Thesis (M.F.A.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-46). / v, 46 leaves, bound col. ill. 29 cm

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: James A. Whitson, School of Education. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A. (Journalism and Media Studies))--Rhodes University, 2004. / Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Toronto, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-06, Section: A, page: 2036. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 294-308).

This study examines the graphic design industry’s call for ‘a South African design language’ in post-apartheid South Africa and how the non-commercial publication i-jusi is envisaged as a space for graphic designers to innovate a South African design language. The central premise of this research is that graphic design, as a form of cultural production, is discursive. In this respect, graphic design practice is constructed and constrained by professional discourse, which is in turn informed by social structures. However, discourse is also a site of contestation and graphic designers may challenge or negotiate professional discourse in their practice. Thus, as Wolff (1981) argues, the possibility for innovation within graphic design practice may exist at a particular historical moment, although this possibility is itself situated within social structures. In this study, the impact of professional graphic design discourse on the attempt to innovate a South African design language in i-jusi is explored. Utilising qualitative interviews and other texts selected from graphic design commentary (conference presentations and published articles), the motivations of the producers of i-jusi are examined with a view to assessing how their articulation of a South African design language is informed by professional graphic design discourse.

This research study presents a theoretical and practical basis for an art curriculum that incorporates writings into the elementary art class in order to enhance students’ meaning making through art. This research is comprised of two related studies. The first study is a case study documenting an elementary school art curriculum unit, which was implemented in an art class at the Austin Korean School (AKS). The second study is an action research project with an individual student from the AKS art class. The goals of these two related studies have been to help elementary students to interpret meanings of images and to construct meanings through both making and viewing images. / text

O texto aqui apresentado é o resultado da investigação artística realizada durante dois anos do curso de mestrado, voltada à realização do projeto Hoje é o amanhã de ontem que culminou na produção do blog Agenda de possíveis. Através de diferentes procedimentos, a pesquisa explora questões relativas aos modos de empregar o tempo no mundo contemporâneo, as suas implicações na produção artística e na experiência cotidiana. Para tal empreendimento, busco aproximações com outros artistas e percorro alguns momentos da história da arte, a fim de contextualizar a própria prática. Também recorro à filosofia, à literatura e à psicanálise, com o interesse de explorar territórios vizinhos e criar conexões que ampliam o entendimento sobre os questionamentos suscitados pelo trabalho. / This text is the result of artistic research conducted during two years Masters Course, aimed at the realization of the project Today is the tomorrow of yesterday culminating in the production of blog Agenda of possibilities. Through different procedures, the research explores issues relating to the ways of employing the time in the contemporary world, its implications for artistic production and everyday experience. For this project, I seek approaches with other artists and I manage some moments of art history in order to contextualize the practice itself. Also I turn to philosophy, literature and psychoanalysis, with the interest to explore neighboring territories and create connections that expand the understanding of the questions raised by the work.

O texto aqui apresentado é o resultado da investigação artística realizada durante dois anos do curso de mestrado, voltada à realização do projeto Hoje é o amanhã de ontem que culminou na produção do blog Agenda de possíveis. Através de diferentes procedimentos, a pesquisa explora questões relativas aos modos de empregar o tempo no mundo contemporâneo, as suas implicações na produção artística e na experiência cotidiana. Para tal empreendimento, busco aproximações com outros artistas e percorro alguns momentos da história da arte, a fim de contextualizar a própria prática. Também recorro à filosofia, à literatura e à psicanálise, com o interesse de explorar territórios vizinhos e criar conexões que ampliam o entendimento sobre os questionamentos suscitados pelo trabalho. / This text is the result of artistic research conducted during two years Masters Course, aimed at the realization of the project Today is the tomorrow of yesterday culminating in the production of blog Agenda of possibilities. Through different procedures, the research explores issues relating to the ways of employing the time in the contemporary world, its implications for artistic production and everyday experience. For this project, I seek approaches with other artists and I manage some moments of art history in order to contextualize the practice itself. Also I turn to philosophy, literature and psychoanalysis, with the interest to explore neighboring territories and create connections that expand the understanding of the questions raised by the work.

O texto aqui apresentado é o resultado da investigação artística realizada durante dois anos do curso de mestrado, voltada à realização do projeto Hoje é o amanhã de ontem que culminou na produção do blog Agenda de possíveis. Através de diferentes procedimentos, a pesquisa explora questões relativas aos modos de empregar o tempo no mundo contemporâneo, as suas implicações na produção artística e na experiência cotidiana. Para tal empreendimento, busco aproximações com outros artistas e percorro alguns momentos da história da arte, a fim de contextualizar a própria prática. Também recorro à filosofia, à literatura e à psicanálise, com o interesse de explorar territórios vizinhos e criar conexões que ampliam o entendimento sobre os questionamentos suscitados pelo trabalho. / This text is the result of artistic research conducted during two years Masters Course, aimed at the realization of the project Today is the tomorrow of yesterday culminating in the production of blog Agenda of possibilities. Through different procedures, the research explores issues relating to the ways of employing the time in the contemporary world, its implications for artistic production and everyday experience. For this project, I seek approaches with other artists and I manage some moments of art history in order to contextualize the practice itself. Also I turn to philosophy, literature and psychoanalysis, with the interest to explore neighboring territories and create connections that expand the understanding of the questions raised by the work.

While new approaches to displaying art free both the art and the viewer from overly didactic forms of curation, there have been very few attempts to examine how viewers negotiate meaning from art when no goal or directive is provided. While some see difference as the critical factor, others use similarity as a way to introduce new narratives. This dissertation research takes a close look at the kinds of things people observe in visual works of art to expose the specific ways that the offerings in the work are made knowable by its viewer and how different modes of presentation might affect the process. A paired design was developed to find out how juxtaposing works on dimensions of similarity and difference might affect what people see in individual paintings and whether the presence or absence of depictive content would be a factor. In three online experiments, participants were tasked with generating as many single words or short phrase responses as they could over a two-minute time period from a selection of modern and contemporary paintings – 32 abstract and 32 representational. In the first study, paintings were presented sequentially. In the next study, the same pictures were purposefully matched for color, composition, style, and thematic content. In the third study, the same pictures were re-paired to maximize difference. Pairing effected an overall decline in number of total comments for representational paintings compared to isolated single-view sequences. In contrast, significant increases were found for abstract art when the adjacent painting was also abstract. Significant consistency in response patterns for both art types across all three studies provide quantitative and content-based evidence for a normative level of engagement, with specific processing effects relative to art type.