Now showing items 41-60 of 159

    • Visual hysteria: an investigation of the "feminine protolanguage" as an embodied index of trauma in the arts: MFA Thesis - Painting & Drawing

      Farina, Ana Maria (2021-05)
      The pieces I am showing in my thesis show are the four latest pieces I have created. They're all entitled histérica which is Portuguese for hysterical, followed by the number referring to its place in the series timeline. Histérica #8 started off as lines that could resemble a flower and/or vulvar forms. It is the biggest piece I have ever created and it was at first a challenge to myself: what would happen if I take this cathartic process to its utmost. It took me months of labor (and callused hands) to come to a finished piece. However, in the middle of the process I felt the work had a mystical presence, and I added an eye to its center, and now the work is displayed in the horizontal, not so related to a vulva symbology anymore, but more a garden. Staring at it is like peeking at the wilderness within.
    • Hitting the nail on the head: MFA Thesis - Sculpture

      Elmadany, Adam (2021-05)
      In my thesis exhibition, Hitting the Nail on The Head, my sculptural works examine how the ethics and morality of American society are shaped through our words. The idioms and sayings in the United States’ lexicon have a direct correlation to the development of our thoughts, actions, and understanding of the world and its citizens. Through my sculptures, I task the viewer with examining their use of common phrases like, “When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do”, and if it excuses insult based on lack of understanding with images of Hollywood icons ignorantly appropriating various elements of Black culture in America, in the form of postcards. In my video, “One Bad Apple Spoils the Barrel”, I present the viewer with categorical evidence that the commonly used alternative phrasing they have been hearing on television following tragic events, is an inversion of the truth with decomposing apples displayed in a time-lapse video. In my monument, “Thoughts & Prayers”, I confront the viewer with an assault rifle mounted to a mountain of 27 children’s bookbags covered in the candle wax to challenge the the 2nd amendment and what the years of political inaction has cost us in innocent lives.
    • Up shit creek (without a paddle): MFA Thesis - Sculpture

      Brannan, Emily (2021-05)
      I am exploring the use of art as a means of healing from childhood trauma that I experienced growing up as a lower middle-class girl in Appalachia. I use imagery from old family photos, visual, and sensory memory to recreate my distorted memories. I am working to find some sort of empathy for my family members who created these traumatic experiences for me growing up. Trauma theory explains that the individual needs to relive and revisit traumatic memories in order to heal from them and I am attempting that through reliving not only my experiences, but trying to reexamine others’ experiences and the intergenerational trauma that lead to the way I was raised.
    • Survivance: MFA Thesis - Sculpture

      Antonak, Erin Lee (2021-05)
      I am Wolf Clan, from the Oneida Indian Nation of New York, a member of the Iroquois Confederacy. I often consider the things we pass down between generations. I grew up learning Iroquois craft techniques from my mother, aunts, and grandparents. I look at my hands when I am working with corn using traditional techniques and think about how they are the result of women’s hands working in the same way over many, many generations. Working with corn husk and corn products ties me to my lineage and it allows for a meditative state that creates space for me to consider my humanness and my connectedness to the past and the future. It represents knowledge about life and healing sent through time from my ancestral mothers. While working I reflect on the lives of my matrilineal ancestors, who they were and the challenges they faced. It is comforting and empowering to know my own life is proof of their ability to persevere through extraordinarily difficult circumstances. I gain strength and healing from acknowledging their presence in me and my life.
    • What does the Internet do to our emotions?: MFA Thesis - Metal

      Yang, Beiya (2021-05)
      I found that people born in the 21st century are accustomed to convenience and having everything at our fingertips. We use the Internet to search for all the answers we want and even prefer to use our phone for all communication, such as chatting with others, finding addresses, taking out food, online shopping, even games, and other entertainment activities. We are surrounded by virtual reality and forget the true emotions of real life. People may not realize that the world we live in is beginning to be covered by another language. This language is called coding- a series of numbers and letters without evidence of real emotions and meaning. My work reminds people that through this form of communication, feelings are being forgotten as we immerse ourselves in our screens. The translation of words-to-code parallels the disconnect between people as they communicate virtually…Through new and developing work, I use code as my research subject. I translate the common language that may be quickly shared in text messages into codes and present them in the form of jewelry.
    • Dysthymic: MFA Thesis - Metal

      Sullivan, John (2021-05)
      Moments of trauma mark pivotal shifts in my life that have forever altered my perception of self and reality. Coinciding with lifelong depression, these ailments are both a morbid source of inspiration and debilitation. My creative work is a means of articulating trauma and coping with dysthymic depression. Due to trauma’s unrepresentable nature I rely on engendered emotion as an intrinsic component in the creation of meaning. I construct empathetic experiences through sensory based affects that are understood through a compassionate engagement. These embodied translations of experience are my way of conveying that which is beyond conventional comprehension.
    • Beyond the mind’s eye: MFA Thesis - Printmaking

