Art and Design Commons^™

Studio Expressive Arts Therapy: Towards A Classroom Method That Incorporates Art And Music, Michael Greenberg

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explored the ways in which expressive arts therapy (ExAT) could be incorporated into a small therapeutic high school’s visual arts program. Through the development and implementation of a method, intermodal exchange between visual art and music was integrated into both the school’s art program and its group counseling offerings. Informed by a literature review of studio art therapy (SAT) as related to ExAT, three different interventions were used to fit within the frameworks of the high school’s offerings. The first intervention focused on making music with a few students within art classes while the rest of the class …

How This War Of Mine Creates Empathy For Virtual Characters, Cole Pergerson

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Is it possible to empathize with virtual characters? Are game characters just a means for game and story progress or can we develop a strong emotional connection with them? In this research essay, I analysis This War of Mine, a game about surviving a worn torn city where food is limited, and the player must make difficult moral decisions survive. The player controls a small group of characters who all need to be feed, get enough sleep, may need medical care, and other human needs. To look how This War of Mine creates empathy for the virtual characters, I will …

Human/Artificial Intelligence Coordination In Video Games, Michael Rodriguez

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

The emergence of video games has led to widespread inventions to enhance the reality of the experience. As a result, Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) was developed to create virtual experiences and attract a variety of players of video games. This paper will discuss video games in the context of Human-A.I. interaction and the importance of human coordination in video games. Unprecedented errors have been a common challenge in this relationship. An excellent example of these algorithms include population-based training and self-play, which have gained a lot of interest in video games. A.I. technology has surpassed human ability because they are simply …

The Role Of Aesthetics In Classroom Design: Implications For Engagement And Equity, Giuliana Barraza

Master's Theses

The desire for achieving greater equity in education has been a prevalent topic of research, with many studies indicating that the current education system in this country is designed in a way that exacerbates initial inequities and has a negative impact on student motivation and engagement (EOCD, 2012). While existing scholarship mostly discusses equity and engagement through the lens of curriculum and instruction, the power of physical classroom environments and aesthetic elements present in those environments is less explored. With student populations becoming more diverse, there is a greater need for new tools for teachers to utilize in pursuit of …

Connection, Compassion, And Honesty: Using Picture Books To Help Build A Healthier Relationship To Death In A Death-Denying Culture, Kami Sahalie Upshaw Gould

University Honors Theses

This paper explores the ways children are taught about death and dying and how children's picture books can be utilized in difficult conversations of this nature. I go into the historical advent of books specifically for children and research how different ways of explaining death can help or hurt a child. Through this research, I explore how our situationality in a death denying culture has shaped how we explain death to children and what steps can be taken to counter this denial.

But They Are Not Real, Takura Suzuki

Graduate School of Art Theses

This text discusses how my art explores the relationship between humans and contemporary digital technology and investigates how this relationship shapes today’s society. With the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and more data-driven technologies, the interaction between humans and digital technologies has become more intimate and complex. Today, machine automation is an essential development factor in society. An increasing number of industries will benefit from the automation of goods through digital technologies such as AI-driven tools. As automation continues to develop, machines will gradually become indispensable and closely integrated into our lives. In an increasingly automated and data-driven society, digital …

A Poet, Pistachios, And 95 Dollars Of Cigar Gift Cards, Jenna Meadows

The Quatrain

Jenna Meadows studies history and English with a concentration in creative writing at Louisiana Tech.

Oh Pinnochio, Call Me When You're A Real Boy, Laura Cason

The Quatrain

Laura Cason is currently enrolled part time in the creative writing program at Louisiana Tech. In 2018, she earned her Bachelor’s of Science in biology from Tech before deciding to pursue a career in a field she actually enjoys. In her free time, Laura enjoys watching anything that could be labelled as ‘oddly satisfying’, perfecting her skin care routine, and educating her coworkers in the CoLA office on 21st century slang. She is survived by the spawn of Satan himself, her cat Zorra.

