Art Practice Commons^™

23 Extinct Redwork Quilt Project: Repairing Relationships With Our More-Than-Human Kin, Stitch By Stich, Heather Kerley

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In 2021, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service proposed 23 species for delisting from the Endangered Species Act due to extinction. I would like to present my redwork quilt, Mourning Lost Kin (23 Extinct), which honors each of these species. I plan to share my process from researching and sketching each species to the embroidering of each block and the over-all construction of the quilt. But most importantly, I would love to share the stories of these species, the layers of meaning in this quilt, and the many questions it raised for me over the course of two years. …

Stitches Of Sustainability: Empowering Women And Preserving Culture Through Pakko Embroidery, Rajesh Kumar, Dharmendra Bana, Deepali Bhatnagar

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Pakko embroidery, originating from Gujarat’s Kutch district, stands as a testament to the area's rich textile tradition, marrying exceptional craftsmanship with profound cultural narratives. Currently facing the challenge of conserving its heritage while adapting to the evolving demands of the modern world, this study aims to identify pathways for cultural and economic resurgence.

Pakko embroidery, renowned for its sturdiness and the detailed cheereli saankdi stitch, finds itself at a critical crossroads, battling declining engagement and integration into modern design paradigms. Initiatives to rejuvenate interest and establish sustainable practices for artisans are deemed critical for preserving this ancient art for future …

Lambani Textiles: Oscillating Between The Past And The Present, Beena Santosh Modathi, Anjali Karolia

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper examines the experiences of home-based women zardozi artisans in Bhopal, India, who use traditional embroidery skills to create fashionable products. It highlights the role of the traditional craft sector in promoting women's empowerment, enhancing economic well-being, and supporting sustainable development in the Global South. Through ethnographic research, including literature review and interviews, the study reveals the resilience of these artisans, many of whom come from low-income backgrounds with limited education. Despite modest earnings, Textiles embody narratives, legacies, and lineages. Indian traditional textiles, particularly those featuring strong Lambani embroidery, represent a dynamic interplay of ancestral techniques, motifs, and cultural …

Public Patriotism, Silent Dissent: Women And The Making Of Senninbari In Wartime Japan, Mariko Nagai

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

During the early years of the so-called “Fifteen Year War” (1931–1945), Japanese women and girls created senninbari when men received draft notices to serve. Often worn around soldiers’ waists underneath their uniforms, these sash-shaped talisman were embroidered with 1,000 red knots, each knot made by a woman. In a time when the Japanese government censored dissenting voices against its militaristic and nationalistic foreign and domestic policies, this government-encouraged gesture of stitching senninbari became one of the few ways in which women could voice their personal protests within patriarchal gender expressions (良妻賢母 “good wife, wise mother”). Senninbari’s design evolved with regional- …

Textile As Cultural Technology: The Evolution Of Robert Rauschenberg’S Jammers, 1975–6, Katya Oicherman

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

Robert Rauschenberg suggested that any material has a “humanitarian reportage” or a history built into it, that opens art to the “strange and unpredictable” experience only comparable to everyday reality. Developing this idea, I will focus on the Jammers, a series of works with significant textile presence produced in 1975–76, and discuss how Rauschenberg’s relationship to textiles evolved from treating them as “materials” to recognizing them as cultural technologies. In 1975 he was on a fellowship in Ahmedabad, India, a period of intense experimentation.

Textiles were already a significant presence in his art, playing a subservient role of materials …

Inconclusive Objects: Sample Making As Inquiry-Driven Practice, Etta Sandry

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

In Inconclusive Objects: Sample Making as Inquiry-driven Practice I will discuss craft sample making as a valuable practice of critical thought and experimentation. Craftspeople, artists, and designers make samples to practice technical skills and to demonstrate results on small scales. It is process work, typically used to learn a new technique or a hidden step on the way to a final product. However, as a cumulative process of research, material probing, and play, sampling is a critical aspect of design and creation. What can a closer study of sampling reveal about creative practice and knowledge production in craft and beyond? …

Textile Ways Of Thinking As A Trauma-Informed Design Tool To Research And Understand Communities, Smrti Ganesan, Nishanth Srikanth

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

There has been a shift in methodologies in the broader world of design. Today, co-design and participatory methods are a vital part of the modern designer's toolkit, and designers are finding new ways to interact with communities and design solutions that are more responsive to the actual needs of those communities.

