In the narrative painting series Discount Meat, I employ grotesque realism to emphasize the rupture of corporeal and social boundaries, reframing the body as a site of discontinuity whose physical and perceptual structures are in constant flux. Through this approach, I synthesize fragments of lived and observed experience into invented narratives with an emphasis on embodiment. By emphasizing the apertures connecting the body’s interior with the outside world, I seek to problematize the image of a discrete self, suggesting instability as a central element of physical identity. Across this web of disjointed narratives, I strive to portray the emotional range and complexity of human experience in terms of vivid physicality, depicting tedium and pain while allowing space in the work for levity and imagination.

Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Richard J. Harris / To date, no research has been conducted to establish the discourse goals accomplished through social movie quoting. In this thesis four studies were conducted to learn what discourse goals are accomplished through social movie quoting and if Roberts and Kreuz’ (1994) discourse goal taxonomy for figurative language would be a suitable theoretical framework for the study of the social movie quoting phenomenon. Study 1 examined movie quoting without being tied to any specific movie quotes. Demographic variables were correlated with common movie viewing preferences, behaviors, and attitudinal responses. Study 2 had participants generate a realistic movie quote they would actually use for accomplishing each of several specific discourse goals in conversation. Study 3 had participants generate a plain English interpretation of the movie quotes selected from Study 2. Study 4 participants rated the movie quotes and plain English equivalents generated in studies 2 and 3 for aptness and likelihood for use in conversation with the knowledge (Condition 1) and without the knowledge (Condition 2) of the underlying discourse goal. Quotes were randomized and counterbalanced so that half the participants in each condition received all movie quotes first (Group 1) and half the plain English first (Group 2). Results indicated that movie quotes were used to accomplish a set of discourse goals most similar to the traditional figures of speech of hyperbole, understatement, metaphor, and simile. The most common purposes of social movie quoting were to compare similarities and either downplay or exaggerate these similarities. Knowledge of the underlying discourse goal significantly increased the aptness and likelihood of both quote types for several discourse goals. The order of presentation did not significantly affect participants’ ratings. The aptness of the quote was strongly related to participants’ likelihood of using a particular quote, regardless of quote type. Future research should focus on capturing naturally occurring language to further increase the ecological validity of these results. It appears that the act of quoting movie lines in conversation is heavily dependent on individual preferences and a method should be developed to capture movie quoting in such a way. Suggestions for enhanced selection of movie quotes is discussed.

Burford discusses his development as a painter while earning his MFA at the University of Iowa. He emphasizes that he wanted to paint in a style understandable to layman and critic alike and came to be known as a figurative artist. Three black and white photos of the oil paintings laid in. The two paintings "Circus workers" and "Reclining figures" depict African American men, the third "Vigilantes" shows two hooded Ku Klux Klan-like figures.

The purpose of this study was to examine the use and effect of figurative language discourse in examples of expert therapy. More specifically, one of the main reasons for conducting this study was to describe figurative language discourse, its production, use, and potential effects on the therapeutic relationship and client experiencing. Training videos were selected and transcribed using criteria for selection of examples of expert therapy. Fifty-six excerpts, each two-minutes in length, were taken from the transcribed therapy sessions and used for the analyses. One set of raters was trained to identify instances of figurative language and make ratings of shared theme. Another set of raters was trained to use the Experiencing Scales and the Working Alliance Inventory on the transcribed excerpts. Analyses were conducted to investigate the frequency of use and relationship between therapist and client figurative language dialogue. Results indicated that the majority of figurative language used in examples of expert therapy is metaphoric in nature. Additionally, it was found that the majority of figures of speech were frozen in meaning or were commonly used. A small percentage of figures of speech were shared conceptually between the therapist and the client. Regarding the shared figurative language, a statistically significant difference between therapists and clients with regard to their production of shared figurative language was found and indicates that use of shared figurative language by expert therapists may be a subtle and indirect way in which therapeutic alliance is initially established as well as maintained. It may also represent how expert therapists follow content of the therapy session. In addition, a regression analysis conducted to determine if there is a relationship between shared figurative language and ratings of therapeutic alliance did not meet statistical significance. Overall, the results of this study provide preliminary findings with regard to what type of figures of speech expert therapists use and give a clear direction in terms of the next direction for research. Additionally, this experiment provides direction for the type of methodology that should be utilized in future research.

