Fur, Pixels, Loved Ones and Other Transients is a paper discussing my practice from 2000 to 2003. It is a personal and theoretical exploration of common concepts and theories in reference to my works Fluff Snuffs (2000), Relentless (2001), Trigger Displacement (2002), Bathing in a Warm Glow of Nothing (2003) and Memory Play Back (2003). The effects of Tele-visual and computer mediated images of death and violence within these works are investigated, which lead to an exploration of fear and trauma. This mechanism of mediation is used within the works as a means of exploring the subtleties within the screen-based image that may go unnoticed or seem disconcerting. The role of the soft toy is an important element in these works and this is further explored by referencing the use of the soft toy in works of several other contemporary artists. These works are discussed to further explore the complexity of ideas on death, violence, trauma, memory and fear / Master of Arts (Hons) (Contemporary Arts)

It is impossible for me to discuss my paintings as something apart from my life. Painting is the only medium I have found through which I can synthesize my love of life, my criticism of it, my hopes, my humor and the truest realization of my world. It is, in fact, my whole way of life. Through paintings I can clarify my thoughts for, in essence, they are my thoughts and my feelings. Paintings do not simply intersperse my life as emotional outbursts. They are products of my life and its search for a place in the "scheme of things". That search starts with an awareness of a relation of all things in the world--a scheme of things--an order. The search of a life for its own place in the order, its relation to everything it contacts, produces the paintings. / Advisor: Edmund D. Lewandowski, Professor Directing Paper. / Typescript. / "July, 1951." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts."

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The "encyclopedic imagination" describes an artist's conviction that a work of art must be expansive and inclusive to a point of total embodiment. The artist (or dramatized artist figure) implies that the work of art must give a total account not only of the subjective life of the artist but of the reality to which the representing self responds. The focus of this study is not on any work's encyclopedic achievement (for the artist's inclusive ideal always remains well outside the actual capacity of the work), but on the relationship of the ideal of aesthetic all-inclusiveness to a problematic ideal of encompassing selfhood for the representing personality. / Following an introduction that establishes modern and postmodern conceptions of the notion of aesthetic totality, this dissertation describes, in six Canadian works, the (untenable) radicalization of the self through the "encyclopedic" ideal. Chapter one considers Ernest Buckler's The Mountain and the Valley (1952) and notes that the protagonist's drive towards total representation is costly to his sense of authentic temporality. Chapter two identifies "total embodiment" as the governing poetic principle of P. K. Page's The Hidden Room (poems c.1942-1997), and suggests the relation of this ideal to Page's apparent creative crisis. Chapter three examines the ethics of all-inclusive representation in Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers (1966) and argues that the novel's vision of the world incorporated into a single body is a reflection of both the totalitarian politic of One Man and of apocalyptic-beatific "total identity." Chapter four looks at Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye (1988) in terms of the trope of the "perverse museum" in Atwood's oeuvre. The novel's treatment of representation as exhibition figures identity as a matter of insatiable demonstration. Chapter five considers the "life-long" poems of Louis Dudek (Continuation c.1971-2001) and bpNichol (The Martyrology 1967-1988) as particularly marked cases of works that must continue until they have enfolded a coherent world-view into an all-encompassing subjectivity. / Each chapter stresses the counterintuitive quality of the "encyclopedic" ideal and demonstrates that a total yet coherent representation of the world seems inversely proportional to a coherent yet total representation of the self.

The problem of this study was to determine whether there was any relationship between selected personality variables and art production with structured and non-structured stimuli.

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This study examined the effect of diagnostic label (schizophrenia, depression, diabetes, or amateur) on perceptions of an artist as measured by social distance, perceptions of aggressiveness, artwork favorability, and monetary value (of artwork). Previous contact with a person hospitalized for mental illness was assessed to determine its moderating effects. Participants were 165 undergraduate students (118 female, 47 male). Results found a significant main effect for label on perceptions of aggressiveness, but not on social distance, artwork favorability, or monetary value. Although artwork was evaluated favorably regardless of label, the label of schizophrenia increased perceptions of aggressiveness, but showed suggestive effects on social distance and artwork favorability. The overall findings suggest a complex relationship between the label of mental illness, previous contact, and the relative sensitivity of perceptions of aggressiveness and social distance to these effects. / Department of Psychological Science

Doctorat en Sciences de la motricité / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

M.Phil. (Sport Management) / Available literature revealed a gap in the body of knowledge regarding the effect of environmental and related factors on the performance of elite under 17 judokas in South Africa in order to address the lack of available research. Scholars increasingly researched the social importance attached to the performance of athletes and the competitive environment, including the role of social agents and simulated training. The aim of this study translates into objectives, namely: i) to describe the sport competition environment through an extensive literature study, ii) to determine the effect of environmental and selected physical factors (sleep and nutrition) on the performance of elite judokas in South Africa in the under 17 age category with a self-designed questionnaire, iii) to determine psychosocial effects on judo performance with the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT) and the Sports Mental Toughness Questionnaire (SMTQ), iv) to determine the effect of environmental factors, selected physical factors and psychosocial factors on the performance of elite under 17 judokas with a focus group, v) to determine the effect of environmental, psychosocial and selected physical factors on the performance of elite judokas from the perspective of judo coaches by way of interviews, and vi) to conduct a comparative analysis based on various variables such as gender, locality, frequency of competition participation and access to resources. Both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered, constituting an exploratory research design. Questionnaires (SCAT and SMTQ) and qualitative data was gathered by way of interviews with judo coaches (n=8) and a focus group with judokas (n=8). In total sixty five (n=65) judokas participated in this study. A purposive sample of coaches and elite judokas were recruited as research participants. Results indicate that judokas have relatively moderate mental toughness (M=41.66) and that mentally tougher judokas experience relatively less anxiety whilst competing (r=-.48, n=60, p<.01). An increase in anxiety is correlated with a decline in performance and medal winning judokas were relatively more confident than non-medal winners. All research participants were negatively affected by not having adequate exposure to environmental simulated training conditions, with temperature as a main factor impacting on performance.

As I began this research, and even as a younger person, I thought it was the responsibility of my father to teach me what it is to be a man and how to embrace manhood. However, through the tools of self-study and autoethnography as a research method, it has become apparent that the responsibility falls upon me to seek manhood and to develop a lifelong practice of building good character. In the words of Dr. Leon Wright (1975), “To know God, one must know all about man.” This research seeks to bring clarity to my efforts to find out who I am. It details my journey from boy to artist to man. It works to highlight the interplay between three aspects of identity that make up my sense of self: racial identity, social/emotional identity (manhood) and lastly, my professional identity as an artist. This writing works to establish a personal meaning for manhood gained through self-reflection, personal experience, and formal rites of passage participation. This research initiates as an investigation concerning the members of my family, and my interaction with the men who have had a direct involvement in my life. This is an endeavor to document my path toward gaining/acknowledging purpose while working to acquire the knowledge of myself. I started with confronting my pain, realizing my creativity and artistry, welcoming my personality, to eventually embracing spirituality, all as a quest for knowledge. The knowledge of myself leads to the comprehension of my purpose in life, without which, as David Deida writes, I would be “totally lost, drifting, adapting to events rather than creating events” (2007, p. 37). This document is my inquiry to this acquisition of life purpose. On this quest, I have since modified Dr. Wright’s words to suggest that, “To know God, one must know all about themselves.”