In this project, I further examined my work as a fictional layering of vernacular culture within the discourse of historical art. This investigation addressed the sources of my art, both in the outside world and in the context of an inherited art tradition. I focused on the issues of the formation and function of my work as an estheticized representation of this culture.

My work contains physical and illusionary layers of images which reflect or relate cultural and personal experiences. These experiences address collective cultural patterns or personal and collective experience simultaneously. Visual metaphorical and literal patterns represent behavior and experiences. Inherent in the presentation of these types of patterns and experiences is the implication of time and the relationships between old, new, and changed experience. One vehicle for effectively portraying these linear layers of literal/metaphorical images in fibers could be visual images representing a metaphorical pattern combined with literal patterns. The literal pattern would either reflect or have a relationship with the metaphorical pattern. Another vehicle for expressing the linear layers of images could be varying representations of depth of field exist.

I endeavored to investigate how temporal forms could be used as an avenue for addressing my sculptural concerns. These concerns included the relationship of form to material, the temporary manifestation of enduring principles, and responsibility to materials and their meanings. My pursuit of this investigation arose from both a search for alternatives in a field with a tradition of permanent object orientation and an effort to expand my own perceptions of what constitutes sculpture and the activity of sculpting.

In this proposed study, I hoped to discover compositional elements that once added to the work would convey my conceptual ideas. I was interested in exploring the addition of deep pictorial space and increasing the size disparity between the figures as possible solutions for injecting a level of irony and/or eluding to the subverted agenda of the content. I wanted to see if these two secondary compositional adjustments subtly conveyed not only a strategic contradiction of the art historical concept of expressionism but the numerous accepted truths in society.

The triumphs over daily conflicts correspond to monuments that commemorate specific events of my life as a woman. The monuments commemorating these events necessitated an intimate format because the events depicted deserve close personal attention. The intimate scale offers the option of being presented as a sculpture with a base that has a detachable, wearable part.

Using this conflict between death and dying versus hope and new life, I searched for an undogmatic way to convey a Christian antidote to the despair and ugliness of post modern art. The struggle was to find the imagery, format, and media combinations to express a vision, with realism and hope, for the late twentieth century, in a unique and interesting context.

Dualities of all kinds exist in the world today. Being a visual artist and sculptor I recognize these dualities every day of my life in the natural and man-made forms I see. These forms can be broken down into two categories: the geometric and the organic. The purpose of this problem in lieu of thesis was to explore how organic and geometric form could be combined to create a unified sculpture in stone and how the finished sculpture affected me as a viewer. The figure was the main organic form represented and addressed in this problem.

The objective of this study was to obtain an aesthetically pleasing surface, by altering the surface to enhance a particular form. I incorporated plant and landscape imagery from my past experiences.

The focus of my work was a study of contrasts which entailed taking a found natural object out of its original context and combining it with certain constructed man-made elements and allowing an interplay between the components to occur. The contrasts and interplay between these organic materials and their physical incorporation into objects of art/jewelry have been enhanced by further exploring the differing natures of the various materials used and the tension created by the placement of these materials. Through the juxtaposition of organic mateirals, refined materials, and man-made materials and by constructing them in an architecturally sensitive manner the contrasts were heightened.

I plan to investigate the fusion of predominantly linear marks with solidly rendered forms to create a sense of space, depth, and texture within a series of paintings. The investigation will seek to answer a four part problem related to the creation of a series of paintings. The four part problem will explore whether or not the combined use of line, textural surface information, and buried images will have the potential to operate as an expressive agent in painting. This investigation will also address the series as a whole by evaluating the evolutionary process which may occur when color and solidly rendered forms are re-introduced to the canvas and combined with the primarily linear marks.

Prior to 1990 I worked exclusively with large scale formats, using traditional oil painting media on canvas. During that year I became interested in the effect produced by more intimate passages within larger works. Discovery of a scroll of Chinese ink drawings in 1992 increased my interest in small scale composition.

The esthetic issue of the metamorphosis of forms is the basis for my work. In parallel configurations natural form, abstract form, and the extrasensory world of light energy forms move together to form a field of force. The unfolding of the destiny of forms against such an energy field makes a resolution of forms bounded by rhythm and organic shape. The energy field that is the product of forms captures the relationship among natural form, abstract form and light forms of the spirit. The radiation of meaning is the focus of the combination of these forms in a field of force. The problem becomes then the definition of meaning in the multiple declaration of three forms of representation with the treatment of the extrasensory world of light energy as the articulation of an element of perception.

With this project I explored pottery forms of Bernard Leach and his apprentices. By exploring this work, it was my intention to expand my forms and address the following questions: 1. What Leach pottery forms were most compatible with my work methods and decoration? 2. What significant changes could I make to these Leach forms to adapt them to my own style of working character? 3. Would producing these adapted forms in two different clay bodies and using different methods to reflect landscape imagery lead to a style that I could call my own?

In this proposed study, I had hoped to discover new strategies to develop imagery. I also wanted to know if using strategies in my work that expressed the psyche of myself, would work to express the psyche of other people. By using new and old strategies, I wanted to see not only if the outside face of people in photographs could be misread but if the inside face of people could be expressed.

