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Full-Text Articles in Art Practice

Rembrandt Van Rijn's Jewish Bride: Depicting Female Power In The Dutch Republic Through The Notion Of Nation Building, Nan T. Atwood Jun 2012

Rembrandt Van Rijn's Jewish Bride: Depicting Female Power In The Dutch Republic Through The Notion Of Nation Building, Nan T. Atwood

Theses and Dissertations

Many art historians have debated the identity of the couple in Rembrandt's the Jewish Bride (1667). The painting is most often identified as an Old Testament theme. This is due to the seventeenth-century Dutch practice of using biblical "types" as ideal models for the structuring of the new republic founded on the Israelite ideology of nation building. Three of these biblical female types that have been separately associated with the female figure in the Jewish Bride are, Rebecca, Ruth, and Esther. As these biblical women represented different notions of power through their respective narratives, this thesis argues that Rembrandt deliberately …


Joseph As Father In Guido Reni's St. Joseph Images, Alec Teresa Gardner Apr 2012

Joseph As Father In Guido Reni's St. Joseph Images, Alec Teresa Gardner

Theses and Dissertations

This study presents a psychoanalytic examination of Guido Reni's motivations for creating an innovative painting series of St. Joseph and the Christ Child. The seventeenth-century artist developed a new depiction of Joseph as the tender and loving surrogate father of Christ. This new artistic emphasis on the intimate relationship between father and son reveals Reni's own psychological need to create a replacement father. Indeed, contemporary biographers report that Reni suffered from anxiety and an aversion to women throughout his life. These odd behavioral traits appear to have stemmed from Reni's lack of a supportive father figure. Thus, the artist created …


The Influence Of The Roman Atrium-House's Architecture And Use Of Space In Engendering The Power And Independence Of The Materfamilias, Anne Elizabeth Stott Apr 2012

The Influence Of The Roman Atrium-House's Architecture And Use Of Space In Engendering The Power And Independence Of The Materfamilias, Anne Elizabeth Stott

Theses and Dissertations

Architecture has a remarkable capacity to not only reflect social patterns and behaviors but to engender public image and identity. Therefore, it has proven to be a viable source for understanding the lives of ancient people. In fact, many scholars have established a connection between the atrium-house's design and the power and social identity of the paterfamilias, or male head of household. However, little has been said about what these same architectural features mean in relation to his female counterpart, the materfamilias. Therefore, this paper argues that the architecture of the atrium-house likewise engendered a sense of power …


Interactive Web Technology In The Art Classroom: Problems And Possibilities, Marie Lynne Aitken Oxborrow Apr 2012

Interactive Web Technology In The Art Classroom: Problems And Possibilities, Marie Lynne Aitken Oxborrow

Theses and Dissertations

Research has shown that the use of technology in curriculum, and art classrooms in particular, can benefit students. This thesis outlines these benefits which include the potential for technology to make learning more personal, assist students in their future careers, and allow opportunity for collaboration. Still, several obstacles impede the full-fledged realization of that potential, often leading teachers to avoid or ignore technology in their pedagogical strategies. This thesis addresses these obstacles and provides practical and theoretical solutions. Once these obstacles are overcome, teachers will be better able to incorporate new technology in their lessons, such as social media, podcasts, …


German Nationalism And The Allegorical Female In Karl Friedrich Schinkel's The Hall Of Stars, Allison Slingting Apr 2012

German Nationalism And The Allegorical Female In Karl Friedrich Schinkel's The Hall Of Stars, Allison Slingting

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I consider Karl Friedrich Schinkel's The Hall of Stars in the Palace of the Queen of the Night (1813), a set design of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), in relation to female audiences during a time of Germanic nationalism. Although Schinkel is customarily known as the great modern architect of Germany, his work as a set designer is exceedingly telling of his feelings toward the political and geographical unification of the Germanic regions. Through his set designs, Schinkel successfully used the influential space of the theatre to articulate not only nationalism, but positive female empowerment …


Female Spectators In The July Monarchy And Henry Scheffer's Entrée De Jeanne D’Arc À Orléans, Kalisha Roberts Dec 2011