      Ozola, Karmena (2021-05)
      The elements of nature, colour and light in my work are joined in colourful, small to large scale (depending on the medium and technique) abstract prints, paintings, handmade paper sheets, handmade paper lamps, digital photographs and artist’s books. To make the work, I use Western, Asian and handmade paper, canvas, acrylic ink and oil paints, natural found objects as well as thread. The techniques employed include mainly monotype and screen-printing methods, papermaking, three-dimensional object construction and hand stitching. In order for the viewer to find a connection or a moment beyond the material world when looking at my work there is one more missing element – openness or, in other words, the right kind of perception. Therefore, my research includes a look at altered states of consciousness and how those are achieved, belief systems, places where people experience altered reality, hypnosis and individual practices such as meditation and prayers.
    • Sabal palm and stiltgrass: MFA Thesis - Sculpture

      Stowe, John A. (2021-05)
      As we build new communities and heal old ones, we are presented with opportunities to collaborate with existing ecosystems. How can infrastructure be modified to promote resilient ecological communities that support each other and the overall biodiversity of the spaces we inhabit? Billboard Fields, Dumpster Agriculture, and Lap Siding are all examples of ways we can heal the socio-ecological disturbances that generally support humans but interrupt the ecology of the surrounding area. Lap Siding embraces vernacular architecture as a point of entry into both new and historically old material relationships with the land we build our homes on.
    • There is no home like me: MFA Thesis - Drawing & Painting

      Tyman, Emily (2021-05)
      There is No Home Like Me explores of the anxieties that I carry with me, my need to be comforted and finding a home within myself. Each piece focuses on what I reach for to provide myself with a sense of security and cope with memories of my painful experiences. The embrace of a stuffed animal, the shelter of a bedroom, and the love for a pet provide safety from an overwhelming force of anxiety, which I represent as a swarm of wasps. Slowly, I am teaching myself how to be comfortable with being my own home. I am contemplating what defines a home, if there are specific markers that indicate if something is a home. Is it a place? Can it be a person? Or do I only find my home through myself and become comfortable within my own body and that becomes enough? The title of this show comes from a poem by Rupi Kaur about accepting one’s body and taking care of it, because it is your home. I feel as though one day I can do the same as the lines in the poem state, to “look down at your body / whisper / there is no home like you”.
    • Palpable memory: MFA Thesis - Printmaking

      McBride, Julia (2021-05)
      I am focused on the concepts of fallible memory after suffering a traumatic brain injury 8 years ago. Using paper-making and printmaking, I document my own personal memories in their fragmented state on handmade paper that I make from my own recycled prints. This handmade paper is then used to create prints using a paper lithographic printmaking method. Using these prints, I create a books and components for installations. The outcome of this research is displayed in my show Palpable Memory.
    • Shield and shelter: MFA Thesis - Sculpture

      Loveszy, Rosa (2020-12)
      In nature, many mechanisms have evolved to ensure the safety and survival of an organism. Humans lack many methods of self-defense. My work draws on the design that has evolved for thousands of years, mimicking defensive characteristics of other animals and plants. I explore the relationships between the form and function of protective biological systems in my work. This series, Shield and Shelter, references the type of cellular arrangements that allow water to move through the tissue of a tree. The cell structures support the organism by transporting water and nutrients to ensure their safety and longevity.
    • Together / alone- under suburban sky: MFA Thesis - Photography and Related Media

      Lin-Liang, Li (2020-05)
      Together / Alone--Under Suburban Sky is intrinsically tied to my experience moving to the U.S. at the age 40 from Shanghai, China. Life is drama. For this project, I dressed up as an ordinary suburban housewife to show scenes of daily life. I made some images like film footage by using long exposures and 16:9 ratio. The inclusion of dialogue gave an understanding of the tension between family members. Each picture depicts a dramatic conflict. The male, as husband and father, was sometimes physically absent from the images, but actually, he is never fully absent, as he always shows up as a symbol. The main actress, as mother and wife, appears in most of the images, however, she is never fully shown. The mother is not just herself; she represents all females in the same situation. For the past two years, this project has been the primary source material in creating a body of work that explores the migrant narrative and my suburban housewife experience, albeit through a personal lens. Photography is an effective way to depict real scenes in life and can challenge norms of female sexuality, beauty, domesticity, and identity. While my need to decipher and address my own life is personal, my work has always touched upo n universal themes, with the potential to start a dialogue about cultural differences and similarities. The suburban life is very peaceful. It represents middle-class lifestyle, with a comfortable house, two or three kids, and a hardworking husband. They are living together; however, she feels lonely. In Betty Friedan’s words, the problem has no name.
    • Meandering progression: MFA Thesis - Drawing & Painting

