art thesis display

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It is with great pride and pleasure that I invite you to take a look at the final thesis projects of our graduating students.

The Degree Show website was launched initially in 2020. For the first time in the history of IVS, the thesis display could not take place in the usual physical setting. 2020 was an unusual year in so many ways and our students as well as faculty had to adapt to new modes of learning, creating and presenting their work. The challenges of the global pandemic forced us all to engage differently with our social world and our creative practices. Yet the results of this tumultuous, experimental period were impressive in their range and focus, and gave birth to the first-ever IVS online degree show. The website allowed viewers to engage with the works up close and in their own time. Therefore, we have decided to make it a permanent annual feature that will accompany and complement the in-person shows.

I hope you will take your time exploring all these wonderful works of art, design and architecture, and will come back to enjoy your favorites again and again.

Dr. Faiza Mushtaq Dean and Executive Director Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture

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IVS 2021 Thesis Display: A new spin on art imitating life

IVS opens its door to showcase the talent and labours of its graduating batch of 2021

The Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture opened its door to showcase the talent and labours of its graduating batch of 2021 on Monday.

Replete with artists and aesthetes, the timeless Nusserwanjee Building looked like an art museum with the final projects of students from all five departments - fine arts, architecture, interior design, communication design and textile design - on display. The exhibition carried a variety in the media the artists chose to work on, ranging from ceramics, textile, design, to photography and architecture. But all made a point - reflecting life-changing moments in the lives of the artists.

While the themes ranged from socio-political commentary to sustainable fashion, fine art students failed to escape the rapidly urbanising world around them.

The Price We Pay for Progress: Aliza Ghaffar’s deeply personal Fine Art thesis, now on display at the school, is an attempt at linking urbanisation and the corresponding increase in the population of people living in Karachi to the disappearance of skies.

“I live in Gulistan-e-Johar, and this is what I see from my balcony,” she points to a partially cut canvas with congested little balconies painted on it.

“This is all I can see, I cannot see the sky because there are so many buildings, so I’ve eliminated the sky from my painting because all I see from my window are skyscrapers.”

Three feet from Aliza’s saturated paintings stand Syed Ahmed Uddin’s audio installations. He comments on the unauthorised, unplanned and growing real estate development in and around the neighbourhood of Karachi’s North Nazimabad.

His socio-political commentary falls under the umbrella of urbanisation because of the way the city is planned. Party flags at every new construction site; fresh tarmacadam roads before each election – in Karachi, everything, even urbanisation is happening for political gain.

“This is the future of Karachi’s sea,” said Mashaal Amjad pointing towards her intricately-made sketch of around 30 boats in one single frame.

“My work is about unsustainable fishing practices and the irreparable loss of marine life these poor fishing techniques have caused. These drawings explore an imagination of how the marine animals will adapt to the new changes caused by humans.”

Mashaal’s meticulous sketches of marine life as vessels that have mutated are awe-inspiring and leave the viewers rather frightened for the future of the city’s sea.

Afiya Asif’s thesis called ‘Reborn’ was yet another imitation of how urban development continues to magnify the risk of environmental hazards. Ornamenting a room entirely with tree barks, stems and roots, she lamented how Karachi continues to ‘develop’ and in turn, continues to destroy thousands of trees every year.

“During the pandemic, I noticed some plantations being dumped outside my house by construction workers. This made me curious and I started working on how to stop it from losing its form and becoming useless,” she said.

“I realised it would decay on its own, so I thought of utilising it and reincarnating it into a new form.”

Afiya’s work revolves around the creation of an alternate reality with plants that had lost their original form.

In the Realm of the Senses:

While most of the Fine Art thesis spoke volumes about the menace of rapid urbanisation, some installations transported viewers to a sensory realm.

Bilal Jabbar’s stimulating installation revolved around the hidden poetry of everyday objects. He used silverware to make the statement, connecting and arranging them in ways that go beyond their mundane function.

The emotive yet in-vogue quality of Aswad Anees’ work is what made his installation one of the most popular ones.

Explaining the thought process behind his interlocked LED-lit threads, he said, “I moved to Karachi from Larkana and the thing that had the most impact on me was the pace of this city. I was also interested in photography, so I used to take long-exposure shots of the city’s traffic. This installation is how I see Karachi’s pace.”

His lustrous work also became the backdrop for photos the onlookers took for their social media.

Ceramic artist Aisar Abbas’ display was about hybrid toys. In his words, his childhood inspired him to come up with this idea for his thesis of ‘Unedited Feelings’.

“During my childhood, I had a medical condition because of which I was isolated. I had a lot of toys to play with, and that basically led me to see toys as more than objects,” he said.

The standout piece in his display is a ceramic sculpture of a baby with a varifocal camera as its head.

All in all, the body of work produced by the students possessed sincere hints of the human touch, something that is often absent from the commercial design of our country.

And while some may argue that the visual recreations of memory are best designed in contemporary art studios, it can be reasoned that perhaps the old stone building with high ceilings and lingering visions of talent is what makes for an ideal campus for an art school. The thesis display for the graduating class ends on December 24th.

View a slideshow of the art here.

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Emerging Voices: A Kaleidoscope Of Perspectives In NCA’s 2024 Thesis Display

The nca thesis display stands as a testament to the enduring power of art in unravelling the threads of existence. as viewers engage with these visual narratives, they are invited to transcend the confines of conventional thinking..

• Sara Javed Rathore
• Features , Main Slider

In a world defined by divergent viewpoints, NCA’s artist thesis display serves as a poignant exploration of the complex interplay between perspectives, with a myriad of mediums at use. The canvases echo the tangible rage felt within the human spirit, challenging prevailing norms and questioning the very essence of identity, inviting viewers to contemplate the intricacies of personal and collective struggles.