Female Spectators In The July Monarchy And Henry Scheffer's Entrée De Jeanne D’Arc À Orléans, Kalisha Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I consider Henry Scheffer's Entrée de Jeanne d’Arc à Orléans, le 8 mai 1429 (1843) in relation to female audiences of the July Monarchy. As a part of the larger Galerie des Batailles in the Musée Historique instituted in 1837 by Louis-Philippe, Entrée de Jeanne d'Arc has been addressed relative to the political objectives of the monarchy. Limited scholarship surrounding the Galerie des Batailles has focused on its evolution from royal apartments in the château de Versailles to public museum. However, the broadening of audiences during the July Monarchy and potential points of engagement between viewer and …


A Comparative Case Study: Investigation Of A Certified Elementary Art Specialist Teaching Elementary Art Vs. A Non-Art Certified Teacher Teaching Elementary Art, Jordan Jensen Dec 2011

A Comparative Case Study: Investigation Of A Certified Elementary Art Specialist Teaching Elementary Art Vs. A Non-Art Certified Teacher Teaching Elementary Art, Jordan Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

Most colleges and universities offer a general course in elementary art education to provide instruction to the elementary generalist to enable that student to later provide art instruction to students at the elementary level. This course is commonly referred to as the two-credit course in elementary art education throughout this thesis. This thesis is a case study investigation of a certified elementary art specialist and a non-art certified teacher teaching elementary art in the Subject School District in Utah. It asks and gathers data on three main questions. How is art education valuable for elementary students? What is a quality …


The Tornado Tree: Drawing On Stories And Storybooks, Toni A. Wood Dec 2011

The Tornado Tree: Drawing On Stories And Storybooks, Toni A. Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Storytelling has been used by many cultures to record events, research genealogy, and to teach moral lessons. Some cultures passed on their histories and important events through oral narration, papyrus, or cathedral stained glass windows. More modern cultures write personal histories, and use modern technology to communicate with each other. This study is an arts based project based on writing a storybook. It is an exploration of why storytelling is important from a cultural point of view using my experiences to write a storybook based on a true event from my family history.


Traces Of Existence, Jayna Brown Quinn Dec 2011

Traces Of Existence, Jayna Brown Quinn

Theses and Dissertations

This project report accounts for my final MFA project, Traces of Existence. This body of work began as an exploration, partially borne of the love of genealogical research translated into visual art by exploring the things my ancestors touched, be it ephemera, the soil they lived on, or artifacts they left behind, and partly as a pathway through which I could learn to understand more about my own identity, all the while finding beauty in the mundane. Although the works are personal, it is my hope that the viewer will respond to them in his/her own way, and that …


The Portable Art Gallery: Facilitating Student Autonomy And Ownership Through Exhibiting Artwork, Jethro D. Gillespie Dec 2011

The Portable Art Gallery: Facilitating Student Autonomy And Ownership Through Exhibiting Artwork, Jethro D. Gillespie

Theses and Dissertations

In an attempt to help a class of high school AP Studio Art students find a more authentic sense of autonomy and ownership with their own art projects, the author has constructed a portable art gallery space designated for the exhibition of student artwork. Through a theoretical framework of post-structuralism, as well as a hybrid methodological approach, including tenets of both action research and grounded theory, he was able to explore how de-centralizing traditional, pedagogical notions of power in the classroom and utilizing contemporary art education practices affected AP Studio Art students' experience in the art classroom. By placing an …


A Core Knowledge Based Curriculum Designed To Help Seventh And Eighth Graders Maintain Artistic Confidence, Debbie Ann Labrum Nov 2011

A Core Knowledge Based Curriculum Designed To Help Seventh And Eighth Graders Maintain Artistic Confidence, Debbie Ann Labrum

Theses and Dissertations

How do we as art educators help adolescents maintain artistic creation as a way of visual expression? This study reviews artistic approaches among kindergarten through eighth grade students as they relate to the U-curve model of development (Davis, 1997; Pariser & van den Berg, 1997). As an art educator, my observation has been that as students approach seventh and eighth grades they lose confidence in their art making abilities as they try to draw in a realistic manner. When asked if they think they are artists, most are certain that they are not. This lack in confidence is in stark …


Classroom Community: Questions Of Apathy And Autonomy In A High School Jewelry Class, Samuel E. Steadman Nov 2011

