Browsing by Author "Ishii, Sara"
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Item Abilities of Beauty(2021) Werchan, HannahMy process of meticulously handcrafted realism drawings and the context of being a young disabled woman examines the ability to find empowerment in oneself through beauty. Philosopher Denis Dutton describes beauty as a characteristic of Darwinian theory and a tool of survival. Through my self portraiture series, Abilities of Beauty, I’m focusing on the different versions of oneself and using beauty as a coping mechanism and means of survival to find empowerment in life’s circumstances. I explore ideas of using beauty, vanity, and materiality to build self empowerment and how the dichotomy related to me as an artist living with disabilities being able to use a laborious process to create a beautiful product can evoke feelings of empowerment. The goal of this project is to explore the ways we describe, interpret, and execute beauty and additionally drawn to such things.Item Alternatives to Traditional Assessments(2021) Ishii, Sara; Lundahl, AudreyAlternatives to traditional testing are a great way to engage students in your courses, help them apply course content more effectively, and assess students more formatively. This presentation introduces the benefits of alternative assessments, including examples: a virtual museum tour assignment and a scaffolded project in an undergraduate Art History course. This presentation also includes helpful grading and Canvas tips for using alternative assessments.Item Art history, open educational resources (OERs), and social justice-oriented pedagogy: Adaptations to introductory world art history survey courses(CUNY, 2022) Ishii, SaraThis essay considers the social justice benefits of adopting OERs in an introductory art history survey course. Following the events of the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors have needed to reevaluate pedagogical approaches and teaching materials. Coupled with this present need to foster accessible and flexible courses, for decades art historians have observed the overrepresentation of white Western art and subsequent marginalization of global art in survey textbooks. Centering the need for a social justice-oriented pedagogy that recognizes global contributions to art history, I first reflect on the potential to adapt open educational resources (OERs) to disrupt status quo narratives that privilege Western art. Second, I discuss my adaptation of the open access textbook Boundless Art History by Lumen Learning in which I reformat the material to examine artwork across the globe in timeframe units. Finally, I conclude by reviewing student responses to a Google Forms survey about their experiences with OERs and positing additional benefits and further developments for open access course materials within introductory art history survey courses.Item The Art of Autotopography Through Mementos(2021) Selman, Hanna; Ishii, SaraAutotopography is a term coined by historian Jennifer A. Gonzalez that describes the action of utilizing objects to map the “self.” We employ autotopography through the mementos we choose to surround ourselves with. When a person attaches a meaning to an otherwise ubiquitous object that item suddenly becomes spectacular solely to that individual. In this presentation, I will discuss my artwork on autotopography that studies organic and constructive forms of materializing memory. I do this through the creation of sculptural ceramic mementos which I glaze onto ceramic concrete topographical maps; thus, grounding the symbolic objects in a particular place and time. Through my work, I aim to engage my viewers in appreciating the authenticity of autotopography and its unique role in each person's life.Item Building and Blooming(2021) McKeever, KeatanMy recent work explores the relationship between humanity and nature through the use of collage, printmaking, and painting. The featured works include serigraphs depicting mirrored and abstracted buildings, ranging from skyscrapers to apartment housing which are represented as pots or vases, with blossoming flowers held inside. Elements of handpainted organic forms are also used alongside the screen-printed flowers to suggest an organic and natural energy to them in juxtaposition to the geometrical buildings. In my presentation, I explore the concepts of bio-architecture and biomimetics, which is the interpretation or copying of living nature, and the theory of Symbolic Interactionism, which investigates the social relations between people through repeated interactions. I aim to explore these concepts in my work through the idea that while buildings and structures are the architecture of humans, flowers are the architecture of nature. Therefore, there is a relationship between our own and nature’s growth and development.Item Cornered(2021) Madanirad, HaniehCornered The Women liberation movement vastly addressed issues such as sexuality, reproductive rights, and women’s dress codes; however, it failed to encompass the viewpoints of non-Western, non-white, women. In my Cornered series, I represent similar issues from the perspective of the Iranian women who have been suffering from an Islamic, anti-woman regime since the revolution of 1979. When studying systems of oppression, as Kimberlé Crenshaw (1991) suggests, intersecting identities (i.e., gender, race, and class) and their interconnections need to be considered in close association. Using this deductive methodology in my artwork, I take a critical view of the religious, social, and political injustices that Iranian women in different social classes experience. I use Persian motifs and calligraphy to create an Iranian identity for my works. I aim to raise awareness to Iranian Women’s issues, and give the silenced women – who are suppressed by Iran’s oppressive regime – a voice.Item “Creative Acts of Vision”: Connecting Art and Theory through Gloria Anzaldúa's Archived Sketches(2023-07-01) Ishii, SaraQueer Chicana author Gloria Anzaldúa often used visual art to develop and teach her theories, which address issues relating to social identity and institutions as well as creativity and spirituality. Her large collection of archived sketches at the Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa Papers at the University of Texas demonstrates her drive to visually express ideas. The archive also holds unpublished works and talks in which Anzaldúa discusses her concepts of creativity and the image-making process. Despite the prevalence of images in her work, few scholars have analyzed her artwork or her writings on creativity. To address this gap, I explore the question: How do Anzaldúa's sketches inform her theoretical concepts of creativity and image-making? Analyzing her visual work significantly contributes to academic scholarship, especially for scholars looking to engage with Anzaldúan theorizing beyond that of her written works.Item Disease Receipts - A Body of Artwork(2021) Langley, NicholasTo catch a virus is to inherit a legacy of disease passed along a population of many of those who came before. My most recent paintings explore these concepts with mass figural forms. These forms are influenced by Keith Haring, whose artwork often tackled the subject of Safe Sex. In 2021, we are far more worried about Safe Air. Our concerns are shifting in how we defend against disease. In my works, the swimming, endless swarm of bodies all direct themselves towards a hellish celebration. Multiplier layers of acrylic are used to add a skin-like texture over the surface of the stacking body fragments. Having given in to the contagion, these figures are free to congregate into a miasma. This evokes a conflicting sense of belonging against the need for the distance of sanitary revolt. This kind of abjection, according to Bulgarian-French philosopher Julia Kristeva, is also a desire in disguise.Item Drudge: An Arts-Based Research Approach to Issues on Motherhood, Work, and Social Norms(2021) Hughes, KaristaSocieties stratify their members by social location, which in turn is informed by their material production. Certain types of work, such as domestic duties and childcare are often undervalued. In this exhibition, I portray my series, Drudge, next to the work of other artists who are mothers and the influence of ideal worker norms on working mothers is materialized. The paintings’ are influenced by Kimberle Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality, which delineates the hierarchies and social forces that create work/life inequalities. Social attitudes toward working mothers create a psychological and physical vulnerability that is frequently overlooked in the workplace. I symbolize the psychological and physical effects of unrecognized work/life oppression by placing my mixed-media paintings alongside other artists' work who are also mothers. In my work, Drudge, the plight and entrenchment of working mothers based on intersectionality and social norms are conveyed and I aspire to provoke empathy and social change.Item Dualities of Silence(2021) Wasson Eagan, KimThere are many reasons we find ourselves, at home, alone for extended periods of time. During these times, feelings of isolation, solitude, sadness, missing loved ones and recalling distorted memories may take place. In my work Dualities of Silence, I explore my space in the quiet and bittersweet, as well as the magical moments that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. This photographic study is informed by German philosopher, Edward Husserl’s theory of Phenomenology, which is the study of the structures of experience and consciousness, by studying my own environments’ essential qualities and inter-connectivity. I’m also inspired by French philosopher, Gaston Bachelard’s poetic metaphors of the home. I explore my own spaces, objects and lights contribution to the scenes. I use multiple cameras and image sizes to reflect the domestic and non-linear characteristics of the work in hopes of encouraging viewers to closer observe and explore their own spaces.Item Focused Paintings: Impossible Situations(2021) Day, RandallMy Focused series of process paintings investigate dichotomy by emphasizing the process which these paintings are given life. These paintings are inspired by author Baudrillard's "successive phases of the image" theory which examines an image’s relationship with, or rejection of reality. While inherently abstract, my work also employs visual cues like depth, repetition, and constructed chaos to inform the viewer and challenge their perception of the encounter. I call these paintings “impossible situations” because the abstract composition would, in theory, continue forever if not for being confined by the canvas. I imagine my Focused paintings as snapshots, or slices of an impossible reality. It is my goal that any of my paintings hold a viewer’s gaze for a long period of time, and in this way, make them reconcile an impossible situation made into physical expression. They are perceiving work in the real world but suspended in an abstract reality.Item Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s "art as a mode of research": Applications in feminist research methods and feminist rhetoric(4/25/2018) Ishii, Sara; Keating, AnaLouise, 1961-; Kessler, Mark; Fehler, Brian, 1976-My dissertation explores how Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s theories of creativity inform social-justice efforts, contribute to feminist research in feminist rhetoric, and operate as a tool to analyze her sketches. Despite Anzaldúa’s visual art training and prevalent use of images in her writing, few scholars have analyzed her artwork or her writings on creativity. Drawing on unpublished manuscripts and sketches in the Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa Papers, my project explores two questions. In my first question—How do Anzaldúa’s theories of creativity inform social-justice work?