      Loveszy, Rosa (2019-05)
      Observation of interior organic forms and microscopic environments inspired my interest the correlation between macro and microstructures in the universe. The flow of movement and material in natural settings, whether large or small, develop similar patterns over time. How can we identify regularities caused by liquid moving through matter? Using a methodology inspired by organic shapes and systems of growth, the intrinsic properties of encaustic medium and steel allow for the paint and construction to reflect patterns of natural progress. Patterns found in nature that are visible in everyday life informs my intellectual and creative process. I consistently look for ways to make complex structures out of simple building blocks. This search has led me to peer through a microscope and observe the small shapes that coalesce to construct the world as we know it. An integral part of my studio practice is not only the physical creation of art, or its formal properties, but the intellectual stimulation that comes from broadening my understanding of the universe. Consistently I am overwhelmed by the breadth of the knowledge and information available to aid our understanding of life. Through my research on growth patterns in the natural world, I have discovered exciting visuals that recently have been captured by modern scientific instruments. Looking through a microscope, I have been intrigued by the ability of a lens to reveal environments invisible to the naked eye. Depending on the lens we can observe a vast landscape of the growth patterns.
    • Of flesh and fruit: MFA Thesis - Ceramics

      Jaimes, Karen (2020-05)
      Of Flesh and Fruit is an experiential interventionist installation that interacts with Western hegemonic institutions, such as museums and galleries, to address the impact of colonialism on indigenous cultures. Pre-Columbian ritual objects and ideologies are re-interpreted to address postcolonial issues through a transhistorical approach. I invite the public to participate and learn about these issues by providing hidden truths on various sculptures, in literature, and on pedestals. By incorporating sensory and mixed media, and displaying work on unusual platforms, I use the agency of materials to enhance the conversations about indigenous knowledge, capitalism, and current forms of exploitation driven by political interference and big business.
    • Jumble gym, playful randomness in contemporary jewelry: MFA Thesis - Metal

      Gougherty, Stefan (2020-05)
      I create jewelry that is curious and interactive. Sampling content from trash to treasure, these playful objects are unpretentious and subversive. Exploring the surreal through engineering and illusion, these antics of adornment confound expectations. In celebration of our collective progress, I leverage industrial materials and manufacturing processes to anchor the work firmly within the present. Through mashups of contrasting realities and exploration of randomness, I articulate this strange new digital world. Staging collisions between vastly different references of time, scale and subject matter, an underlying unity can be found among the debris of shape and memory.
    • Packing universes: MFA Thesis - Sculpture

      Choi, Jung Yun (2020-05)
      Multiverse and dreams are the main themes of my work. I am usually haunted by vivid memories that feel real after dreaming. I imagined the existence of my other selves in that other universe. I borrow the eyes of my other-selves in my dreams. In other words, dreams are a channel to connect me with my other-selves. Pinecones and Bubble wraps are common around us, so people pass by them without noticing, however, these everyday objects are the entry points into hidden worlds. Like travelers through dreams, I hope that viewers will enter and explore these other universes.
    • Counting clouds, finding sheep: MFA Thesis - Painting & Drawing

      Willette, Corina (2020-05)
      In play, time slips away. Visual allusions occur, your mind broadens allowing new realities. These analog virtual-realty artworks — created initially for interior spaces — ended up “going out to play”. Once outside… they interwove with the natural environment they were inspired by, discovering multiple ways of being. Childlike wonder is essential to my approach to both materials and images. Sensual encounters, such as the pattern of clouds, the smell of dirt or the sound of birds calling take on meaning from our experiences and belief systems. In this way the patterns and connections we make, fact or fiction, become our reality.
    • About my meditation: MFA Thesis - Printmaking

      Zheng, Xuewu (2020-05)
      I titled this body of my work Meditation. The works, include two series, contain both printmaking and installation. I have been working on both series for about 30 years. I examine both history and the present in a very personal way and I integrate both philosophy and religion into my work. Through my artistic practice, I bridge the language gap between the Eastern and Western cultures. I pay attention to the relationships between humans and nature, and how they are shaped by modern civilization. Meditation is both the content and the state of my life, and my primary means of instigating this research.
    • Trace collectors: MFA Thesis - Metal

      Eom, Min Jae (2020-05)
      Everything around us has been touched, used, cracked, broken – evidence that reveals an object’s existence ​and experience. I create simple surfaces and forms that when carried on the body, slowly gather traces of the wearer. The marks that are collected through these time-based works are not simply scratches, dents and stains; rather, they become a witness, a form of archive embodying the history and coexistence between user and object. These truly unique traces share a memory with the wearer, accumulating sentimental value and highlighting the most overlooked and intimate forms of contact.
    • Made in the USA, When gnomes need to clean their homes: MFA Thesis - Sculpture

      Leu, Maxine (2020-05)
      My work, Made in the USA , focuses on the environment, communication, and identity. Using critical humor along with dark playfulness, I open doors to difficult conversations relating to issues of overconsumption and the culture of waste in America, through the lens of my own awareness of cultural differences. The works are based on my experience of being a foreign person in America. I choose familiar, everyday objects and commonly considered waste materials as the raw materials for my work and for their potential to initiate cross-cultural, nonverbal communication. Then I transform those materials into situational, humorous, and metaphorical artworks that double back and question our relationship to the commonplace things I started with.