Browsing by Subject "Sculpture"
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Item An ecstatic collapse : a re-thinking of Faig Ahmed's Carpet series(2016-08) Hoffman, Kelsey Savannah; Mulder, Stephennie F.; Smith, CheriseThis thesis engages with the critical dialogue surrounding Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed’s series of sculptures titled the Carpet series. Offering up a re-thinking of the series, this thesis shapes a nuanced phenomenologically-centered viewing of the Carpet series in order to understand how Ahmed is accessing humor, beauty, and a personal aesthetic that intentionally plays with or critiques standard binary conceptions of contemporary art from the Middle East and historically Islamic countries.Item Anti-logo(2013-05) Ellefson, Nathan Archer; Hale, Kenneth J., 1948-The purpose of this report is to explore the intentions and inspirations involved with my studio art practice. It explores theories of reference and language, humor, abjection, reification, and the building and breakdown of meaning within my artwork.Item The architectural sculpture of Ivan Meštrović in relation to Adolf von Hildebrand's The problem of form in the fine arts(2011-08) Ritchel, Elaine Dezember; Henderson, Linda Dalrymple, 1948-; Rather, SusanThis thesis investigates the relationship between the architectural sculpture of Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović and late nineteenth-century aesthetic theory. Most scholarship on Meštrović emphasizes his Croatian heritage and his ties with the Vienna Secessionists and French sculptor Auguste Rodin. While acknowledging that these were important sources for Meštrović, this thesis also seeks to elucidate his shift in style during the first decade of the twentieth century and his continued commitment to clarity of form in his architectural sculpture. An in-depth look at Meštrović’s Kosovo Pavilion, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Mount Avala near Belgrade, Serbia, and wood reliefs at the Kaštelet chapel in Split, Croatia in terms of German sculptor Adolf von Hildebrand’s 1893 treatise The Problem of Form in the Fine Arts reveals significant parallels between Meštrović’s work and Hildebrand’s ideas. Despite his widespread recognition and critical acclaim during the first half of the twentieth century, Meštrović has faded from discussions of modern art in much of the United States and Europe. This thesis aims to reintroduce Meštrović, offering new possibilities for thinking about his work as it relates to the aesthetic theory that was so important for artists of his time.Item Bear fruit(2016-05) Lawrence, Grace Lee; Stoney, John; Reynolds, Ann MThis Master’s Report is a discussion of the ideas, research, and methods I have developed over the course of my three years of study at the University of Texas at Austin. My work draws from a multiplicity of traditions from classical figurative sculpture, feminism, mid-century modern design, large-scale outdoor fountains, to Victorian crafts. The fountains use neoclassical figurative sculptures of women as a point of departure. The original sculpture is translated through a feminist lens and recreated using fruit, rearranging and displacing gender specific sexualities by replacing otherwise sexualized bodies with representations of pears or a pineapple, among other fruits. Cultural references to these specific fruits, a pear-shaped body or the exoticism and colonialism inferred with a pineapple, are important contextual references in the transmutation from figurative sculpture to fruit fountain. The high relief wall sculptures, smooth body parts monochromed in soft colors, speak to the fragments of classical sculptures while conflating gender cues. They confuse our ability to stereotype as non-binary representations of body. In all, the work mimics moments of bodily intimacy while playfully dealing with reproduction, eroticism, as well as the problematic aspects of the sculptural tradition embedded within the patriarchal system.Item Between us an invisible column(2014-05) LaDeau, Philip Ross; Williams, Jeff, M.F.A.This report chronicles the processes and influences relevant to my work as it has developed over the past three years. I examine how our human separateness and new technologies have effected myself and the work I create, ultimately exploring how technology has aggravated this separation rather than mitigate it. I explain my appropriation of digital, repetitious, and machine-like processes in order to recreate this separation, primarily in the form of drawings, sculptures, and photographs.Item Bodies politic, bodies in stone : imagery of the human and the divine in the sculpture of Late Preclassic Kaminaljuyú, Guatemala(2013-05) Henderson, Lucia; Guernsey, Julia, 1964-; Stuart, David, 1965-Bulldozed, effaced, and paved over by the buildings and