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open access

An Investigation of Young Children's Awareness of Line and Line Quality in Art and Graphic Reproductions

Description: 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 … more
Date: December 1994
Creator: Young, Jeffry R. (Jeffry Ray)
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Synthesis of the Personal and the Political in the Works of May Stevens

Description: This thesis is an investigation of the way in which the painter May Stevens (b. 1924) synthesizes her personal experiences and political philosophy to form complex and enduring works of art. Primary data was accumulated through an extended interview with May Stevens and by examining her works on exhibit in New York and Boston. An analysis of selected works from her "Big Daddy" and "Ordinary/Extraordinary" series revealed how her personal feelings about her own family became entwined with larger… more
Date: May 1998
Creator: Abbott, Janet Gail
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Nativity Panel of Isenheim Altarpiece and its Relationship to the Sermo Angelicus of St. Birgitta of Sweden

Description: This thesis explores the relationship of the Sermo Angelicus of St. Birgitta of Sweden, written in the fourteenth century, with the Nativity/Concert of Angels panel of the Isenheim Altarpiece, painted by Matthias Grunewald in 1514 for a hospital and monastery run by the Antonite Order. Taking into consideration the context of the altarpiece, this thesis analyzes its iconography in relation to specific passages from the Sermo Angelicus, suggesting that the text was a possible source used by t… more
Date: December 2000
Creator: Ritchie, Jennifer Ann
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Signs and Cases

Description: Abstract not available
Date: December 2001
Creator: Whitmire, James
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Loss of Innocence

Description: Loss of Innocence uses sculpture, two-dimensional imagery, and text to explore the moment when children lose their innocence or realize their mortality. In the introduction, I explain that there are many factors, such as age and personality, which determine how children will deal with traumatic events in their lives and the duration of time that must pass before they move past the event. Often, children will combine childhood fantasy with random facts to create their own satisfactory explanatio… more
Date: May 2002
Creator: Smith, Jennifer J.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Social Intercourse

Description: This thesis explains the stories and concepts behind each piece that was discussed on the opening night of my MFA Exhibition. The works, entitled Film Noir, Brains, Trains, and Beer, The Boy Next Door, Peterbuilt, and 10-50, H-1, was discussed more specifically and in greater detail. Speaking in public has always been a difficult task, especially on the subject of my art. My images deal with the highly intense subject matter of violence inflicted onto others as a result of human social beha… more
Date: May 2002
Creator: Greco, Paul
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Replacing the Horse

Description: I have been working with horses as imagery for about seven years and my problem in lieu of thesis continued along this vein by researching the roles of the horse in history, specifically mobility, and developing work that creates visual links between the past and present roles of horses. I am a printmaker and the work involved in the project consists of prints that use layers of related images and juxtaposition of unrelated images to accomplish my goals of cohesion between horses and the machin… more
Date: May 2002
Creator: Ebert, Matthew J.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Sequence without Uniformity

Description: The inspiration for my undergraduate body of work is derived from my fascination with Henri Matisse, Jacob Lawrence, and the Impressionists. I suddenly became captivated with the Impressionist movement and the independence of abstraction. I set into motion a series of paintings and drawings featuring random African-Americans and African society representatives in vibrant color and abstracting forms, and was specifically concerned with altering the form outside of the realistic area. While in gr… more
Date: August 2002
Creator: Woodford, Nicole Yvonne
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Distant Proximity: Mapping Presence and Absence

Description: Chapter I presents my background as an artist born and raised in Romania, and describes my artwork in connection with my interests and experiences. Maps and traditional Romanian art are important sources of influence. The questions in the statement of problem deal with the way ideas, references to various elements, and installation impact the artwork. Chapter II discusses the installation at the Dallas Visual Art Center, the creative process, and how the artwork addressed the questions in the… more
Date: May 2002
Creator: Mitroi, Tudor
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Viewers' Choice

Description: This paper documents the execution and exhibition of a group of oil paintings exploring themes of spectacle and the construction of reality in contemporary American society. The paintings are composed of figures and fragments of text originating in stills taken from television news and reality TV. This paper describes and assesses the paintings according to a set of questions developed by the artist at the inception of the project. Various strategies employed in the execution of the work are an… more
Date: May 2002
Creator: Brownlee, Tracie
Partner: UNT Libraries
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A Comparison of Texas Pre-service Teacher Education Programs in Art and the 1999 National Art Education Association's Standards for Art Teacher Preparation

Description: Texas programs in pre-service art teacher preparation vary little. Since 1970, the National Art Education Association (NAEA) has created voluntary standards in hopes of decreasing variability among programs. In 1999, the NAEA published Standards for Art Teacher Preparation, outlining 20 content areas that art pre-service programs should provide their students. To obtain information on the implementation and the extent to which these 20 standards are being implemented, a questionnaire was sent t… more
Date: May 2002
Creator: Breitenstein, Gary
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Striving for Amy: A Personal Aesthetic

Description: The first chapter of this descriptive paper outlines a problem, proposes a solution and poses three questions for me to answer after completion of research. The problem was to bring an emerging ceramic style into all of my pieces rather than just the few I have mastered. The solution was to create three sets of new forms and make them repeatedly until they boasted the sought-after style. Chapter 2 chronicles the research of creating, morphing, detailing and finally mastering these new forms. Ch… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Reynolds, Amy Lauren
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Eplucher Les Oignons (Peeling the Onions)

