Institutional Scholarship :: Browsing by Subject "prints (visual works)"

Browsing by Subject "prints (visual works)"

Now showing 1 - 20 of 20

Acuérdate
(2013) Nunez, Erika; Kim, Hee Sook
I am for an art that will say I existed, that I was here. I am for an art that upsets and excites and makes you squirm a little from both. I am for an art that forgives the girls who broke my heart. I am for an art that reminds me to feel remorse about girls whose hearts I broke. I am for an art that says I am not afraid of hell. I am for an art that I will never be able to show my parents. I am for an art that states I have the right to love and be loved, despite what society has told me. I am for an art that says being raised Christian was a result of imperialism and colonialism. I am for an art that doesn’t negate my parents’ beliefs but rather makes a new space for my own. I am for an art that outs me. I am for an art that reminds me of how far I’ve come from the days I thought I’d have to lie about who I was forever. I am for an art that puts the girls my parents warned me about on a pedestal. I am for an art that reminds me of mornings in someone else’s bed. I am for art that reminds me of every person I have ever loved (cause you are in there, somewhere). I am for an art that comforts me about all the mistakes I made trying to figure out who I was or where I was going. I am for an art that reclaims everything I was told I could not have or be. I am for an art that tells others, “here is someone like me.” I am for an art that serves as a physical reminder to never let myself feel shame or self-hate ever again. I am for an art that reminds me that my identity and existence is something to be celebrated.
Airen McClure Fine Arts Senior Thesis Project
(2016) McClure, Airen
I’ve always carried dreams of what my body could be one day. Sometimes they scream from within me and shake me down to my bones, while other times they have been completely drowned out by other voices in my life. As children, many people dream of what their bodies will grow into. At times this dreaming is full of impatience, but it is still accompanied by the underlying comfort of inevitability. After all these years, my dreaming has not stopped but all guarantees of inevitability have vanished. This is the body I have. The only changes that can be made call for active effort and a painful amount of patience. But it is the things which cannot be changed that force me to close my eyes and avert my gaze, avoiding the sight of a body that both is and is not my own. Everyday I clothe myself in the knowledge that when people look at me their view is formed by the assumptions of a body I do not have. To protect ourselves against criticism and invalidation, many Trans people feel the need to perform very traditional, binary genders. Within this defense mechanism, Trans women are pressured to be purely feminine and Trans men purely masculine. I want to own every part of myself. I will play with the complex reality of my femininity rather than just sweeping it under the rug. I might not be able to look at my body, but I will not hide from who I am. Living in this honesty is not comprised of grandiose moments, but rather is built by private, simple acts of bodily ritual, such as binding my chest and painting my nails. The medium of etching feels particularly suited to me because the long, delicate, and organic process mirrors the steady evolution of my story. Each image slowly grows from one stage to the next as I progress through an exploration of my truth: looking back at the days before puberty, when my flat-chested body was still my own, at the times I tried to contort myself into what others wanted me to be, and at the days when I remembered how to live as myself. This is not a before and after, not a simple “Female to Male.” I am telling a story as complex, fluid, and intense as I am, full of raw and sometimes seemingly contradictory moments.
Alexandria Wang Fine Arts Senior Thesis Project
(2016) Wang, Alexandria
As a child, my mother always took me to department stores for shopping. I found the mannequins in the window display fascinating. For me, they were like actual human beings, only prettier. Window designers dress the mannequins up and take care of them as though they are actually alive. I’m the kind of person who is full of imagination. When I stare at the mannequins, I cannot help but try to figure out what is on their minds. I am inspired by ukiyo-e, an early form of Japanese graphic novels. For my thesis project I developed a series of narrative prints. I chose to liberate the images from any text. The absence of dialogue leaves space for the viewer to engage directly with the images. I grew up in a multilingual environment, and I find expressing my thoughts in a single language very challenging. My project experiments with the possibility that images can speak for themselves. My narrative is inspired by the Greek myth, “Pygmalion.” In the story, a sculptor falls in love with a statue that he created, and his affection makes the statue come alive. I develop my narrative out of a curiosity about what might happen to Pygmalion and the animated statue afterwards. Will he still love the statue in the same way? In my version, I replace the statue with a mannequin because I see the mannequin as a metaphor for commercial society. By exploring the role of the mannequin in contemporary culture, I investigate the relationship between people and the society in which we are living. The protagonist embodies a certain kind of person in the modern age who builds an extreme emotional bond with objects rather than people. The phenomenon reflects the isolation and extreme loneliness that one may feel in contemporary society. Will the attachment be the cure? Or is it a form of anesthesia?