Textile design has historically been a medium for expressing and processing traumatic experiences, reflecting individual and collective traumas in society. Textiles have also historically served not only as a form of artistic expression but also as a powerful tool in activism, particularly within feminist movements. Recent developments have seen …

Solidarity Dividend With Us Wool And Community Engagement To Address Socioeconomic Inequities, Helen X. Trejo, Angela Becerril

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

As a long-standing natural fiber, wool provides an opportunity for community engagement and reflexive practice. Our process involved sourcing wool from US sheep and wool farms in lower income areas and hands-on textile development, and intersectional reflection. Being at a Hispanic Serving Institution, informed approaches to engage with concepts, such as the “zerosum paradigm” and “Solidarity Dividend” based on Heather McGhee’s NY Times Best Selling book “The Sum of Us.” It explores how racism affects intergenerational wealth among minorities. The zero-sum paradigm is the idea that progress is a tradeoff; benefits to some is at an expense for others. The …

Lavenz, Valenz, Levenxë, Lavexha, Lavenzka: Woven Felted Blankets From The Korçë Region In Southeastern Albania, Alexis Zoto

Textile Society of America: Symposium Proceedings

This paper will look at and document colors and patterns and motifs of woven and felted blankets from the Korçë region of southeastern Albania. Very little is published on these textiles. This paper will document the disappearing and under appreciated textile, and why are they no longer understood or valued. In Albania and in Albanian diaspora communities this textile has had different names in prewar, prewar Korçare dialect and now.

I will be drawing from information gathered interviewing parishioners who volunteered to share their heirlooms and information gathered from examining the textile(s). These heirlooms belong to members of multiple generations …

Neo Retro: Rapid Prototyping And The Evolving Role Of Artistic Practice, Robert D. Miller

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

My art is always executed with a timeline in mind. I am influenced by a world as it exists in the distance past, the recent past, the present (with all its multifaceted complexities), and the near future (as it applies to my legacy after I'm gone), as well as the distance future. Time and space – to me - are all part of a grand narrative. The art that I create is an indexical gesture of my creative processes and these creative processes are reflected in the imagery that I create as well as the materials I use for my …

Collaborative Aesthetic Experiences And Teacher Learners: Arts-Practice Research In A Teacher Education Classroom, Theresa A. Catalano, Inoussa Malgoubri, Jennifer Bockerman, Hector Palala Martínez, Mackayla Kelsey, Leonardo Brandolini, Ilia Shcherbakov

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This paper explores the experiences of six teacher learners and one teacher educator in a graduate course on aesthetic education at a Midwestern university in the U.S. Using collective autoethnography and arts-practice research, the researcher/participants examine how aesthetic experiences were activated in the learning environment and how this activation supported the development of transformational rethinking that led to the changing of formed habits of teaching. Findings reveal how aesthetic teacher education can be therapeutic, aid in building connections between the teacher and students (and among students), inspire wonder and discovery, facilitate the valuing and including of cultural and linguistic backgrounds …

Uncoverings: The Research Papers Of The American Quilt Study Group - Volume 45 (2024), Joanna E. Evans, Sarah L. Schameloh, Michelle M. Marciniak, Kristin Barrus, Cathy Erickson, Mary Fons, Sharon Fulton Pinka, Kathleen L. Moore, Terry Tickhill Terrell, Nancy Curry Bavor

