Fine Arts Commons^™

Interview With Luis Castellví Laukamp, Jonathan O. Chua

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

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 …

The Unconscious Mind: Psychoanalysis And Art, Carlie Hoffer

MA Theses

The insights brought to society about the unconscious mind can be solely credited to Sigmund Freud’s groundbreaking works that were published in the early 1900’s. Specifically, the concept of the unconscious mind being a driver for human behavior was a unique theory that Freud introduced to a society that had never considered this possibility before this. The realization and acknowledgement of the unconscious mind as relevant to analyzing human behavior including art inspired other scholars and individuals in the field of psychology to explore a more nuanced understanding of human motivations. His novel ideas about human behavior emerged at a …

An Uncanny Perspective: Sculptures By Martin Puryear, Jake B. Demartini

Dissertations and Theses

An Uncanny Perspective: Sculptures by Martin Puryear will demonstrate how Puryear (b.1941) both aesthetically and conceptually evokes narratives found in Sigmund Freud’s (1856-1939) theories of the uncanny, specifically signifiers of darkness, unfamiliarity and secrecy. This employment of the uncanny in sculpture aids Puryear’s ability to address a range of aesthetics and provides a striking lens through which he addresses the collective history of violence and servitude within the African American experience. In applying Freud’s theories to several works by Puryear, this thesis will reveal how elements of the uncanny activate a questioning of narratives around terror and fear. Using methods …

Body. Freedom. Choice: Creating Artwork In Post-Roe America, Erin Sedra

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

I knew from a young age that I never wanted children. Whenever I expressed my disinterest in motherhood, I was often met with bewilderment, disapproval, and hostility. The church I was raised in taught me that my value and worth as a woman directly correlated with the power of my birthing hips. This fundamentalist upbringing has significantly shaped my relationship with my femininity, my body, and my artwork. When I feel powerless, turning to my art gives me a sense of control and self-expression. This body of work began as a reaction to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and …

Unlv Title Iii Aanapisi & Mcnair Scholars Institute Research Journal 2024, Jesica Godinez-Paredes, Kian Hassankhan, Apia Hickman, Robin Ruth Kee, Kevin Ayala Pineda, Briana Melendez, Kalli Ramos, Saturn L. Reyes, Fabian Leija, Selena Pepe, Silva Topchyan, Celeste Ainsley, Mayra Arzate, Jessica Balistreri, Zantana Ephrem, Mirella Jasso, Karl Panou, Nichole Pelaez, Miklo Alcala, Akshay Dave, Mey Mey Heng, Michael Finkle, Janessa Montenegro, Reynafe Naol Aniga, Victor Mejia, Angelica G. Diaz, Anayeli Flores-Garibay, Kari Lee Joe Goold, Samantha Hernandez, Lianelys Cabrera Martinez, Caitlin Reynolds, Kimberly N. Usbeck, Abdulrahman Alahdal, Angelica Diaz, Willaine Mae Kahano, Raquel Jackson, Cecia Ruiz-Hernandez, Kers Ung-Watson, Yessenia Henriquez, Vanessa Marie Booth, Alexia Brown, Darlyn Magana, Bianca Navarro, Nicholas Pereira, Gia Renemae Calip, Lucky Heng, Ralph Sagun, Lucas Abreu, Alexandra Maria Acosta, Tristan Benally, Cosset Hernandez Pena, Adrian Montenegro, Cierra Paaaina-Daquioag, Nicole Torosian, Tracy Fuentes, Julissa Martinez, Medina Mcallister, Michal Newhouse-Van Vlerin, Tiria Carr, Nima Abkenar, Isabella Aceituno, Yuhan Bi, Victoria Campos, Melika Cummings, Zachary J. Johnigan, Alexis Sotolongo-Marin

McNair Journal

Journal articles based on research conducted by undergraduate students in the AANAPISI, LSAMP, and McNair Scholars Program.

