Art Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2745
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Item Book Ends(2024) Hilker, Kenneth; Keener, Cy; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis marks a pivotal transition in my artistic journey, detailing the creation of Book Ends, a large wood sculpture that emerged as a culmination of my experiences and reflections during the MFA program at the University of Maryland. Moving away from my previous focus on painting, this work embraces sculpture to explore themes of memory, loss, and rebirth. Book Ends is crafted from repurposed wood, each piece with its own history and emotional weight, collected from dismantled homes and reshaped into a new form. This sculpture not only represents a physical assembly of materials but also embodies my personal and artistic transformations, reflecting on the interconnectedness of life's continuous cycles and the impermanent nature of existence. Through Book Ends, I aim to connect viewers with the deeper narratives embedded in the materials I use, inviting them to contemplate the layers of history and transformation inherent in the wood.Item MY TRANS.PARENT WOMB: QUANTUM PLAY, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AND ASEXUAL REGENERATION FROM WITHIN THE US WAR MACHINE(2024) Leizman, Danielle; Collis, Shannon; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)"FROM BENEATH" is a multimedia art installation which offers an immersive experience through three distinct works that act as “wombs.” The work aims to redefine conventional ideas of reproduction and futurity by transforming the gallery space into a realm of sensory exploration and non-linear time. Utilizing devices such as optical illusion, tactile sound, AI generation, and re-animation of archival media, the work advocates for embodiment as a catalyst for a queer navigational strategy which the artist defines as “quantum play.”Item GEORGE WESLEY BELLOWS' WAR LITHOGRAPHS AND PAINTINGS OF 1918(1981-10-19) 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.Item The Home We Can Never Leave(2023) Richardson-Deppe, Charlotte R; Keener, Cy; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Growing up, I performed aerial arts in a circus. In the circus, a web of interdependence keeps you off the ground—the tightness of your grip, the strength of your friend holding you up, the trust in an apparatus to hold your weight. In my own body now, I feel the residual stretch, tension, and ache the circus left in me—remnants of bodies pushing through pain, defying gravity to hold one another up. Via soft sculpture and performance, I negotiate the body as a site of both liberating autonomy and confining oppression.Item EVERY PLACE WE’VE BEEN(2023) Qiu, Elaine; Craig, Patrick; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Combining printmaking and painting, hovering between abstraction and representation, "Every Place We’ve Been" documents the disorienting experiences of the last years on both a collective and personal level. Using images culled from various archival sources, as well as personal snapshots, the installation examines how history becomes a collective embodied memory and draws attention to the boundaries between the personal and the public.Item Embrace the Wave(2023) Shahramipoor, Hosna; Strom, Justin; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Everything in the universe is made up of waves. "Embrace the Wave" is a journey of self-discovery, in which our own inner waves can resonate with and influence the world around us, dissipate, magnify, and transform.Item I HOLD YOU CLOSE(2023) Mercedes/Greene, Stephanie; Collis, Shannon; Art; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)I Hold You Close articulates the precarious emotions of being queer in a society riddled by violence. Using steel, melted weapons, sound, and motors, this installation reflects on my own experience of queerness and queer love. Rather than framing vulnerability as a weakness, these works invite the viewer to consider vulnerability as a weapon.Item 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.Item 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.Item 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)