Fine Arts Commons^™

Doorway, Jaycee R. Guttormson

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

Artist Statement

Doorway is a piece that exists in a state of duality and cyclicality, just as a door operates both as an opening and a barricade. Through decay, there is new life and new life gives way to decay. This fact of life and death existing synchronously is furthered through the cohesion of natural forms and manmade structures. In this state, the form is both familiar and unrecognizable and asks the viewer to step into a world that is as alien as it is commonplace.

This dichotomy of life and death, growth and decay, and familiar and strange is …

In The Face Of Conflict, Mohammed Khatib

be Still

In the chaos of conflict, amongst the confusion, emotion, and fear lies truth like the eye of a raging storm. Within this, one may find peace, tranquility, and the storm will follow in suit.

Sorrow Cannot Resurrect, Sharon Mathew

be Still

The magenta skull symbolizes life and death while the sword passing through the skull is a symbol of life’s ever present cycle of conflicts, grief, and sorrow. The ambiguous gray of the sword is used to convey the fact that we will all encounter an incredibly vast variety of struggles throughout the course of our lives. It is also outlined with gold detailing as a play on the phrase “every cloud has a silver lining. As the sword pierces the skull, out pours technicolor tears and blood. The bright colors represent the immense beauty and growth that we can find …

Deconstructing Consciousness In Art, Leila Kincaid

Journal of Conscious Evolution

To the extent that art mirrors consciousness, what does the art of any age have to tell us about where we are as a species and civilization? In this paper, I suggest that modern and postmodern art reveals the tendency toward deconstruction, of our identities, as selves, as cultures, and as a civilization. Through this process of deconstruction, there is a space offered to us through the experience of art, of freedom to recreate ourselves, our identities, and our sense of purpose and meaning in the cosmos. Grounding the inquiry in texts from various authors in the field of art …

Myth, Soul, And The Feminine

Journal of Conscious Evolution

What are some of the root causes that have caused the subjugation of women? Could it all have begun with the fantastical and alluring myths we were told? If so, how does myth become truth for societies as a whole? If that does happen, then it must be true that the mythic is where the emergence of the soul is found; the soul of humanity? Thereby, creating the realities found in the society of today. Even more intriguing is how consciousness and art find their way in merging with myth producing awareness, wonder, and connection in society. Thus, revealing the …

Rivers And Basins Art Exhibit, Laura V. Alvarez, Anibal Moreno

National Science Foundation (NSF)

‘’Rivers and Basins’’ is an art exhibition made up of twenty-two paintings painted by Colombian artist Annibal Moreno. The exhibit was set up as a joint effort by the Geospatial Sensing and Sampling of the Environment (GeoSenSE) lab of the Department of Earth Environmental and Resources Sciences of the University of Texas at El Paso, and The Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens. This collection of paintings was chosen to help the audience learn more about the vitality, and the importance of protecting and understand the rivers and basins of the world and help them expand their knowledge in such …

The Beehive, The Favela, The Castle, And The Ministry: Race And Modern Architecture In Rio De Janeiro, 1811–1945, Luisa Valle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation deploys a multidisciplinary and decolonial framework to investigate the architecture of cortiços, the Favela Hill, the Castelo Hill, and the Ministry of Education and Public Health (MES) building as constitutive of the history of modernization and modernity in the Centro (city center) of Rio de Janeiro, 1811-1945. The first three chapters investigate the distinct geographies, formal and material qualities, and populations of cortiços, the Favela Hill, and the Castelo Hill, as well as their racialization and essentialization by the “unsanitary” and “degenerate” labels bestowed upon these landscapes by the state. Traditional narratives and practices of modern architecture and …

Entities: A Field Of Imaginary Games, Thrasyvoulos Ioannis Kalaitzidis

LSU Master's Theses

With this body of work, I am looking for visual symbols that help communicate unuttered meanings through storytelling and stimulate an affectual response to the viewer. This exploration is presented in two different forms: a surreal sculptural installation and a board game. The installation consists of large-scale sculptures made from light and soft materials (polyurethane foam, plastic waste, paper) that are available to move inside the gallery, while the board game is presented as a set of 3D prints with instructions on how the participants can play it. The materials used in the installation suggest a way to transform waste …

