Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
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Item None of it is true, all of it is real(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2024) Godfrey, Tiana Alyse; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Rollin BeamishTruth relies on objectivity, but we are not capable of objectivity. In contrast, reality is subjective. With this in mind, I begin with the position that truth cannot be understood as anything other than a person's reality. In other words, objectivity can only be experienced subjectively. Through my art, I try to explore the objective subjective and subjective objective, and play with this paradox. For this thesis, I specifically discuss how I believe I have found an interesting paradoxical playground through painting an immediate image of what is credibly an objective place, while being cognizant of what felt true to me within that shared place.Item Coda peripheral: perceptual connections between sound expression and visual art(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2023) Moralez, Melanie Dawn; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Sara MastCoda Peripheral explores the relationship between visual art and sound-expressions, in correlation with my graduate program artwork. It examines various approaches to differentiate perceptions of visual art from music and sound art. My aim is to reveal ways in which visual artists, including myself, have approached visual and sound art practices, while exploring the relevance of maintaining distinctions in our modern world. In this paper, I reflect upon images from artists who have engaged with sound and/or musical themes in their visual art, as well as images from my graduate art body of work that chronicle my explorations into this subject. The rare condition of chromesthesia hints at a more commonly held, perceptual experience to link concepts of visual art and music. Visual art has become such a broad and ill-defined concept that it has evolved to capture many things, including sound and music. In this thesis, I address several questions on perception and identifying meaning for ourselves: What are the attributes of music that are shared with visual art? How might we challenge perceptual values we place upon artworks? The creation and reception of art is a symbiotic cycle. Examining these concepts has led me to question how I might respond through my art.Item An unexpected feast(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2023) Madsen, Rebecca Ann; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jim ZimpelIn this paper, I explore the connections (or disconnections) between mind and body in a Western, Judeo-Christian, Capitalist context. I will be using Cartesian Dualism as a jumping-off point from which to explore historical, sociological, and feminist writing on the roots and manifestations of the mind/body "problem". Given that my interest in these questions is rooted in my own personal experiences as an American woman raised in a rural, mostly Christian community; I will be structuring my research to reflect this context. While there are many other traditions, religions, and cultures that have much to offer this conversation of mind and body; they are far less pertinent to my work or studio practice and therefore beyond the purview of this paper. I will then discuss my work and practice as it relates to this line of study and the ways I see other artists and works addressing this theme. I hope to deepen my studio practice through this research and offer insight to my reader (and myself) about why I make what I make.Item Navigating in the synthetic void: a hardboiled investigation(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2022) Pomarico, Thomas John; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Rollin BeamishSociety is in the midst of a rapid and drastic shift of ontological perception. Technological advancements in connectivity have altered the rhythm and scale of life due to media saturation, social media, and surveillance. The success of these viral technologies has many obvious benefits; however, they also harbor malicious tendencies when left unchecked. Prescience visions of dystopia by authors George Orwell, Aldous Huxley and David Foster Wallace, once seemingly outlandish, have now become apparent. Shosana Zuboff's 'The Age of Surveillance Capitalism' published in 2018 would have read as science fiction 25 years ago. As a temporary panacea to the pace of technological engagement, I offer the creative process as a way to alter duration. Using 1940s and 1950s film noir as a metaphor for the environment and challenges of the modern artist. Through this examination a code of conduct emerges to navigate the disruptive pitfalls of media addiction. Construction of the art object involves a multistep conceptual and physical practice guiding behavior away from excessive technological encroachment. My research paper aims to elucidate this process and its potential benefits to an outside observer.Item Perceptual interference(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2019) Willard, Alyssa Riann; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Jim ZimpelWhen I explore my surroundings, I often wonder about what we can never truly know. My studio practice serves as an outlet for my questions, and I expect it to generate more questions than answers. I have questions about origins, the unknown future, and the interactions between matter and energy. In conjunction with this written thesis I created works that will be displayed as my MFA thesis show in the Helen E. Copeland Gallery. These works are responses to my research into various energy forces, which stems from my collaborations with Montana State University's Physics Department. My primary interest this year has been electromagnetism which is the study of the interactions between electricity, magnetism and light. But I am also interested in how electromagnetism connects to other forces such as gravity and sound, and how these various systems follow patterns that are very similar to fractal patterns found in nature. There is a lack of knowledge when it comes to what connects various forces to others, which stimulates my interest in the interactions between them. My current questions have led me to the conclusion that invisible forces connect and influence all things.Item Live for a day - live for an age(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2016) Kim, Soon; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Dean AdamsHumanity has a limited amount of time. Life's brevity is what makes it beautiful. With unlimited time, we lose the beauty of the human experience. The same way an immortal cell becomes cancer, an immortal human loses their humanity. Things seem to matter more the less time we have. One's emotional state affects one's perception of time and leads to a heightened awareness that extends even to the body. Most of us focus too much on the past or worry too much about the future; we lose time because we fail to exist deeply in the present moment. Through my research on biological time and the human condition, painting, and personal experience, I delve into the themes of life and mortality with emphasis on time and identity coupled with organic cells and DNA sequences. I hope that my art inspires others to consider the heavy themes that often motivate my art such as the imminence of death, and with the knowledge of that reality, using the time you are given to the fullest.Item Twist and mess(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 1994) Filloux, Marianne IsabelleIn these paintings I have found it essential to create a two dimensional space which depicts the forest in a life-like scale. Landscape imagery which presents nature as miniaturized often depicts the natural world as diminutive and merely picturesque. I want to convey action within the forest These paintings are the product of my "re"action to the forests’ intimate and yet potentially dangerous interior. This reaction is dependent on my observation of nature as a force which easts in spite of my presence. The undercurrent of fear often felt in nature may have as much to do with feeling we are in a domain that ultimately falls out of our control, as it does with the undeniable physical dangers which occur in this territory.Item Common Ground(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 1991) Welch, Harry ScovilleMy recent work is a statement combining painting, sculpture, and architecture. The installation here in the Haynes Gallery consists of a painted network of panels and framework constructed out of materials collected from around the Bozeman area. The construction took place from September, 1990 to May, 1991 and was completed in my backyard studio in Bozeman. The structure was then dismantled piecemeal and moved to the Haynes Gallery where it was installed as my thesis exhibit. The installation is a reflection of my fascination with time and its affect on all things. The different painted areas of the installation present a theme of varying abstract studies with color, line, curve, and shape. These studies are fused to create a uniform piece representing both the organic and synthetic qualities of life. The walls are designed in part to represent unconventional billboards, graffiti smattered walls, and a notebook for my day-to-day thoughts. The construction serves as an area for me to explore my interests with the time process by acting as a large tack board for paint and found materials. These different materials are what I use to represent different colors on a picture plane, and when combined they become a sculptural form of architecture. This structure stands as a new form created from time worn parts, ready to undergo a new transformation.Item Paintings and monoprints(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 1991) Laing-Malcolmson, BonnieBetween the subject and the final painting lies a middle ground, a place of memory, response, process, and risk. My intent is that my paintings grow from this middle ground. My paintings are born of temporal things, a protracted drive through our wide western landscape may lull me into a state where a cloudburst slamming into a mountainside evokes a sharp flash of memory. Transformed, I relive a vivid moment of my life; the glimpsed landscape becomes a visual equivalent for the evoked memory. By reliving a moment of life I am more alive, simultaneously inhabiting present and past. William Carlos Williams wrote in his poem The Descent: "and no whiteness (lost) is so white as the memory of whiteness.” The mind released from the present is an intense world. I aim to capture that intensity in paint.Item Use of the personal symbol(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 1980) Kelly, Mary Ann