Fine Arts Commons^™

Factors Behind The Successful Positioning Of Mexico City As An International Contemporary Art Center, Alma Roberta Zertuche Cantu

MA Theses

The following thesis highlights the factors that have contributed to the successful positioning of Mexico City as an international contemporary art center. The city has expanded its artistic reach in the last few decades and its contemporary art market is now booming. The key to its successful positioning in the global art sphere lies in three main factors: collectors, galleries, and fairs. These art market players have had a significant role in the development of the city’s vibrant art scene and have worked to expand it internationally. This investigation aims to answer questions on how the stakeholders have raised international …

Looking South: The Increased Visibility Of Modern Latin American Art, Sofía Festa

MA Theses

This thesis aims to identify and analyze the main factors behind the increased visibility of Latin American Modern art today. I intend to examine the role played by American institutions, private collectors, and the top auction houses and how they are driving awareness in the global art market. The research will focus on artists whose works were made from the 1920s through mid-1940s and are currently breaking records in the auction world. These are the same artists that are being showcased in prominent private collections and American museums, which in turn serves as a way of validating those artists as …

The Paradox Of Scarcity: A Look At The Old Masters Evening Sales From 2014 To 2022 In London And New York, Erin Haydon

MA Theses

This thesis sets out to disprove the theory of the decline of the Old Masters market using data from 2014 until 2022. The data is collected from the January and December Evening Sales at Sotheby’s auction house in both London and New York. It elicits that through the assistance of calculated estimates the market has been holding steady despite media headlines and assumptions. The market, as the smallest of the fine art sectors, fights against, but simultaneously uses to its advantage, the concept of scarcity. Many masterpieces that come to auction benefit from never having been seen before and thus …

Lucretia Van Horn: The Artist’S Meaningful Impact On The Development Of Modernism In The Bay Area, Annie K. Roddy

MA Theses

Women artists lack recognition for their significant contributions to the development of regional modernism in the United States during the twentieth century. This study seeks to highlight the important impact American artist Lucretia Van Horn had on modernism in the Bay Area from the 1920s through the 1940s. The study addresses how the artist worked in advanced modernist styles, achieving local recognition and success, but was ultimately overshadowed by her male counterparts in the larger dialogue. The results reveal an artist at the forefront of avant-garde trends who deserves much wider recognition.

The Printmaking Boom And Its Effect On The Future For The Market For Prints And Multiples, Helen H. Condo

MA Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the history of the market for prints and multiples beginning with the print renaissance of the 1960s to discover the underlying drivers of a successful editions market and make predictions for the future. Before the print boom of the 1960s, driven by the departure of printmakers from Europe during World War II, who reinvigorated a passion for the artistic process, printmaking was considered that of a craft. Once it was elevated from its secondary status, due to excitement from Contemporary artists and institutional accreditation, a market structure was solidified. By examining the …

The Private Art Collector’S Foundation In France: Issues And Implications For The Cultural Landscape, Milena Berman

MA Theses

The last two decades have witnessed an explosion in the number of private art spaces worldwide. From Bentonville, Arkansas, to Naoshima, Japan, hundreds of impressive structures built by star architects have been funded by private individuals and corporations to house collections of modern and contemporary art, often in unlikely places. The famously-termed “Bilbao effect” in which a grand museum structure is set up outside of the established art capitals of the world, thus putting the city “on the map” of cultural tourism, has become a widespread trend. The examples vary greatly and range from small private “home museums”
/="/">made …

How Nfts Are Driving The Latest Evolution Of Art From Physical To Digital In A Pandemic Age., Isabel Dominguez De Haro

MA Theses

Prior to 2014, the art industry did not know a lot about NFTs and the benefits of
blockchain technology. That is because when the technology was created in 2008,
it had nothing to do with art. In fact, it was primarily developed as a way to
decentralize a broken financial system.1 And, even when the art industry began
successfully using the technology in 2017, it was the digital art world and not
traditional artists, galleries, auction houses, or dealers who first recognized the
benefit of using digital tokens to represent ownership of a unique asset. So why
now are NFTs …

The Art Market’S Inflection Point: The Inception Of Modern Art Investment, Maria B. Abraham

MA Theses

The relationship between art and finance derives from the socioeconomic realization that art has high-value potential and diversification benefits within the investment sphere. This paper interprets the evolution of art's financialization in three different market contexts as the cause of an inflection point in the art market. Through research in press articles, interviews, published white papers, and journals on statistical art data analysis results, this thesis demonstrates the link between cultural capital and financial investment, which gave rise to initiatives today that bridge the gap between wealth and the accessibility to the art market. A technological or specialized element across …

Selling Transcendence: The Rise Of Experience And The Big Business Of Immersive Art, Emeline Callaway

MA Theses

There has been an explosion of immersive art experiences over the past few years. Even as the pandemic has taken a toll on tourism, immersive art ventures and experimental museums have expanded around the world, drawing significant crowds and offering investors an inside into a new, emerging industry. This thesis ties these new experiential businesses to the history of art through an analysis of immersive artistic exploration over time and connects the current forms of investment to the history of immersive art patronage. Exploring the relationship between major economic shifts and the development of the art market, this thesis explains …

Pulse, Vol. 1 Spring 2022

PULSE: A Student Publication of Literary & Artistic Works

No abstract provided.