winding streets of Guatemala City, the vast majority of the archaeological remains of Kaminaljuyú are now lost to us. This early site, which reached its peak during the Late Preclassic period (ca. 300BC-250AD), was once the largest and most influential site of the Maya highlands and one of the most important sites of early Mesoamerica. This dissertation, begun as an art historical salvage project, is at once documentary and analytical. It not only focuses on recording and preserving the Late Preclassic bas-relief stone sculptures of Kaminaljuyú through accurate technical drawings, but also provides cautious and detailed analyses regarding what this iconography can tell us about this ancient site. In essence, the following chapters approach, flesh out, and describe the bodies of Late Preclassic Kaminaljuyú---the stone bodies, the divine bodies, and the human bodies that interacted with them across the built landscape. They discuss topics like human sacrifice, the Principal Bird Deity, and the myriad supernatural forms related to water and wind at Kaminaljuyú. They consider the noisiness of performance, the sensory impact of costumed rulers, and the ways in which these kings utilized the mythical, supernatural, and divine to sustain their rule. In addition to untangling the complex iconography of these early sculptures, these chapters give voice to the significance of these stones beyond their carved surfaces. They contemplate the materiality of stone and the ways in which the kingly body and sculpted monuments were inscribed, made meaningful, and performed to establish and maintain ideological, socio-political, and economic structures. In essence, then, these chapters deal with the interwoven themes of stone and bone and flesh and blood; with the structuring of human, sculpted, and divine bodies; and with the performative role these bodies shared as transformative spaces where extraordinary things could happen. In other words, this dissertation not only addresses stone carvings as crucial points of access into the belief structures and political strategies of Kaminaljuyú, but as active participants in the social, economic, and ideological processes that shaped human history at this ancient site.Item Br(others) only : Rashid Johnson, class, and the fraternal orders of Afrofuturism(2012-08) Richardson, Jared C. 1988-; Smith, Cherise, 1969-Br(others) Only conceptualizes the wall sculptures of Rashid Johnson as free-standing “altars” that play with different and sometimes divergent brands of black masculinity and classed homosociality. Primarily, I analyze three of Johnson’s sculptures from the late 2000s: I Who Have Nothing (2008); I’m Still in Love with You (2008); and Souls of Black Folk (2010). I argue that, by invoking the history of black renaissance men, gentlemen scholars, and entertainers, Johnson’s work plays with various kinds of black masculinity and homosociality that simultaneously straddle the past and future. By doing so, his art not only enacts a racialized temporality, but it also chips away at monolithic notions of black masculinity by fabricating contradictory amalgams of race, class, and gender. For my analysis of Johnson’s artworks, I utilize Cassandra Jackson’s Violence, Visual Culture, and the Black Male Body (2010) as the chief framework for conceptualizing the waxy coats of Johnson’s sculptures as wounded bodies in an effort to “flesh out” the vulnerability of black men. Theorizing the putrescent surfaces of Johnson’s sculptures as violable bodies allows me to consider the ruptures between seemingly impenetrable black masculinity and the always-present vulnerability of the black male body to violence.Item The corporate model : sculpture, architecture, and the American city, 1946-1975(2015-05) Douberley, 1977-, Amanda; Reynolds, Ann MorrisThis dissertation is a theoretical and historical account of urban sculpture in the U.S. following World War II. The title refers to an example set by corporations during the 1940s and 1950s for commissioning modernist office towers and abstract sculpture that fundamentally shaped the early history of a modern public art in the U.S. This corporate model was taken up by American cities during the 1960s in the construction of new civic centers that combined large-scale, abstract sculpture with glass and steel city office buildings. Federal funding further encouraged new sculpture commissions, which proliferated across the U.S. Emerging theories about visual communication impacted both urban planning and the corporate image during this period, as urban renewal reshaped cities for maximum legibility and corporations commissioned designers to create new trademarks. I argue that these twin aims conditioned the planning, production, and distribution of urban sculpture, whose status oscillated between the landmark within urban planning and the