Metal and Jewelry Arts Commons^™

Echoes Of Becoming - K. Morrell, Kole K. Morrell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

I work sculpturally, exploring presence, transformation, and emotional weight that is not inherently visible. My forms are recognizable yet unsettled, existing between familiarity and distortion. Meaning is not fixed or declared, it reveals itself slowly through texture, material, and time spent in observation.

I approach making as a form of therapeutic ritual. Through touch, I shape and alter the material, imbuing it with the story of emotions I want to convey to the viewer. I am most connected to the work in its “in-between” states, when the form is still shifting and unresolved. In these moments, it mirrors my own …

Corpus Meum, Mea Electio, Kara L. Coonrod

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The right to bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom is something I hold very close to my heart. Women who did not wish to embrace motherhood, or who grew beyond the walls of the hearth and home, have been far more often persecuted than praised. Over the past two years, I have created artwork borrowing the visual and material language of the Catholic church (along with personally relevant folklore) to elevate my freedom of choice and bodily autonomy in the face of religiously driven political oppression. Using a less frequently referenced organ from my reproductive system to represent my struggle against …

Untitled: Study., Annabela Cockrell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Untitled: Study is an exploration into “The Work”, which is a constant evolution of the idea of the same piece. Every new work is an evolution of the one before. Previous works are often reworked and self-cannibalized into the next generation. The Work will never be presented the same way twice. There is a temporality in making and installing the work this way, what with the form, the space, the ness of it never being the same. All the while conflicting by being viewed as being the same in the same breath.

Creatura, Carly Marie Odegard

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

My sculptural practice is rooted in the belief that humans and nature are not separate, but deeply interwoven. I create immersive installations that embody cycles of life, death, and transformation; spaces where spiritual and material realities coexist in tension and harmony. Through cast metal, organic materials, and fabricated forms, I channel archetypal symbols from mythology, ritual, and the collective unconscious to create environments that speak to both personal and universal experience.

During my time at Fort Hays State University, I developed a body of work grounded in installation and cast metal. I forged branches, flowers, and leaves from steel, and …

Overlay: Language Uncovered, Cecelia A. Moseley

LSU Master's Theses

Overlay: Language Uncovered presents a series of installations that address my experience navigating learning challenges during my formative years, and strategies I have developed for thriving within those educational settings. This body of work represents three years of introspection and research, leading to a deeper acknowledgement and understanding of the obstacles I faced in learning. The installations feature large-scale sculptures made from a range of materials including, vinyl, styrofoam, acrylic, paper, silk screen mesh, metal and light. The immersive and vibrant colors within these installations invite viewers to playfully explore and interact with language, all rooted in my personal experiences …

Burning Through The Shell, Ethan Harmon

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

Artist Statement

“Burning Through the Shell” embodies the process of freeing myself from my inner turmoil. By pouring molten iron into a wooden trough, the iron burns and scorches its way through the wooden exterior, leaving behind only the remnants as it cools and frees itself from its temporary shell. This destructive yet creative act represents shedding my shell of social anxiety and insecurity, emerging stronger and more resilient. Throughout my life, I have always struggled with “coming out of my shell” and dealing with my mental health in a positive way. However, once I discovered my passion for sculpture …

Winding Down River Road, Gillian Harper

LSU Master's Theses

As a mechanism to explore my temporary home in Louisiana, Winding Down River Road is a collection of artworks that integrates natural materials collected from landscapes in southern Louisiana with steel and petroleum-based products. My interest in researching environmental issues, ecology, and industry has shaped my vehicles for observation and how I generate data. Through a variety of methodologies, I am considering how climate change is forcing many of us to re-contextualize how our home can be affected by the very industries we rely on. Personal engagement with residents living in the dystopian atmosphere of southern Louisiana’s industrial corridor and …

Tenacity, Order & Disorder, Lucy Manalo

CGU MFA Theses

My work is about empowerment. The idea of using metal comes from my past experience as a welder/machinist in the Air Force. Metal is a tough medium and I believe it conveys the themes of strength and tenacity through it’s materiality.

Dredge The Foundry | For Dirt And Era, Woody Stauffer

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Billions of years are past us and billions of years await. Shaping earthen material into sculptural abstractions is my way to sense and convey the lethargic natural progression of the planet. Fossilization, rot, dirt, plant growth, animal existence, and rust are aesthetics I endow with new perspectives and form through mold making and casting. The dichotomy between the eons of time behind us and the endless possibility of a technological future has inspired the addition of a science fiction aesthetic. To rust these computerized constructed geometric forms demonstrates how futuristic ideals will also wither away. In many ways we are …

A Spectacle And Nothing Strange, Taylor Z. King

Theses and Dissertations

Working through methods of abstraction and comedic mimicry I choreograph awkwardly balanced sculpture with objects of adornment as a means to defuse personal sensitivities surrounding my experiences of gender, desire, and home. The research that follows is concerned with the adjacent, the in between, above and underneath, because I feel that this kind of looking means that you are, to some degree, aware of what lies at the edges. Maybe this is what Gertrude Stein means to act as though there is no use in a center—because this concerns a way of relating, though there are many things in the …

Vita Via Dolorosa, Vivianne Lee Carey

Graduate Theses

This thesis statement accompanies my MFA project entitled Vita via Dolorosa, which features a glass and steel horse-drawn carriage sculpture that metaphorically depicts a woman’s journey through life, from childhood to death. Supporting the carriage, which is the primary sculpture in this exhibit, is a performance piece that addresses the transformation of this woman by means of sculpture, music and drama. This largely autobiographical multidisciplinary exhibit uses the metaphor to explore the passage of time symbolically through the dark, aged-color palette, the iconic imagery, and the combination of animate and inanimate sculptural resources such as horses, steel and glass. …

Unknowable Terrain, Carli A. Holcomb

Theses and Dissertations

I see the moment of creation as a threshold, a fertile ground where anything is possible. My work combines an interest in science, mythology, cosmologies, and a childlike sense of wonderment to seek the unknowable. I create formless floating worlds that have a seducing, enlightening, and ultimately deceiving presence. Vibrant lusty clusters of candied opulence emphasize the wetness at the beginning of life. Dry folds give way to woozy nests and frenzied organisms while dripping crystalline structures puncture soft unknowable terrains.

Through the process of making I indulge my desire to create an otherworld, one that bubbles, garishly drips, and …

Design Of Spatial Interstices, Byron Hiroyuki Kato

All Master's Theses

It was the purpose of this study: (1) to develop an idea visually as well as to articulate it in writing; (2) to evolve and develop illusions and realities of spatial interstices (spatial framents) as positive elements of two and three dimensional form; (3) to articulate, as objectively as possible, an analysis of the body of creative work.

A Study Of Three-Dimensional Form Using Steel And Non-Ferrous Metals, Derell Roger Midles

All Master's Theses

A discussion and documentation of Midles' student art and sculpture studio exhibition.