Pathos, Winter 2022, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Pathos

Editor: Bret Steggel

The Laureate, 20th Edition (2022)

The Laureate

No abstract provided.

A Stillness In The Desert? Engaging The Public Through An Immersive Exploration Of Southwest Soundscapes, Julian Kilker, Thomas Bjelic

Creative Collaborations

The pandemic highlighted the anthropocentric nature of soundscapes, while the recent popularity of electric cars, quadcopters, and “noise cancellation” earbuds demonstrated how consumer products can rapidly change our awareness of sound. While light pollution is already extensively addressed in scholarly research, popular works such as The End of Night, and public engagement such as The International Dark Sky Association, the complex interplay of sound, natural resources, and public engagement is still emerging, particularly in creative fields.

Two UNLV scholars and artists are collaborating on this project: Julian Kilker, who specializes in visual and emerging technology research, and Tom Bjelic, who …

Sun Tunnels (1973-76) By Nancy Holt: One Earthwork's Interdisciplinary Approach, Hikmet Loe

Creative Collaborations

In 1973, American artist Nancy Holt (1938-2014) extended her studio practice into the land, employing light, vision, and perception through photography, film, installations, and poetics. By creating her monumental earthwork Sun Tunnels (1973-76), Holt became a leader within Land art, one of the few female artists working in a male-dominated discipline.

Sun Tunnels—located near the border of Western Utah and Eastern Nevada—is comprised of four concrete tunnels placed in an “X” pattern on the Great Salt Lake Desert’s alkaline floor. Each tunnel measures 18’ (L) x 9’ 2 1⁄2” (D); the overall work measures 9’ 2 1⁄2” x 68’ …

Windsor Park: The Sinking Streets, Brett Levner

Creative Collaborations

At the encouragement of Nevada State Senator Dina Neal and law professors Ngai Pindell and Frank Fritz, undergraduate and graduate UNLV film students under the tutelage of film professor Brett Levner donned their masks and returned to the field to interview documentary subjects and bring awareness to a local community in the shadows searching for hope.

Augmented Decision-Making Through The P[Ar]K: Hybridizing Performance Metrics For User Evaluation, Phillip W. Zawarus

Creative Collaborations

Nature-based solutions are being further appreciated beyond their aesthetics and are being recognized for their ability to sustain, mitigate, and service the sensible ecological preservation and enhancement of the natural and built environments (Beck, 2015). For the profession of landscape architecture to properly evaluate these necessary design tactics, our process must shift to a divergent method of asking questions to direct solutions through evidence-based decision-making (Lahaie, 2016).

Through the emergence of landscape performance and the integration of quantitative metrics into outdoor spaces, technology and innovate methods can begin to communicate nature-based benefits as tangible outcomes to comprehend the complex ecological, …

Economic Aesthetics, Ashrafi Sultana

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Contemporary socio-economic reality is like a robbery, where the wealthy people have all the money, and the workers live from hand to mouth. These systematic inequalities are happening through capitalist consumerism and creating a growing economic contrast globally. Rather than considering imitative freedom promoted by the mainstream media that drives us to power, greed, or ego-centric mentality, I believe human rights can direct us to real freedom. In current society, basic rights are being taken away from many, while a great number of us are trapped in our utopian reality without recognizing the truth. We are stimulated by our socio-economic …

Healing Sanctuary, Kammy Downs

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The natural world has hidden wisdom and resources that are disregarded as we misuse our responsibility to care for them. The benefits of being in tune with nature have been traded for a culture that manipulates nature on the altar of expediency, waste, and unquenchable desire. Healing Sanctuary presents a duality. My work speaks about the relationship between the seen and unseen, represented by ten larger-than-life drawings of medicinal herbal plants that have had a profound physical healing effect on me. At the same time, plants, roots, and seeds create visceral metaphors for mental health. Our accomplishments, outlook on life, …

Wound-Dwelling: Empowerment Through Masochistic Experiences, Nizlyn

MFA in Visual Arts Theses

The psychoanalytic concept of the Skin Ego Theory describes the skin as a passage for pain and pleasure to travel through. Remnants of external experiences as well as internal struggles affect the penetrable barrier of the somatic wrapping and leave inscriptions on the flesh. Through my work, I have been exploring the skin’s ability to protect, envelope, and inscribe meaning through my papercuts, oil paintings, and clay sculptures. I procure the marks on my body through kink and BDSM, which then influence the work. Though my bruises may fade with time, my skin becomes tougher. By recontextualizing Skin Ego Theory …