Jenny, Madeleine Adams

The Quatrain

Madeleine Adams is from Walker, Louisiana. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University on March 6th, 2020, with her Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in literature. She is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in English with concentration in post-1660s British literature. Madeleine is interested in modern retellings of myths/folklore and the effects of storytelling on literature. She is the current dual enrollment Graduate Assistant, and she tutors at the writing center. She likes to paint, read, sew, and write poetry when she gets the chance. She wants to go into publishing/editing books after graduating.

Welcome To Neverland, Lauren Washington

The Quatrain

Lauren Washington is a native to Ruston, Louisiana. She is studying English with a concentration in technical writing. She has always had a passion for reading and writing and hopes to one day work in the publishing industry.

To False Promises, And Failed Healing, Jackson Floyd

The Quatrain

Jackson Floyd is a senior, majoring in English with a concentration in creative writing. He is from Bossier City.

Response To Donne's "Woman's Constancy", Kristyn Hardy

The Quatrain

Kristyn Hardy is an English major at Louisiana Tech University with a concentration in creative writing. She was raised in a home surrounded by books, wit, and love, making the three somewhat synonymous to her. It has only been in the last couple years that she has considered dedicating her life to writing, but she loves it and cannot wait to see where it takes her.

Her, Alayna Juneau

The Quatrain

Alayna Juneau is a senior in interdisciplinary studies at Louisiana Tech University. She is passionate about telling stories through any medium. Her favorite things to do are pet cats, take naps, and play video games. She hopes to one day be a game developer, a writer, or a crazy cat lady.

The 2020 Awakening: A Study On Exhibiting Topics Of Race And Identity In Mid-Sized Art Museums, Samantha Becker

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

After the many racial injustices that occurred in 2020, cultural institutions have been motivated to educate the public on historical and contemporary topics of race and identity. This project sought to analyze exemplary cases of exhibition production with topics of race and identity in mid-sized art museums. The goal was to provide a set of recommendations for exhibiting these topics to bolster community trust. Two museums were studied–the Montclair Art Museum and Newark Museum of Art–which revealed that the exhibitions at both institutions were relevant to contemporary issues, engaging to their respective communities, and educational for a wide range of …

What's Important To You? A Look Into The Historical And Social Significance Of Buttons, Hope Je Ferns

University Honors Theses

This project is an exploration into the social and historical significance of buttons and the culture surrounding buttons. Not only is it looked at from a graphic design context, but it is also looked at from the context of nonverbal communication, social change, and a piece of history that is tangible, accessible, and for all groups of people.

Pero...Maybe, Adrian Gonzalez

Graduate School of Art Theses

Through collage, assemblage, and object making, I fit unlikely fragments that I call manchitas—stains—together. In my paintings and mixed media assemblages I incorporate references to Spanglish as un acto of making. To me, it’s like the visual work that I make: thinking in one language and speaking another, words start with English but end in Spanish. They sound like English but are Spanish or vice versa. The words look misspelled but are used in everyday conversation. Spanglish is idiosyncratic and is what I build my practice on. I collect materials around me, some I find and some I make. …

The Garden Of Extraterrestrial Deee-Lites, Jessica Bremehr

Graduate School of Art Theses

I present a delusion where you, the reader, are a hitchhiker on a journey toward an alternate realm guided by a god-like buffoon. While I take you on a journey through my daydreams and my musings on an alternate existence, a tour guide will lead the way to an otherworldly realm called The Garden of Extraterrestrial Deee-Lites, reflective of a tourist experience to a faraway destination. The tour will culminate in an uncanny space where curious life forms converge with familiar objects to encourage a sense of wonder while promoting ideas of interconnectedness within the world around us.

The Feeling Of Foam & Other Essays, Ryan Erickson

Graduate School of Art Theses

I create conceptual drawings, collages, sculptures, and installations to humorously destabilize and ultimately question how human language, formal methodologies, and social institutions function. While seemingly embracing an aesthetic of rationality, I undermine it with absurdity. In my work, I take a fundamentally dialectical position by skewering the rational to the illogical as neither can exist without the other.