trademark of corporate America, between a concrete city element and an abstract symbol. I tell the history of post-war urban sculpture through three case studies. In the first case study, I examine three significant sculpture commissions for urban building lobbies realized by the architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill during the 1950s: Harry Bertoia’s screen (1954) at the Manufacturers Trust Company Bank on New York’s Fifth Avenue; Richard Lippold’s Radiant “I” (1958) at the Inland Steel Company Headquarters Building in Chicago; and Alexander Calder’s mobile (1959) for the Chase Manhattan Bank branch at 410 Park Avenue. In the second case study, I trace the parallel trajectories of urban renewal in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan and Alexander Calder’s fountains and stabiles made for World’s Fairs and international expositions, which intersected in La Grande Vitesse (1969), the National Endowment for the Arts’ first sculpture commission for its Art in Public Places program. In the third case study, I look at three sculptures produced by the fabricator Lippincott Inc., either as a series or in multiple editions, during its first five years of operation: Tony Rosenthal’s cubes (1967-68), Barnett Newman’s Broken Obelisk (1963-67), and Claes Oldenburg’s Geometric Mouse (1969-71).Item Form and function(2010-05) Weisner, Christina Lorena; Stoney, John; Sawyer, MargoThis is a report concerning the body of artwork I have formulated in the last two of my three years spent as a graduate student in the M.F.A. program at the University of Texas at Austin. It provides a chronological description of key works and the influences drawn upon within this time frame. Broken into eight substantive sections, the report reflects an in-depth study on “object-hood.”Item Hair, art, and identity(2012-05) Coleman, Christina Blair; Charles, Michael Ray, 1967-; Liu, BeiliThe purpose of this report is to discuss the artwork I have produced over the past three years while in attendance at The University of Texas at Austin. My artwork consists of sculptures, drawings, and installations that investigate certain aspects of the politics of black hair as they relate to my identity as an African American woman. These aspects are intimacy, beauty standards, and empowerment. I use hair and hair care products as my materials with which to create. I specifically focus on hair care products which I used when I was a young girl including Blue Magic hair grease and barrettes, products which for many black women are associated with childhood. My aim is to create artwork that changes hair and hair care products from mundane grooming tools into valuable cultural artifacts.Item Humble alchemy(2014-05) White, Shalena Bethany; Williams, Jeff, M.F.A.This master's report addresses the conceptual and material investigations that were explored within my artistic research made at the University of Texas at Austin between 2011 and 2014. These works are a confluence of adornment, sculpture and installation art. These pieces incorporate ancient and contemporary metalworking techniques with raw, organic material. The notion of elegant ornamentation is expanded beyond the body into the adornment of architecture. The potential for transformation and reinvention within found elements is explored within this work. The natural resources I work with have gone through a cycle, which is interrupted when the objects are removed from the earth. I see my process in relationship to alchemical concepts of transmutation. Through manipulation, common matter evolves into precious material. The refined, meticulous craftsmanship conveys a sense of reverence and honor towards the common material. This intervention with the material is an act of preservation and veneration. This work explores my sense of intrigue about the extraordinary potential of mundane materials, and investigates conventional notions of material value.Item Kryptos(2012-05) Seaman, Kristine; Neusel, Mara D.; Monico, Christopher J.; Christensen, Lars W.This thesis is about cryptology and the Kryptos sculpture in Langely, Virginia. Kryptos is designed with a coded message that has not been completely solved for over 20 years. We are going to explain what we know about Kryptos and the processes to solve the first three parts of the sculpture. We will cover the shift cipher, the Vigenere cipher, and the transposition cipher. Then we will discuss several methods that the sculptor, Jim Sanborn, may have used to code his fourth message.Item The Leo Castelli Gallery in Metro magazine : American approaches to post-abstract figuration in an Italian context(2012-08) McKetta, Dorothy Jean; Shiff, RichardBetween the years 1960 and 1970, New York gallerist Leo Castelli was closely involved with Milanese editor and publisher Bruno Alfieri's Metro magazine--an