When You're Young, Andrew Zhang '22

Distinguished Student Work - Visual Arts

Painting

Atticus, Lily Song '23

Distinguished Student Work - Visual Arts

Drawing & Illustration

Laundry Room, Andrew Zhang '22

Distinguished Student Work - Visual Arts

Digital Art

Aiming For The Trees: Random Access Information And Paik’S Video Study, Alexandra Juhasz

Publications and Research

Public lecture and paper presented for the 13th international symposium, The Gift of Nam June Paik, attending to his dreams of random access information and the inauguration of his Video Study.

Reflections Of Rondo, Alexander Mathew Thomas

Art and Art History Honors Projects

Reflections of Rondo is a temporal, visual exploration of the I-94 freeway’s relationship with and implications on the Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota.

As a prominent center of Black community and culture since the 1900s, Rondo had a thriving, working-class population that built families, businesses, and markers of place and identity in a socially segregated city. They had built “a city within a city” that welcomed people of all backgrounds and classes.

However, with the passing of the Federal Interstate Highway Act in 1956, the state was able to move forward with their plan of building a highway that …

Bitter Sweet, Hanna M. Kesty

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This written document is the accompanying thesis for my Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, Bitter Sweet. The exhibition featured traditional framed prints with sculptural accents that reveal brutally honest negative personal experiences, interactions, and emotions, paired with delicately cute aesthetics. My work embodies the necessity of personal artistic expression to process years of emotional repression. The prints and sculptures in the exhibition focus around a collection of insults and harsh comments coupled with feelings of loneliness and isolation. I allow personal vulnerability to show, to reinforce that these moments have molded and shaped who I am and will continue to …

Perplexions: Perceptions, Plexi And Prose, Amy B. Nelson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

An understanding of our world is unique to each individual and their experiences. While experiences are often shared, we all process them according to our own schema. Through exploration into the multiple facets of plexiglass, my work examines trauma, loss and its lasting effect on a person's memory of the past, present and perception of the future. These experiences can cause an abrupt shift in personal schema and reshape one’s perception of the world. Through the combination of visual and linguistic stimuli, my trauma-informed work can be a catalyst for my viewers to discuss what they are experiencing and why. …

Siren Song: Examining The Lorelei Topos In Nineteenth-Century German Art Song And Its Manifestation And Transformation In Popular Song, Elizabeth Woodall

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The Lorelei, a German mythical figure, is a popular topic in nineteenth-century German Lieder. However, there are also many overt references to her in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Does she continue to manifest in current music in the same ways or has she evolved over time? I will also explore musical settings in which she is not specifically named, but is referenced through musical and mythical descriptors. In order to identify covert references to the Lorelei, one must first classify and understand the musical and literary signifiers that composers of the nineteenth century used to depict her …

Medieval Minstrels In Media: A Comparative Study Of Minstrelsy In The Robin Hood Tale, Medieval Society, And Media, Heather Sounik

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The minstrel character Alan-a-Dale, as well as other variations of the minstrel, have been effectively ingrained into the history of the Robin Hood tale through screen media interpretations. This study seeks to investigate the origins of the minstrel character in the medieval through present day texts and analyze the interpretations of these characters in a collection of the present day screen media sources that involve this character. Topics to be addressed within this survey include medieval minstrel performance practices and their overall reception in medieval society, as well as the variety of roles the on-screen minstrel characters take, both as …

Should Conductors Listen To Recordings When They Learn Scores?, Jan Pellant

Theses and Dissertations--Music

We can observe the conductor’s work at his performances and rehearsals. However, we cannot see the process of score preparation from the time they get the score to the downbeat of the first rehearsal because the conductor does this work alone. This dissertation discusses the debate among conductors past and present about whether, when, and how to use recordings as part of the score preparation. It considers the advantages and disadvantages of using recordings in the score preparation process. I conducted several types of research on the use of recordings by living conductors. I interviewed conductors using Skype and phone …

Choosing Alternative Repertoire: Pedagogical Considerations For Robert Fuchs's Cello Sonata No. 2, Op. 83, Jerram Isaac John

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This document serves to promote Robert Fuchs's Cello Sonata No. 2, Op. 83, as a study piece for the cello, piano, and collaborative duo, showing the pedagogical benefits of this Romantic sonata. This project will begin with a biography of Fuchs and background of the work, followed by an analysis that establishes the piece in the Romantic tonal tradition. The next section will discuss the pedagogical benefits of the cello part, the technical accessibility in the piano part, and the collaborative opportunities encountered in the piece, comparing it with other Romantic sonatas in the standard repertoire. Additionally, I will be …