Noor’s art reminded me of Albert Aurier’s momentous essay ‘Le Symbolisme en Peinture”-- therein, Aurier talks of symbolism in art:

“The goal of painting . . . cannot be the direct representation of objects. Its end purpose is to express ideas as it translates them into a special language…all the while remembering that the sign, however indispensable, is nothing in itself and the idea alone is everything.”

This sentiment is ripe in Noor-ul-Huda’s work and she captures it in such a dreamlike trance that you feel suspended between lullabies sung by the morphing color palette of her paintings. Her work explores the dissociation of existence in terms of human relationships and the liminal space around them. “To exist in a space yet to not  be there,” she said, walking with me back and forth between her displays and pointing out the minute details.

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Noor’s painting, specifically the ones titled ‘ Farida ke Baagh Mein Vincent ki Shaam’ and ‘Maghreb’ were striking– bound by the fading quality of a memory and the slow corrosion of time. When talking about the medium, she pointed to specific portions that molded together and yet disconnected– two women, suspended in time, looking out at the audience in a manner that said, “Do you see me? I am looking at you– are you looking at me? Am I the persistent voyeur, or are you?” I look closely and there is a third set of eyes– Frida Kahlo’s visage imprinted on a cushion in the settee. “The treatment I evolved… is in layers… I left it in washes because I was disconnecting the space, yes, but also the past and the present.”

Degas’ work has always been to me a study in fluidity– from The Rehearsal to The Tub . Noor’s work too is a reminder of the study of motion in art– especially owing to the fact that she combines the viscosity of paint with the motion of life shows up in an incredible, harrowing manner.

Iman’s art was striking– I had a grin on my face as soon as I saw it. If other pieces had subtlety to the manner in which they countered the experience of being a woman in a patriarchal society, Iman’s work took the narrative and turned it to face the glaring problem. I thought of the sillage in the walls in monsoon. Water seeps through, the plaster cracks, the wall crumbles, and then we see the glaring issue. Iman’s work is evocative, gritty and quite literally, layered in the way it perceives the problem of existing in a society that is so people focused. I was overjoyed by the warmth and passion with which she dealt with something that leaves one grappling with their own identity.

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Sometimes, art feels like a bath of cold water on a December morning. That is exactly what Iman encapsulates– through a medium that stands out.

“You have been to the tailor, right? You will talk them through your measurements, and it still ends with them saying– no, this might be too ill-fitting. Add to that the fact that when I joined a musical society in NCA, the one question I got most often was– you wear the hijab . Will you seriously sing and play music?”

She said it all with such a bright smile on her face and I could see that she had taken the shame and humiliation that society casts on any person wanting to exist outside the box, and channelled it into her art. It pinches, yes, as the intricately used safety pins in her work represent, yet on the outside all one sees is an expertly put together net of sorts– a protective element– yet only the wearer of the shroud comprehends the angst and pain of donning it. 

In Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto, Marinetti’s translation of the work best describes what Iman captures and how she transcends the traditional realms of expression:

“Let’s… proclaim the absolute and complete abolition of finite lines and the contained statue.”

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Maidah Waqar Butt’s art reminded me of my childhood affinity for the Indus Valley Civilization– there was lately conversation on a lot of platforms, where people argued what historical period was their childhood obsession. The consensus was mostly the Roman Empire or the Egyptian civilization. I was instantly reminded of my love for the Mesopotamian and Harappan architecture, begging my parents to take me to visit the sites (unfortunately, we never did). Maidah’s expertly created figurines that give these neolithic sculptures color and life took me back about ten years ago to that time.  Venus of Willendorf was one of those figures I always looked at with awe– when we currently see the ‘celebration’ of the female form, what we see is it reduced to its aesthetic appeal; it exists to be beautiful and to be consumed.

Maidah’s art steps out of the 21st century bonds of everything existing for the consumer and takes us back to an era that was rooted in naturalism– it celebrated the female form and its anatomy, bringer of life, not stuck in the plastic confined of a neoliberal world that reduces it to nill. Neolithic figurines from Europe, to Asia to Africa looked at the anatomy of the female body with reverence, I’d even argue, worshipped it– it was she that ensured survival.

Venus of Willendorf was one of those figures I always looked at with awe– when we currently see the ‘celebration’ of the female form, what we see is it reduced to its aesthetic appeal; it exists to be beautiful and to be consumed.

Maidah, in her pieces such as ‘ embroil’ and ‘bearing/baring,’ takes the reins and steers the conversation back towards our roots. I asked her, “Have you been criticized for your representation of the raw, vulnerable female form without the confines constituted by patriarchy?” as she showed me some of her expertly created clay figurines. “Of course, from a lot of people. Especially ones closest to me– but this is what I enjoy about the representation of the female form in Neolithic art. It doesn’t shy away, and neither did I.”

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Vania Mazhar’s representation of the mundanity of life struck me as soon as I walked into the gallery– her display is titled “Synchronicity II”-- “ ...many miles away, there’s a shadow on the door. ” Looking at Vania’s art, I was struck by the synchronization of the perspectives, embedded with the glimpse of a daughter looking at the roaring cadence of what her pupils grab, and the image of it imprints into her retina– just for it to become a memory. Like a perfumed envelope, it haunts and it warms the heart, an overpowering sense of fleeting nostalgia grabbing you and telling you– you have lived this, and so have I.

You watched it happen and now you shall remember, remember, remember all those fleeting memories of your personhood. It is a whiplash and a soothing balm at the same time; to my eye, it combines at the core of it the delicate memorialization of Realism with the rebellious strokes and stylistic endeavours of Impressionism– saying “this is remembrance– I am remembering it in the haze of my memory and embracing the etches of it, capturing the coherence of this existence rather than the semantics of it.” “Watching the Same Drama Everyday” and “Sebastian Watching A Video” especially struck me in the manner they manage to capture what Vania termed “the mundanity of existence.”