—I examine her writings on creativity that contribute to social-justice work. My second question—How do Anzaldúa’s theories of creativity contribute to feminist research?— applies Anzaldúa’s theories of creativity to feminist research in feminist rhetoric. Specifically, I expand three feminist research practices (reflexivity, flexibility, and a dialogic process) and develop an additional research practice (recursion). Blending these feminist research practices with textual analysis, I analyze Anzaldúa’s archived sketches to identify new connections among her theories on creativity, conocimiento, nepantla, and shamanism.Item Imitating episodic time through kinetic sculpture(2021) del Rio, SophiaMy compositions on paper use an established lexicon: wild animal, seed, and desert landscape to present a narrative. While I strive to suggest elements of time and narrative, my 2D art is static. In my new, sculptural work, I explore episodic time, how humans track the order of events. Dr Edvard Moser’s research theorizes humans record and process episodic time in multiple areas of the brain, creating a sense of time being both linear and circular. To explore episodic time, I place my symbols on the surface of glass and ceramic kinetic sculptures making them permanent. Honey is used as a preservative and medium inside the bodies of the kinetic sculptures. The honey suspends the internal objects; as the sculptures move, the changing positions cannot be repeated, therefore, disrupting the static permanence of the sculpture. Thus, my work explores the ways in which episodic time can be imitated.Item The Intersections of Contemporary Curation and Aesthetic Reality(2021) Spencer, Caitlin E.; Ishii, SaraCuratorial space creates dialogue and shared experiences amongst viewers by informing us of the interconnectedness we share with people, animals, plants and nonliving objects in the world. Art is not merely visual and conceptual perceptions of the mind. It also encompasses the intersections of identity and aesthetic reality. Graham Harman’s ObjectOriented Ontology suggests that non-human entities experience their existence in a way that lies outside of our human-centric definition of consciousness and subjectivity. Speculative realism theory places objectivity over subjectivity when considering the nature of an object’s existence. With these theories, I analyze three to four contemporary artworks that explore Object-Oriented Ontology and will tie in Intersectionality, Post-Humanism, new concepts of perception, and their relationship to curated space to each work. I aim to flesh out the process and information that binds entities together in curated spaces and demonstrate how these concurrent voices strengthen the narrative of intersectional reality.Item Interventions in Art History and Visual Art: A Professor's and Graduate Teaching Assistant's Journey to OEPs(2022) Ishii, Sara; Selman, HannaThis presentation shares the experiences and motivations of Dr. Sara Ishii, Art History and Visual Culture professor, and Hanna Selman, MFA candidate and Understanding Art instructor for using and adapting Open Educational Resources (OERs). Dissatisfied with World Art History commercial textbooks’ limited discussion of global art history, Ishii began her path to Open Educational Practices (OEPs) by adapting existing OERs for her classes. In her portion of the presentation, she will discuss her work on remixing OERs, publishing on this work, and further developing OEPs through the TWU Heart Initiative Grant. Selman, dissatisfied with the culture/gender inequities and the financial inaccessibility of commercial Art Appreciation textbooks, found through working with Ishii, that she can reformulate the TWU Understanding Art course to use OEPs. In her portion of the presentation, she will highlight the process of finding OER’s and implementing them in an accessible way within the digital learning space. Through their interwoven efforts to incorporate OEPs into the visual arts and art history curriculum, Selman and Ishii reflect on the benefits of developing and adopting open access materials in order to address social justice concerns and better serve our students.Item Lyotard's Postmodernism Through Visual Art(2021) Gage, SarahThe COVID-19 pandemic created a strong separation and state of discomfort for people around the world, forcing many to learn how to spend time alone, self-analyze, and attempt to create a healthy relationship with themselves. My photographic series, Over and Over, fabricates a narrative that represents my constant strive to find comfort in discomfort or solace in pandemic isolation. These photographs hold many layers to them, both physically and emotionally, creating a narrative dichotomy that is supported by Jean-Francois Lyotard’s theory of postmodernism that challenges the essentialist narrative. By portraying my self-analysis, I have constructed a void in which my body is suspended. I divide my body into sections put together into unrealistic ways, intertwining with my hair, which appears in various colors. These visuals exist to project my internal battle with isolation and change, as well, compel the viewer into a dream-like state of discomfort.Item (Re)Marks of abuse: Gender violence in contemporary feminists of color art(MAI, 2021) Ishii, SaraIn 1973, Cuban American artist Ana Mendieta invited friends and fellow students to witness a performance piece staged at her Moffit Street apartment in Iowa City, USA. Upon