Printmaking Commons^™

Fallen Leaves:The Unseen, Forgotten, Presences That Live In Us, Juhee Cho

Masters Theses

The fallen leaf is a material figure of the unseen, forgotten moments that have made us and holds us still while remaining outside our sight. In urban environments, fallen leaves are managed as seasonal waste, collected and quickly separated from everyday encounter. Yet within ecological systems, they continue to participate in cycles of regeneration, becoming the soil that sustains new life. This quiet continuation is unavailable to the eye, yet known by the body. As a proof of this, the leaf’s transformation reveals itself not to the mind, but to the hand. The curling fiber wears out, the deepening brown, …

Tarot - Reimagined: Monotype Tarot Landscapes, Eleanor B. Nelson

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Printmaking is a form of artmaking that utilizes transferring marks from the matrix to the final piece of paper, often through a press. These processes are able to create an edition of multiple identical prints. This is typically considered the highlight of using print processes; however, the process of making monotypes allows for one original piece. Through the process of researching and creating watercolor monotypes, I made a collection of ten original pieces, all depicting different landscapes throughout the Tarot deck. Each piece is 9” x 12” printed on a 13” x 17” piece of paper and created with watercolor, …

Wordless And Anthropomorphic Picture Books Featuring Insect Characters, Jocelyn Norcross

Children's Book Writing and Illustrating (MFA) Theses

This thesis explores the intersection of wordless narration and insect anthropomorphism in children’s literature through the creation and analysis of three original picture books: Clawula, Fly, and Home. These works utilize wordless (or near-wordless) storytelling to feature insect characters that possess human emotional qualities while remaining grounded in their true biological environments.

The research begins with a historical overview of wordless picture books, examining their definition, educational utility, and global classification as "silent books." To establish a foundation for visual narrative techniques, a case study is conducted on the wordless trilogy of South Korean author-illustrator Suzy Lee, …

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Coffee Bindings, M. Ermolenko

Theses and Dissertations

Coffee Bindings is a multi-media interactive installation weaving themes of history, memory, death, and spaces that no longer exist through the lens of coffee readings and a mixture of physical and digital media. By navigating ghost spaces (spaces/places that used to exist but don’t anymore), and looking at survival through three time periods, Coffee Bindings jumps through liminal time and space, navigating the Armenian Genocide of 1915, the ethnic cleansing and displacement of Armenians from Artsakh in 2020-2024, while also tying them to personal family history with the death of my father and the loss of the physical space of …

Illustrating Identity: Ethel Reed’S Art Posters And Women's Claims To Public Space In Fin-De-Siècle Boston, Miranda R. Knofczynski

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

Much scholarship has uncovered the history of women illustrators during the late nineteenth century. The rebuilding of these lost histories calls for research which theorizes women’s contributions to the burgeoning arts scene of the fin-de-siècle. This thesis will examine the posters Ethel Reed created for different companies during the height of the 1890s poster craze and discuss how she articulated women in public space in them. Reed’s art offers an aestheticized yet feminist visualization of women engaging in leisure activities such as exploring the city, reading, or attending the theatre. Many have described the women in her posters as merely …

Syncretic Spirits / Espíritus Sincréticos, Angelica Tapia - Estrada

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

Syncretic Spirits / Espíritus Sincréticos is a multimedia exhibition that invites viewers into a fantastical space where cultural identity and perception intertwine. Colorful shaped panels, sculptural installations, prints, and drawings bridge physical and metaphysical realms. Personal archetypes intuitively inspired by natural forms drive the work.