Classroom Community: Questions Of Apathy And Autonomy In A High School Jewelry Class, Samuel E. Steadman

Theses and Dissertations

Student motivation is investigated in this study as a means of abrogating apathy within a public high school Jewelry course. The study is an attempt to answer a personal question of whether students could be internally motivated to a level of excitement that they would take ownership for their personal learning and the learning of their classmates. The study also addresses four main points that cause apathy, or are caused by apathy, they are: zero sum competition, compassion and support for classmates,ownership of the physical facilities, and the development of a conscientious public. Through a desire to test data on …


Preparing Young Children To Respond To Art In The Museum, Nancy L. Stewart Nov 2011

Preparing Young Children To Respond To Art In The Museum, Nancy L. Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a research study which the Investigator prepared and documented. It involved two groups of five kindergarten children who were prepared by the Investigator to view one artwork in a museum. Children were prepared to view the artwork by exploring and solving open-ended design problems with large shapes, one-third the size of those in the artwork. The Investigator guided children to respond to the artwork through inquiry and discovery activities related to the artwork's specific characteristics. Findings revealed that kindergarten children enjoyed exploring large shapes and were capable of solving collaborative design problems with the shapes, which prepared …


The Movement Of An Object Through A Field Creates A Complex Situation, Jared Scott Greenleaf Jun 2011

The Movement Of An Object Through A Field Creates A Complex Situation, Jared Scott Greenleaf

Theses and Dissertations

I aim to move the viewer through a system that consists of science fiction, of world building, with themes of nature, technology, and a subtle allusion to comic book aesthetics. Removing customary sci-fi and comic book narrative in favor of concept, self-awareness, and open-ended exploration, the outcome creates a complex setting. The report herein documents the various methods used to create this multifaceted installation space, which was the focus of my selected project.


Without End, Amy M. Royer Jun 2011

Without End, Amy M. Royer

Theses and Dissertations

This project report accounts for my final MFA project Without End. I began a journey of creating my own system that in the end relied upon chance. The process was rewarding for me personally. In addition, I became intrigued with having the viewer be a part of my dialogue. Through this dialogue, it is my hope that the viewer will be able to come into my world and catch a glimpse of my every day. I hope that they have a paralleled experience to mine - one of aesthetic engagement and perpetual discovery within patterns and what they imply.


Alice Brill's Sao Paulo Photographs: A Cross-Cultural Reading, Danielle Jean Hurd Apr 2011

Alice Brill's Sao Paulo Photographs: A Cross-Cultural Reading, Danielle Jean Hurd

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I consider the influence of Alice Brill's transnational background on her photographs of 1950s São Paulo. Brill was born in 1920 to a Jewish-German family. In 1934 she immigrated to São Paulo where she involved herself in local artistic circles. From 1946-47 she received a grant to study at the University of New Mexico and with the Art Students League in New York. Brill learned photography during her time in the United States, hoping to create documentary photo-essays in Brazil which she could send to American illustrated magazines. None of Brillss works were published in the United …


Day Jaw Boo, A Re-Collection, Rachel Vanwagoner Mar 2011

Day Jaw Boo, A Re-Collection, Rachel Vanwagoner

Theses and Dissertations

For my MFA thesis exhibition, I have collected ideas surrounding events that happened in the past and combined them with the ceramic work I have made in the three years of my master's program at Brigham Young University. I have grouped visual elements from Buck Rogers and other Futro (retro-future) pop-culture with ideas surrounding the Voyager Interstellar Mission and the compiling of the Golden Record. Combining these elements in an installation, will create an environment where people can reflect on things they have "already seen" and envision a brighter future. For that reason I playfully call the show Day Jaw …


24 Hour Portraits, Lee R. Cowan Jul 2010

24 Hour Portraits, Lee R. Cowan

Theses and Dissertations

I believe an individual can be profiled by their color preferences, but not indefinitely, for a shorter period of time, a 24-hour period of time. A person's state of mind will change continually based on their experiences. These experiences will affect their perception and preference of color. I developed a model that will map an individual's profile, a portrait, through color. Participants are given a worksheet and a list of terms describing personality traits and states of mind. The worksheet is categorized by event, time of day, duration, impact, and summed term. From midnight to midnight, a 24-hour period, the …