Anna Benjamin Fine Arts Senior Thesis Project
(2013) Benjamin, Anna
In the Islamic arts, color and shape are used extensively to fill a space with beauty and decoration. Geometric patterns are incorporated into every aspect of the design: walls, floors, ceilings, tiles, furniture and fabric. These designs are overwhelmingly integrated into both the everyday and the extraordinary. This body of work explores different ways of putting together shapes and color to create simultaneously complex and simple patterns. Each of these patterns, in some way or another, is derived from the 8-pointed star: a very common symbol in Islamic design. This particular shape breaks down to countless others. Throughout these patterns are shapes of varying sizes and proportions. In each piece there are endless patterns. Shapes are created by other shapes, by colors, and even across planes. The type of printmaking that I use is a combined computer and hand-printing process. I design the images digitally, and then print them onto a flexible polyester plate. The image is printed in gray-scale with a slightly raised surface, with each plate representing one color. Each plate is then inked by hand, using the lithographic printing process, in which oil based ink clings to the raised image while water repels ink from the other areas. Throughout the creation of these works, I have received encouragement and support from so many. I want to especially thank my family, near and far, for their endless support. Without my teachers, I would never have been able to push myself as far as I have with my art. I want to thank all of my mentors and professors for their support over the years, particularly all of the professors in the Fine Arts Department. I also want to acknowledge the amazing affect that my peers have had on my art. With this amazing group of senior Fine Arts majors we have worked hard, had fun, and have made it here together.
Brianna Riccobene Fine Arts Senior Thesis Project
(2015) Riccobene, Brianna
What would happen if every human on earth suddenly fell into pieces? My work aims to explore the rebuilding process and relationships formed through recovering from such an event. Construction begins slowly, as only remnants of parts cooperate to re-form complete beings. As whole figures emerge, however, the process picks up speed. While some rebuild themselves according to man’s original form, others are more creative. One person may possess the attributes her closest friend needs. In this case, the two combine their assets. Another individual could find no use for their old parts and delight in living their life as a foot. Overall, my art conveys a message of embracing flaws and helping those in need. In this series, many figures and parts inhabit a single domestic space. Although each is unique and imperfect, they happily coexist and work to make each other’s spirits whole. The figures are placed in a domestic setting so an audience can more easily relate to them. My intention is to create a world that feels as comfortable as a viewer’s home and where “flawed,” unusual, or incomplete characters are seen not only as acceptable, but also as beautiful. I choose to work primarily in etching because of the quality of line this method allows an artist to produce. My aesthetic relies heavily on fine outlines and hatch marks, so achieving crisp, clear lines is of great importance. Furthermore, printmaking has the benefit of making multiples. This allows for experimentation with colors of ink and can lead to mixed media approaches as well. I have also chosen to incorporate lithographs into my work. Although lithography doesn’t deliver the same crisp imagery as etching does, it gives the opportunity to translate drawings directly into prints. Therefore, as compared to etching, this process is relatively quick and practical. In presenting my pieces, old photo frames were chosen to house each print. Frames, in general, are important to this collection. For me, the act of framing an object marks it as something of value. Therefore, placing the prints in a frame strengthens their meaning. Additionally, these frames are meant to enhance feelings of intimacy within my work by mimicking the aesthetic of family photographs. Ultimately, I hope these figures can act as friends or relatives to a viewer, teaching them to see brightness in dark places and to feel love for themselves and others.