international review of contemporary art. By placing his artists in Metro, Castelli inserted them into the world of Italian art criticism and theory. This recontextualization familiarized the American artists of Castelli's gallery to a European audience and positioned them at the end of a succession of modern European styles. Specifically, Castelli's artists, each of whom engaged in a form of pictorial figuration, were seen as ending the dominance of the "pure" abstraction of the French informel style. This thesis uses the archive of correspondence between Bruno Alfieri and Leo Castelli to examine Castelli's contribution to Metro during the 1960s. Departing from this chronology, it also seeks to understand the unique brand of figuration that each of Castelli's artists brought to Metro, given cues from contemporary Italian theory and criticism--particularly that of Gillo Dorfles, who wrote on several of Castelli's artists.Item The light show : mathematics, mysticism, and the music of the spheres(2012-05) Masch, Ezra J.; Stoney, John; Sawyer, Margo; Hubbard, Teresa; Williams, JeffMy background in music and visual art has led to an exploration of combined disciplines. Throughout the past three years of graduate study at The University of Texas at Austin, my research has focused on the visual representation of music using light and sound. This area of study has touched upon a wide range of historical developments, from ancient Greek philosophy to contemporary experimental film. Through my research, I have examined the ways in which music-visualization has been influenced by shifting social and philosophical views. In turn, my own artistic practice has come to include the production of music-visualization devices. I'm interested in both the history of the light show as a cultural phenomenon, and in the development of new approaches to musical performance incorporating the union of light and sound. The following report discusses two major projects that I have worked on at UT, reflecting on the influences behind them, and their potential for growth beyond graduate school.Item Methodology for the conservation of large outdoor collections with disparate conditions(2010-05) Boss, Danielle Elizabeth; Holleran, Michael; Gale, Frances R.This paper outlines a method for the conservation of a large group of similar objects with disparate conditions, using a collection of memorial plaques located at the University of Texas Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium as a case study. These bronze plaques, installed in the stadium in 1926, currently exhibit widely varying conditions. The conservation method consists of seven steps: background research, survey of site, survey of objects, conditions report, testing, treatment, and maintenance. This method was applied to the memorial plaque collection, and a recommendation for the treatment of the collection is made, with an emphasis on environmentally safe treatment methods.Item Museum of Contemporary Sculpture(Texas Tech University, 1987-12) Tatum, MosesThis program contains the guidelines for the design of a museum of contemporary sculpture. The design is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the museum will function as a sculptural work of art that houses sculptural works of art. The primary ambition is to achieve a museum of sculptural design that is exciting to experience, and enhances the attention of the users.Item Mythossippi: The Call to AdventureTurner, William RossItem Pathways connect nodes in a cultural district in downtown Lubbock, Texas(2010-08) Plunket, Chad; Klein, Charles H.; Billing, John C.; Waters, SaraThe goal of this thesis is to present a plan of action for the creation of a cohesive and coherent cultural district through the use of sculpture and landscape features along pathways to connect nodes in Lubbock, Texas. The pathways are Avenue J (.84 miles) from MacDavis Lane to 19th Street and Broadway (1.4 miles) from University Avenue to Avenue J. The three nodes are: 1) The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts and the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center to the North; 2) The Buddy Holly Center and Depot Entertainment District to the South; 3) Texas Tech University campus is the Western node and includes the Ranching Heritage Center, the Municipal Auditorium, The Texas Tech University Museum, and the public art collection located throughout the Texas Tech campus. This research and subsequent proposals are important because the newly designated Cultural District created by the Lubbock Arts Alliance is spread over one hundred city blocks. The issues created by the linear nature of the district need to be addressed so that it is a well-defined and unified district in which Lubbock residents and visitors can experience an unmistakable sense of place with the comfort and excitement