Table of Contents

About AANAPISI

Dr. Chris Heavey, Interim President

Dr. Keith Rogers, Vice President for Student Affairs

Ms. Zhanna Aronov, Associate Vice President for Retention & Outreach

Volume 15, Connor Thompson, Emily Steffenhagen, Emily Robertson, Luis Fernando Dos Reis, Emily Farmer, Samuel Villa, Robert Allison, Zachary Chessor, Megan Borden, Austin Burnett, Larry W. Grant Jr., Tristan Marowski, Emma Moore, Pearl Siff

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction Dr. Amorette Barber, Director, Office of Student Research

From the Editor Dr. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell

Artist’s Statement Connor Thompson

On Mentorship Dr. John Miller

The Meat of the Matter: Alien, Human, and Animal in Terry Bisson’s “They’re Made Out of Meat” by Emily Steffenhagen

“Please REBLOG!”: An Ethical Analysis of Doxxing, Internet Vigilantism and Racists Getting Fired by Emily Robertson

Journaling: Paper Has More Patience Than People by Luis Fernando Dos Reis

The Effects of Climate Change on the Archaeological World by Emily Farmer

Lowered Seat Height Does Not Impair Wingate Performance in Untrained Cyclists by Samuel Villa, Robert Allison, …

Sweetbriar: I Wound To Heal, Megan Foster

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This work questions the societal disconnect between the readiness of human emotion and the restraint with which we discuss it. As the well-to-do ladies of the Victorian era would gather flowers to create tussie-mussies and nosegays to adorn themselves and send messages, the pieces of the MFA thesis exhibition Sweetbriar: I Wound to Heal divulge intense realities through the palatability and presentability of a flower’s beauty. The flowers in this work (as with Victorian Flower Language) act as signifiers for greater emotional concepts. Harebells for grief. Peonies for shame. Gorse for anger. Each flower/emotion in this exhibition is connected directly …

Envisioning Dynamic Cultural Platforms: Strategic Integration Of Contemporary Art In Japan's Socio-Economic Landscape, Shota Hachisako

MA Theses

In this tale of transformative potential, the dissertation opens with Japan's unique juxtaposition of a burgeoning technological landscape against a modestly-sized art market. It envisions contemporary art as a dynamic force, capable of revolutionizing Japan's socio-economic fabric. This narrative of hope delves into how art, in Japan's context, can redefine corporate identities, fuel social innovation, and adapt to the digital age. The study advocates for an increased investment in the creative arts, seeing it as a key to merging Japan's rich cultural heritage with its economic aspirations. It paints a future where art not only enhances educational growth and international …

Points Of Contact, Giancarlo Venturini

Theses and Dissertations

The work in Points of Contact arises from engaging love as it relates to distance, desire, and longing. This paper will analyze my painting practice and its evolution from the explicit to implicit. Specifically I am going to talk about my utilization of landscape painting to consider another way of expressing sexuality and queerness. I will explain how objects and landscapes are conduits for feelings that can intrinsically hold allegorical representations. This show is about searching through vast spaces to find points of connection in the natural world. I will talk about portals and the varied degrees of accessible windows …

Preexisting Conditionings: Painting, Gaming And Narrative Play, Pia Bakala

Theses and Dissertations

My work incorporates play, fantasy, and self-actualization through painting, sculpture, and video. In this essay, I will explore the ways in which my studio practice intersects with topics across fields of visual arts and in conjunction their theoretical frameworks. I will discuss the culminating body of work, tentatively titled Preexisting Conditionings, that my academic experience at VCU has fostered and trace its development across specific precursive works, as well as the cultural and intellectual touchstones influencing its creative impetus. In Preexisting Conditionings, I work primarily use oil painting, creating mostly representational figurative tableaus that correspond to narratives and characters I’m …

Expect: A Speculative Documentary Filmed In Vr Utilizing The Role-Playing Method To Explore Disabilities And Ableism In Science Fiction, Leilei Xia

Theses and Dissertations

Expect is a speculative documentary filmed in Virtual Reality (VR) that features Chinese actors with disabilities to explore, challenge and reimagine the conventional ableist Sci-Fi tropes and the transhumanistic tendency to “fix” or eradicate disabilities through technological enhancement. I invited people with disabilities who are interested in Sci-Fi to do a Role-Playing with me in Virtual Reality (VR), in which they imagine themselves to be living in a future civilization, an alien planet, or an alternate universe. The participants came up with their own fictional characters and built their own world views. I interacted with them by asking questions and …

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.

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 …

Ask The Duke, Why: How Fabrications Can Undermine Impact In Shakespeare’S Measure For Measure, Spencer D. Hansen

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The following document recounts the observations and consequences that result from my attempts at justifying the actions of Duke Vincentio in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. By following my experience through the duration of West Virginia University’s 2023 production of Measure for Measure, I examine the ramifications of justifying the Duke’s actions and the potentially harmful consequences such justifications could create with regard to the play’s reception. Additionally, this text outlines performance techniques, audience responses, rehearsal strategies, and progressive interpretations for one of Shakespeare’s most challenging characters in one of his most divisive plays.

