Visual Studies Commons^™

A Model Of Human Scale Tested On Rural Landscape Scenes, Richard K. Sutton

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Landscapes such as the Great Plains have been described as lacking human scale. This study developed a quantitative model of human scale and compared it with viewers' perceptions of visual structure. Visual structure was selected from the physical features of Otoe County, NE, forming boundaries, found as ground textures, vegetative screens, and topographic breaks and was depicted in photographs of landscape scenes. The model used and tested nine classes of scale based on grain and extent of the photos rated by viewers against those from the model. Viewers identified boundaries representing grain and extent that were synthesized into a viewer-perceived …

Red-White-Blue And Hong Kong Installation Art, Nga Ying Liu

Lingnan Theses

The purpose of this study is to analyse the interaction between art and contested notions of Hong Kong identity by examining recent installations that employ the red, white and blue-striped plastic fabric, locally known in Hong Kong as red-white-blue (紅白藍). The red-white-blue fabric has, in recent years, become a signifier of the collective identity of Hong Kong people and of the ‘Hong Kong spirit’, with specific reference to the traits of the working class in the 1960s. The repeated articulations of this material in artworks show that there are certain qualities in this material with which local people identify. This …

Appropriateness In Design, Wing Man, Karen Ma

Lingnan Theses

When the term ‘design object’ is used to refer to artifacts, we presuppose that they can serve mundane functions and provide aesthetic pleasure. In many cases, the visual form of a design object is a result of achieving aesthetic function and practical function. What is the relation between these two functions? In the design process, designers also strike a balance between aesthetic pursuit, utilitarian purpose and other factors, such as environmental protection. What is the balance of these aims (aesthetic aim and the non-aesthetic aims)? My research on this topic suggests that it may be useful to conceive it in …

Vigilance, Vigilantism, And The Role Of The Citizen In Combating German Terror, 1967-1977, Todd Michael Goehle

Re-visioning Terrorism

By closely analyzing the Charles Bronson vehicle Death Wish -released to German speaking audiences as Ein Mann sieht rot- and the controversies that surrounded its West German debut in November 1974, the essay addresses broader debates about vigilance, Selbstjustiz (vigilante justice), and citizenship during the “Red Years” (1967-1977). Conceptualizing Selbstjustiz as a discursive site, I reveal how Ein Mann sieht rot’s representations of Selbstjustiz negotiated broader German anxieties about Americanization, masculinity, urban crime, the fascist past, state power, media effects and sensationalism, constructions of the citizen and the criminalized or terrorist “other,” and the responsibilities of the citizen in …

From Where I Am Standing: Indigenous Narrative And Photo Documentary, Nestor R. Veloz Passalacqua

Ethnic Studies

Latin American Indigenous Peoples (LAIP) are a marginalized segment in Latin America. They inhabit a sub-America and are forced to migrate due to socio-political struggle and cultural coercion. LAIP experience a transnational and transborder migration that reflects the quality of cultural hybridity and of regional, ethnic, and cultural crossings. The purpose of this study is to research LAIP ways of reclaiming and reproducing cultural practices that elicit Indigenous awareness, knowledge, and ethnic identification in a transnational setting. The study examines through interviews and photographs transborder experiences and the lives of the participants. As a result, the project reveals that LAIP …

American Political Satire: The 20th Century Onward, Michael Contino

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Political satire is an implied freedom enumerated in the first amendment of the Constitution. As a form of political speech, it falls under the category of the most protected form of expression. Now that I’ve got your attention, I can go ahead with the rest of my project. This is a journalistic study of the people who used their freedom of speech to openly criticize the government. More specifically, it’s about the people who openly criticized the government and then became famous for it. Of course, there’s many ways to criticize, many platforms, many audiences, many influences as well.

What …

Partings—A Short Film, Alicia Atterberry

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Love is a powerful force, but the inability to give love to the fullest extent can be an influential force as well. For my capstone, Partings—a Short Film, I wrote a short film centered on the theme of unreciprocated love. Within the context of the film, unreciprocated love means not being able to return the sincerity or the full extent of the love felt, and my short film shows the consequences of a friendship that lacks mutually-expressed love.

Partings, depicts the end of a friendship between two characters: Frank and Angie. Frank is an independent, young woman; she …

The Fourth Dimension, Elkana O. Ong'esa

Artists-in-Residence Programme : Exhibition Catalogues

Exhibition of Recent Stone and Wood Sculptures by Elkana O. Ong'esa

The Fourth Dimension, a concept that I have been working on for many years with the objective of assisting people with visual disabilities to appreciate sculpture more. The use of stone, wood and metal allows me to create forms and surface finishes that address the issue of tactile vision or perception that I try to apply in achieving communication in the fourth dimension.