Description: My creative intent is to connect with viewers at an emotional level. My chosen metaphor is “Peeling the Onion.” The implication of the metaphor is that understanding is achieved after one looks below the surface and views the underlying “layers.” The challenge is to find images that are personally interesting and also connect with the viewer. At times the creative process proceeds in linear manner and at other times it seems to take on a life of its own. During my search for a balance between t… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Wester, Judith C.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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An Examination of American Sideshow Banners as Folk Art, ca. 1920-1960

Description: This thesis redresses the lack of scholarly attention paid to painted circus banners produced in the United States during the first half of the twentieth century by exploring the extent to which American folk art painting scholarship, methodologies, and objects can be used to articulate the meaning and significance of banner painting. This study expands the disciplinary treatment of banner painting by introducing domesticated art as a means of representing non-academic art produced in the U.S. … more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Weimer, Emery Christian
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Adélaide Labille-Guiard and Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun: Portraitists in the Age of the French Revolution

Description: This thesis examines the portraiture of Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun and Adélaide Labille-Guiard within the context of their time. Analysis of specific portraits in American collections is provided, along with an examination of their careers: early education, Academic Royale membership, Salon exhibitions, and the French Revolution. Discussion includes the artists' opposing stylistic heritages, as well as the influences of their patronage, the French art academy and art criticism. This study finds tha… more
Date: August 1996
Creator: Carlisle, Tara McDermott
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Benjamin West's St. Paul Shaking the Viper from his Hand After the Shipwreck: Altarpiece of 1789 and Designs for Other Decorative Works in the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul, The Royal Naval College, London

Description: 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 … more
Date: December 1995
Creator: Hanna, Margaret A. (Margaret Ann)
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Unity: When the Two Become One

Description: Jewelry has been used as a gift exchange between lovers for many centuries. It has been conveyed in a variety of forms to symbolize the meaning of love. This body of work is associated with glory of love, of sexual experience between lovers representing the idea of unity when two parts become one unit, not only in the physical sense, but also in the psychical sense. The works were divided into three series including three pair of rings, two pair of lockets, and five pair of necklaces. The eroti… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Pimolket, Noppakamal
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Preconceived Notions of Scale Relationships

Description: I proposed in my paper to use juxtaposition of unexpected scale in my sculpture, with the expectation that it would create an unexpected tension that is visually stimulating to the viewer. I achieved this by creating disharmony in scale between an object that is perceived as miniature and an object that is perceived as gigantic within each sculpture. I then asked three questions of these sculptures: Was I able to alter the viewer's preconceived notions of the miniature and the gigantic through … more
Date: December 2002
Creator: McClung, Jeffrey Bruce
Partner: UNT Libraries

Discovering the Parameters of a Successful Piece: While Developing a Body of Work that Represents My Passion for Clay and My Enthusiasm for Life

Description: Chapter I describes the purpose of the project, which was to develop a body of work that exhibits all that I am at this point in time. The questions I presented to myself were the following: 1. A successful piece is defined by what parameters? 2. What visual qualities indicate my passion for clay and my enthusiasm for life? Chapter II lists and explains the five parameters of a successful piece, which are composition, firing, mark making, color contrast, and movement. Furthermore there is an ex… more
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Date: December 2002
Creator: Lichman, Brenda C.
Partner: UNT Libraries

Nature By Design

Description: Organic forms representing nature, but not particular species, are combined with elements signifying attitudes toward the natural world with an emphasis on North American culture. The viewer is encouraged to consider human effects on the environment. Aquarium Night Light and Trophy both refer to the human tendency for commercial exploitation coupled with the creation of nature images we sometimes seem to prefer over the reality of the natural world. Reliquary metaphorically connects traditional… more
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Date: December 2002
Creator: Lingle, Linda A.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Exploration of Surface and Texture on the Inside and Outside of My Sculpture

Description: After generating work for many years in an intuitive, “truth to materials” mindset my intent was to explore the interior possibilities of my sculptural forms and relate these if possible, to the exterior. Alongside this exploration of the interior I introduced surface texture and color onto both interior/exterior surfaces. In some cases the work had undergone a change, which lent new meaning and provided new relationships to exist between the interior/exterior of my sculpture. Not all of the wo… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Holt, John
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Imitating Nature

Description: Through my art I seek to communicate the continuing cycle of change that unites all life forms. I had to find methods of presentation and surface that would enhance my sculptural statements that I had begun to address. Utilizing salt, wood and low temperature sagger firing, resulted in softer, more natural appearing surfaces. These surfaces complimented and completed the organic forms with which I was working. The problems encountered in presentation were rectified by alternately contrasting th… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Holden, Linda K.
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Abstract Moments of Art Found in the Ordinary

Description: This paper is an experiment using digital video to locate and identify the abstract in everyday life and nature. The abstract moment occurs when the image that is captured by video loses its connection with the original context, allowing the images to be viewed in an entirely new way. The abstract moment is initiated by a transformative instant, that instant in which perception is altered and the viewer sees the intended content of composition of light and sound. The project contains four digit… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Kraft, Stuart
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Rasa: Serenity, Valor, Love

Description: The focus of this thesis is the conveyance of moods through clothes, the communication of feelings through fashion. The thesis illustrates how clothes speak, and the tools used to communicate a visual message. Three moods are used as examples: Serenity, Valor and Love. The thesis presents the author's design ability, creative personality, cultural background and technical skills. Sources of data range from personal experience to books on Cultural Studies, armor and mask making, Indian/ Asian d… more
Date: December 2002
Creator: Ganguly, Deepa
Partner: UNT Libraries
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