The purpose of this study was to examine the use and effect of figurative language discourse in examples of expert therapy. More specifically, one of the main reasons for conducting this study was to describe figurative language discourse, its production, use, and potential effects on the therapeutic relationship and client experiencing. Training videos were selected and transcribed using criteria for selection of examples of expert therapy. Fifty-six excerpts, each two-minutes in length, were taken from the transcribed therapy sessions and used for the analyses. One set of raters was trained to identify instances of figurative language and make ratings of shared theme. Another set of raters was trained to use the Experiencing Scales and the Working Alliance Inventory on the transcribed excerpts. Analyses were conducted to investigate the frequency of use and relationship between therapist and client figurative language dialogue. Results indicated that the majority of figurative language used in examples of expert therapy is metaphoric in nature. Additionally, it was found that the majority of figures of speech were frozen in meaning or were commonly used. A small percentage of figures of speech were shared conceptually between the therapist and the client. Regarding the shared figurative language, a statistically significant difference between therapists and clients with regard to their production of shared figurative language was found and indicates that use of shared figurative language by expert therapists may be a subtle and indirect way in which therapeutic alliance is initially established as well as maintained. It may also represent how expert therapists follow content of the therapy session. In addition, a regression analysis conducted to determine if there is a relationship between shared figurative language and ratings of therapeutic alliance did not meet statistical significance. Overall, the results of this study provide preliminary findings with regard to what type of figures of speech expert therapists use and give a clear direction in terms of the next direction for research. Additionally, this experiment provides direction for the type of methodology that should be utilized in future research.

The renewed interest in representational figure painting that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s caused artists, art historians, and critics to consider whether or not this contemporary work belonged to the abstract, modernist direction painting had taken in the 20th century. This paper considered the problem as it was reflected in the careers of contemporary figure painters Philip Pearlstein, Jack Beal, and Alfred Leslie. The opinions of critics and historians and the views of the artists themselves were researched. The critics reached the consensus that all three artists' works were a logical extension of the modernist tradition in painting. Pearlstein concurred. He felt strongly that subject matter was irrelevant if the artist's attitude toward it was modernist in sensibility. Beal and Leslie found that abstract modern art was of little interest to them and concerned themselves with figure painting as a narrative genre allowing personal expression.The author also used this issue as a framework for the evaluation of her own series of three representational oil paintings of human figures wrapped in fabric. After describing the paintings, she concluded that they did reveal aspects of the artists' and critics' criteria of modernism (i.e. evenness of detail, large scale, and aggressive imagery) that should be pushed further in future work.

Thesis (MVisualArts)--University of South Australia, 2002.

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts exhibition at East Tennessee State University, Carroll Reece Museum, Johnson City, Tennessee, March 9 - 17, 2001. The exhibition marked her return to organic, gestural work. Works are figurative, ceramic, sculpture, made of paper clay, ranging from 8-inch, wall mounted, bas-relief to life sized, full round figures. Most are slab constructed, unglazed or lightly glazed with soda wash. Topics discussed: the artist's development, including the influences of Stephen De Staebler, in his treatment of the individual in mass culture, and of Mary Frank, in psychological content and in the use of negative space; similarities with sensuality in Georgia O'Keeffe's flower paintings; paper clay technique and the work of Rosette Gault; ceramic workshops in Appalachia; mythology and feminism as inspiration; the effect of nature and environment on art; and Georges Jeanclos. Includes images and discussion of seventeen works.

Ce mémoire amorce une critique sur la problématique des procédés figuratifs à propos des tableaux niçois matissiens (1916-1930), qui se présentent à nous comme les apories d'une pratique picturale vue comme embrayage d'une toute nouvelle figuration. Cette recherche fait le point sur le mouvement des conflits non-résolus, où le repérage de contradictions, de nouvelles mises en rapport, en dehors du discours dominant des oeuvres, sert la transformation du conformisme de notre vision. Le premier chapitre clarifie la notion du retour à l'ordre. Le second analyse les odalisques comme connotant les avants possibles de la figure. Et le troisième est une critique de la théorie réifiée de la valeur esthétique. Dans cette perspective, ce travail cherche à éclaircir la praxis matissienne de la figuration comme catégorie possible de la peinture. / Montréal Trigonix inc. 2018

My thesis exhibition Double Distance is an installation of paintings and sculptures exploring my changing relationship with myself and with my mother as she succumbs to a degenerative brain disease. Through the intersection of surrogate life-size figures made from found objects alongside and within paintings of hugging bodies, the exhibition reveals the simultaneous enmeshment and separation that occurs in caring for my mother. In repeating similar figures within and outside the painted surface, the exhibition reflects on the act of caregiving and the desire to reproduce what is loved and that which has been lost. The works included in the exhibition not only serve as preemptive memorials to my mother, but they also stand as monuments to resilience. The resulting exhibition Double Distance highlights the challenges of holding on and how sculpture and painting can serve as proxies for reconnection.