Audience, Minah Kim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My work, “audience,” reflects binary oppressions sensed and recognized in my private memory and psychological space of living as a transnational being. Linguistic and sensical cognition I(a vulnerable transnational individual) had, have easily been dis-esteemed and devalued by White-centric epistemology. By confronting the reality of history that shapes my thoughts, performance, names, and meanings, I emphasize transnationality as an opportunity to multiply visual tools, dialogues, and inter-connections of individuals. This work integrates moments of physical connection and accountability by utilizing multidisciplinary expression, including ceramics, writing, sound, and the movements of performers and of the audience. Like an interfusion between artists …

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, …

Resistance, Catita Guardado

The Tuxedo Archives

No abstract provided.

Drink Up: A Study Of The Food-Safe Quality Of Ceramics Glazes With The Addition Of Rutile, Morgan A. Baldinelli

Honors College Theses

Food-safe ceramic glazes can be altered with additives and become harmful to the user of the ceramic ware. Rutile is a frequently used material added to glazes to create variegation in glazes, but it is commonly known to cause defects in the glaze that can be unsafe for food. This experiment is conducted to determine if rutile can be added to food-safe glazes and still retain their food-safe status. A food-safe glaze is a shiny, thin coating that does not leach chemicals or has an excess of colorants; common food-safe glazes are white liners and clear glazes as they have …

A Lot On My Plate: Family Dishware Serving Up A History Of Global Commercialization, Grace Thanasiu

Student Projects from the Archives

The “Hearthside” shaped plate was created by the Homer Laughlin China Company sometime between 1963 and 1973. My family owns such a plate, and ours originally belonged to a set of plates that was “purchased” by my grandmother, Mary Ruhlin, with books and books full of redemption stamps. Redemption stamps were literal stamps that stores distributed to customers, who could later redeem them for cash or merchandise at affiliated redemption centers that partnered with grocery stores and businesses; redemption stamps functioned as a precursor to the modern loyalty card! The need for a reputable pottery company like Homer Laughlin to …

Adapting The Ceramics Process With Creative Problem-Solving, Jennifer K. Fortuna

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Madeline Kaczmarczyk, a ceramics sculptor based in Rockford, MI, provided the cover art for the Fall 2021 edition of The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy (OJOT). The piece is a wall vase made from clay, luster glaze, and glass beads. Madeline has been creating decorative ceramics for over four decades. In recent years, Madeline has found creative ways to adapt the ceramics process so she can continue creating beautiful works of art. For Madeline, ceramics is more than a means to make a living. This meaningful activity brings focus to her life.

Reliquary, Matthew Sloan

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

I am interested in ritual – the rituals we inherit, and those we choose for ourselves.

By situating the everyday mugs, cups, plates, and bowls next to objects more closely associated with ritual and ceremony, I am suggesting that all of these are significant objects. On one hand, the tableware essential to the rituals of daily living we share at home, on the other, communion vessels and reliquaries are used to deepen a spiritual ritual shared by a community. Both rituals are important experiences worthy of introspection, and consideration.

This is why I make pottery. I believe that handmade objects …

Common Objective, Josh Scott

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

Pots are like people. Gestural qualities can make pots appear to move like people. They form groups in ways that people might. Repeated forms on a pedestal can appear to be in formation like a military unit. More importantly, pots perform specific jobs or tasks in ways similar to people.

Inherently, the job someone holds or the function of a pot will have an effect on perceived importance. A funerary urn may seem to be a more important form than a coffee mug, yet both are committed to specific tasks. This can be likened to a lineman and a doctor. …

The Aberration Of The Species, Kristin Ayla Murray

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

The Aberration of the Species in an exhibition meant to encourage viewers to consider in impacts technology has had and continues to have on the relationships and interactions we experience in daily life.

The Systemic Punches: Displacement Experience Of Vulnerable Immigrants, Eric Andre

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

"The Systemic Punches: Displacement Experience of Vulnerable Immigrants" focuses on the impact of systems of state control such as immigration laws, policies, and practices that have been institutionalized and that have marginalized immigrants. In my thesis, I pay specific attention to inhuman acts of exclusion and discrimination resulting from the systemic barriers perpetuated by xenophobic and nationalist ideologies.

From this standpoint, my thesis exhibition employs interactive space, which includes visual art (drawing, sculpture ceramics), projection, video, and sound, as a means to explore the effects of the exclusive and discriminatory immigration policies and practices. Furthermore, it is designed to explore …

A Journey To The Deep Self, Fengkun Yu

Masters Theses

Filling the empty corners and walls with my favorite stuff in my house is essential for me to feel secure. Thus, I make pieces that I imagine being surrounded by the best collection by placing and organizing them in a touchable distance, such as wall shelves or bookshelves in my own space. I feel both physically and mentally comfortable with the atmosphere that these objects create and convey to me as a relatively sensitive and introverted person.