that such a sense provides. It is those very issues which this thesis addresses.Item Proximity to the divine : personal devotion at the Holy Graves in Strasbourg(2012-05) Bryant, Aleyna Michelle; Holladay, Joan A.; Smith, Jeffrey C.In this thesis I examine the Holy Grave monument located in the St. Catherine chapel of Strasbourg cathedral, erected by Bishop Berthold von Bucheck sometime between 1346 and 1348. This sculptural sarcophagus currently exists in fragmented form in the Musée de l'Oeuvre Notre-Dame; only the four relief panels of the sleeping guardians, the gisant of Christ, and some fragments of the baldachin remain of the original monument. Scholars have been able to ascertain the placement and probable appearance of the Holy Grave based on traces of three lancet bays, wall paint, and bolt holes discovered along the west wall of the chapel during twentieth-century excavations. The numerous copies that the St. Catherine Holy Grave inspired throughout Strasbourg and the surrounding area attests to the significance of the monument within the larger Holy Grave tradition. The Strasbourg Holy Grave functioned liturgically as a prop used by the clergy to reenact the drama of the resurrection during Holy Week. I argue, however, that the monument's permanence, relative accessibility, and pathos-inspiring imagery suggest its use on a more frequent basis. Through its isolation of scenes from the biblical narrative and its visualization of complex mystical metaphors, the Holy Grave at Strasbourg cathedral--and thus also the numerous copies it inspired--reveals its use as an object for personal devotion, much like the group of Rhenish Andachtsbilder that also flourished at this time. The changing beliefs concerning Christ's Passion, the nature of the Eucharist, and the understanding of death and the afterlife are reflected in the style, iconography, and didactic message of the Holy Grave monument. The influence that the mendicant orders and Rhenish mystics had on the spiritual instruction of the laity in Strasbourg points to the understanding of this monument as a tool to aid the faithful in achieving union with God. The popularity of Holy Graves in and around Strasbourg ultimately illustrates the medieval desire for proximity to the divine. As the emphasis on Christ's suffering and death grew throughout the devotional practices of the fourteenth century, art forms like the Holy Grave monument at Strasbourg cathedral increasingly focused on engendering pathos in the medieval devout. The Strasbourg Holy Grave's liturgical, devotional, and anagogical functions coalesce to create a monument that's fundamental purpose consisted of aiding the faithful in their journey toward salvation.Item QWERTY : WOMAN(2012-05) Maddux, Kathryn Marie; Canright, Sarah; Reynolds, AnnI position my work at the intersections of identity and form. More specifically, I’m interested in how and why an individual’s physical appearance and demeanor become communicative and are then interpreted. Socially, it seems that we still often operate in ways that honor categorical distinctions between people, meaning for instance, that a man is something and a woman is something different from a man. Well, what if a woman can become a man or be read as a man simply by a change of clothes or through the addition of simple hormone injections? If this is possible, what does it mean for the terms that were previously understood to be fairly stable? Why does my body mean something or have to mean something, and if it doesn’t have meaning, what is it that it conveys? I live in a body that has shifted from something that was labeled female at birth to something that is now read as male. This adjustment has radically undermined my relationship to the blunt categorical expectations that partition the social face of our psychic lives. I’m unconvinced that the interpretation of my self is generally concurrent with the interpretation of my form. Too often, I believe the latter restricts the potential of the former. This is particularly evident in my unique position as a practically unreadable gender. My physical cues point to a familiar position within the gender binary that I don’t identify with. This limits my ability to engage with even members of my own queer community without resorting to the act of disclosure. I’m also curious about the flip side of this problem when, upon disclosure, the binary’s seam opens to be revealed as faceted, possessing multiple, unnamable spaces that reflect uncertainty back into the ideas of man and woman and render gender into a flexible field of characteristics that individuals use for many things, as opposed to simply inhabit. My work addresses this potential break between font and legibility, gesture and etiquette, the familiar and the possible. My portrait of the body and gender is incidental not substantive.