Influenced by the dualities of my upbringing as a first-generation Mexican American, I was immersed in Mexican culture through my family traditions while finding a home in the nurturing embrace of the heartland. The work has become a means of reclaiming a new layered sense of self, disentangling from my Catholic upbringing, embracing indigenous healing …

Cartelera Espanto: Análisis De Cartel Cinematográfico De Terror En México Del Siglo Xx, Karla Daniela Frías González, Edgar Meritano

STEM for Success Showcase

UNIVERSIDAD AUTÓNOMA METROPOLITANA UNIDAD AZCAPOTZALCO

División Ciencias y Artes para el Diseño

Tesis para obtener el grado de Licenciado en Diseño de la Comunicación Gráfica

En el siglo XX hubo una explosión de cambios que revolucionaron al mundo, el cine se instauró como uno de los medios artísticos y de comunicación más importantes, un arte particularmente relacionado con la tecnología, que durante estos cien años se elevará a su máximo desarrollo pasando del cine mudo hasta el cine a todo color; con los movimientos bélicos obtuvo protagonismo, desde de la educación política, pues describía los valores de una nación o …

Senior Show - Merch Design, Nicole Tranel

Senior Art Portfolios

This Senior Capstone Project serves as the culmination of my undergraduate journey, highlighting the skills I have acquired and demonstrating my ability to apply them in real-world professional settings such as merch design. Through this project, I expanded my expertise beyond artistry, embracing design as a complementary skillset that enhances my creative and problem-solving abilities.

Soft Epilogue, Chloe C. Firth

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written document is the accompanying thesis for my Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, Soft Epilogue. The work in the exhibition serves as a visual record of my eating disorder recovery process. Each piece in the exhibition addresses a selected writing prompt from the book 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder, published in 2011 and written by therapists and former eating disorder patients Carolyn Costin and Gwen Schubert Grabb. The book provides information and journal assignments regarding the development of eating disorders, how to maintain the motivation to recover, and how to navigate the complicated emotions …

Guanacos De Corazón, Ana Marcela Sinnett

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the intersections of indigeneity, mestizaje, and decolonial aesthetics through a mixed-media art practice rooted in Salvadoran history and identity. Drawing on ancestral traditions such as indigo dyeing and backstrap weaving, Guanacos de Corazón investigates how materiality, folklore, and handcraft function as forms of visual resistance, meaning art that disrupts dominant narratives, critiques systems of power, and reclaims erased cultural memory.

Through formal analysis, historical context, and interviews with Salvadoran artists, this thesis challenges ideas of mestizaje that promote cultural and ethnic superiority and contribute to the erasure of ancestral beliefs.

How do we rescue ancestral traditions that …

Saints And Syncretism In Global Christian Art, Alexandra Lewis, Andie Near, Charles Mason, Gracie Allen, Signe Bieganski, Shannon Smith, Emma Waldvogel, Lauren Carpenter, Ashley Keltsch, Sophia Funston, Mariam Tiews, Emma Brenny, Anne Heath

Kruizenga Art Museum Exhibition Catalogs

Kruizenga Art Museum, Hope College Catalog for the exhibition: Saints and Syncretism in Global Christian Art. Exhibition dates: January 14 – May 17, 2025. Alexandra Lewis, photographer, designer. Andie Near, photographer.

Kruizenga Art Museum Online Collection - Exhibition Gallery

A New Perspective

DePaul Magazine

The DePaul Art Museum foregrounds inclusiveness, partnership and social justice to reframe the role of cultural institutions.

La Creatividad En Peligro: Como La Inteligencia Artificial Es Un Reto Para Los Artistas., Nathaly Cisneros

Capstones

Los artistas digitales han creado obras maestras que nos han dejado sin aliento con sus pinceles digitales, lápices y pinturas. Desde retratos que parecen saltar de la pantalla hasta paisajes que nos transportan a mundos desconocidos, su arte ha sido una fuente constante de inspiración.

Pero en los últimos años, una nueva fuerza ha comenzado a cambiar el juego. La inteligencia artificial ha estado avanzando a pasos agigantados y ahora se perfila como una amenaza para el futuro de los artistas digitales. ¿Qué significa esto para el arte y la creatividad?

