical and psychological spaces that evoke …

Art From The Outpost, Field Notes, New Territory, And The Invisible Hamster, Dymphna De Wild

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The outpost installations I create reveal my choice to be inventive with mostly found materials that I discover on my walks. Calling myself an artist-archeologist, I write down field notes as I collect my art-bound specimens and make a descriptive inventory for each of the works. I often surprise my viewers (and myself) by creating something fabulously strange and compelling with things that were cast aside. I hope to increase my viewers’ abilities to find beauty in these forgotten and trashed items and to generate an innovative dialogue and an outside-of-the-box way of thinking.