The intent of this thesis is to analyze obsidian artifacts from Chiquiuitan, Guatemala to see if the samples can be traced to known obsidian sources in the Maya region based on their unique chemical elements. Another aspect of this analysis is to determine the accuracy and validity of the Handheld XRF instrument on small and irregular obsidian samples. Furthermore, sourcing analysis allows researchers to acquire information about trade, exchange, and acquisition patterns of the material and gives researchers indications to prehistoric, social, and economic features.

<p>This dissertation examines the role of the Greek mercenary in the history of the Greek city-states from the Dark-Ages down to the end of the Lamian War in 322 B.C. It does not address the strategic and tactical uses of mercenaries on the battlefields of the eastern Mediterranean, but illustrates the social, political, and economic positions of mercenaries both inside and outside of the polis. The principal purpose of this work has been to demonstrate the central role of mercenary service to Greek society and history. This role is demonstrated in the accepted nature of mercenary service among Greek citizens. Greek mercenaries came from all the regions of the Greek world and from all strata of Greek society. Mercenary service was important in forging links between individuals and communities apodemia and, as such, it was a means by which foreigners and foreign rulers could exercise their power and their influence over the Greeks.</p> <p>Historians have studied the military uses of mercenaries. They have also studied specific aspects of mercenary service, such as pay, or specific regions and campaigns in which they served. Never before has one work examined mercenary service as a socio-economic problem for the whole polis period.</p> <p>The sources for this work come from every type of Greek literature. Historians such as Thucydides and Xenophon have provided the narrative and military contexts for the adventures of mercenaries. Philosophers have illustrated attitudes towards military service overseas as well as the status at home. Technical writers, for example the fourth-century strategist Aeneas Tacticus, have provided information on a variety of important issues concerning mercenaries. Forensic speech writers have illustrated how ordinary men served at home and abroad with alacrity and seemingly without care, while political speeches have shown the concern with which some saw the growth in the numbers of Greeks abroad. As well as the literary sources, the coinage of the period has promoted an understanding of payment and the relationships between the employer and those in service.</p> <p>By looking at Greeks who left the polis to serve abroad, either for a short campaign or for their entire lives, a clearer insight into the history of the city-states is achieved. In this study the focus of Greek history shifts from the inclusive communities of the Greek mainland to the tyrants and kings of the Mediterranean and the Near East. The Hellenistic world which emerged after Alexander, (and therefore beyond the scope of this thesis), embraced this wide geographic arena. In their work the Greek mercenaries of the polis period exemplify the continuity of one time frame to the next. The mercenaries aided the synthesis of east with west and as a result they laid the foundations for the world of the Hellenistic monarchies.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This research uses critical theory inquiry with interviews and arts-based research to explore biases about art making in clinical art therapy practice. The literature review establishes an historical link between theoretical tenets in fields of art therapy and art history. Participants are chosen from experts in the fields of art therapy and art history. Interviews explore what art making means to each participant, utilizing both verbal and arts-based processing. The data is condensed through coding and arts-based reflection, and seven emergent themes are identified. The themes are checked with the participants for accuracy. The findings of the paper integrate the insight from the literature review with the expressed views of the participants to illuminate meaning-making processes of art. The paper concludes with identification of an “art historical lens” for practicing art therapy and discussion of treatment considerations, limitations of the study, and suggestions for further research.

To be submitted.

This study will comprise a very limited portion of the general field of building inscriptions, the artistic aspect. This will be done by a presentation of the means and make up of inscription, the critical study of many examples, and the formulation of rules for study and design of inscriptions.

Tucked within Pomona College’s campus in Claremont, California, sits Frary Hall, the home of Mexican muralist Jose Clemente Orozco’s first work in the United States. The mural, titled Prometheus (1930), has been subjected to many instances of vandalism over the years. Thus, in 1980, a protective coating was applied. Today, the coating, a highly-reflective varnish, has been noted as a hindrance of the fresco’s original matte surface. Using case studies and art historical analysis, this thesis examines the importance of the mural within the history of Mexican muralism and the pros and cons of removing the protective coating. In addition, this research looks at the potential of art conservation as a means of reactivating the mural and promoting discussions across campus about the preservation of this cultural landmark. The thesis is culminated by a detailed proposal for the continued conservation of the mural, using Prometheus as a starting point for further discussions about aesthetics and ethics within the discourses of art history, art conservation and art restoration.