“I am sort of searching for these mundane moments around my house… looking at my father just being himself, that’s where the inspiration strikes. I am trying to find the balance between a sketch and a painting,” she explained to me.

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Looking at Vania’s artwork reminded me of Mary Cassatt– her interplay of perspective and dimensionality, combined with sheer, raw, sentimentality was reminiscent of Cassatt’s The Child’s Bath.

Meeral Mirza’s work in textile is as if walking into the pages of the famed Firdawsi’s Shahnameh, or finding yourself in Isfahan, looking at the delicate cuerda seca tile work of the Mihrab from Madrassa Imami. It is the perfect union of teachings and visuals of Islamic Arab scholars like Abu Ma'shar– an amalgamation of culture, faith and the Golden Age (the intricate gold details wink and wave in the subtle light, layering on top of each other to create elements perhaps only the sun can shine a light to– watercolor on top of Wasli, and digitally printed onto Mesuri fabric). It is a brilliant marriage between the intricacies of decorative detailing and perspectives on textile.

“I'm Kashmiri. In Kashmir, like, astrology is a pretty big thing… there is Vedic astrology, and then the Persian and Islamic one. The visuals of the latter spoke to me… astrology is basically the father of science. Because first we had astrology, then we had alchemy, and then from that we have chemistry as we know it today. And the second thing is that stocks are also like a prediction sort of thing, right? So if we're gonna make fun of women for believing in astrology, then we can make fun of men for believing in, like, you know, the stock market.”

The medium adds an inherent sense of delicacy and airiness that permeates the pieces and draws the viewer in. But it is much more complex– Meeral’s artist statement explains: “Astrology is a controversial subject… Science and mathematical calculations surrounding this field are what distinguish it from any superstitious pseudoscience. I have created my own visual vocabulary to find the junction between Persian style astrological paintings and textile design.” Each piece is a brilliant homage to a specific astrological sign, an interplay of texture and light and fine detailing.

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In a talk with Meeral about the implications of her choice when so many women are demonized for believing in astrology, she put it best to the face of patriarchal critics: “I'm Kashmiri. In Kashmir, like, astrology is a pretty big thing… there is Vedic astrology, and then the Persian and Islamic one. The visuals of the latter spoke to me… astrology is basically the father of science. Because first we had astrology, then we had alchemy, and then from that we have chemistry as we know it today. And the second thing is that stocks are also like a prediction sort of thing, right? So if we're gonna make fun of women for believing in astrology, then we can make fun of men for believing in, like, you know, the stock market.”

Syeda Ailia Hassan’s work is a study in nostalgia, combined with a fusion of the contemporary to create furniture and products that transcend the fine lines of a relatively stiff medium to leave you awed at the sheer delicacy and wonder of her craft– she combined brass plating, beautifully melded into wood. Combining the sharp and hard contours of wood, stylized to be contemporary and experimental with the traditional elements of brass make it stand out– it is in a way reminiscent to me of Futurist elements of design combining with the traditional elements of post-Islamic metalwork, intricately combined. The past, holding onto the future and the present– a study in time.

Ailia stated that her main inspiration behind her work has always been mother– “This craft you can see on the brass, my mother used to sculpt it. She did it for 25 years.” The fine contours in the wood are topographical representations of the place where the said art was first founded. Qalam-Zani in Persian, she explained, is an amalgamation of the words “pen” and “hitting”-- the perfect word for it.

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She further explained: “I really wanted something which was small and which contained all the elements. I had water and the birds and the, and the glass.   Each part of the console and the mirror are in this.” Minimalism, she explained, is lovely, but so overdone that she wanted it to be minimal in a manner that combines the love for texture that we have as Pakistanis. She laughed, explaining how her identity as an artist translates into her work too: “So when I think about myself as a person, I'm a very extra person, very extra personality with a very minimal…what do you call it? Sugar coating? And I think my pieces show that.”

Sumaiya Hayee’s work is a study not only in the colours and intensity of the life in Old Lahore and its streets, strewn with life that is aeons apart from the sanitary life on the roads and streets of the more ‘modern’ Lahore– the Lahore that boasts its elitism and forgets the existence of Old Lahore and its people. Sumaiya explained to me that she herself is from Androon Lahore , and she wanted to pay homage to the beauty in the little moments of life there– especially to the working class there.

Rage rips you apart and then puts you back together. I am reminded of Munch and The Scream, originally aptly titled Despair– to take emotions rooted in the real and the binary and project them into a world with intense hues, colors and morphing perspectives to amplify them and give them a sense of reality that is so heightened that all your sense are attached to viewing it.

“We only go to them when we need work done– the tailors, the shopkeepers– we refuse to see them as human beings that have a life apart from perhaps… serving us,” she put aptly. Her art is rich and experiments with texture and color while also staying true to Realism– it is as if the images of life are superimposed to give one a view into what we so often ignore; the color and beauty of it that we forget in our own obsession with self and individuality in a capital driven society. 

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Fatima Ahmed’s work is a study in rage and personhood– a metamorphosis reminiscent of Kafka’s titular character Gregor Samsa. Rage rips you apart and then puts you back together. I am reminded of Munch and The Scream, originally aptly titled Despair– to take emotions rooted in the real and the binary and project them into a world with intense hues, colors and morphing perspectives to amplify them and give them a sense of reality that is so heightened that all your sense are attached to viewing it. Fatima too, manages to do it in a manner that reminds me of the German Expressionists of the early 20th century– not to show what the eye sees but to show what the mind and heart feel. Munch, when asked about his painting, said: “And I sensed a great, infinite scream pass through nature.”

