Showcase

How have I spent my time in college? This project is an accumulation of the work I've done, courses I've participated in, experiences I've shared, and life lessons that have come my way.

The goal of this project was to find a sum up my experiences and personal experiences as I continue to grow as an individual and a student. These experiences ranges from my college experiences to my hobbies and certifications.

The goal of this ePortfolio was to develop a cumulative representation of my past, present, and future experiences as an Honors student and future professional. HON-H200 provided opportunities to self-reflect on my growth and aspirations, which is di ... splayed in this continually growing ePortfolio! Read more

This paper explores Late Classic Maya art through the specifics of painted ceramicware and murals. Through my investigation, I explain why ceramics and murals in unison are especially exceptional art forms to aid in the study of Maya art and culture. ... I further discuss what painted illustration on both mediums provide to modern audiences about the Maya civilization by explaining how painted imagery on ceramics and murals elevates a colorful insight into the Maya. The Maya world builds upon already established Maya art and architecture in a way that enriches the artistic traditions and complex social systems. I also elaborate on how painted ceramics and murals, through similar techniques, styles, and iconography, played a vital role in allowing viewers to understand aspects of influential connections seen in the Maya mythology, ritual, courtly, and daily life. This paper is focused on the analysis of two ceramic vessels, the Metropolitan Vase and the Vessel with Ball Game Scene, and specific scenes from the wall paintings at Bonampak and Calakmul. The various forms of polychromatic iconography explored in this paper provides a prosperous position for surveying how the subsequent use of painted illustration attentively reflects the social, political, and cosmological structures and philosophies that the Late Classic Maya civilization was established upon and is known for today. Read more

The abject feminist art of the 1960s and 1970s shed light on the unglamorous and often outright traumatic experiences of women in the United States, rejecting notions of soft and sweet femininity. This paper examines this art with an inclusive transf ... eminist lens and finds that, while often radical for the time, many of its themes are complicit in patriarchal enforcement of bioessentialism and fail to create an actionable politics. This is particularly harmful in the current context of anti-trans legislation and pushes for queer assimilation. Timothy Morton and Chela Sandoval, among other scholars of post-humanism, assert that bioessentialism and anthropocentrism are no longer meaningful in the face of increasing scientific understanding and technological advancement, and that holding onto these concepts works to further encode bias into our world. This paper argues that this art can be reclaimed and brought into a transfeminist future by adopting a post-human understanding of gender, humanity, and nature. Read more

Xiao Lu is a contemporary artist and her first installation at the first abstract art exhibit at the Beijing National Art Museum. Her installation 'Dialogue'(1989) gained notoriety after Lu brought and fired a gun to her own work. Xiao Lu was silent ... about why she did it and left the press with many questions. This paper is about her life before and after her 1989 installation. Read more

America's potters and ceramicists were regarded as essential craftsmen before 1850, however, after mass production of uniform and accessible pottery flooded American industry the need for these craftsmen and their utilitarian creations ceased being e ... ssential. Soon after, glass products would take over and wipe out the economic value of pottery and stoneware, which had a primarily functional existence in the Midwest. Crafts are challenging Euro-centric fine art conventions and are gaining appreciation among traditional “high art.” This is crucial in conversation with the subjugations of elitism upon stoneware craftsmanship in a fine art context. In this paper, America's Midwestern stoneware evolution in value and aesthetic recognition is analyzed in examples of Indiana and Illinois potteries throughout 1830-1930. As well as how stoneware made it to the Midwest and its adaptation into an individual form separate from its German and British counterparts. Read more