entering Mendieta’s slightly ajar front door, viewers witnessed her body, naked from the waist down, smeared with blood, bent over, and tied to a table. Referencing the recent rape and murder of an Iowa University student by a fellow student, Mendieta’s performance Rape Scene 1973 Moffit Street, Iowa City, Iowa, made direct connections between gender and sexual violence, a victim’s gendered and racialised body, and the emotional impact of trauma. Mendieta’s ‘direct identification with a specific victim meant that she could not be seen as an anonymous object in a theatrical tableau. Her performances presented the specificity of rape, through which she hoped to break the code of silence that renders it anonymous and general, denying the particular and the personal’. (Reckhitt & Phelan 2001: 98) Mendieta’s use of her own body makes specific remarks on violence against women of colour. In addition, the setting of Mendieta’s apartment impacted her audience on an intimate level, and reminded them of their physical proximately to the issue of rape on college campuses. Indeed, she directs attention to the concept that rape most often happens in the private sphere, unlike the public dark alleyways often depicted in media.Item The Simulated Universe(2021) Van Over, ValerieThe Simulated Universe Traditionally considered to be a medium of truth, photography’s verisimilitude has historically been leveraged to represent the world as perceived by the human eye. However, if photographs can lie, then so can our brains. In this presentation, I discuss my Between the Here and Now series that represents a simulated universe. These altered photographs are supported by French poet Jean Baudrillard’s Simulation and Simulacra, in which he theorizes that society’s oversaturation of symbols has reduced the human experience to a simulation of reality. In a simulacrum, reality itself is revealed to be a human construct. Similarly, by intervening in the landscape, I illustrate the fallibility of representation and the possibilities that lie beyond the veil of human perception. The saturated colors and natural beauty are countered by an uneasy feeling of artificiality. I build alternate universes to seduce viewers while challenging their trust in their senses.Item Sketching spirit in everything: Exploring spirituality, interconnectivity, and creativity in Gloria Anzaldúa’s archived drawings(University Institute of Women's Studies (IUEM), 2022) Ishii, SaraGloria Anzaldúa drew important connections between spirituality, interconnectivity, and creativity when she stated, “the idea that everything is spiritual, that I’m a speck of this soul, this creative consciousness, this creative life force; and so is a dog, a rock, a bird, this bedspread, and this wall...Everything is relative, I’m related to everything” (Interviews2000). In asserting a universal relation between all beings based on spiritual affinity, Anzaldúa places spirituality at the core of social justice work. Furthermore, she expands the scope and applications of spirituality to includes all forms of beings and unsettles the separation and hierarchy between humans and nonhumans. In the introduction, I establish Anzaldúa’s articulation of spirituality as social justice oriented, inclusive of all forms of being, and connected to creativity. Next, I examine three of Anzaldúa’s archived sketches of animals and nature and place these images into conversation with her written theories. While the archive holds numerous sketches that incorporate an animal or nature, I select drawings that contain nature and at least one animal rendered in a complex patterning style. In my analysis I explore the questions: How can we read Anzaldúa’s sketches through her writings on spirituality? And conversely, what can we learn about Anzaldúa’s theory of spirituality from her archived sketches? Through compositional analysis, I unpack Anzaldúa uses of imagination to articulate a spirituality that indicates interconnections between humans and our environment. In conclusion, I reflect on the contributions Anzaldúa’s artwork makes in developing her theory of spirituality that creates personal and social change. I argue that academic disciplines invested in analyzing social issues can benefit from examining both Anzaldúa's written and visual theories because she presents a spirituality that is deeply enmeshed with, not removed from, the concerns of marginalized groupsItem "Unless she had implants, she must be Chinese": A feminist analysis of players’ responses to representations of Chinese and Japanese female video game characters(PKP Publishing Services, 2014) Ishii, SaraThis article examines the portrayals of Chinese and Japanese female video game characters in a purposive sample of video games and how users of online discussion forums understand these representations. The majority of game studies scholarship lacks an intersectional component regarding gender and race. As such, this analysis addresses this gap by focusing on the relation between gender and race in the construction of problematic stereotypes existing in gameplay and gaming communities. Drawing on a feminist theoretical framework, Iemploy the concept of “the gaze” to draw a connection between character image and interpretation and their relation to the intersections of gender and race. These intersections are analyzed in both visual and textual form in order to explore alternative methodological approaches and establish the relationship between a character’s image and dialogic interpretations of these images by players. The findings identify how video games and players support stereotypes, and conversely, how player dialogue that challenges oppressive concepts of gender and race may be a means by which to consider alternative approaches to gendered and racialized character design.