The state of being free from agitation and disturbance to me is the prerequisite to conduct studio practice. Being able to focus on …

Mars Is For Fags, Justin Quaid Grubb

Masters Theses

The overarching theme dealt with in my work relates to the Space Age - specifically the predictive futuristic approach to product design and the pop culture that came out of the movement. During this time, technological advancements permeated American culture. Manufactures made the future accessible to everyone and futuristic living became symbolic of innovation, progress, and prosperity. A blueprint for a futurist suburban utopia was forged and the American people were ready to embody the new “American Dream.” Residential Mid-Century Modern architecture emerged as the new site for this dream and along with it came a new way of life. …

Beauty Still Lives Here: Narratives Of Radical Self-Love, Deshun Peoples

Masters Theses

This exhibition is primarily concerned with the act of taking up physical and socio-political space. Through the use of form, design, color, and installation this work places various histories and traditions of both ceramics and resistance in communication with one another. The red, black, and green of Marcus Garvey’s 1920 Pan-African/Black American flag are proudly displayed against a warm, calm, pale green backdrop to highlight the importance of mental health in all endeavors, especially in the emotionally taxing labor of social, political, and economic protest in the battle for humanity, life, civil rights, equity, access, and decision-making power.

Fableware From The Garden Of The Grotesque, Matt Becker

Masters Theses

In biology, a chimaera is created when two zygotes collide at an early stage of development, resulting in a unique creature containing two distinct sets of genes. The name is borrowed from Greek mythology where chimaeras are fire-breathing monsters born with the mixed attributes of lions, snakes, and goats. As creatures of myth, chimaera represent a narrative union of disparate parts; a collision of the fantastic and the mundane.

Clay can be used to explore this dichotomy, utilizing its ability as a mutable canvas to embody a vast range of visual vocabularies while referencing its rich history and placing new …

Control Theory, Colin Yoon

Masters Theses

When people feel that everything is out of control, their natural response would be to turn to a designated space to manipulate anything within it, whether a physical environment or a digital platform. This book expresses the comforts of order and predictability in response to the chaos and confusion that emerged from the train wreck known as 2020. After everything that has happened, it’s understandable that people want to have some semblance of control over something in their lives, as predictability makes them feel safe, intelligent, and powerful.

Icarus Rooted, Lacey Minor

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This thesis conceptually frames and accompanies the MFA body of work Icarus Rooted by Lacey Minor. This work grapples with the acceptance of impermanence and illustrates her personal narrative about grieving family lost to addiction — juxtaposed with societal reflections on the opioid epidemic in America — using the potato as a symbol for the addicted body.

Yellow, Sisi Chen

Theses and Dissertations

The following paper is a constellational unpacking of yellow through notes on critical race and feminist theories, myth, science, science fiction, disparate histories, cyborgs, biography, virtuality, materiality, fungi, porcelain, language, internalization, melancholia, smells, sounds, tastes, feels, and more feels.

Heartwork, Lance Taylor Loftin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Heartwork is a collection of paintings, drawings, and sculptures that explore the many ways identity is shaped by familial histories and personal memory. Focusing on my time growing up on a pine tree farm in Jackson, Mississippi in the early 90s, Heartwork explores gender, religion, regional traditions, family, and art. Through conversations and collaborations with my family, painting acts as an impetus for strengthening relationships. By reevaluating the past, I am able to create a web of interconnected narratives that inform and shift my understanding of the present.

What's Going On Here, Joanna R. Pike

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project is an installation depicting shirts and pants in various degrees of Recognizability. The Components vary from somewhat Unrecognizable to entirely Unrecognizable; Bumps and Blocks are interspersed and interrupt the Semi-logic of What’s going on here while adding repetitive elements to clarify the existence of the Semi-logic. The arrangement of the Components in the installation makes the Unrecognizable forms surrounded by the In-between Space into somewhat Recognizable versions of shirts and pants. The viewer does not fully recognize all the Components, but instead understands the implied Recognition given their existence within the installation. The ideas of Lists, Patterns, Systems, …

Growth, Taylor Sijan

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

I craft functional pottery that is richly decorated with layers of abstracted botanical imagery. While working within the parameters of function, I explore the possibilities for expressing and evoking beauty through altered porcelain forms and lush surfaces. As a potter, I create forms that inspire curiosity and interaction through a balance of originality and suggested function. I connect myself to others through the intermediary of the vessel, conveying my reverence for plants, nourishment and beauty. People then interpret how to use my work, adding their own sentiments as it becomes part of their lives. Pots live in the home, bridging …

Coping With Burdens, Jennifer Rose Wolken

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

How to carry and cope with burdensome circumstances beyond my control is the main theme I am currently exploring in my artistic practice. I create art objects and experiences that can elicit an empathetic connection to the realities of living with burdens like grief and chronic illness, or help you to process your own relationship to a wide variety of burdens. Individual pieces explore aspects of how I or close family members cope. My practice is multi-disciplinary and the forms focus on reinterpretation of the book as a sculptural art object or artists’ book. The processes I use are overwhelmingly …

Pink Fantasy, Andrea Clary

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

“I do my hair toss check my nails, baby how you feeling? Feeling good as hell”– Lizzo, “Good as Hell”, Cuz I Love You, 2019.