Between The Garden And The Gardener, Sara Lynne Lindsay

Theses and Dissertations

My work uses plant material and soil as a record of personal, cultural, and ecological history. History is not only held in the buildings and monuments, but in the soil itself. I gather this soil and foliage from both cultivated and uncultivated locations for my artwork. Using traditional domestic techniques of drying and canning, I preserve the materials that I have gathered. These will then be sewn together, cooked, and encrusted into objects. Despite my labor of preserving, these organic art supplies are transient. When made into works of art, they can be viewed in their vulnerable state, fighting against …

Energy Portraits For Flute, Clarinet In B-Flat, Violin, Cello, Piano, And Percussion, Luis Solis

Music Theses and Dissertations

Energy Portraits is a 25-minute work for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion based on the nine Enneagram personality types. The Enneagram system delves into underlying motivations and thought patterns of different people rather than only external behaviors, so this piece incorporates the typical overall energy of each number as a miniature portrait. The movements are not in the same order as the nine types from the Enneagram but are reordered and renamed for musical reasons. This allows the listeners who are not familiarized with the Enneagram to still understand the theme and energy of each movement.

Flourish is …

Cultural Formation Of Place: Making Yourself At Home, Olivia Arratia

Art Theses and Dissertations

The environment you grow up in can become a pivotal part of your existence. The sights, smells, people, and places you experience every day can transform the way you see the world. Growing up in a Mexican-American household has brought its own set of experiences that have made me the artist I am today. I am one of many contemporary artists building on the foundations of their heritage and the Chicano movement. I am also a Mexican-American artist expanding the identity and extending the legacy in the 21st century. This paper will investigate how Mexican-American heritage has influenced my artistic …

Break Time, Quinlan Maggio

Theses and Dissertations

In this graduate thesis artist Quinlan Maggio describes their two-part art project in which they create site-specific private/public spaces and encounters within a larger public, specifically, that of the Hunter MFA community and its art-viewing audience.

Transformation., Jingshuo Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My works mainly show my perception of life and my change of thought. The world is full of changes, and the pandemic has disrupted our lives. Many people, including me, are confused about the world. Philosophy and my observation and thinking about the world helped me to have a clearer understanding of the world. My paintings Licia, Butterfly Woman, and Live with Covid reflect my understanding of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer's theory of empathy. Within my art, I also use another German Philosopher Theodor W. Adorno's theory of the culture industry to deepen my understanding of some social phenomena. My …

100 Seconds To Midnight, Melissa Medina

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

My artistic practice focuses on the concept of mortality and investigates the human condition. Through my work, I often personify the concept of death and investigate the several forms that it may take across several cultures. The skull is most often used as a symbol of mortality, and it serves as one of the key elements in my work. I am drawn to the elements portrayed in classical memento mori paintings, and as a result, I have borrowed certain objects commonly used in these works and have paired them alongside more modern elements to create a new narrative. With this …

Line As Site And Material, Analise Minjarez

Art Theses and Dissertations

This paper recounts my artistic practice over the last three years. I will describe the places, artists, artworks, and processes that have been meaningful to me in this time as I pursued my MFA and worked to understand my relationship to the living world. In the thesis Line as Site and Material, I respond to materiality and site through installation, sculpture, drawing, and video. I work with clay harvested from my hometown of El Paso, TX to connect to the personal histories of the borderlands and geological time. In the Second River Series, I walk in the empty riverbed of …

Always Running At Sunset, Amelia O'Neill

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis show includes paintings that depict scenes of the trails that my dog and I frequent in Utah. These paintings are a response to experiences I have in nature and explore my relationship with my dog and the surrounding flora and fauna along the local trails. The paintings include images of rocks, sticks, dirt, trails, dogs, clouds, and dried sunflowers in the wind. In addition to realistic depictions of nature, my paintings reflect on the psychological and emotional state of being in nature. The title of the show is Always Running at Sunset, which is meant to be taken …

Inequality In Renaissance Art; A Study Into The Lack Of Female Representation, Kaitlyn Anderson

Honors College Theses

This paper explores how female biblical figures were under-represented during the Renaissance period. It explores possible reasonings, consequences, and then takes a physical exploration into the renaissance style through newly created artworks. It also explores in greater detail, two specific female biblical figures, their multifaceted stories, and their previous portrayals. Lastly homage is paid to the female artists throughout history who have been working to level the playing field in the art-world.