Towards A Theory Of Comic Book Adaptation, Colin Beineke

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Contemporary adaptation studies/theories have tended to focus singularly on the movement from the novel/short story to film – largely ignoring mediums such as the theater, music, visual art, video games, and the comic book.  Such a limited view of adaptation has led to an underdeveloped and misplaced understanding of the adaptation process, which has in turn culminated in a convoluted perception of the products of artistic adaptation.  The necessity of combating the consequences of these limited outlooks – particularly in the field of comics studies – is as vital as the difficulties are manifold. In opposition to this current stream …

Marathon: From Myth To The Modern Era, Alana Dewitt '11

Honor Scholar Theses

The marathon race has been subject to a history spanning over two thousand years. From the first alleged run of the marathon, performed during the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, marathons have fascinated thousands; however, despite strong interest in the topic today, during the Middle Ages there was a time when the marathon was barely discussed. Since antiquity athletes have been honored in stone, in verse, and possibly even in the decorative frieze of the Parthenon. In our modern age all types of runners – beginners to elites – run marathons on every continent covering the planet. Motivations of …

Pathos, Spring 2011, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Joel Eisenhower

Issue 15

Since 1980, Sookyung Bae

CGU MFA Theses

Please see Download button in top right corner for the full statement.

Promoting A Benefit Concert With Digital Media, Aubrea Felch

Graphic Communication

The introduction of digital media in mass communication and advertising had a powerful impact on the event planning industry, specifically in the promotion of benefit concerts. Not only can digital media promote an event, but it can also help event coordinators establish an image for themselves, be used as a means of benefiting those who have donated to the cause, and enhance the event itself. All digital media can be put into several different classifications: digital audio, digital video, digital photography, Internet technology, and interactive Internet applications. This study asks the question: In what ways can an event planner use …

A Process Archive: The Grand Circularity Of Woman's Building Video, Alexandra Juhasz

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Pathos, Winter 2011, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Joel Eisenhower

Issue 14

The Colour That Remains, Wai Yi, Monti Lai

Artists-in-Residence Programme : Exhibition Catalogues

A Residency Project by Lai Wai-Yi, Monti

Close your eyes, and try to see the colour in your mind. Would that be white, yellow, orange, red, blue, purple, green or a mix of different colour? Green has been the colour that remains in my head whenever my eyes are closed, ever since I received a homemade herbal poultice after an accident at the age of 6. I was bitten by a dog at my aunt’s home. It was a sunny winter day. I was wearing my favorite yellow furry coat. I was patting the dog’s forehead and talking to her. …

Time With The Sky = 與天度日, Carol Archer, Kit Kelen

Research Expression through Art : Visual Studies Faculty

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Time with the Sky | 與天度日 is an art and poetry collaboration by Carol Archer and Christopher (Kit) Kelen, a creative team who have been active in the visual arts and poetry communities of Hong Kong and Macao since 1998.

Time with the Sky | 與天度日 comprises a series of charcoal and mixed media drawings on paper and a poem in twelve parts. Art and text are presented together as both exhibition and publication. The collaboration originates from time spent in art practice in Australia. In July 2009, Archer and Kelen each had artist’s residencies at Bundanon, …

“Better Multiculturalism” Through Technology: Dora The Explorer And The Training Of The Preschool Viewer(S), Drew Chappell

Theatre Faculty Articles and Research

No abstract provided.

Sexuality, Exoticism, And Iconoclasm In The Media Age: The Strange Case Of The Buddha Bikini, James Mark Shields

Faculty Contributions to Books

No abstract provided.

Pathos, Fall 2010, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Joel Eisenhower

Issue 13

馬家寶之藝術, Ni Na, Camellia Ng

Lingnan Theses

馬家寶（1925-1985）是1949 年後香港第一代油畫家，他活 躍於五十年代中至八十年代中的香港畫壇，以寫實風格的油畫著稱。 傳統藝術史一直關注代表不同地區及時代的主流藝術風格，而六十至 七十年代的港英政府和社會大眾均較為注重現代主義藝術的發展，馬 氏寫實風格的藝術創作與之相比有點守舊，所以他的藝術一直未能得 到研究香港史的學者和藝術家們足夠的關注和深入的研究。

雖然從傳統藝術史的角度來看，馬家寶的藝術只是六十至七 十年代少數、不具代表性的藝術創作，但是從藝術社會學和意識形態 學看來，驅使馬家寶畢生採用寫實的形式來創作藝術，和社會環境對 他的藝術創作所造成的影響，卻是個值得探索的問題。因此，此次研 究會將馬氏之藝術按時序分為三個階段，結合歷史、文化和社會背景 並進行對比，從而探索他堅持以寫實風格為終生藝術創作形式的原 因、藝術的觀點和藝術的追求。籍著對馬家寶藝術的個案研究，希望 本論文能為關注香港本地藝術發展史的學者和藝術家，提供一份參 考，從一個新的角度回顧及審視香港藝術史。