My work is about self-acceptance and body positivity. I am learning to love and accept my own body and channel this personal growth into my ceramics.

Reacting to media images of celebrity culture and the movement of fabric in Couture runway fashion shows, I am deeply impacted by contemporary American beauty ideals. Utilizing Hip-hop’s cultural messages of defiance and historical platform for presenting underrepresented voices, song titles and slang become titles for my work, in …

Sculpting Organs: An Arts-Based Educational Activity For Anatomy Learning, Annika Gupta

Senior Theses

As an integral component of healthcare, a comprehensive understanding of anatomy is necessary for accurate clinical diagnoses and medical procedures. Beginning in undergraduate classrooms (premedical), there is a need to explore new ways of teaching and learning anatomy to train healthcare professionals. Traditional methods of attending a lecture and reading a textbook may not be the most effective method to learn about anatomical structures—or to engage learners. However, recent studies have reported promising results in the use of arts-based approaches to enhance anatomy learning. Of these, clay sculpting can provide an opportunity for students to participate in an active and …

The Weight Of It All, Amythest Warrington

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

The impetus for this exhibition is to visualize the weight of loss and to focus attention on the need to recognize the inherent dichotomy between life’s beauty and loss. My mobile upbringing taught me that details may differ from group to group, but the core experiences of loss, empathy and belonging are a universal language that connects us. I utilize clay’s unique physical properties of malleability, recyclability and permanence once fired, to explore the dichotomy between strength and frailty associated with these universal connectors. The meticulously crafted beautiful objects draw one into serious and often taboo subjects. The work comforts …

Slowly But Surely, Katie Bosley

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

I craft porcelain vessels that combine dynamic forms and dimensional surfaces to create a captivating presence. Formal components such as line, space, and color are carefully considered to create objects that are striking at first glance and reward further inspection. Constructed with an emphasis on structure, these works challenge conventional interpretations of the vessel and promote a sense of awe.

My vessels are relational objects that both affect and are affected by their surroundings. Employing positive and negative space, and light and shadow, they collaborate with the space they inhabit. They are objects designed to promote and reward active viewing. …

"Sustainability Of Traditional Terracotta Artisan Communities In West Bengal", Laura-Harris Gascogne

Sabbatical Projects

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The long tradition of terracotta sculpture making survives in the state of West Bengal today, but due to several factors, it is at risk of being lost. I wish to research and document the disappearing processes and traditions being employed by terracotta artisan communities in the state and surrounding region. I believe that I will offer a parallel appreciation and intimate technical understanding of this material as a sculptor who has studied and applied terracotta within my own work. Secondly, as an academic, I have demonstrated a continuum of interest in studying and applying elements of traditional Indian …

A Third Culture Kid's Quest For Belonging: Ephemeral, Eternal, And The Space In Between, Simona Darshani Wiig

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In fulfillment of my degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Central Florida specializing in sculpture and ceramics, I have produced a body of artwork in a range of media, including printmaking, bookbinding, painting, ceramics, and sculpture. This thesis is the exegesis of my creative work, informed by contemporary artworks and the study of shelter-making in nature. Utilizing The Practitioner Model of Creative Cognition as defined by R. Lyle Skains, I will establish my work as practice-based research. While "exegesis" generally refers to the critical examination of written work, I feel it is appropriate in this context …

Beside| |Between, Brooke J. Armstrong

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Beauty and the grotesque both induce physical sensations in the body. Pleasure and displeasure are two points on the same line. They are not mutually exclusive. Like the body and the vessel, like the self and the other all things exist in reciprocity. The capability of holding brings agency, breaking down perceptions of of subject-object relationships. The works presented in this paper represent a merging and a transformation of perceived separate entities. Craft history and processes inform the work present in the thesis exhibition, Beside| |Between.

Between. Beneath. Beyond... A Visual Drama In Five Acts, Deborah Burk

Art Theses

The concept that I explore in my thesis is the idea of marking moments in time by mental “snapshots” of events that are indelibly ingrained on the mind and can be theatrically portrayed through ceramics. That these moments birth opportunities to create a narrative between the artist and material, the art and the viewer, and between the works of art themselves was the impetus for the work, while also exploring what lies beneath the making and what might live beyond the exhibition. COVID-19 created, by necessity, a “slowing down” of time – and magnification of moments that one might otherwise …

Sacred Industry, Joshua Heimsoth

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Thesis show revolving around the design concepts found in religious art and in the functional beauty of industrial design with observations on the beauty and hypocrisy in both power structures.