New Myths And My Religion, Pallas Lane Umbra

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

New Myths and My Religion
Pallas Lane Umbra
Faculty Advisor: Katie Mitchell

As every civilization has had its myth and legends, this creative thesis project introduces a new mythology. This world is born of our own, shaped by the experience of growing up queer in the Appalachian South. There is a specific exploration of love, rage, and spirituality. Inspired by Greco-Roman mythology while also reflecting on personal experience, this body of work shares a visual, symbolic language that is interpretable; one myth can tell many stories. Along with this new iconography, the work strips the viewer of ease and comfort …

It Won’T Be Easy, Allison Arkush

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

Interdisciplinary artist Allison Arkush engages a wide range of materials, modalities, and research in her practice. In It Won’t Be Easy, Arkush places and piles her multimedia sculptures throughout the gallery to create installations that overlap ­with her writing and poetry, sometimes layering in (or extending out to) audio and video components. This approach facilitates the probing exploration of prevailing value systems through a flattening of hierarchies among and between humans, the other-than-human, and the inanimate—though no less lively. Her work meditates on and ‘vendiagrams’ things forsaken and sacred, the traumatic and nostalgic. The exhibition title acknowledges that the …

I Want To Go Home, Amber Boris

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

The significance of a home lies within the memories of the space. I Want to Go Home is a body of work that explores this idea through a collection of sculptures and drawings depicting my childhood home. This house holds meaning to me not only because it is where I grew up, but because it was also my mother’s childhood home. Six generations of our family have passed through the house, creating a long history of associated stories, memories, and emotions.

I have constructed scaled down sculptures of rooms for these memories to live in. The spaces are left empty, …

The Materials Of Traditions, Victoria Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

The homes we grow up in have a great impact on the homes we create as adults. Many of the traditions I saw in my childhood home were expressions of love within our family. These everyday traditions helped not only to build bonds within my nuclear family, but also with the chosen family I have formed as an adult. Repeating these traditions, or at least my best memory of them, has helped me in building my own home now. The ways I interact with my friends often reflects those same traditions I learned from home. I brought a few of …

Tangled Roots: Exploring Appalachian Feminisms, Magenta Palo

Graduate Thesis Exhibition Catalogue Gallery, 2022

Women have long been overlooked as key figures in the cultural history of Appalachia. The exhibition Tangled Roots: Exploring Appalachian Feminisms seeks to examine the ways in which women artists across the region have kept traditions alive while redefining creative practices that were once seen strictly as “women’s work.” In particular, the exhibition aims to explore how women have reimagined “craft” through skillful attention to materials, manual dexterity, and application of critical and conceptual rigor. The concept of craft is defined in this context to include all hand-made work that requires developed skills, whether they belong to traditional craft-based practices …

Defiantly Childlike: Using Aesthetic Resistance To Heal, Sarah K. Reagan

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines an alternative processing mechanism surrounding the act of healing after traumatic experiences in life. Using a methodology of iterative patterning and tool-pathing, a collection of inflatable garments and wooden mannequins analyzes defense mechanisms learned in early childhood development. This work highlights an essential body of recent scholarship that takes cuteification seriously to restore a childlike approach to mastering fear. This paper will review the definitions of cuteness and childlike humor and then describe how visual culture has implemented these components to subvert established power.