This thesis analyzes technical and stylistic aspects of Mark di Suvero's nineteen sixties found-object works, and his monumental I-beam sculptures of the nineteen seventies and eighties to demonstrate their consistency despite the apparent contrasts in form, materials, and process. Primary data, sculpture of Mark di Suvero. Secondary data obtained from major art periodicals, newspapers, and exhibition catalogs. The artist was interviewed by author at the retrospective exhibition in Nice, France, Septermber, 17, 1991. Examination of primary and secondary data reveals a strong continuity by the artist in his approach to his work despite obvious external changes in materials and process.

This was an ethnographic study of the woven tent objects produced by the Bedouin Otaibah tribe in Najd, central Saudi Arabia; the study examines origin, techniques, character and significance of their weavings. A major objective of the researcher was to discern the relationship between the weavers' development of traditions and the factors of technique, medium and perceived meaning. The method used was investigative fieldwork that included techniques of face to face interviews and participant observation. Interviews with 50 Bedouin female weavers in Najd were conducted for 8 months. Background information on the Otaibah tribe and their traditional way of life was provided. The review of the literature of traditional arts, folk arts and art education illustrates that there is limited accessible information concerning the general history of traditional arts in Saudi Arabia. A discussion of the aesthetic value, definitions and roles of traditional art, tribal art and the differences between art and crafts was included. Analysis of data answered the study's questions through a presentation of the findings of the fieldwork. The Otaibah tribe has its own unique style of weaving. Information gathered from participant observation and documents from the Haifa Faisal Collection of Saudi Arabian Traditional Arts in Chicago …

This thesis analyzes Benjamin West's altarpiece St. Paul Shaking the Viper from His Hand After the Shipwreck and his designs for thirty-three related artworks in the Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich, England, as a synthesis of the major influences in his life and as an example of both traditional and innovative themes in his artistic style of the late eighteenth century. This study examines West's life, the Greenwich Chapel history, altarpiece and decorative scheme, and concludes that the designs are an example of West's stylistic flexibility and are related thematically to his Windsor Royal Chapel commission.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether kindergarten children possess the ability to recognize, match, and discuss lines and line qualities. Using graphics and art reproductions, three matching tasks were constructed which examined young children's awareness of the line qualities of length, width, straightness, direction, movement, and uniformity. Graphics and art reproductions were also used to construct two tracing tasks employed to examine young children's awareness of actual and implied lines. The tasks were administered to 69 kindergarten students from four elementary schools in a public school district in the north central Texas area.

This study follows the progress of 11 elementary students who exhibited similar language-arts deficiencies and were treated with traditional and non-traditional language-arts remediation methods. Non-traditional methods were exclusively Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) lessons that required students to observe, talk about, and write about art images using a DBAE framework. Portfolios maintained by the students during one complete school year included writings and art production. Writings were marked using a color-coding system developed for the research project and designed to track growth in art cognition. Interviews for affective measure and the Test of Non-Verbal Intelligence, Edition II were administered as pre- and post-tests. Evidence indicated art understanding improved as cognition in language arts improved. Change in attitudes toward art and artists demonstrated a slight positive change. No significant difference was detected in non-verbal intelligence.

This thesis examines Pieter Bruegel the Elder's Fortitude, 1560, a print from the Seven Virtues series. Fortitude stands out as an anomaly within the cycle because it contains several allusions to the Book of Revelation. The linkage of Fortitude to the writings of St. John is important because it challenges previous iconographic and iconological analyses of the composition. Analysis of Fortitude's compositional elements is provided, along with an examination of the virtue tradition. Additionally, an exploration of sixteenth-century apocalypticism is included, as well as an examination of the artistic influences that may have inspired Bruegel. This thesis concludes that Fortitude's apocalyptic allusions do not seem unusual for an artist familiar with St. John's prophecies, influenced by Hieronymus Bosch, and living in an age of apocalypticism.

The purpose of this thesis is to give a concise view of stylistic, iconographical, and iconological trends in Southern genre paintings and illustrations between 1830 and 1890 by native Southern artists and artists who lived at least ten years in the South. Exploration of artworks was accomplished by compiling as many artworks as possible per decade, separating each decade by dominant trends in subject matter, and researching to determine political and/or social implications associated with and affecting each image. Historical documents and the findings of other scholars revealed that many artworks carried political overtones reflecting the dominant thought of the white ruling class during the period while the significance and interpretation of other artworks was achieved by studying dominant personal beliefs and social practices.

The images that I sculpt deal with reflections of human traits. Wood lends itself to this endeavor, offering minimal resistance to manipulation. Keeping the origin and qualities of the material while manipulating it into another object is a statement within itself. Letting the wood do what it does naturally keeps the viewer in touch with the fact it is still just an object of nature. Wood does not make itself any less real because of the relationship of the sculpture to it as wood.

This Problem in Lieu of Thesis documents the thought processes that led to the completion of a series of five interactive sculptures. Each piece incorporates a part of the human body taken from its normal context and placed into the context of children's playground equipment.