Cette thèse analyse la relation entre la préservation des jardins historiques et l’identité nationale. Pour les français, leurs jardins historiques sont une source de fierté. Cette thèse va analyser comment cette place d’importance dans la narrative nationale peut influencer la préservation des jardins historiques. Les trois sites de Vaux le Vicomte, le Potager du Roi à Versailles, et Champ de Bataille servent de mieux comprendre le rôle de l’histoire dans les efforts de préservation. Vaux le Vicomte illustre l’importance de la préservation sur comment nous percevons les sites historiques. Cette site était en tres mauvais état mais avec beaucoup d’efforts de restauration, il est devenu un des sites les plus visités en France. Le Potager du Roi, sert de démontrer quelles histoires sont préservées. Le Potager du Roi a une histoire très riche et variée. Depuis son origine et jusqu'à aujourd’hui, il y a presque trois-cent ans de changements sur ce paysage. Aujourd’hui, il ne reste plus d’évidence du rôle du potager pendant la révolution, ni de l’héritage d’une famille qui a possédé le site pendant trois générations. Champ de Bataille, est la fantaisie de Jacques Garcia- un designer, architecte, et paysagiste. Sur ce site, il a crée un jardin tout a fait nouveau, mais dans un style « historique. » Pour ses efforts de restauration, son site attire des milliers de visiteurs par an. Ces trois sites sont très différents, et ils illustrent trois façons de préservation et le rôle du nationalisme dans le patrimoine français.

William Morris’s Kelmscott Press was founded specifically for the purpose of producing handmade printed works in a rapidly industrializing age. The techniques he and his confederates employed to make the Kelmscott books resulted in beautiful publications with remarkable material fortitude, as exemplified in the Press’s masterwork, “The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer Now Newly Imprinted”. This thesis examines the condition of the copy of the Kelmscott Chaucer in the Scripps rare book collection from a book conservator’s perspective to analyze the connection between William Morris’s personal philosophies, his resulting artistic decisions, and the longevity of the book as an art object.

In 2011, following several years of in-country research, I published a book on Lithuanian folk pottery. I enrolled in the Folk Studies master’s program at Western Kentucky University (WKU) in 2014, well after my research and book had been completed. In the present study, I use my newly acquired knowledge of folklore In my previous work to revisit Lithuanian folk pottery. In my previous work, I had sought to create a picture of “authentic” Lithuanian folk pottery that was confined to the narrow temporal borders of 1861-1918. Here I deconstruct conventional ideas about authenticity, as well as culture and heritage, in order to expand my study to three additional periods: the interwar period of independence (1918-1940), the Soviet period (1940-1990), and the post-Soviet period (1990-present). Examining additional epochs of folk pottery production, I search for the commonalities and continuities binding together both objects and makers through seemingly disparate eras marked by dramatic political, social, and economic ruptures. To do this I examine the interconnected roles of political ideology, revised historical narratives, cultural policy, socio-economics, and concepts of cultural identity. Sifting through these various facets of national identity, I ultimately find that it is in the consistent nature of the adaptations that folk potters and artists make to the dramatically changing circumstances where consistent patterns are found. It is in these circumstances that people must survive, as individuals, a culture, and a nation. This study relies upon three central components: My previous research, texts related to folklore and cultural theory, and a wealth of new interviews conducted in Lithuania between September and November of 2015. Utilizing these tools, I move beyond my previous aim of reconstructing a period of history to engaging with art and culture as living, dynamic phenomena that are ever-changing and present but which possess roots in history and tradition.

This museum thesis project will provide an overview of kindergarten through 12th-grade (K-12) educational programs at six non-collecting art institutions within the United States, contextualized within a selected historiography of art museum education. This project is designed to aid the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA). The ICA is a non-collecting institution that will be located on VCU’s Monroe Park campus. As the ICA staff sets out to articulate a vision and scope for its K-12 education programs, it will benefit from the information offered in this thesis project, especially given that there is no existing literature specifically about K-12 programs at non-collecting museums of contemporary art.