Hello from the Past
(2017) Wen, Connie
Art is something that I have always loved from the bottom of my heart. It is a way for me to communicate stories and ideas; it is a way for me to keep myself awake during classes; it is a way for me to understand the world. But I have always thought that it would never be a way for me to make a living. Discouraged by the words of others, I have kept art as a hobby; I looked into other fields, hoping that I would find something I might love just as much. After facing several major hurdles, I’ve found myself back at the start. In the time it took for me to make art a more important part of my academic life, I had taught myself digital art and found a love for printmaking. These two skills are a core part of my journey in growing up, in learning more about myself, in learning more about the world. I combine them to create visual representations of my life—my memories of the past, my feelings toward myself, and my feelings toward those who have guided me along this journey. Greeting cards are a good way to express emotion, making the message universal enough that even outsiders can understand what I am trying to convey. By drawing the designs digitally, then making them into physical prints through paper lithography, and finally turning the smaller ones into greeting cards, I combine all of my life experiences into a product that will help me face my future. To my past: Thank you. To my present: We’ve come a long way. To my future: Hello. To my visitors: Feel free to pick up a card.
It's A Joke, But Mom's Not Laughing
(2011) LeBouvier, Julia
Kelsey Power Fine Arts Senior Thesis Project
(2012) Power, Kelsey; Kim, Hee Sook
I recognize a certain irony in illustration as an art form because its existence and inspiration are predicated on the written word. Though I believe art points to beauty and must stand on its own, my work strives to analyze the nature of illustration. Illustration is a play between words and pictures— two art forms—that creates a harmony enhancing the experience of both. Through a visual dialect Art directs us to a re-evaluation of self, creating that ineffable sense of something, anything, everything lacking in the human experience. It reminds us that perfection is a possibility, but that it is not something that has yet been achieved. That ache is why I create art. Beauty shows us ourselves better than anything else. Beauty allows us acceptance. We accept that we will not experience perfection, but the aching and longing for it is worthwhile as well. I was inspired by my reading of Cornish ghost tales and my love of maritime history to tell a story that spoke of my experience as well as displayed it. I chose to allow my artwork to inhabit space outside the confines of a bound book and interact with the reader on a larger and broader scale. I wished to make the world of the story real. My art always strives to connect to the past, and thus utilizes traditional methods and materials to take the viewer into a physical space that invokes that atmosphere. By combining the experience of the reader and the viewer, illustration places both pictures and words in a context that allows for a stronger, more emotional interaction. The scale of my pieces transgresses on the space of the reader to allow them greater access and entrance into the story itself.
Memoria
(2020) Jesup, Sarah; Kim, Hee Sook
This elegy in etchings for my grandparents and the life's work that connected them creates a metaphorical portrait of them by illustrating a series of defining moments in the arc of their lives. Each print tells a short story, and the short stories connect to give a more complete portrait of their lives and their hobby (or obsession). I only experienced the tail end of that journey, but in retracing the earlier steps I have come to understand family in a way I hadn't before. The style of the drawings was inspired by my grandmother, Sarah, whose incredibly detailed botanical drawings are displayed in my parents' house. In part, this is my way of carrying on the family tradition. I'm not growing orchids, but I'm following in Sarah's footsteps and transforming this family fascination into another form.
My Participation
(2012) Sanchez, Christine; Williams, William
Graffiti, in its most common form—name tagging—has always been a part of my life. In middle school, my classmates always tagged things—desks, walls, backpacks, sneakers, and so on. They scribbled down their thoughts wherever they wanted. You could find anything on the walls of Abington Avenue School—cartoon characters, expletives, names, penises, jokes. It seemed nothing was off limits. When I was twelve, markers of all sorts were even banned in school, and anyone caught with them would be given detention. This is probably where my fascination with graffiti started. Ironically, I was mostly an observer of graffiti. Rebellion is simply not in my DNA. As a child, I liked to think of myself as a rebel—telling people off and doing as I pleased— but in reality, I was happy to do exactly what was expected of me: the right thing. It never crossed my mind to write something on the school walls, but I was somewhat envious of everyone who did. What was different about me that kept me from trying to do so? Instead, I feel compelled to record the graffiti other people have created. This selection of photographs shows some of the works that I crossed paths with while in Philadelphia. They are shot digitally and displayed in various size color prints. Some of the graffiti I chose to photograph is “traditional” graffiti, or spray painted, while some is on stickers. Most were taken head-on while I was walking, while a few were taken while I was on the train. I am interested in graffiti’s use of color as a method for attracting the eye, and often indulge in photographing these colors. The images are treated as portraits, because I like to think that what each person decides to ‘tag’ is a representation of him or herself. I like to think this is my way of finally participating—only once-removed. My lithographs reflect another side of my interest in graffiti. These prints combine portraits I have taken of children and images of graffiti. For me, there is both a harmonious incongruity and a deep logic in putting the images together.