Earth Forms, Janelle Marie Tullis Mock Jul 2010

Earth Forms, Janelle Marie Tullis Mock

Theses and Dissertations

Earth Forms narrates and explains the Masters Project Exhibition by the same name. The sculptures included in the exhibition, Earth Forms, use a variety of personal symbols centered on one stylized human head. Some of the symbols included are antlers, branches, coral, leaves, plants and stones. Each of these symbols represents personal ideas of balance, growth and decay. They also represent the earth from which we are formed and the earth to which our bodies will return at the end of life.


Peregrinations, Sallie Clinton Poet Jul 2010

Peregrinations, Sallie Clinton Poet

Theses and Dissertations

This project report explains my MFA show of landscapes presented at the Woodbury Museum in Orem, Utah. Referencing source material from my 2008 trip to the Middle East, Bible narratives and contemporary scholars, I created mixed media paintings around the themes of traveling and migrations (peregrinations) and some significant stopping places in Syria, Jordan and Israel. More importantly, this report also speaks to my personal peregrinations as an artist and relates my painting methods to my subject matter.


Fabricating Womanhood, Emily Fox Apr 2010

Fabricating Womanhood, Emily Fox

Theses and Dissertations

The exhibit, Fabricating Womanhood, was an attempt to explore the construction of gender and identity. While the artwork addressed well researched and documented feminist themes the artwork also stemmed from personal experiences and my coming-of-age process. The resulting installation included video, prints, painting, ceramics and found objects arranged in a set-like house construction of life-size proportions.


Igolf: Contemporary Sculptures Exhibition 2009, King Lun Kisslan Chan Mar 2010

Igolf: Contemporary Sculptures Exhibition 2009, King Lun Kisslan Chan

Theses and Dissertations

Why "igolf"? I love golfing, especially enjoying the gigantic space of the golf course. More importantly, this is the place where I dream and get inspiration for my art. I imagine filling my own global golf course with monumental golf sculptures in the future. This motivation and enthusiasm has modified my direction in creating sculpture. I named my final MFA exhibition "igolf". The idea of the name comes from modern terms we find in popular devices, such as the iPhone, iPod, and the iMac that reflect our technological world. In addition, the sound for "i" shares the same sound of …


Leland F. Prince's Earth Divers, Leland Fred Prince Mar 2010

Leland F. Prince's Earth Divers, Leland Fred Prince

Theses and Dissertations

My stoneware sculptures in my MFA final project were named Earth Divers because clay as a material is earth and clay is also symbolic of the Earth. The way that I physically dive into clay up to my elbows is a poetic performance. The sculptures were built in sections horizontally and then stacked vertically. I began the process by first making life size plaster molds of the human figure taken from live people. Earth Divers take their architectural structure specifically from the organic curves of the negative voids that are characteristic of the plaster figure molds. I built into these …


Ascents And Descents: Personal Pilgrimage In Hieronymus Bosch's The Haywain, Alison Daines Dec 2009

Ascents And Descents: Personal Pilgrimage In Hieronymus Bosch's The Haywain, Alison Daines

Theses and Dissertations

At the end of the fifteenth century, Hieronymus Bosch provided the foremost expression of the strict religious piety embodied by the Devotio Moderna and the impending embrace of secular humanism. As a result, Bosch's seemingly complex images provided viewers with positive messages concerning the journey of life through the use of binary symbolism. He utilized the pilgrimage motif as a guide throughout his paintings and in relation to the liminal spaces surrounding his works. This article will examine his important triptych, The Haywain, (c.1495-1516) as an example of spiritual paths taken simultaneously by both religious and contemporary figures, along …


Beauty, Ugliness, And Meaning: A Study Of Difficult Beauty, Christine Anne Palmer Nov 2009

Beauty, Ugliness, And Meaning: A Study Of Difficult Beauty, Christine Anne Palmer

Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of modern art, and subsequently contemporary art, has brought with it a deep-rooted deliberation of the definition of beauty and its role in the realm of art. Unlike many representational artworks, contemporary art less often contains a beauty that is readily available on the surface of an artwork- an easy beauty. Instead, it often possesses a beauty that requires substantial reasoning and understanding- a difficult beauty. Just as the definition of beauty has and will continue to be culturally and historically changing, so must our methodological and pedagogical practices in regards to beauty and Aesthetics. As Art Educators, …


Lantern's Diary, Wei Zhong Tan Nov 2009

Lantern's Diary, Wei Zhong Tan

Theses and Dissertations

My MFA project titled, “Lantern's Diary” is a synergy of colors, tactile experiences, and reflections on change. The artwork is based on cultural influences. The physical form of the lantern is a metaphor of culture identity—in Eastern culture, paper has been used in architecture, furniture, clothing, funerals, writing materials, and lanterns. Its function as a material is to fulfill the necessity of daily life and ceremonial rituals. Hence, paper plays an important role in the Eastern society. The color spectrum representing “Change” corresponds with the western system of color organization. The gallery space plays a spatial aesthetic role in …


Beyond The Walls: The Easter Processional On The Exterior Frescos Of Moldavian Monastery Churches, Mollie Elizabeth Mcvey Jul 2009

Beyond The Walls: The Easter Processional On The Exterior Frescos Of Moldavian Monastery Churches, Mollie Elizabeth Mcvey

Theses and Dissertations

During the sixteenth century, the princes of Moldavia, a region of modern Romania, built many churches and monasteries. These churches followed the typical Byzantine style by placing detailed frescos on the interior walls, but some of the Moldavian churches took that tradition even further and expanded the frescos to the façade. This thesis argues that these exterior images were used to enhance the Easter processionals that occurred around the churches. While most scholars explain this phenomenon as propaganda or a cry for help against the Ottoman Empire, a new interpretation is offered here. It discusses how the exterior scenes on …


Text And Tapestry: "The Lady And The Unicorn," Christine De Pizan And The Le Vistes, Shelley Williams May 2009

Text And Tapestry: "The Lady And The Unicorn," Christine De Pizan And The Le Vistes, Shelley Williams

Theses and Dissertations

The luminous, famous and enigmatic The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are timelss objects at the center of heated scholarly discussion. There are six tapestries, created circa 1480-1500 (figures 1 – 6), and were commissioned by the le Viste family of Lyon, whose heraldic arms appear in each tapestry. This paper seeks to connect the tapestries conceptually to contemporary courtly, feminine ideals, the image of woman in late fifteenth-century Paris, and most importantly to Christine de Pizan's writings, particularly City of Ladies and The Treasury of the City of Ladies, both written in 1405. Through her texts, Christine de Pizan …


Secondhand Chinoiserie And The Confucian Revolutionary: Colonial America's Decorative Arts "After The Chinese Taste", Kiersten Claire Davis Jul 2008

Secondhand Chinoiserie And The Confucian Revolutionary: Colonial America's Decorative Arts "After The Chinese Taste", Kiersten Claire Davis

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the implications of chinoiserie, or Western creations of Chinese-style decorative arts, upon an eighteenth century colonial American audience. Chinese products such as tea, porcelain, and silk, and goods such as furniture and wallpaper displaying Chinese motifs of distant exotic lands, had become popular commodities in Europe by the eighteenth century. The American colonists, who were primarily culturally British, thus developed a taste for chinoiserie fashions and wares via their European heritage. While most European countries had direct access to the China trade, colonial Americans were banned from any direct contact with the Orient by the British East …


A Call For Liberation: Aleijadinho's 'Prophets' As Capoeiristas, Monica Jayne Bowen Mar 2008

A Call For Liberation: Aleijadinho's 'Prophets' As Capoeiristas, Monica Jayne Bowen

Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the late eighteenth century, many Brazilians became inspired by the political revolutions of the French and American colonies and sought for a similar type of revolution, hoping to gain independence from the Portuguese. One nationalistic group, the "Inconfidência Mineira," probably influenced the art of the sculptor Aleijadinho (1738-1814). Aleijadinho's work has been examined as a political message previously, but never as propaganda through the representation of capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art. Capoeira probably formed as a means for Afro-Brazilian slaves to fight their way out of captivity. While training to fight, slaves would disguise capoeira to look like a …