Suture...Harm And Remedy, Amanda Casarez

Graduate School of Art Theses

My artwork centers its attention on treating the body as a sacred and vulnerable vessel that needs protection, healing, and repair. It is informed by my technical training (in garment construction) and my personal traumatic memories. It responds to the embodiment and transfer of traumatic memories through textiles.

Through my haptic process of destructive transformation, I seek to replicate the embodiment and transfer of trauma. The textiles are imprinted, inhabited, and transformed by traumatic memories in a continuous process that is followed by a harming form of repair, the suture. It is my hope that by exposing the wounds of …

Letter From The Editor, Kristyn Hardy

The Quatrain

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Dean, Donald Kaczvinsky

The Quatrain

No abstract provided.

The Quatrain - Volume 5

The Quatrain

The Quatrain is managed by students at Louisiana Tech University and advised by faculty from the College of Liberal Arts. The journal is housed in George T. Madison Hall, where undergraduates collect, assess, and edit submissions from student writers and artists.

The Quatrain is a print and electronic project for people who value quality undergraduate writing and art. Full-dress researched, academic essays and scholarly explorations; photography; life-writing; sculpture; cultural criticism; work that has a reflective, autobiographical style; and creative writing in all its forms: We simply seek to display samples of the interesting, original, and quality work being produced by …

Using Big Data To Facilitate A Lyrical Analysis Of Poetry And Rap, Remington Yve Giller

English Undergraduate Distinction Projects

Poetry and rap are dissected using text mining techniques in order to determine overall trends in the words used by both. With this data, the way in which ideas and concepts are expressed can be compared and contrasted as a way of showing the legitimacy of rap as a form of literary expression. Other topics within the paper are: a background of the history of rap and the digital humanities, and an example of a close reading featuring a medieval poem and a rap by Eminem. This demonstrates how even in a traditional way of handling texts, both poetry and …

The Digital Grimoire, Benji Snyder

Graduate School of Art Theses

Adigital website that houses written narratives & visual works. Its contents cover Occult topics and narratives in a diaristic fashion and visual storytelling. The website acts as a Digital Grimoire of the creator Benji Snyder.

Hunkidoree Resort, Stephanie Gobby

Graduate School of Art Theses

Hunkidoree Resort opened in the summer of 1960 as a middle-class leisure resort for an often-marginalized community: monsters. Monsters including the likes of vampires, lagoon creatures, mummies and other figures appearing in Cold War era films, which served as personifications of American anxiety over nuclear annihilation, this project seeks to reimagine mid-century illustrated posters with unexpected monstrous figures in leisure settings.

The Freakiest Dungeon In The Castle: The Interiority Of Confinement, Madeline Valentine

Graduate School of Art Theses

Series explores toxic fertility and the interiority of psychic trauma.

Songs In The Gutter: Writing And Authorship In American Comics, Jonathan Marshall Smith

Graduate School of Art Theses

An exploration of authorship and writing for comics understood through the divergent history and conventions of mainstream and alternative American comics paralleling the writing and development of a graphic novel.

Excorio: Cursed Films, Haunted Props, And Fictional Reality, Racheal Bruce

Graduate School of Art Theses

The project Excorio is a series of visuals which act as a container for a fictional horror film from 1979, also titled Excorio. Films are often adorned with a curse in conjunction with tragedy, making its surplus value fetishistic in nature. When subject matter is supernatural, as it often is with horror, it is simple to explain the gruesome actions of people, on and off set, as ghostly intervention. This phenomenon is explored through films such as Polanski’s 1968 film Rosemary’s Baby and Friedkin’s 1973 film The Exorcist. A film’s props and supplemental materials can act as a catalyst for …

Blessing, Liu Weike

Graduate School of Art Theses

Blessing is a black-and-white graphic novel which explores fate and bravery through a love story. The story is divided into five chapters, beginning with a bank robbery and ending with an escape facing failure. After a note from the artist, the "post-credits scene” shows another ending.

Demystifying The Penny Valley Files, Austin Ickes

Graduate School of Art Theses

This article focuses on the historical antecendents and development processes of the independent comic, The Penny Valley Files.