When I talked to Fatima, she better explained her artistic vision: “I was in the midst of some realizations… boundaries between the inner and outer self. There was a warped sense of responsibility and keeping these separated, so the rage came out in some of the paintings. I really like stream of consciousness in literature, and wanted that in my art. This is an exploration of identity.”

Ayla Zahir Kayani’s work crosses the realms of ordinary to leave you suspended in ways that make you question your own reality and existence– ‘Forced Convergence’, ‘Serendipity in Existence’ and ‘Somatic Reflux’ are all pieces that stand out and hold the viewer captive– it reminds me of a scent that permeates the air so strongly that it overpowers. First you retch, unable to understand whether it is disgust, and then you grow accustomed to it and a sense of calm takes over. Yet the magic still permeates.

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A lot of Ayla’s work is about reflection and uses a reflective medium that also combines fragility and sensitivity. One of my personal favorites is perhaps the most jarring– a sink clogged with gunk and water, pooling at the center. You are unable to find your own reflection. You look up, searching for a mirror and all that stands is a ghost of the said mirror, shadow imprinted on the wall in red but never seen. You don’t have a way out to look at your reflection in a manner that is not distorted; but it needs time to be spent with it to understand the intricacy of it. Another one is a cage enclosing a set of white feathers at the center of the room. Purity, plucked and placed in confines. Ayla explained her use of engine oil: “And although you can't see your exact reflection, you know that there exists a reflection. And I was using engine oil exactly for that. When untouched… you can see yourself in it.”

Muneeba Zahid Khan’s artist statement best pays homage to her identity, translating it into her work. “She specializes in miniature painting and explores themes of identity and displacement through her artwork. Growing up with her first adoptive family, she often felt like a shadow caught between two worlds… she expresses these difficulties through her art, using medical reports and x-rays as her canvas.” The presence of hollow, shadowy figures permeates her work in a way that is jarring– at first glance, you are looking at expertly put together medical records, joined together, as if an exploration of pain itself. At a nearer glance, you see the culmination of whose pain it is.

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As someone that has been chronically ill, I know it best– doctors’ offices, being suspended between reality and truth, feeling as if you are a file number or a doctor’s note. Never feeling like a whole person, merely a shadow of a shadow. When you look closer at Muneeba’s work, you see the person shine through. In x-rays and MRIs, she makes artwork such as ‘Posheeda’, ‘Are You There?’ and ‘Suffering’-- a child pulled apart and grieving, a woman yin-and-yang, lying in foetal position. The medical sanitary is given a humanistic perspective. In conversation with Muneeba, she explained it best– “You always remember, no matter where you are displaced, thus the MRI. Science and art are very divorced fields but I was previously in medicine, but then I decided to go into arts. I think perhaps that was a factor too.” Her medium stands out– because she is perhaps the first person to find the middle route between the two. 

In the culmination of this artistic journey, the thesis display stands as a testament to the enduring power of art in unravelling the threads of existence. As viewers engage with these visual narratives, they are invited to transcend the confines of conventional thinking and embrace a collective dialogue that dismantles the chains of not contemplating the threads of our lives. Only through art, we can call to redefine personhood in a world yearning for unity amidst discord.

Sara Javed Rathore is an author and poet from Lahore. Her first collection of poetry, 'Meraki', won the Daud Kamal Presidential Award from the Pakistan Academy of Letters in 2020. She has also published another collection of poetry titled ‘Obituaries for the Dead and the Undead.’

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2021 Virtual Thesis Exhibition

Thesis projects at the Harvard Graduate School Design are at once summits and foundations. Incorporating focused research and dialogue, they spark new perspectives—serving as springboards for where design will go next. This year’s remarkable projects offer insight into the diversity and depth of preoccupations that animate the class of 2021 and future generations of designers. Department of Architecture thesis director Eric Höweler observes that the thesis projects, taken together, serve as “a mapping of the contemporary moment.”

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Art Studio Seniors Display Thesis Exhibitions from the Art Studio Program in the Zilkha Gallery

This month, the Center for the Arts is hosting three virtual opening receptions for 19 graduating art studio majors to showcase their work as part of the Senior Thesis Exhibition.

Since Zilkha Gallery is only open to Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff during the pandemic, the virtual format allows alumni, parents, friends, and other members of the Wesleyan community to view the students’ work.

“We’re hoping to create access—especially for those of you who are not on campus—to see these shows in person and see what [the artists’] work looks like in space and scale,” said Benjamin Chaffee , associate director of visual arts and adjunct instructor of art. “We’ll also have a chance for some brief conversations with each of the artists who can enlighten us about their process. Our hope is that these conversations might approximate one aspect of an opening reception—the opportunity to hear directly from the exhibiting artist about their work.”

Julia Randall , associate professor of art and senior thesis coordinator, said the studio art thesis is likely the most challenging and immersive creative project accomplished by the students during their time at Wesleyan. The seniors work independently in their studios while receiving regular feedback from their advisors. “This is an intense process of discovery that involves a great deal of sweat, research, and managing doubt,” Randall said. “It requires studio art majors to …work towards breakthroughs and to embrace failures along the way.”

On April 21, Chaffee interviewed six seniors who discussed their work through the second virtual opening reception. Images are below:

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Lyco students display art thesis projects.

The final thesis work of 12 graduating Lycoming College seniors will be on display at the Lycoming College Art Gallery from April 8 to May 14, beginning with a gallery talk at 5:30 p.m., on opening night according to a press release.The gallery is open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 4 to 8 p.m., and the exhibits are free and open to the public.

