PNCA Theses

Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/10177/40121

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Savannah Sanford 2024
(0024-11-18) Sanford, Savannah
Lavender Child This thesis explores the emotional and symbolic significance of fabric as a medium for processing grief, particularly the trauma of losing a parent to suicide. Through a large-scale textile installation, I create a space of comfort and protection inspired by my own childhood experiences with loss. At the age of eight, I lost my father to suicide, and the grief that followed left me clinging to comfort objects, especially my baby blanket. Fabric, with its tactile and intimate qualities, became a vital tool in my healing process. This piece, an oversized transparent canopy made from naturally dyed fabrics and adorned with symbols like flowers and butterflies, serves as both a tribute to my inner child and a reflection on the healing journey. It embodies the fragility of emotions during grief, the ongoing need for solace, and the potential for growth and transformation over time. By incorporating eco-printing and materials that evoke personal memories, I aim to create a space that offers comfort and invites reflection. This installation also sparks conversation about suicide prevention, childhood grief, and the role of art in healing and community support.
Morgan Rice 2024
(2024) Rice, Morgan
Xanadu is a tabletop role-play game about social construction: the concept that societies collectively invent the terms that then come to define reality. My purpose is to suggest that there is revolutionary power in this, and to explore the ways in which play, imagination, and nonlinear storytelling can develop viable descriptions of reality outside of Western constructs. My artwork often responds to observations about social systems and epistemologies. From what I observe, the systems that dominate societies worldwide derive primarily from slavery, war, and supremacist Western ideologies, and work in tandem to power a centuries-long process of mass exploitation. In my thesis work, I wanted to distill these intertwining systems into a microcosm that names and deconstructs, but does not reproduce, the violence of these systems of oppression, while making space for creative experimentation with alternatives. Writing the game was also a way of creating a context for the artwork I would make in response to it. The exhibition is designed to show the temporality of the project’s composition, and to offer thematic breadcrumbs about the game’s narrative universe. It functions as a pathway, wall-papered with notes and early concept sketches that give way to more concrete game materials, alongside symbolic works relating to the game’s themes of performativity, social construct, authoritarianism, and community. The “destination” at the end of the pathway mimics the scene in which player-characters find themselves when the game begins.
Sally Jablonsky 2024
(2024) Jablonsky, Sally
Through oil painting, clay sculpture, and a self published magazine, I explore the experience of being a body and an animal on the Earth. I use the body as a source of information to reveal the human fantasy while at the same time creating a new framework to live within–one that shows the human experience in the greater context of the natural world. My work explores: the experience of time and being a body relating to disability, what it is to be a human animal, art making as tool use, aesthetics and care as resistance, and nature as the appropriate context for chronically ill people’s (and maybe everyone’s) experiences. I am interested in undoing hierarchical values assigned to species and in looking to nature, not as a metaphor, but as a place to find commonality among the living beings of this planet. By allowing myself to move between a range of styles within the paintings, I show a respect for a number of things: the physical, the pleasure of looking and of making, and the importance of questioning aesthetics as an essential part of resistance and survival. As it is a part of the fantasy of ableism, I throw away mastery, and instead am guided by the pure fun of making as well as a questioning of my own aesthetic tendencies. Imagery in paintings (a shadow person resting on a floral couch, a tree at night, a doctors' visit, a waterfall scene, and a cat person) come from experiences I've had that have given me a certain kind of awareness of my body–a new perception and relationship involving care and maintenance, physical feeling, and mental picture of who and what I am. I invite viewers to unlearn that we are separate from nature, and to witness a journey through the kingdom of the sick.