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xe8UxDMekX_SwiIppyt_JppK8M-lB-YWNWGyeyShlJM/edit?usp=sharing

Away From Keyboard: Practical Applications Of Antifascism, Amber Sarelle Easley

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My work sits uncomfortably between and across the disciplines of activism and art. This tension is typical of Socially Engaged Art: a social interaction proclaiming itself as art. I aim for these interactions to center antifascism in interrogating the complex interrelation between digital spaces and the streets outside our front doors, as antifascism is the only appropriate response to the blatant fascistic aspirations that is both digitally and physically present.

Things That Are Long, Frankie Gutierrez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Bigfoot has become an important motif for Frankie Gutierrez, especially since his transition in 2021. The characters in this exhibition showcase the deeply personal exploration of transness and non-mainstream trans identities, the in-depth observations of others, and their interactions with transgender people. He compares transness to the likeness of bigfoot, typically an elusive and hard-to-find character that everyone suspects, but has rarely been seen. Evidence of their existence surrounds us, but only those with open minds can truly see them. The characters in this show look like you and me, and no one at all. This exhibition is not meant …

Outside Inside: Poems, Emma Jane Sullivan

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This creative thesis includes thirty-four poems and thirteen illustrations that investigate the topic of self-exploration, creative freedom, and liberatory pleasure. My poems are souvenirs from a failed ethical standard, a trove of misogynic micro-aggressions, a spotlight on the backward- ness of gender norms, and a surprisingly strong thread that links women to the planet and to shared language, a thread humankind continuously tries to cut. The methods of research were largely a self- study and one that required consistent reflection. The results were a collection of writings that had to be revised and edited with the guidance of my thesis …

A Pursuance Of Self, Kassidy Albert

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The self portrait is a consistent aspect of art history, with many artists returning to it again and again across their lives. This project intends to explore the function of the self portrait. Through research and execution of artwork, the artist has found that the self portrait has multiple functions, including: a practice of anatomy; a display of status, skill, and likeness; an outlet for emotion; and a place for psychological confrontation. Across the life of this project, the artist completed twenty-two self portraits in a variety of styles and materials.

Reading Mary Margaret Stewart, Miriam Glatfelter

Schmucker Art Catalogs

Curated by Miriam Glatfelter ’24, the inaugural Susan ’77 and Joseph Biernat ‘75 Intern, this exhibition examines the literary themes in works of art from the collection of Mary Margaret Stewart (1931-2021), a beloved Professor Emerita of English at Gettysburg College (1959-1996). Reading Mary Margaret Stewart features prints of notable authors, including Virginia Woolf and Edgar Alan Poe, as well as works that allude to stories, such as Mark Twain’s “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Glatfelter not only considers these various references to fiction and poetry, but she also invites the viewer to read the works in …

I Buried The Fireworks Under The Tree, Sihan Zhu

Masters Theses

Unreachable memories always surround me. I've been trying to extract logical parts from my chaotic memories, hoping to find a connection with the world within the soundless, intangible black fireworks stored in my retina under the grand fireworks display. When I first encountered intaglio printmaking, I impulsively drew subconscious memories on the plate, arranging them along some chaotic storylines. Gradually, I realized that I needed to create my own logical structure. So I started using specific visual symbols and repeating them, using the repetition of the printmaking process to search for logical clues. Printmaking with its special rhythm allowed me …

Making Then Meaning, Ben Denzer

Masters Theses

This is an artist talk contained within a book. It is 816 pages and 49 minutes long. Closed captions run across the spreads. A video of this talk can be watched on bendenzer.com/making-then-meaning

At RISD, I’ve been prompted to expand the scope and tools of my practice and to reflect on questions of meaning in my work.

I spend my days making things, but I’ve never really had good answers to questions of why I make the things I make, or what their meaning is. I don’t think there are simple answers to these questions.