Nacimiento de lo Subterraneo
(2013) Hernández, Vanessa; Kim, Hee Sook
The myth of the island Patmos of Greece (originally “Letois”, after Artemis, the daughter of Leto) is used as a metaphor in Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s Primero Sueño. According to the myth, Selene (the moon goddess), in one of Artemis’s visits, shone moonlight upon the island, found at the bottom of the sea. Through the aid of Apollo, Artemis was able to convince Zeus to shine the light of the sun upon the island and bring Patmos to the surface. The myth puts forth an image that meshes nicely with the theme of Sor Juana’s poem: the process of the awakening of the spirit, in this case through the attainment of knowledge. That idea led to what was to become the plot of the story: Nova, an arboresque female born from the roots of a tree, rises from the ground after moonlight casts upon her place of origin and she embarks on a journey of mental, emotional, and spiritual awakening, only to feel fully alive at sunrise. Let yourself be immersed in my world of trees, underworld creatures, and brief and sweet encounters.
Palette Pattern Play
(2014) Mostue, Margaret
Patterns in nature, light, and mathematics have always captivated and inspired me. Color is a vital part of any pattern, and varying its colors can vividly change the feelings induced in the viewer. I started playing the piano at a very young age, which instilled an early understanding of repetition, line, and patterning. I was also born into a family of pattern; my mother is a statistician and my father is an architect. Graph paper was always within reach. Bold, curvy, strong, graphic, geometric designs became part of me. I have created monotype prints, silkscreen, and etching prints with added watercolor, ink, and colored pencil. Of the printmaking methods, I find the monotype process allows for the brightest and boldest color prints, while the silkscreen and etching processes allows for repetition and multiple prints. I enjoy the effect color palettes have on patterns, and hope to evoke an array of emotions.
Renunciation
(2014) Matus, Deborah
My work engages biblical iconography and Catholic saints. I have created several etchings and monotypes that refer back to canonical images and subvert them. While spending a semester in Florence, I was surrounded by images of Jesus on the cross in varying states of decomposition, of Mary weeping for her dead son and monsters eviscerating hordes of hell bound sinners. My current work addresses these depictions of religious stories as monstrous and surreal. The use of continuous line and subtractive monotype evokes the decay and hyperrealism of these representations, as the Bible foretells what happens to one’s body and soul after death. My images have been influenced primarily by medieval Italian iconography, which evokes a sense of cynicism and doom. The idea of Mary recoiling from the message that the archangel brings is particularly interesting, considering what happens to her and her son after his birth. This moment is central to my series. Mary’s gaze foreshadows not only the death of her son but the brutal killings and martyrdoms to come after the advent of Christianity. My print of this interpretation of the Annunciation is surrounded by various prints of saints, all of whom—according to the mythology—were tortured and killed as martyrs. I arranged these works as an altarpiece; however, they may be viewed as a warning of what is and what would be in the realm of Christianity.
Samantha Salazar Fine Arts Senior Thesis Project
(2011) Salazar, Samantha
Sarah Whitt Fine Arts Senior Thesis Project
(2013) Whitt, Sarah; Kim, Hee Sook
A conversation with a friend, which likened human yearning to moths drawn to light, inspired my curiosity. I learned moths use the moon to navigate flightlines; a closer light may prompt them to over correct, clustering around globes before spiraling in free-falls. As the moon guides moths through sky, it guides fish through sea. These creatures trust instinct. Both of their forms begin with skeleton, end in scales—intricately armored, yet vulnerable to interference from the human environment. The same scales that flake in fingers compose eyes, fur, tongues and glands—inspiring my object material. Grains of sugar bond in layers constructing my insects. While boiling sugar to a cracking point, I scratch a drawing through the hard ground that films a zinc plate. I drizzle and mold wings and antennae from cooled sugar-glass by hand. An acid bath nibbles my drawing into the zinc. Reheated sugar glues bodies together. I dust the zinc with rosin, bathe multiple times to achieve desired tones. I suspend the insects to swarm around the viewer. I ink and wipe the plates, roll many times with multiple colors, run once through the press. The prints document process. They are static specimens, fossils flattened and preserved. The moths are pinned in their prime beside fish who reveal basic form. In the meantime, the objects process. They move and react, melt and drip, crack and break.