Amelia Husbands 2024
(2024) Husbands, Amelia
Addison is a young professional navigating the fast-paced life of Chicago. She’s balancing the demands of a corporate career and a self-absorbed boyfriend. Just as an attractive new client enters her world—captivating her in ways she never expected—Addison begins to question her relationship. But before she can make sense of these feelings, her life is upended by devastating news: her beloved grandmother, Marie, has passed away. Having shared a unique and special bond with her grandmother, who raised her during her formative years, Addison returns to her hometown of Newport, Rhode Island, to attend the funeral and sift through Marie’s cherished belongings. While doing so, she and her mother stumble upon a hidden treasure trove—a collection of old photographs of Marie with a mysterious man from Savannah, Georgia, dating back to 1955. Feeling unfulfilled and intrigued by a mysterious revelation, Addison embarks on a journey to Savannah to uncover the truth about a man connected to her grandmother's hidden past. Guided by her supernatural gifts, she delves into her grandmother’s life while struggling to reconcile her own unraveling relationships. Thesis contains the first half of the novel.
Megita Denton 2024.
(2024) Denton, Megita
The Gathering Project Megita Denton, Thesis Abstract At its core, The Gathering Project is an inclusive reimagining of the public art process through holistic, conceptual, and philosophical designs that are rooted in Indigenous philosophies, in pursuit of transformative change. Such philosophies honor that all beings “have a seat at the table,” which denies human exceptionalism, and provides sacred ways of recognizing the land as the connector of all beings. How we steward land, interact with her, and live alongside her directly sculpts the physical, spiritual, and metaphysical realities of our existence. This way of being with the land is the antithesis of capitalism. I am trying to “gather” all of these factors, elements and beings together to reconceptualize how we engage, finance, view, design, and allow public art in common spaces. The Gathering Project is shedding light on public land art processes for the artist, viewer, and gatekeepers of public art. My arrow is pointing to the resculpting of this process in pursuit of an evolution of public art accessibility for all stakeholders. All elements of my thesis, The Gathering Project, were created at Camp Colton and at my home studio, Able Farms PDX, due to unfortunate inadequacies of PNCA resources and facilities. This project presents a temporary installation as an artistic concept which suggests alternative ways of engaging with the public art process and design. The four tangible elements are: The Four 🗝Elements Wind/Air - Schematic Diagram Earth - Bio-Anchors (ecologically informed sculptures) Water - Living Thesis Document Fire - Manifesto, ⇺Outside of Art⍈ The Gathering Project explores how an independent artist navigates the public art process and encourages viewers to rethink the design and production of public art in this city’s current system.
Oscar Dierker 2024
(2024) Dierker, Oscar
www.cityecology.forsale a series of meditations a blog of prose performance as research photographic documentation extraction of resources commerce in the name of understanding can I sell you some city ecology? can anybody? all in an effort to engage with the built environment
Jordan Flowers 2024
(2024) Flowers, Jordan
Introspection: the examination or observation of one's own mental and emotional process. This set of three paintings and three embroidered doilies simultaneously evokes feelings of isolation and connection, as well as growth.
Brady Wolchansky 2024
(2024-06-24) Wolchansky, Brady
MANIC PIXIE DREAM GIRL SYNDROME, A Micro-Cinematic Experience features the premier of an experimental short film I wrote, co-directed, and starred in called, Manic Pixie Dream Girl Syndrome, an adaptation from a comedic monologue of the same name I performed at an all-female group art show in 2023. This tangential monologue begins with, “you guys ever hear of the expression ‘all beautiful women are crazy’?” The 5-minute short screens at looped intervals in a makeshift microcinema constructed alongside a pop-up museum of “artifacts”; a behind-the-scenes look of the filmmaking process, including but not limited to props, costumes and images from the film’s set. The complete installation revolves around my investigations of the “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” (MPDG) character archetype, as seen in popular romantic films such as, Some Like it Hot with Marilyn Monroe, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and 500 Days of Summer with Zooey Deschanel. In cinema, the MPDG is portrayed as an artsy independent woman who often rejects societal expectations of classic womanhood and domesticity. While the MPDG is presumed to be free-spirited and independent, she is still defined by the expectations of a predominantly male protagonist and is mostly restricted within the confines of said male protagonist’s own personal goals and growth, and rarely displays any self-actualization or true personhood. This exhibition aims to recreate my own version of the MPDG, examined from a modern, feminist lens. Through the aesthetics of filmmaking, stand-up comedy and intermedia installation my hope is to show empathy with those who can relate and rouse awareness of the MPDG trope’s negative effects in others.