I think meaning comes from …

The Hospitality Of Doubt, Ian Grieve

Art Theses and Dissertations

This paper discusses the last two years of research toward a Master of Fine Art in Studio Art. I mainly address my painting practice, but while in the program, I have worked in collage, ceramics, intaglio printmaking, and sculpture. My paintings are thick, multilayered, and often contain ambiguous narratives. The pictures develop through engagement, openness, and response within the work. I seek and embrace connection with viewers of the work. The spectator ‘completes’ the art and enhances or alters the artworks meaning by observing it and applying their individual perspectives. I seek to incorporate a sense of nostalgia and familiarity. …

An Exploration Of Pattern: British Wildflowers, Megan Quinn

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

For this creative project I decided to focus on illustration and design, displaying the skills I have picked up over my academic journey.

The natural world is all around us and throughout history, in both written and visual methods of communication, organic patterns based in nature have played a large part in how we as individuals interpret and interact with the world. Organic material is at the forefront of our minds as we navigate through the challenges that life throws at us, and for me, I wanted to celebrate this through my own artistic journey. The natural world for me …

Zephyrus, Western Kentucky University

Student Creative Writing

The fine arts magazine of Western Kentucky University at Bowling Green.

Mycelium, Minjoo Lee

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Mycelium (noun)

/mʌɪˈsiːlɪəm/

plural: mycelia

the vegetative, root-like part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white thread-like filaments (hyphae).

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From as long as I can remember,

I’ve drawn inspiration from nature. I’ve always looked to create art and designs that contain the same visual elements and story-telling that is so present in nature.

In mycelia, I found inspiration in the fact that they are vital in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems for their role in the decomposition of material. They give life to what has died, turning negative into positive.

TATUME ISLAND Tattoo Studio was born out …

Strange Creature, Dagny Walton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Strange Creature is an exploration and renovation of the myth of the American West. I extract elements from the known and recognizable myth of the West and create my own rendition, focusing in particular on themes of transformation and violence. Here in this black mirror world, animals speak out loud, cowboys face down a wildland with eyes, and two suns light up the lonely sky. There is no continuous narrative thread, but each piece is a vignette that takes place in a single shared world. This world is at once familiar and completely alien. I intend to surprise the viewer …

Graphic Scotland: Visuality And Empire, 1810 – 1913, Laura Michelle Golobish

Art & Art History ETDs

Graphic Scotland: Visuality and Empire, 1810–1913 interrogates the aesthetic, technological, and literary conventions used to represent Scotland’s character in nineteenth-century publications. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, publishers, authors, and readers began to correlate the material format of prints, books, illustration, and bookbinding with individual and national character. Periodicals and literature drew the correlations between the aesthetic conventions of picturesque Scottish landscape, physiognomy of Scottish authors, and bookbinding to frame ideas about Scottish character as a didactic model for middle class British and American readers. Thus, Graphic Scotland offers an intertextual reading of three illustrated publications about Scotland–J.R. Osgood’s 1882 …

Quilted Archives, Rebecca M. Gallandt

Art and Art History Honors Projects

Memory and identity are rooted in the experience of being in material spaces and the process of remembering is often prompted by associative places. Quilted Archives is a series of four collages that combine the mediums of printmaking and oil painting in the pursuit of exploring nostalgia. In each work I use brightly colored intaglio aquatint prints, sepia intaglio etchings, patterned linocut prints, and oil paint to embed memories of childhood play and pretend in the flora of the landscapes where each memory takes place. The flora is collaged in a colorful geometric style to reference quilting and is used …

The Ghosts Shed Tears, Sarah Jentsch

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

Before I was taught what made us different, I thought my brother and I were the same. The only difference between a doe and a buck was the antlers. As I grew, I noticed differences—in the way people spoke to us, in what was expected of us, in the questions we were asked. In what our futures were supposed to look like. The difference between the doe and the buck was still the antlers, but those antlers made one a trophy and the other venison.

Many of my formative experiences I came to understand through animals. My family home, cradled …

The World As We Know It: Maps And Atlases From Special Collections, Archives And Special Collections, Luke Meagher

Library Exhibits

Selections of maps and atlases from Sandor Teszler Library’s Special Collections are presented in this exhibit to show how, over time, cartographers have represented the world as we know it.