Shannon Murphy Fine Arts Senior Thesis Project
(2014) Murphy, Shannon
My project begins with two things that I always come back to: home and craft. A significant inspiration for me comes from traditional crafts such as quilting, knitting, and embroidery. In a home, these skills create objects that conjure a sense of warmth, comfort, and human connection. Similarly, the use of crafts can harbor these sentimentalities in an unfamiliar place. This idea of home and folk art relates to my project because all deal with material and subject matter that are familiar and produce a final product by combining multiple layers or parts. Makers of traditional crafts do so through a strict methodology and repetitive, meditative process, ultimately synthesizing a multiplicity of ideas and materials into a single piece. A single stitch: inconsequential until combined, over and over, into something rich and full of time and meaning. For my project, I chose to depict a series of landscapes from Valley Forge National Historical Park. I spent most of my childhood in the area and have visited the places in these images many times. My goal is to evoke a sense of place and sentimentality through these images while offering the viewer an opportunity to explore different combinations of patterns within one image. I am interested in compositions with very little sky, instead choosing to focus on the horizon line and foliage within the foreground and middle ground to emphasize naturally occurring patterns. The choice of landscape as subject matter creates a place that the viewer can enter; filling these spaces with repeating patterns I hope to convey the same sense of meticulous meditative process that is required of a piece of knitting or textile. Much like a quilt that combines separate fabric pieces, each holding distinct memories, into a tapestry of varying shapes, colors and patterns, these landscapes are a tribute to the tapestry of memories I associate with these places as well as the numerous processes that are used to synthesize a completed print.
The Living
(2015) Garcia, Mar
Of particular interest to me are transgressive identities—identities that transgress societal boundaries and definitions. In my life and in my work, I am acutely aware of the tension between my innate human desperation for belonging and an enigmatic magnetism that draws me ever toward my true self. As a biracial and bicultural child, I became familiar with this tension early on, rarely feeling the security of knowing where I belonged in the social sphere. Now, as a young adult, I remember my nervous first years of life with gratitude, thankful that I was loved and never felt comfortable; I learned to find a place with others, while always feeling somehow outside. I now find beauty in the tension between what is easy and what is true, a stretch that is familiar to me, but that I suppose I will never get used to. By appreciating this kind of strain, I appreciate my place as a biracial, bicultural, queer, gender non-binary, pansexual, polyamorous artist. In this body of work, The Living, I express this tension through prints, plaster, fabric, clay, rubber, and thread. The works are explorations of the complex relationship between humans and human-made definitions. A 6-foot tapestry depicts a crowd of looming adult figures, which are pulled outward by the plaster figure of a single crawling infant, in a work titled Crawling. The figures have words from 90 different languages printed on them, all of which mean “I am,” “me,” or are some other form of self-referential language. These words are repeated until they cover the figures in a faded patchwork. The resulting installation is a literal manifestation of an infant transgressing the fabric made up of others’ words. It is neither possible for the infant to escape the fabric it emerges from, nor for the crowd to let go of the infant that pulls it. Next to this piece is an arrangement of prints, utilizing a range of printmaking techniques including monotype, etching, lithography, and Chine-collé. The imagery in these prints further explores the motifs of the infant and the silhouette. I use these as a way of exploring my own emotional challenges and inhibitions, revealing color combinations that are sometimes ethereal, and sometimes battered and violent. Below this array are the small clay hands and face of an infant, breaking out of a rubber mold, all of which are held together by nothing except for a thin white thread that is repeatedly wound around the entire object. This piece, entitled Wrapped, mirrors and is an essential partner to Crawling; they use the same face and hands (this time in clay instead of plaster) and they each situate the infant in a kind of inescapable restraint.