The Lycoming College Senior Show is the culmination of thesis projects for all seniors with a major in studio art, and all studio art majors are required to produce a cohesive body of professional work to exhibit. The 2022 Senior Art Show features works and artist statements from the following graduating seniors:

• Medhavi Bhunjun (Mauritius) – art: painting and psychology majors

• Kiersten Block (Palmyra, Pa.) – art: generalist major with teaching certification

• Thu Ha (Vietnam) – art: graphic design major, photography minor

• Ethan Ilchert (Norwalk, Conn.) – art: graphic design and art: 3D animation majors

• Charise Johnson (Washington, D.C.) – art: painting and art: photography/digital majors

• Bronwen Lewis (Cresaptown, Md.) – art: graphic design and art: photography majors, art history minor

• Dominick Massaro (Centereach, N.Y.) – art: graphic design major

• Megan Oyler (Bedford, Pa.) – art: generalist major with teaching certification

• Kaitlin Parks (Williamsport) – art: photography/digital major, 2D animation minor

• Kacee Reitz (Milton, Pa.) – art: generalist major with teaching certification

• Valeria Rivera (El Salvador) – art: graphic design and business administration majors, art history minor

• Kaylee Wade (Muncy) – art history and art: painting majors

The Lycoming College Art Gallery, located in downtown Williamsport at 25 W. Fourth St., contributes to the city’s arts culture and provides a way for the College to become more involved with the community surrounding it according to a press release. Lycoming art students have the opportunity to interact with visiting artists, as well as learn first-hand the inner workings of a gallery.

Lycoming College’s art program offers all the benefits of a standalone art school while also providing a traditional liberal arts education, giving students exciting, inspiring opportunities and opening their minds to broader possibilities. The art department is recognized for its innovative program, cutting-edge digital design, and exceptional faculty of teachers and practicing professional artists.

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A Thesis Turned Art Display

At first glance, the reimagined 1924 carousel installed in the Studio Arts Building last winter may have looked like an ordinary merry-go-round. But it was actually  Vimoksha —part of the senior thesis exhibition titled  The Passing Show  by Kathryn Fanelli ’20MFA, who describes it as an “interactive, kinetic sculpture.”

“This is the culmination of a three-year focus that considers bigger questions in our universe of time, illusion, impermanence, and perception,” says Fanelli. Visible to passersby, the carousel lit up from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. each day. “It’s a beacon of light in dark times,” she says, “which I think we all need.”

Read the full story in the Magazine of the University of Massachusetts Amherst .

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Senior Studio Art Theses Beautifully Explore Identity, Loss, and Garlic

April 4, 2024 , by nicole lee, louis chiasson, arts & culture editor, contributing writer.

c/o Nicole Lee

The Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery premiered the studio art theses of six seniors on Wednesday, March 27, all of them grand, floor-to-ceiling pieces. Viewers were encouraged to move through the work, examine it from all angles, and step gingerly. The six pieces, while distinct, seemed to invite comparison—not for the viewer to let them blur together, but to consider how the art forms present in one subtly showed up in the others.

On the day of the reception, Zilkha Gallery was packed; friends and family of the artists moved feverishly among the exhibitions. At any given time, the artists were surrounded by sizable crowds hanging on their every word about their pieces and processes. I had the pleasure of speaking with many of them that day about their work.

“This structure is about immigration,” Rebeca Treviño ’24 said, from where her thesis was installed in the Zilkha Uncommons. “I worked from personal stories that you can hear in the audio, which is really faint, as well as my own story.” 

The faint audio she referred to was a collection of interviews conducted with immigrants about their experience, which went on to inform her piece, “States of Belonging.” The work   was a hanging garden of meticulously burned paper, which formed a pathway over squares of sawdust that began sharply formed but was meant to be walked through and messed up.

“As people move through it, it changes,” Treviño said. “When you first encounter the structure, if you look at it from afar, it creates a sort of wave, which speaks about borders and the types of borders our societies have, which are created by natural landmarks…. But if you look at it like this, it’s almost…a wall, which talks about the other types of borders that we have, which are man-made borders.”

As Treviño spoke, it became clear that for her, the paper itself was one of the most meaningful elements of the piece. 

“The paper is a take on papel picado, which is a paper that is used for Mexican celebrations,” Treviño said. “With papel picado you actually have the paper that’s cut left over, but with this it’s completely disintegrated, it’s burnt…it speaks about the erasure that happens during immigration.”

The piece brought up the erasure of memories through a lack of access to one’s home.

“[In] a lot of those stories that I collected, people couldn’t go back to their home country for whatever reason, so whenever you can’t visit your homeland there’s a sort of erasure that takes place, especially erasure of memory and things that cannot be accessed,” Treviño continued. “And of course we all have an erasure of memory, but whenever we can’t go back to places where we made those memories, it’s a little bit more intense. There’s also a bit of violence in the making, because everything is burned.”

At the end of her explanation, which has been much abbreviated for this piece, Treviño returned once again to the sawdust.

“Something somebody said that was really beautiful was that when this exhibition first opened, nobody wanted to go through the [sawdust] frame,” Treviño said. “And she said that reminded her of how…a lot of us are afraid to confront trauma or issues in society that should be confronted more straightforwardly, and I think immigration is one of them. But yeah, now people went through it and it got pretty messy.”

Moving out of Treviño’s piece into the main hall, which housed the work of four artists, the next piece was “Invasive Diverted” by Malcolm Davol’s ’24. As the title suggests, the piece ventured to artistically interpret the spreading of an invasive plant. The piece had two components: Hung in the middle of the space was what appeared to be a bundle of reeds, and to the right of this colossal, almost intimidating sculpture right were five sheets of paper, an enigmatic component of the piece. 

“The sculpture and the plant and the piece that’s hanging are all made from the same plant, which is common mugwort, which is an invasive plant to Connecticut,” Davol said. “It grows really aggressively on highways and basically everywhere on campus—it’s sort of like once you notice it, you can’t stop noticing it. And so I wanted to sort of give it a new form, or give it some sort of value that it maybe didn’t have before.”