A Systemic Functional Multimodal Analysis Of Business Brochures., Fauziah Taib

Student Works (2010-2019)

The study is a multimodal analysis of Malaysian business-to-business brochures (b2b) that advertise training programmes for human resource development in local and multinational companies. The multimodal analysis is within the framework of systemic functional theory as the theory has resources to analyse verbal as well as visual elements in texts. The aims of the study are to identify the verbal and visual components that make up the genre, ascertain how the functions of the business brochures are realized in the components and establish how these various semiotic components cohere such that the brochures are seen as a unified whole.  The …

Breathe... Keep Breathing., Shaun C. Kiel

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

I work with short-duration seamless video loops. My work simultaneously depicts and emulates the material composition of time, specifically how action composes time and how time can compose or construct objects.

My work is self-reflexive. Self-reflexive means that a product actively considers or examines its own production. In video this means breaking either the illusion of depicted time as real time or the illusion of the depicted image as real space. Video loops are self-reflexive by function. Their periodic recurrence points out the artifact of the medium.

The periodic recurrence of video loops also changes the narrative quality of the …

Walk-In Tuen Mun, Ying Chi, Stella Tang

Artists-in-Residence Programme : Exhibition Catalogues

A Residency Project by Tang Ying Chi

The project was started with one photographic image of a Tuen Mun street scene. The image was then saved to the computer and projected onto a small canvas with a projector. Students, staff and visitors from Lingnan University were invited to visit the studio and trace the projected images using acrylic paints. These participants came at different times and worked individually or with others who were known or unknown to them. There was no requirement or experience needed for the participation; and it was also unnecessary to have any personal reaction to the …

The Relationship Among Beginning And Advanced American Sign Language Students And Credentialed Interpreters Across Two Domains Of Visual Imagery: Vividness And Manipulation, Linda Stauffer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Given the visual-gestural nature of ASL it is reasonable to assume that visualization abilities may be one predictor of aptitude for learning ASL. This study tested a hypothesis that visualization abilities are a foundational aptitude for learning a signed language and that measurements of these skills will increase as students progress from beginning ASL students to advanced language learners and, ultimately to credentialed interpreters. Participants in this study consisted of 90 beginning and 66 advanced ASL students in five interpreter education programs in four southern states along with 68 credentialed interpreters. Students and interpreters were administered the Vividness of Visual …

Pathos, Spring 2010, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editors: Joel Eisenhower and Richard Hernandez

Issue 12

Inaugural Georgia Libraries Photo Contest A Success

Georgia Library Quarterly

The article announces the winners of the 2010 Georgia Libraries Photo Contest.

Juvenescence: Photographs By Jordan Lutes, Jordan Lutes

Art and Design

Shot entirely on expired 35mm film, Juvenescence explores the life of youths on the central coast of California. Research was done on how to alter film and gain color-shifts to better depict moods and lifestyles in the images.

Out Of Thin Air : Collaborative And Solo Work = 憑空而來 : 合作及個人畫展, Carol Archer

Research Expression through Art : Visual Studies Faculty

The works in this exhibition are part of two larger series of work, both of which are ongoing: the Reciprocal Interference project (互涉) and Time with the Sky (與天共度的時光).

The Reciprocal Interference project consists of two-person collaborative works by Carol Archer and artist-friends Sue Rawlinson, Sue Taylor, Johanna Trainor (Australia), Mary Grehan (Ireland) and Even Mak (Hong Kong). The Time with the Sky series of charcoal and watercolour drawings was begun during Archer’s residency at Bundanon, Australia in July 2009. Australian artist Arthur Boyd and his family gave their home, a splendid property on the banks of the Shoalhaven River, …

Identidades Por Negociar: La Presentación De La Piel Humana En La Fotografía De René Peña., Ilka Kressner

Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Scholarship

This paper analyzes several works by Cuban photographer René Peña from the point of view of his depiction of the human skin. Peña, one of Cuba’s most renowned photographers, with an impressive list of exhibits in Cuba, the US, and Europe, became known as an artist of sharp and formalistic black and white photographs, mostly focusing on the human body. Through his idiosyncratic staging and estranging juxtapositions on the photographic paper, Peña’s work is never solely artistic: it challenges for instance the binary opposition between black and white, the concept of fixed sexualities, or the process of aging.

In many …