Uncoverings Journal

Contents

Preface

Lapis Prints: A Forgotten Beauty, Sara L. Schamerloh and Michelle M. Marciniak

Ways of Seeing the Rotary Cutter: An Interdisciplinary Examination of Technology’s Impact on Quiltmaking, Kristin Barrus

Southeast Pennsylvania Papercut Quilts: Mary Worrall Parry’s Quilt and Related Appliqué Quilts, 1844 to 1852, Cathy Erickson

Who’s That Girl? The Shifting Identity of Use-Quilts in the Fine Art System, 1900–2024, Mary Fons

William Pinch and the Rainbow Quilt Block Company (An Update), Sharon Fulton Pinka

The Mystery of the Harlequin Star Quilts: Finding and Naming a Previously Unidentified Regional Design (An Update), Kathleen L. Moore

Peacock among the Ruins …

"Where Did Your Christ Come From?", Kamara V. Townes

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written document is the accompanying thesis for my Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, “WHERE DID YOUR CHRIST COME FROM?”, shown at Gallery 937 in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (displayed April 5th-June 9th, 2024). Through painting, sculpture, and installation, I rely on an intuitive artmaking practice to create work that makes commentary on race, gender and identity. This thesis documents my research on contemporary influences, experimentation with materials and my point of view in conversation with intersectional feminism while navigating institutional racism.

Conceptually the work of my thesis is deeply influenced by womanism and Black culture, which informs my exploration …

The Favela Blossoms: Voices Of Favelas In São Paulo, Brazil, Vasti Cruz

Scripps Senior Theses

This project spotlights improvised housing in the peripheral areas of São Paulo, Brazil, better known as favelas. For over a century, the favela has been known as a place of death, violence, crime, and oppression. Paradoxically, the first favelas in Rio de Janeiro were named after a plant that produces flowers. However, today, these communities are rarely compared to their beautiful, symbolic-of-life namesake. Instead, this prejudgement is rampant not only globally, but also within the proper city– which perpetuates social division. When favelas are discussed in the media, they often reference those in Rio de Janeiro; however, favelas are present …

Narratives In Ink: A Journey Through Lineage And Land, Natasha Sethia

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the convergence of personal heritage and artistic expression through a series of pen-and-ink portraits, deeply rooted in the familial stories and cultural tapestry of Rajasthan. The project, initially envisioned as a broader exploration of underrepresented narratives, evolves into a more intimate journey of self-discovery and cultural reclamation, guided by ethical considerations and feedback from peers and professors. Drawing theoretical inspiration from figures like Richard Meyer and Edward Said the work delves into themes of cultural representation, appropriation, and the power dynamics of artistic creation. The shift towards personal narratives allows for a respectful, authentic portrayal of my …

How To Forget, Jesse D. Hoyle

Theses and Dissertations

How To Forget was born from a need to give tangible form to the psychic residue left behind by a life lived. Through the use of silk-screening of red clay mud onto ink-jet photographs, archival textiles, and site-specific installations, I attempt to tie and/or divorce myself from my own and my family's extended history and examine the function of memory within the dynamics of the archive. How To Forget takes a non-linear, non-chronological approach to this examination, compressing decades of time and space through the manipulation of the archive and my own self-portraiture, designed specifically to deny myself from its …

Evolution Of The Artist: The Impact Of A New Medium On Creative Expression, Isabel Y. Balladares

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This paper examines the impact of learning a new medium on artistic expression and creativity. By investigating art made during the learning process of ceramic art, I clarify the influence of initial learning stages in an art medium and their influence on creative thinking and motivation. I use two qualitative research strategies, a narrative analysis of the emotional and technical changes I experienced using clay and ceramic materials, and an examination of the art produced during this process. Data is collected through journal entries and photographs of art as I progress. This paper combines previous research in art education and …

Currere As Contemporary Art: Weaving Creative Research, Purposeful Vulnerability, And Poetic Expression To Nurture Teacher Self-Knowledge, Kimberley D'Adamo

Kimberley D'Adamo: Art, Curriculum, Publications, and Other Scholarly Works

Statement, first paragraph:

Pinar’s currere process offers educators supports for engaging in honest self-reflection to develop liberatory practices and tools to facilitate purposeful vulnerability. Currere scaffolds a transformative journey, enabling educators to explore their educational past, interpret it in their current context, and use those personal and pedagogical insights to envision alternative educational futures. In many ways, currere is about identifying and developing one’s own authentic voice, which appeals to me as both an educator and artist.

