Parts of the Sum is an installation of ceramic, wood, and drawn components which examines the symbiosis of individual and cultural identity: a recursive relationship which engenders unceasing diversity. The installation uses patterns and rule-based compositions as vehicles to address the development of complexity from compounded simplicity as it relates to personality. An immersive meta-network that emulates the complexity underlying identity, Parts of the Sum ultimately relies on the active participation and inclusion of the viewer for completion.

This arts-based study will discuss using a sketchbook journal to enhance creativity and promote the cultivation of the artist’s visual voice. The paper attempts to define creativity, as well as the usefulness of the sketchbook as a creative tool. The results of this study will demonstrate how the effectiveness of the sketchbook journal in the development of the artist can also transcend to usefulness when considering the sketchbook as a curriculum tool in elementary art education.

The Internet has been a mystifying and nebulous concept since its birth in the early 90s (Kelly). Just two years ago in an infamous public address, former Senator Ted Stevens attempted to explain the internet to the masses, calling it a series of tubes (Doctorow). This statement was followed by a flurry of blog postings, YouTube videos and general mockery from the computer savvy communities, thus confirming the fact that most people, besides the geeks, still don't fully comprehend what the Internet is. At its inception, PHDs, scientists and professors of anthropology alike hailed the Internet as a potential "gaia of cultures," and an opportunity for global communication and the exchange of ideas (Harcourt 22). Currently, it would be hard to say that the Internet is only being used for such lofty pedagogical purposes, but true to those scholarly dreams, people around the globe are exchanging ideas, more specifically videos, on YouTube, the world's third most visited website ("Global Top"). After a number of search engines, the fifth and seventh most visited sites in the world are Facebook and MySpace ("Global Top"). These top sites require no qualifications, impressive resumes, or background checks. A working email address, username and password are all anyone needs to be published on the Internet. YouTube, Facebook and MySpace all exist solely for the same purpose - to host content posted by users for others to peruse. If one were to judge our current historical moment based on our websites of choice, it would be fair to say we are self-obsessed. We exist in a culture defined by its desire and ability to look at itself online.

We, as human beings, are unique creatures that have a need to form places. This obsession with claiming spaces and turning them into places starts at a young age. Maybe it is the first time a child goes to the park and claims a corner of the sand pit, because they think the sand is better on the right side. Perhaps it is a specific seat in the bleachers a person sits in at every home football game. Or maybe it is much more significant, like the spot on the path by the curved tree, next to the bike shed where you said good-bye to your family the first day of your freshman year in college.

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This study examined environmental preferences for adolescent patients in hospital patient rooms and activity rooms to determine age-appropriate healing design elements. The health-related quality of life (HRQOL) concept was adapted to this study as a theoretical framework. In order to develop an age-appropriate healing design, a comprehensive understanding of adolescents‘ cognitive developmental stages and their expectations in hospital settings needs to be recognized. Thirty-two adolescent outpatients aged 15 to 18 participated in the survey. Data collection consisted of three different instruments: Emotional state survey with demographics, Photo analysis with semantic differentials, and environmental preference value survey. Comfort, sadness and stress affected adolescent patients‘ preference responses. Adolescent patients preferred having a home-like environment for their patient rooms due to their needs for comfort and control of privacy. They also preferred having enjoyable and controllable activity rooms that supported peer connection, self-identity, and stress reduction. Environmental values that are important to adolescents were control of privacy, a quiet place to go, a place for activity, and having a controllable outside view.

Thesis (MA(Visual Arts))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Georgia State University, 2009. / Title from title page (Digital Archive@GSU, viewed July 20, 2010) Stan Anderson, committee chair; Constance Thalken, Joseph Peragine, committee members. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55).

This paper explores the intertwined history of certain goddesses of the Middle East and the Americas. This history informs the original invented contemporary deities that my project centers around. Using recycled materials and collected objects, my project displays two religious altars, one from my heritage and one from my experience living in Brazil. One altar is based on afro-Brazilian sea goddesses, and one is a contemporary imagined interpretation of a Judeo-Christian female figure. The two altars together compose an installation that seeks to unify a pagan practice and two distinct monotheistic traditions while still honoring their separate parts. These parts is built in the studio.

In my thesis project, I aim to explore the ways in which we can perform parts of our identity by hiding the body through the use of performative disguises. These characters transgress the boundaries between societal norms and abject interactions. In these costumes, I hope to find whether or not the multiple facets of our identities can be distilled into one character--whether the self can be shifted into another character for a constructive narrative.