Curatorial Project For Art Exhibition: "Line", Yunjiao Ji

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The LINE exhibition is more than a display of artistic projects; it is a comprehensive exploration of rural development in China through artistic intervention, with an educational focus that transcends aesthetics. In recent years, art-driven rural development has gained attention in China, characterized by unique regional and cultural features. This research investigates its theoretical foundations and practical outcomes, aiming to enhance awareness and identify pathways adapted to rural communities, contemporary art, and societal needs. Rooted in Mao Zedong's "Art Serving the People" concept, the study emphasizes art’s connection to the lives of the masses, including rural communities. Case studies such …

ประติมากรรมติดตั้ง : การหวนสู่สุนทรียะวิถีชุมชน, ธนัชชา ไชยรินทร์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

ผลกระทบของกระบวนการทำให้เป็นสมัยใหม่ประการหนึ่ง คือการเปลี่ยนแปลงอาชีพและวิถีชีวิตของผู้คนในสังคมสมัยใหม่ ผลลัพธ์ที่ตามมามากไปกว่านั้นคือการทำให้ภูมิปัญญาเครื่องเขินซึ่งเป็นทักษะและองค์ความรู้ท้องถิ่นที่ได้รับการสืบทอดมาจากรุ่นสู่รุ่นสูญหายไปตามสภาพการณ์ของการเปลี่ยนแปลง ดังนั้นโครงการวิจัยสร้างสรรค์ ประติมากรรมติดตั้ง : การหวนสู่สุนทรียะวิถีชุมชน จึงเป็นความพยายามที่จะนำเสนอการอนุรักษ์กรรมวิธีและทำให้องค์ความรู้เกี่ยวกับเครื่องเขินได้รับการถ่ายทอดและทำให้ปรากฏผ่านงานศิลปะร่วมสมัย เพื่อสะท้อนให้เห็นถึงปรากฏการณ์การเปลี่ยนอาชีพจากงานหัตถกรรมเครื่องเขินไปสู่อาชีพต่างๆในภาคอุตสาหกรรม นอกจากนี้งานวิจัยนี้ยังแสดงให้เห็นถึงการนำองค์ความรู้เกี่ยวกับเครื่องเขินมาพัฒนาต่อ โดยการนำทักษะ เทคนิค และมรรควิธีทางภูมิปัญญาที่ได้เรียนรู้มาผสมผสานกับการสร้างสรรค์ผลงานประติมากรรม เพื่อทำหน้าที่เก็บรักษาและสืบทอดองค์ความรู้ทางภูมิปัญญาเครื่องเขินให้ปรากฏในรูปแบบของงานศิลปะร่วมสมัยโดยไม่เลือนหายไป

A Foreign Perspective Of Early Modern Dance In Estonia: How Ella Ilbak’S Photographic Image (1915-1948) Changed My Life, Karl E. Toepfer

Open Educational Resources

This essay describes how Estonian modern dancer Ella Ilbak (1895-1997) used photography to shape and promote her identity as a dance artist. The essay compares photographic images of Ilbak with paintings and drawings of her. It also describes the evolving and unstable relationships with photographers that Ilbak pursued over nearly thirty years (12915-1948).

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.

Bloom: A Microbial Self-Portrait, Emily Lauren Mulvaney

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Interview With Emilia Soriano And Kristian Cordero, Patrick Michael L. Capili

Perspectives in the Arts and Humanities Asia

No abstract provided.

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 …

Commonplace, Heather Lepp

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The paper as follows will explore the conceptual and aesthetic decisions behind my MFA thesis exhibition titled Commonplace. It will outline my personal history, philosophical outlook, and conceptual framework behind making utilitarian pottery to elevate daily experiences. It will also investigate my individual exploration into beauty in relation to the process of making my work. Formal considerations such as visual, tactile, and functional aspects of the work will be addressed. Sharing, gathering, and preparing food influences me as a maker, and being attentive inspires me to create utilitarian wares that are used as cherished tools to enrich daily life.

Encapsulating Scars, Ashley Smith

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

My work explores scars through encapsulation, a desire to enclose and express the emotional scars of memories or physical scars of the body. Life’s experiences impact the living, leaving behind scars that we feel the need to understand. Through the mediums of metal and mixed-media photography, I utilize found and created imagery, as well as a triality of text in order to preserve and remember these scars.