Art Theses and Dissertations

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    THE UNCONVENTIONAL BALLET BODY IN THE 21ST CENTURY
    (2022) ROCHER BARNES, CAROLINE; PORTIER, KENDRA; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The Unconventional Ballet Body in the 21st Century represents the written portion of my thesis project in support of my dance choreography Bodily Intelligence, both requirements of the M.F.A. in Dance at the University of Maryland, College Park. Bodily Intelligence premiered on November 17th, 2022, at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s Dance Theatre. This research explores the impact of unconventionality of ballet in the 21st century and reveals how the search for the ideal body aesthetics has made it exclusive and disconnected from the current times. This paper highlights the influence of dance icons whose atypical aesthetics pushed the art form’s boundaries and contributed to its advancement towards a more inclusive world. It also examines the importance of racial diversity, inclusion, and gender non-conformism within the dance world and explores the impact of the corps de ballet in the current era. Moreover, the research describes how my choreographic influences and professional ballet experience feed into the creative process. It shines a light on my desire to work with a racially diverse cast with various dance training and highlights how their collaborative effort can redefine the future of ballet in the twenty-first century.
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    Separately Together
    (2022) Katt, Elizabeth C; Strom, Justin D; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This body of work explores aspects of our Covid-19 experience for the past two plus years. The unknown quality of the virus in its beginning, people going alone to the hospital with no loved one by their side, unpredictable outcomes from infection, and preventable deaths enabled by incompetent leadership has become the subject matter I explore in my creative practice. Public health officials and healthcare professionals knew what to do but the effort was fragmented, confusing, and poorly led in the United States. The lack of coordinated response, the marginalization of public health officials, the inconsistent messaging, incorrect information, and the use of a public health crisis as a political tool were exasperating and disorienting. The exploitation, willful ignorance, or disregard that impacts people with less power and means make me want to scream.
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    POST-TRAUMATIC GROWTH
    (2022) Imes, Alyssa Maria; Collis, Shannon; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Title of Thesis: POST-TRAUMATIC GROWTH Alyssa Imes, Master of Fine Arts 2022 Thesis directed by: Associate Professor Shannon Collis, Department of Art POST-TRAUMATIC GROWTH “Trauma ebbs and flows It is unstable and unknown A terrain of progress While you weep, Lean on your willows The only way to stabilize, ……is to lean” (Alyssa Imes)
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    Momentary Transmission
    (2022) Gonzales, Martin; Sham, Foon; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The scope of this work seeks to make meaning out of things that cannot be understood. The following writing are momentary transmissions of streams of consciousness, life-long institutional reflections, and musings about this world.
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    George Wesley Bellows' War Lithographs and Paintings of 1918
    (1981) Wasserman, Krystyna; Johns, Elizabeth; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
    This thesis analyzes the sources, subject matter and style of George Bellows' seventeen war lithographs, five paintings and five drawings of 1918. Evidence is advanced to prove that the political developments of the First World War were a decisive factor in the creation of the War Series by Bellows who otherwise had no interest in war themes. The development of Bellows' patriotic feelings, culminating in the creation of war lithographs as a response to the changes of United States policy from one of neutrality to one of full involvement in the European conflict and a state of war with Germany in April 1917, is traced in Bellows' art and political statements. For the purpose of analysis Bellows' lithographs and paintings are divided into: scenes of atrocities depicting crimes committed by the German Army in Belgium in August 1914 as described in the Bryce Report published in the New York Times on May 13, 1915; Bellows' illustrations for the war stories published in magazines in 1918; and scenes inspired by war events and war photographs. Thematic and stylistic comparisons with the works of old masters and contemporary European artists are made. The study concludes that Bellows' war lithographs and paintings are not evaluated by modern critics as enthusiastically as most of his other works. It is suggested that one of the reasons why this is so, is the fact that Bellows who painted usually scenes he had known and seen, never went to war, and thus had to rely on articles, correspondence or photographs rather than on personal observations to determine the subjects of his war lithographs and paintings.