Continuing out of the shadow of Davol’s sculpture into the adjoining exhibition, at first I wasn’t completely sure what I was looking at. It appeared to be sheets of plastic invisibly suspended, marking the edges of furniture that wasn’t there. The title of the exhibition, “Skins,” made me feel like I was somehow looking at the surfaces of objects that had no form underneath them. Upon talking to the artist, Daniella Porras ’24, the piece made perfect, devastating sense. 

“The whole meaning behind [“Skins”] is that this year, my senior year, I experienced a lot of loss,” Porras said. “In October, my aunt who passed away two years ago, they were selling her house, and I kind of grew up there and I spent a lot of time there, and there were a lot of family get-togethers there…. Losing that space was very emotional for me, and then also my dad passed away in October…and that was also very hard for me to go through.”

Porras explained that this experience altered the way she saw spaces that had previously been mundane. “Something that I realized when I was at home and going through grief was how much a person really leaves impressions of themselves in a space through objects, and how much their stuff kind of takes on their position.”

These impressions, the feeling that someone who’s gone is somehow still there, was the feeling she hoped to evoke with this piece, choosing to use fabric and book-binding glue to create these elegiac shapes.

“I ended up, by accident, casting fabric with this type of book-binding glue onto an object,” Porras said. “It started off with that lamp right there…. I wanted to see if it would hold the shape of the fabric because I really love how the fabric looks, and it feels very sculptural but it obviously doesn’t hold shape…. I started to use this as a kind of conduit for grieving a space and grieving a person.”

The results spoke for themselves, and the forms in Porras’ piece seemed to perfectly evoke the kind of eerie comfort that she spoke of, of familiar things just out of reach. It felt as though the piece held secrets that were personal to her, not meant to be scrutinized by onlookers.

“There are little tidbits of my family that are here in the show, and living on through that,” Porras said.

The next exhibition, “Subliminal Spaces” by Savannah Ryan ’24, took up the question of how differences in our perception can change our mental picture of the spaces we pass through. 

Ryan’s piece consisted of two elements: On the wall were black-and-white drawings that each hinted at a place when viewed quickly but crumbled into non-identifiability when looked at for longer, like those eerie “try to identify one thing in this image” pictures, and on the limestone divider next to the wall were minimalist ink representations of tree branches on onion-skin paper. 

“I was inspired by the spaces I walk through on the way to my art studio and how different people interpret different spaces,” Ryan said. “So, personally, I look at the really niche elements such as divots in the sidewalk, and stairs in different perspectives that are often overlooked. I was also playing around with how these spaces will be remembered and how memory is nonlinear and spaces get subverted as you think about them later on.”

The piece spoke to how we remember what we need to know about a space and abstract the rest, and how if we were forced to reconstruct that place off of our own memories, it would likely prove to be inscrutable. Ryan also commented on the feeling of movement that ran through all of the individual works.

“Sometimes you slow down and observe the details and then other times you brush through a space, as in the works on the limestone,” Ryan said.

Perhaps the most enigmatic piece in the Zilkha Gallery was the last one in the main hall, “Exuvia” by Maya Alicki ’24. At first glance it appeared to be a curling white sheet, though upon closer inspection the larger form was made up of smaller pieces of canvas connected like some sort of mosaic. 

The piece was daunting, almost alien; my first thought was that it reminded me somewhat of the final form of the space invader in “Nope” (2022). As it turns out, my instinct to view it as a reflection of a life form was not far off. Alicki explained that the piece came from a desire to meld her two majors: architecture and biology.

“I was looking into ways the two intersect, such as in the art nouveau period and in biomorphic design,” Alicki said. “Some things I was looking to specifically, as inspiration for my thesis, were chrysalises/pupa since I did research with caterpillars last summer in an ecology lab here, the process of metamorphosis in general, and other ways it was represented in art. My final main form is spiral-like in plan, symbolizing something unraveling or skin peeling.” 

However, she was aware of the dissonance between art as seen in nature and art as seen in a gallery. 

“I aimed to engage and find a balance between naturalistic and artificial through experimenting with scale, texture and translucency, so my final modular tiles that make up my piece are super textured and layered, but you’re also able to see someone’s shadow walking on the other side,” Alicki said. 

The piece garnered palpable reactions from viewers, as I saw those who didn’t know what they were looking at traverse the whole length of the piece along its curves, perhaps trying to find some answer in the details as the big picture awed them.

The final thesis on exhibition was “Garlic of My Heart,” a time-based media piece by Tuong Nguyen ’24. Tucked away in a dark alcove just off of Zilkha Gallery’s main hall, “Garlic of My Heart” consisted of a staged re-imagining of Nguyen’s childhood living room: A bookshelf packed with knick-knacks and cookie boxes holding tea bags, a plush armchair and matching ottoman, several fake plants, and a large gray couch featured prominently. 

There were a few odd additions to this tableau, however: Four TV screens, one displaying static; another a video of Nguyen cooking; the third, tucked behind the scene, with touristy footage of Vietnam; and the fourth, placed right in the entrance, a blue screen with the text “PLEASE TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF” bouncing around like a DVD screensaver. A fifth and final TV was set atop a wooden console, displaying a looped animation that Nguyen drew.

Nguyen’s staging evoked childhood memories—and the interactive nature of the piece, as evidenced by the invitation to take off your shoes and enter, played a large part in the tactility and lived-in quality of “Garlic of My Heart.” Nguyen explained that the warmth and nostalgia of this piece was a way of recapturing those very feelings for himself. 

“For my gallery exhibition, I wanted to capture this feeling of watching anime in the morning before the school bus arrived,” Nguyen said. “Lately, I’ve been feeling this sense of loss when it comes to Asian American identity and grappling between feeling too Asian and not Asian enough.”

