Art Research
Art Research Projects
May 2024 - 2025
Grace Giroux
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Dana Freeman
Barbie in the Real World: Women Photographers and the Female Gaze
Insignis Honors Capstone
This series of 12 prints explores the theme of women in photography. After researching female photographers, I decided to use my Pentax K1000 film camera to create a series of double exposures. At the heart of this series is the idea of the female gaze. What can be said when women control the narrative of their own stories? These prints are double exposures that create a collage-like image to emphasize that women are multidimensional. The prints depict one image of a Barbie doll superimposed on a snapshot of a cityscape. In doing so, I contrast the “ideals” represented by the Barbie doll in a made-up world with the “ideals” of the real world. By following in the footsteps of women photographers like Vivian Maier and Daniella Zalcman, my creative process shows how women in photography often use their personal female gazes to combat gendered double standards in the real world–those same standards that a Barbie doll both upholds and rejects. This project ultimately alludes to how women photographers use their photos not just as art, but as activism. In creating a print that doesn’t show the viewer something entirely realistic, I invite others to start a conversation.
May 2021 - May 2022
Cultivating Creative Talent Through Journaling
Beth Mateskon
Beth Mateskon will be developing a community project that encourages participants to release creativity and overcome "art scars" through journaling, drawing, collage, and other art practices. The project intends to remedy past deficits in individual creative experiences due to lack of resources in art education or lack of encouragement. In partnership with Dr. Wierich, Beth will be exploring the art historical context of participatory art and social sculpture. The readings include works and writings by leading artists in the field of social sculpture, including Joseph Beuys and Susan Lacy. One of the outcomes will be a better understanding of how creativity, contemporary art practices, and art education can stimulate creative growth.
Faculty Advisor: Jochen Wierich
Funded by: Aquinas College Summer Scholars Program
May 2020 - May 2021
Windy Hill Ceramics
Jamey Limbers
I have come across a property in Kent County that has a large amount of natural clay. I will be mining, refining, and using the clay to create a local clay body that can be thrown on a potters wheel or hand-built in to a vessel. The clay body will also be used as a glaze and a slip to decorate the ceramic pieces. I will also be considering the carbon foot print of an artist by using locally procured materials.
Faculty Advisor: Madeline Kaczmarczyk
Funded by: Aquinas College Summer Scholars Program