What Grounds Me(an)
(2017) Méndez Alba, Jennifer
Memories are strongly linked to places, and homes represent a refuge for most. I’ve spent part of every year in the Dominican Republic. My family home there has served as a protective and peaceful place set apart from where I grew up in the Unites States. Although my time in Santo Domingo was spent with family, I was always a visitor and could distinctly note changes in the air after months away from the architecture, smells, language, and traditions. This installation reproduces Dominican design and crafts in the hope of capturing their essence before they fade from the modernizing urban landscape of Santo Domingo. I present a piece of home as a shelter for daydreaming and as a space for connecting with others. Reduction of detail is an expected outcome when recalling a space. This installation is housed in a welded frame in the shape of a generic home—a pitched roof and square frame. Hanging from the frame like walls are merely unbleached muslin panels. Direct acetone transfers of Dominican paintings adorn these panels. The 64 square feet of flooring is comprised of 144 laminated risograph prints, which mimic cement tile designs common in the Dominican Republic and other Spanish-influenced, Afro-Caribbean countries. Three handwoven, recycled-fiber rush seats humbly furnish the space. In reproducing traditional crafts and materials I opted for environmentally conscious methods that reduced the material costs. The paintings and floor patterns were designed digitally from archival references and recreated one layer of color at a time, and the rush seats were created following traditional practices, although with recycled consumer material. The welded framework and space was directly taken from historical references of the pre-Colombian natives, the Taino, or “good people,” whom Columbus met. In recreating these tokens of a specific culture and place I sought to understand their historical underpinnings. The idea of home is pivotal in formulating identity as it offers those who migrate, beyond invisible borders, a sense of belonging and cultural grounding. Home can mean more than literal ground; it can be an attitude or an aesthetic (there instilled) that makes you who you are no matter where you are. A home can connect you to other times and different people.
You Can't Spell Party without Art
(2012) Loewi, Peter A.; Baenziger, Markus; Kim, Hee Sook
“Wanna play carpenter? First we’ll get hammered and then I’ll nail you!” The first time I ever lied to somebody and told them I wanted to be an architect, I had just been caught skateboarding in a construction site. I had fallen and my board had gone out through the unfinished walls, so I went downstairs to get it, when there came an angry voice from behind me “What are you doing in my house?!” I panicked, and the first things out of my mouth just so happened to be “I’m very interested in architecture, and I wanted to see how a house was built.” The man was then very nice to me, gave me a tour of his soon to be house, and then told me to be careful because construction sites are dangerous places. While I no longer skateboard, nor really care how luxury houses are built, I do like the space that skateparks create. The performer, performance, and audience are all in the same place. The only other space I can think of that does that are city streets. I love cities. They can simultaneously be aesthetically pleasing, as I try and show in my prints, as well as places for collaboration or competition, like my sculpture “You Can’t Spell Party Without Art”.
Zoë Lewis Fine Arts Senior Thesis Project
(2017) Lewis, Zoë
Growing up, I always admired the natural beauty of my home state of South Carolina. The variety of ecosystems across the state, from the coastal waterways up through the Piedmont Mountains, provides a variety of homes for a diverse group of animals. Sadly though, many of these native animals are endangered and threatened with extinction. This series of lithographic prints illustrates a number of these endangered and threatened species. Printmaking and the ability to make editions are seemingly contradictory to extinction, as one image can be reproduced multiple times. Yet, the method of paper lithography references temporality within each print. After printing, the plate cannot be reused. It is gone, extinct in a way. And while more copies of the image can be made from new plates, each print goes through its own cycle of creation and death. Illustrating every endangered or threatened species would be far too expansive a project, but this series provides examples from all classes in order to display some of this diversity. The images of the animals themselves are simple, black outlines representing the endangered or threatened status of these animals. They are but a graphic outline of their living counterparts. While the animals are left empty and colorless in the prints, they appear in concert with bright, bold-patterned backgrounds. These backgrounds, inspired by geometric patterns, provide an abstract landscape to place my drawings into. The joining of art and geometry is not unheard of, as the tessellated, illusionary works of Escher are one source of inspiration for me. The abstract backgrounds extract the animals from their natural context, further reflecting their threatened or endangered status. And while the backgrounds are abstract, they are not arbitrary. The shapes and colors chosen mimic the shapes, patterns, or coloring of the animal itself and its environment. As the animals presented here in my images are overpowered and overwhelmed, they are similarly forced from their natural environments in the real world.

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