Politics Of Being A Lover: In Art, (Space) And Kink, Rabeeha Adnan

Theses and Dissertations

Politics of being a lover: in art, (space) and kink explores my relationship with my practice through observations and stories that draw parallels with romance and kink. Narrated as love affairs turned into complex commitment, it shuffles through logics of structural power, control, and communication in the context of praxis and art institutions.

Double Jointed: Gendered Flexibility And The Overextended Self, Grace A. Bromley

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores compulsory domesticity and the impulse to overextend oneself, both pressures often associated with the construct of femininity. Through diving into my personal history, which includes growing up in a three-generational home of women, I explore mimesis as it functions in both the replication of identity and in terms of pictorial representation; specifically I address its relationship to gender, manifestation within the body, and the search for subjectivity through the process of making and thinking. In various forms of material explorations, I play with ideas of malleability, mimicry and “embedded” behaviors that are passed down and embodied in …

Notes Toward A Personal Afrofuturism, Jalen T. Adams

Theses and Dissertations

This paper is penned by a young adult who is generally confused about a lot of things regarding life, but has one singular focus that is perhaps larger than life—trying to find the bridge between a future already lived, and a past yet to happen. These are his findings so far.

Call For Me When You Get There: I'Ll Be Among The Crows, Jessica O. Tifase

Theses and Dissertations

I've always been intrigued by the ways in which the notion of flight has been used to describe the movement of Black people, both literally and figuratively. In many instances, flight performs as a double entendre, embodying multiple meanings: to escape or to transcend. The fluidity of its definition prompts a reflection I’ve been wrestling with as I move through the world: Are Black people in a perpetual state of flight?

In my thesis exhibition, Call for Me When You Get There, I use the precarious state of flight as a means to explore the complicated choreography necessary for navigating …

Embody, Lillian Luna Bennett

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

In this paper I will discuss my studio process, material, content and context as it relates to each piece or installation in my thesis exhibition, Embody. My work explores and reacts to the effects that the current political climate has on our physical bodies and identity. I investigate value systems that are embedded into America’s visual language. Often morphing into ruins and relics of an old world while simultaneously being grafted onto contemporary culture. Through large scale textile sculpture, I explore one of my main themes: melding classical architectural motifs that America has adopted, with contemporary textile techniques and material …

Retrospective Awards Section, Sally Brown, Stephanie House-Niamke, Chansotheary Dang, Qazi Arka Rahman, Lara Farina, Colleen Moretz

Art in the Libraries Retrospective: 2015-2024

This section of the WVU Art in the Libraries Retrospective (2015-2024) includes a summary of awards given by the program to students, faculty and staff.

Making The Pluriverse Visible: World-Making On The Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula, Lauren Judge

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This dissertation argues that visual artists who live and work on the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula, in Ontario, Canada, are co-creating artworks with non-humans, which is evidence of more-than-human world-making. Such co-creative experiences are the result of, and catalysts for the kinds of enchantment our human worlds need to form meaningful and holistic connections with non-humans, effectively creating a more inclusive pluriverse. After reviewing interdisciplinary literature in posthuman studies, creative geography, arts-based practices, environmental humanities, Indigenous knowledges, and political ontology, I designed my research to include a combination of qualitative methodologies and methods, including autoethnography and research-creation, to investigate fourteen visual …