This thesis covers my reflections on the inspirations and the motivations behind selected works including my candidacy exhibition; Resonance and my thesis exhibition; after the big wind stops I see gentle waves. It contains my life throughout my MFA studies and the development of my art practice. Through its story-within-a-story method of narration and my describing streams of my thoughts, I am attempting to explain the processes of my development and the discoveries I have made, the little things in my daily life, and the big turning points that inspired me. My work and this document have been strongly determined by my poetic imagination and the emotional events and experiences I have had.

Enact in Disappearance excavates the unseen through the medium of photography in order to chart a new strategy for knowing and communing with a complicated world.

I convey my thoughts through art jewelry; making jewelry is my language of communication and commemoration. Inspired by historical Chinese art and contemporary jewelry, my practice pays attention to bring classical Chinese aesthetics of hazy poetic and ideal arrangement into the contemporary jewelry field. The attention to detail refers to the quiet contemplation and emotional experiences encouraged by each of my works. Through my research, I use metalsmithing language to communicate with non-precious materials finding my own way of expression and meditation. Meanwhile, I build environments that display jewelry off the body in order to construct a picturesque landscape. The research that lead to my thesis work, Through My Windows, which conveys the desire for mental escape. The Jewelry pieces become the keys to open the imagination and emotionally escape into an ideal state through making and viewing them.

Abstract available in pdf file.

Protective coatings are commonly used to protect culturally significant works, such as outdoor sculptures and architectural elements. Given the valuable nature of such metalworks, there is a surprising lack of environmentally sustainable coatings available for their conservation. High performance clear coatings are not developed or thoroughly tested for compatibility and longevity on outdoor sculptures. This can make the implementation of both methods and materials, no matter how promising in a lab, a significant hurdle for the conservation science community. This dissertation work initially aims to replace high-VOC formulations such as acrylic lacquers and waxes currently used as protective coatings for bronze with a waterborne coating by investigating the film formation differences between coating types. Such differences likely have implications for initial film barrier properties as well as long-term performance. For coating any large-scale metal object, cost-effectiveness limits applicable coatings to commercially available resins with some minor adjustments. Additional requirements for protective coatings for artwork require they must also be transparent, reversible, easily applied and environmentally sustainable. The chemical and physical properties of polymeric coatings with nanoclays modifiers were investigated as they may offer superior weatherability and act as better barriers to water absorption than commonly used lacquers and waxes. This work ultimately finds that nanocomposites with poly(vinylidene fluoride) latex and chemically stabilized nanoclays significantly improved performance and may be a viable option in the protection of material cultural heritage. Protection of high value objects where aesthetics is also important, such as airplanes, buildings, and sculptures are among the possible applications for this research.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2018-07-23T12:50:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Talita dos Santos Molina.pdf: 2475717 bytes, checksum: 887e908e9c5d7e53a32ccdd9b6c66c14 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-23T12:50:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Talita dos Santos Molina.pdf: 2475717 bytes, checksum: 887e908e9c5d7e53a32ccdd9b6c66c14 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-05-16 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This thesis presents a study on the process of creation and performance of the Pro-Document - National Program of Documentation of Historical Preservation developed by the extinct National Pro-Memory Foundation - IPHAN FNPM and that, between 1984 and 1988, had as central objective the preservation of private collections as important documents for the recovery of memory and national identity. Focused on the study on the recognition and preservation of private documentary heritage in the country, it analyzes the Pro-Document's proposals in the context of the discussions about new memory demands, renewal of Brazilian historiography and documentary preservation in the 1980s. the documents of the Central Archive of IPHAN - Rio de Janeiro Section, as well as various publications such as the Revista Acervo, the National Archive, the Annals of Congresses of AAB and ANPUH and the AAB Archive and Administration Magazine. The main objective of the thesis was to understand the Pro-Document more comprehensively through an examination of the proposed historical dimensions, conceptions and policies on the preservation of documentary heritage in our country. It was also interesting to inquire about reasons and paths that led to the forgetting of this IPHAN program in the specialized literature on the subject in the following years / Esta tese apresenta um estudo sobre o processo de criação e atuação do Pró-Documento - Programa Nacional de Documentação da Preservação Histórica desenvolvido pela extinta Fundação Nacional Pró-Memória – FNPM e que, entre os anos de 1984 e 1988, teve como objetivo central a preservação de acervos privados como conjuntos documentais importantes para a recuperação da memória e da identidade nacional. Focado no estudo sobre reconhecimento e preservação do patrimônio documental privado no país, analisamos as propostas do Pró-Documento no contexto das discussões sobre novas demandas memoriais, renovação da historiografia brasileira e propostas relativas ao papel das instituições arquivísticas e a preservação documental na década de 1980. A pesquisa teve como fontes centrais os documentos do Arquivo Central do IPHAN – Seção Rio de Janeiro, além de publicações diversas como a Revista Acervo, do Arquivo Nacional, a Revista Arquivo & Administração da AAB, os Anais de Congressos da AAB e da ANPUH. O objetivo central da tese foi compreender de forma mais ampla o Pró-Documento por meio de um exame das dimensões históricas propostas, das concepções e políticas sobre a questão da preservação do patrimônio documental em nosso país. Interessou também indagar sobre razões e caminhos que levaram ao esquecimento desse programa do IPHAN na literatura especializada sobre a questão nos anos seguintes

