Art and Art History Senior Integrated Projects
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This collection includes Senior Integrated Projects (SIPs, formerly known as Senior Individualized Projects) completed in the Art and Art History Department. Abstracts are generally available to the public, but PDF files are available only to current Kalamazoo College students, faculty, and staff. If you are not a current K College student, faculty, or staff member, email us at dspace@kzoo.edu to request access to a SIP.
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Item Interim: A Photographic Exploration of The Concept of Liminality(2024-06-01) Garcia, Ana G.; Koenig, RichardThrough my work, I aim to explore American urban and suburban spaces under the concept of liminality while focusing on the interplay of formal photographic elements. The concept of liminality feels transdisciplinary. It challenges our perceptions of mundaneness and invites us to reconsider what we already know. These spaces I have chosen to document are places caught in transit, devoid of human interactions. They evoke feelings of familiarity, ambiguity, uncertainty, and nostalgia. Exploring these spaces guides my own understanding of the connection I have with the subconscious mind and soothes my curiosity about where I am situated within the world. Keywords: liminality, photographic, perceptions, spaces, ambiguityItem Fragility(2024-06-01) Manski, Brett; MacMillan, FirthThe objective of my Senior Integrated Project, entitled Fragility, was to develop several pieces of art using mixed-media sculptures to demonstrate the skills I have learned as an artist and to capture my struggles and personal growth during my college years. During this project I took advantage of several different materials including plaster, fabric, glass, gel beads, chicken wire, string/yarn, wood, purchased base items, materials found in the surrounding environment, and recycled materials. Techniques utilized included multi-use molds, glassblowing, wire-form, stringing, and sewing. I created seven pieces for my SIP exhibition, Blue, Rebuilt, Fractured, Connections, Untitled #4, Untitled #6, and Stuck in a Jar. At the beginning of this process, I was making art to learn a technique and to fulfill a class requirement. At the end of this project, I had found my creative process. Through these pieces I was able to express my emotions and document my personal growth. Although these are my steps in the journey, many of the stages of growth are likely applicable to the typical college experience.Item Dum Spiro Spero(2024-05-31) Mohr, Brooklyn C.; Rice, Thomas, 1960-I’d like to get this out of the way. I had what some may deem a turbulent adolescence. I don’t like to spend much time on it anymore, because I used to spend all my time on it. It was all I could talk or think about. However, I do think it’s worth this brief prelude. I had a turbulent adolescence. I tell you this because I am of the belief that all the very best works of human expression were made by people who understood, on some level or other, a fundamental truth about creation. In order for it to speak clearly, it must be about the Honest Feeling. The story (or image) holds its own merits, each with its purpose. But those are practical matters. Corporeal. So let’s focus on the feeling, shall we? I had a turbulent adolescence and the story, with all its pain and context, matters little.Item Mid-Thought : An Exploration of Feelings and Memories with the Help of Printmaking(2024-06-01) Ingram, Carolyn K.; Rice, Thomas, 1960-This article describes the methodology and ideology present during the creation and completion of Carolyn Ingram’s Senior Individualized Project (SIP). As she explored memories of growing up in Michigan with idyllic imagery to capture moments as well as deal with everyday stressors. Using printmaking, drawing and collage, Carolyn pieced together fragments to create an exhibit of shared nostalgia, peace and reverence for the natural world. The main object of her work was the use of linocut printmaking, where she moved away from using it traditionally with editions to utilize it as a free-flowing painterly tool of monoprint technique. With xerox transfers she merged her snap and shoot film with the softness of paper and printmaking. This sip explores multimedia, handmade paper, family imagery, and nature through traditional and modern printmaking techniques. With the use of multiple mediums, the consistency of mark making, colors, patterns and materials Carolyn created a cohesive sip that welcomed the viewer to slow down and be thankful.Item Embracing Nature’s Touch(2024-06-01) Sharp, Gabriel; MacMillan, FirthMy ceramic pieces are an exploration of textures, glazes, found materials, and firing methods that capture the essence of nature. I aim to bring earth and nature into homes and spaces devoid of such. I seek to draw viewers closer to nature and tradition through texture and unconventional beauty. “It is clay, you know, it’s earth. you know, man seems to have come from this earthly material. You come from it and you go back to it. So it is life and death, really. And that’s the beauty of clay.” Dame Magdalene Anyango Namakhiya Odundo. I believe humans have an intrinsic connection to the earth, we are it, and how I go about making pottery is underscores this connection by using, showcasing and appreciating these beautiful materials. I aim for my work to allow people to reconnect with nature, to ground people in the relationship we share with the Earth, remind them what it is to be human. We do not follow a set of rules—humans are organic, always changing, on a spectrum, and I hope my work reflects that. Embrace the imperfections.