The living room, with its hyper-specific arrangement of cultural touchstones, proved to be a place of refuge. 

“The piece manifested itself as a living room, which serves as the focal point where Vietnamese, Japanese, and American influences converge,” Nguyen said. “Ultimately the living room space serves as a memory bubble to revisit the past, but also as a space of healing. For me, it’s a space where I can be myself and watch silly cartoons without the exhaustion of constantly putting my identity into question.”

On the whole, these six artists’ work showcased overlapping aesthetic concerns and unique, personal art. All of these artists took their ideas to a scale that speaks to their ambition and to the hours they have put into honing these crafts, however niche they may be. It felt the way it should—like a triumphant moment for artists who have worked to get here for the last four years.

The second week of studio art thesis exhibitions is currently on display in the Zilkha gallery, and the third week will begin on April 9, with a reception for those artists on April 10 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Louis Chiasson can be reached at [email protected] .

Nicole Lee can be reached at [email protected] . 

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The 1959 American national exhibition in Moscow and the Soviet artistic reaction to the abstract art

The American National Exhibition was an exchange exhibition organised by the United States Information Agency (USIA) and took place at Sokolniki Grounds in Moscow in 1959. The overall director George V. Allen and the Association of Federated Artists (AFA) Vice President Lloyd Goodrich, who was also President of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, were responsible for the art section of the Exhibition. The art committee selected, intended to show the Soviet public the developments in modern American art since World War I. It was an ideal time for such an exhibition. Khrushchev had initiated the &quot;East-West Cultural Exchange Agreement&quot; which was signed in 1958 and with it he had opened the doors to the Soviet Union. With the 20th Party Congress Meeting and the political changes involved, Khrushchev proved to be more open towards the arts and artists within his country than anyone in the past thirty years. The official art in the Soviet Union at the time was &quot;...

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It is arguable that no other movement in the world of art and design enjoys a degree of mystification and status as extensive, and has had as much of an influence on the workings of the collective society, as Abstract Expressionism. Names such as Pollock, Rothko, de Kooning, Gorky, Still, Kline and Motherwell carry immense cultural value and evoke a very specific image in the mind of an audience: strong, independent, masculine artists, unshaken in their drive to express the deepest of human experiences. Preceding movements such as Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Socialist Realism certainly had their impact, but they also paved the way for a school of thought that changed the way we view art. While the criticisms of the movement, focusing on its arguably exclusive nature, are certainly valid, it was only the New York artists that could have given this impetus. This essay will analyse the development of Abstract Expressionism within the context of the Cold War, the importance the New York artists played in the United States’ efforts to curtail communist expansion, and critique the validity of the U.S. government’s actions in relation to the art movement.

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The present thesis investigates the instrumentalization of art as a tool in foreign policy, taking as a case study the organization of art exhibitions in other countries by the Soviet Union during the Cold War period. Full use of archival materials has been made, and this evidence has been supplemented through interviewing. The thesis thus proposes to add to our knowledge both of the cultural Cold War in particular and of the employment of art in cultural diplomacy in general. The contribution made by Joseph S. Nye, the originator of the term ‘soft power’, has been a seminal one both in promoting and in shaping the study of cultural factors in interstate relations, but the phenomena under discussion require an analysis that goes beyond ‘soft power’. In particular, it is necessary to rehabilitate the category of ‘the arts’, as a distinct field within ‘culture’, if we are to be able to frame adequate theories of how states have sought to make paintings, literature, music, and drama serve political and diplomatic ends. The organization of art exhibitions overseas represents a convenient and under- explored area of cultural diplomacy, and also one that is of considerable intrinsic interest in view of the light it can shed on broader questions concerning the relationships between visual culture and state power. And the case of the USSR during the Cold War presents us with an example of a state that made active and deliberate use of art exhibitions, in the context of a comparatively intense cultural and ideological rivalry between the Eastern and Western blocs. On the basis of a detailed examination of particular exhibitions, and also of both Soviet and Western literature on the subject, the thesis demonstrates that the Soviet authorities organized art exhibitions in a differentiated manner that reflected wider foreign policy priorities with regard to the host states. This involved, in the first instance, a systematically different approach to exhibitions in (a) fellow socialist countries, (b) capitalist countries, and (c) newly independent states; but further distinctions were then drawn within each of these broad groupings, in ways that can only be understood against the backdrop of the Kremlin’s shifting relations with each individual state. This analysis lays the foundations for productive further research, which promises to extend and deepen our understanding of states’ motivations in instrumentalizing the arts and also to establish reasonable criteria for assessing how politically effective such cultural and artistic initiatives may be.

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Daily Times

Your right to know Monday, May 20, 2024

NCA thesis display can either motivate you or inspire you to think out of the box

January 21, 2019

For umpteen years, the National College of Arts (NCA) has been recording history through various art forms and opens the degree show for public on its Final Thesis Display.

Each year the heterogeneity of students’ artwork and concept mushrooms more than the previous one as it offers its viewer a landscape that is balanced by both minimalistic and grand narratives. Each year, students’ work offer a culture of integration and diversity as NCA is home to students with myriad socio-economic backgrounds, ethnic identities, ideological positions and cultural ideologies.

Keeping its tradition alive, this year NCA thesis display has been like a galaxy of artworks. Each hall, gallery, studio and even corridor is adorned with student’s thesis project and leaves the onlooker awe-struck for each work encompasses in it a mythical world that somehow remains palpable in nature. Each department displays the artworks that are distinctive in nature and tell a story on various levels.