Time is my bully. Time marks the start of something, as well as the end. We are all carrying out the inexorable passing of time as it relates to our impending mortalities. I do not fear death. The awareness of my body’s impermanence employs me to feel that much more connected to the vessel containing that of which I am. But what am I? Am I my body- or is it much deeper? Through the work executed during my graduate research, I have attempted to quantify my existence through the archiving my time and body. This document ushers you through my perception, my relationship to nature, and how it manifests through discovering answers to what I believe it means to be human.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been embraced by a number of public institutions in Masvingo province of Zimbabwe as part of the government’s drive towards e-governance and improved service delivery. This has resulted in the generation of large volumes of digital records that are invaluable for strengthening accountability, transparency, decision making and service delivery. Preservation of these digital records has been cited as a daunting task for most institutions especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The dynamic nature of information technologies, obsolescence issues, as well as media degradation require digital preservation strategies in place to ensure that digital records remain accessible and usable over time. However, the National Archives of Zimbabwe (NAZ) mandated to preserve all types of records is at the moment unable to ingest digital records from public departments for preservation due to lack of adequate digital storage facilities and skilled manpower. The records creating agencies in Masvingo have been left on their own to deal with the digital preservation conundrum yet they are also faced with similar challenges. This qualitative study utilised the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model as the conceptual framework to explore the strategies for preservation of digital records in Masvingo province in Zimbabwe. Data was gathered through interviews with officials from 13 out of 15 public departments that preserved digital records in Masvingo province, augmented by observation and document analysis. Research data was manually processed and thematically analysed in line with the objectives of the study. The study established that the strategies for preservation of digital records in Masvingo province were failing to guarantee their long-term preservation and security due to lack of supportive legislation, standards, policy guidelines, budgets, adequate and conducive infrastructure and skills. This has resulted in swathes of digital memory being lost. The study recommended the adoption of trusted digital repositories (TDRs) that are compliant to the OAIS standard, close co-operation between records creating agencies, NAZ, information technology (IT) experts and the academia in tackling digital preservation challenges, and the development of preservation policies and guidelines, as well as continuous training and provision of budgets to cater for preservation of digital records. In the absence of infrastructure, the NAZ should consider cloud computing for preservation of digital records as an interim solution while observing legal obligations. / Information Science / M. Inf. (Archival Science)

<p>Impressive examples of the generation of hierarchically-patterned, three-dimensional (3-D) structures for the control of light can be found throughout nature. <i>Morpho rhetenor</i> butterflies, for example, possess scales with periodic parallel ridges, each of which consists of a stack of thin (nanoscale) layers (lamellae). The bright blue color of <i>Morpho</i> butterflies has been attributed to controlled scattering of the incident light by the lamellae of the wing scales. Another stunning example is the frustule (microshell) of the <i>Coscinodiscus wailesii</i> diatom, which is capable of focusing red light without possessing a traditional lens morphology. The photonic structures and the optical behaviors of <i>Morpho</i> butterflies and <i>Coscinodiscus wailesii</i> diatoms have been extensively studied. However, no work has been conducted to shift such light manipulation from the visible to the infrared (IR) range via shape-preserving conversion of such biogenic structures. Controlling IR radiation (i.e., heat) utilizing biogenic or biomimetic structures can be of significant utility for the development of energy-harvesting devices. In order to enhance the optical interaction in the IR range, inorganic replicas of biogenic structures comprised of high-refractive-index materials have been generated in this work. Such replicas of <i>Morpho</i> <i>rhetenor</i> scales were fabricated via a combination of sol-gel solution coating, organic pyrolysis, and gas/solid reaction methods. Diatomimetic structures have also been generated via sol-gel coating, gas/solid reaction, and then patterning of pore arrays using focused ion beam (FIB) milling.</p> Throughout the sol-gel solution coating and chemical conversion steps of the processes developed in this study, attention was paid to preserve the starting shapes of the nanopatterned, microscale biogenic or biomimetic structures. Factors affecting such shape preservation included the thicknesses and uniformities of coatings applied to the biogenic or biomimetic templates, nano/microstructural evolution during thermal treatment, and reaction-induced volume changes. A conformal surface sol-gel (SSG) coating process was developed in this work to generate oxide replicas of <i>Morpho rhetenor</i> butterfly scales with precisely-controlled coating thicknesses. The adsorption kinetics and relevant adsorption isotherm of the SSG process were investigated utilizing a quartz crystal microbalance. Analyses of thermodynamic driving forces, rate-limiting kinetic steps, and volume changes associated with various chemical reactions were used to tailor processing parameters for optimized shape preservation.

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition, Echoes of Home, held at the Tipton Gallery in Johnson City, Tennessee on display March 15 through April 8, 2022. The author provides insight into concepts and influences relating to the creation of the exhibition with perspective on her intimate connection with place and memory. The exhibit features five installations addressing home, elusive memory, and the change and continuity of cultural traditions over time. The works consist of a series of large-scale wild clay vessels, gestural clay bookends, a wall installation of cups with a line drawing, suspended porcelain slabs, and video projection of clay materials “being breathed”. All works explore how the passage of time and the elusiveness of memory affect psychological connection to place. This exhibit is the culmination of iterative exploration of materiality inspired by exchange among the artist, the landscape, and Appalachian culture.