A Renaissance: The Absurd Retelling Of Mostly True Events, Erica R. Hitzman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Throughout the following you will be taken on a fantastical retelling of the exhibition A Renaissance, and some of what lead up to it. Through the eyes of various shifting perspectives you will explore the relationships between the artist, her art, and the viewer in the hopes of unveiling how the work plays into feminist theory, its place in the Zeitgeist, and the motivations behind it. Each perspective is formatted differently, to visually mirror the shift in perspective. Presented in the first person and aligned to the right, the account of the artist discusses the process, emotion, and inspiration behind …

The Integration Of Art: A Multiple Case Study Of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, And Math (Steam) Schools In Three Schools In Southern California, Reyna Esther Smith

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to describe and analyze how schools that implement a STEAM program include the arts in their integrated program. The study focused on 3 K-12 schools in Southern California that are located in the Antelope Valley high desert region of the state. This multi-case study analyzed an elementary school, a middle school, and a high school that are in different districts in the area.

Methodology: This multi-case study used qualitative data to analyze the research questions regarding art infusion in STEAM programs and teacher and leader perspectives. Drawing from interviews of teachers …

Clean Fields, Lindsey E. Creel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Clean Fields is an exhibition consisting of 3 anthotypes and 11 drawings on paper mounted to panels. The work is part homage and part documentation of the emotionally restorative properties found in gardening. It is a contemporary view of a timeless activity. While the work references realistic content, the artistic outcomes are non-objective. Modifications in composition and scale provide variation throughout the series. The large-scale of the works and the use of economy and movement in the composition move the viewer into a meditative state.

Crossings Of Heritage, Memory And Archives: A History Of Moroccan Cinema In The Bouanani Archives, Sarah Dornhof

Regards

This article interrogates archival forms and practices in relation to remembering the “lost archives” of Moroccan cinematographic history.
It presents the Bouanani Archives — a private, fragmented, and still largely uncatalogued collection located in the Bouanani family apartment in Rabat, comprising a variety of texts, visuals, and objects connected to Morocco’s cinematographic and cultural memory.
The archive is the personal legacy of filmmaker, writer, and artist Ahmed Bouanani (1938–2011), his wife Naïma Saoudi (1947–2012), and their daughter Batoul Bouanani (1969-2003), all of whom worked for Moroccan cinema.
Today, it is preserved and cared for by his daughter Touda Bouanani and …

Transcendentalism, Art, And Social Change: An Overview For A New Generation, Nidra Kilmer

Theses - ALL

The purpose of this study is to investigate the philosophy, art, methods, and outcomes of the Transcendentalist movement in 19th century America, with the aim of identifying strategies for creative practice that may inspire artists and educators in the 21st century. In the introductory section, the need for such an inquiry is established. Correlations are drawn between transcendental art from China, India, and America, in order to enrich the conversation by examining how ideas of transcendentalism, art, and social change are approached from different cultural perspectives. The historical context and philosophical roots of the American Transcendentalists is summarized, followed by …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Covid-19 Infection Control On Visual Art Installations In Hospitals With Pediatric Patients, Shannon Kimich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 infection control on visual artwork in pediatric hospitals and hospitals caring for pediatric patients. The study involved five hospitals in three southern America states and addressed visual artwork and art installations. The researcher administered an internet-based survey to participants in job functions related to hospital administration, environmental services, and project management across the facilities and received participation from 18 respondents. Additionally, telephone interviews were conducted with three participants with the job titles project manager/analyst, child-life specialist, and environmental services director. Survey questions were designed to examine visual art programs in selected children’s hospitals …

Insight Ar. Relating Virtual Sculptures To Real Places., Volker Kuchelmeister

Frameless

InSight AR is a site-specific Augmented Reality project and mobile phone app produced for the popular Sculptures by the Sea Bondi exhibition, to be held in Sydney Australia in 2021. It forms uncanny relations between virtual sculptures, visitors, the environment and the art on site. The project is comprised of three parts: an outdoor work using AR plane detection and geo-location, AR image and spatial tracking for an indoor exhibit and a 3D map of the coastal walk, also presented in AR. The work is designed to be playful, fun and it encourages its viewers to share their experience on …