The Textile Design Thesis display serves to be interdisciplinary in nature and offers an amalgamation of contemporary as well as traditional designs which altogether are translated with various techniques of weaving, knitting, fabric manipulation and surface embellishment

Textile Design Thesis display serves to be interdisciplinary in nature and offers an amalgamation of contemporary as well as traditional designs which altogether are translated with various techniques of weaving, knitting, fabric manipulation and surface embellishment. Through their artwork students have addressed the social as well as subjective issues and present the usual ideas in an unusual way. The work offers a perfect blend of thought through concepts, meticulous research process and refined craft techniques.

Fine Arts students’ artwork deals with reality on two levels – subjective level and objective level. Their work provide a thought provoking insight into our personal as well as common concerns, like matter of cultural identity, reflection on surrounding, changes due to new mode of communication, physical imperfections, personal family histories, man and machine relationship etc. In addition, students have given a new dimension and direction to miniature style of painting by using the techniques if Gouache, Nimrang and Sayah Qalam on wasli.

Visual Communication Department displays the projects that are based on interaction design, animation, installation and space design. These projects address the social issues like misunderstood concept of feminism, discrimination against single mothers and their children, acceptance and awareness for schizophrenia, psychological disorders, claustrophobia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Product Design Department displays products that are functional, aesthetic, usable and sustainable in nature, such products that can significantly impact the society. Like, interactive urban furniture, merchandising vehicle for disable, stress relieve capsule, relaxation unit, mobile vocational school for less privileged, versatile camping tent, kaarol shade and green cells.

The Architecture Department revives our traditional spaces by providing the architectural structure for centre for traditional arts, cinematic rejuvenation of Lakshmi Chowk, revival of Lahore Planetarium, community centre to conserve the true essence of Kalash culture and textile hub for local craftsmen. Moreover, spacious spaces has been designed to help the helpless, sports under one roof, art residency, educational institute, martial arts in architecture, a resort, Tertiary Care Hospital and Mixed Used Building: live work and play.

The Musicology Department provides a flashback to veteran singers like Ustad Salim Hussain and Noor Jahan.

Film & TV showcased their documentaries in auditorium that were based on social concerns, like Dour Katchi, Umeed, My Dying Valley, Unaware and Frodo.

With such diversity, NCA thesis display is a must-watch-sight which can either motivate or inspire you to think out of the box! Meanwhile we as a public should keep in mind the ethics to be followed while visiting such places where one slight touch can damage the whole installation. There are some artworks that tempt us to have their hand feel however we should be careful with our moves & gestures and just let the eyes do the magic!

The writer can be reached at [email protected]

Published in Daily Times, January 21 st 2019 .

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Final Program Requirements: Graduate Project or Thesis

The graduate thesis.

Qualified students may pursue the Thesis Option (LArc 500: 7 credits), rather than the Graduate Project; or may elect to pursue the Thesis Option after they complete and defend their Graduate Project. (This option provides the student the opportunity to create a publishable journal article with the Major Professor or engage in further documentation and exploration of the Graduate Project topic.) Students must have completed an approved Research Methods course prior to beginning the their thesis.

The Thesis Proposal

The proposal for the Thesis topic is developed with the student’s Major Professor and begins with the submission of a simple one-two page document addressing the Thesis Topic, Thesis Question, Thesis Motive or Rationale, Research Methodology or Strategies and Application, Ultimately the students produces a multiple page document that also includes a Literature Search and Bibliography. Individual Major Professor’s may specify other components. (MLA students will benefit from reading Landscape Architecture Research, Inquiry, Strategy, Design , Deming and Swaffield, Wiley Press, 2011.)

University of Idaho Thesis Guidelines and Format

There are specific guidelines published by the College of Graduate Studies (Thesis Dissertation Handbook) that detail the timeline, process and final format for the Graduate Thesis. Students must conform to these if they choose the MLA Thesis Option. The following forms with instructions are available at www.uidaho.edu/cogs/forms :

• Authorization to Submit Thesis or Dissertation
• Appointment of Major Professor and/or Committee Form
• Request to Proceed with Final Defense 
• Committee Change
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Thesis Defense

Deadlines and products for the Thesis Defense are outlined in the College of Graduate Studies Student Handbook. In addition to these requirements each student must schedule a defense of the thesis and deliver a presentation that communicates the overall thesis question, process and conclusions. Each student must also produce an “E” size poster for the purposes of display that includes at the minimum: an Abstract, Thesis Problem Statement, description of Research Methods and Process, Research Conclusions, Application and Selected Bibliography and Glossary of Terms.

The Graduate Project

Students pursuing the graduate project option must have completed at least two of the four MLA graduate studios as well as an approved Research Methods course. The Graduate Project is developed with advising from the student’s Major Professor and typically includes a design application component that demonstrates how the student’s research impacts design process and product. Often the graduate project develops from work in preceding graduate studios, addressing and researching specific issues in greater detail. Emphasis is placed not only on the theoretical framework of the project, the quality of the design project but also the effective communication of the project.

The Graduate Project Proposal

The proposal for the Graduate Project topic is developed with the student’s Major Professor and begins with the submission of a simple one-two page document addressing the project Topic, important questions and issues, rationale, methodology and design application, Ultimately the students produces a multiple page document that also includes a Literature Search and Bibliography. Individual Major Professor’s may specify other components. (MLA students will benefit from reading Landscape Architecture Research, Inquiry, Strategy, Design , Deming and Swaffield, Wiley Press, 2011.)

Graduate Project Defense and Submission

Deadlines and products for the Graduate Defense typically follow those of the Thesis Option. Individual Major Professors may require specific products or the defense of the graduate project however each student is required to schedule a defense and deliver a presentation that communicates the overall objectives of the graduate project and demonstrates successful application of the student’s research. Each student must also produce an “E” size poster for the purposes of display that includes at the minimum: an abstract, problem statement, description of research methods and process, research conclusions, design application, selected Bibliography and Glossary of Terms.

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