Sunshine Tourtillott 2024
(2024-07-23) Tourtillott, Sunshine
DEVOTED TO THE AFTERMATH IS AN EDUCATIONAL AND ARTIST JOURNEY EXPLORING GRIEF, LOSS, AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE. USING FOUR COMPONENTS TO HIGHLIGHT MY PERSONAL FEELINGS IN LOSING FAMILY. I USE A COMBINATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY, CANOTYPE, SEWING, AND CREATIVE WRITING TO PROCESS MY THOUGHTS, FEELINGS, AND RESEARCH. MY PROJECT IS DEEPLY ROOTED IN RESEARCH IN THE AREAS OF GENEALOGY, RELIGION, AND GRIEF COUNSELING. USING MEDIUM FORMAT COLOR FILM, LIGHT, SHADOW, AND SHAPES TO EXPRESS MY FEELINGS OF ISOLATION, MISSED OPPORTUNITY, AND LONELINESS. BUT THAT WASN’T ENOUGH. FOR A DECADE I HAD RESEARCH MY TOURTILLOTT FAMILY HISTORY GOING BACK TEN GENERATIONS. THIS PROCESS WAS VERY MUCH IN TUNE WITH THE LOSS OF FAMILY AND I WANTED TO INCLUDE THE FAMILY I HAD FOUND BUT KNOW I WANTED TO MAKE SOMETHING TANGIBLE THAT I COULD HOLD, THAT WOULD REMIND ME OF FAMILY. THE PROCESS OF CYANOTYPE AND SEWING WAS THAT PERFECT EXPRESSION. TAKING AND PROCESSING THE IMAGES, CUTTING THE COTTON FABRIC, DYING THAT FABRIC AND PROCESSING IT OUTSIDE GAVE ME LAYERS OF TIME TO CONNECT WITH EACH STEP AND MY EMOTIONS. PROCESSING THE CANOTYPES GAVE ME THE SPACE AND TIME TO SIT WITH WHAT I WAS CREATING, TO MAKE BONDED DECISIONS, AND MEET MY ANCESTORS. THE THIRD COMPONENT IS MY MEMOIR WHICH IS CREATIVE NONFICTION WRITTEN IN A DAIRY FORMAT. I DISCOVERED LANGUAGE TOWARD THE END OF THIS PROJECT AND COULD SEE THAT IN ORDER TO FULLY COMPLETE THE CIRCLE OF MY GRIEF FOR MYSELF AND MY AUDIENCE I NEED TO WRITE AND PRINT A MEMOIR. IT'S RAW, REAL, EMOTIONAL, AND HONEST.
Erin Boberg Doughton, 2024
(2024-07-25) Doughton, Erin Boberg
The written thesis Now it’s a Party explores the tensions and possibilities of performance in visual art spaces, with a focus on why and how artists create ephemeral, embodied work in spaces designed for the care and display of objects. The title is taken from a common phrase exclaimed after a glass is broken at a house party. Like a good party, a performance often involves breaking something - a glass, a rule, a social code. Performance relies on a shared (if temporary) belief in the value of process over product, people over objects and the collective over the individual. The exhibition Now it’s a Party extends the thesis to the gallery as an open studio where visitors are invited to share meals, practice simple magic tricks and experiment with creating and recreating documents of performance. Unlike traditional magic - where the magician does not reveal their tricks, everything in the gallery is real and revealed. Visitors are offered a menu of solo and collaborative scores to be performed with domestic objects including tables, chairs, tablecloths, dishes and brooms, revealing the often invisible labor of art-making and caretaking. The objects and actions vary from day to day, documented in an accumulative archive of photographs and ephemera. The documentation includes two primary scores - Do Over (tablecloth trick) and Ghost Broom. The performers in the photographs are Erin Boberg Doughton, PNCA Alum Crimson Ravarra and PNCA student Malique Pye. All photos by Mario Gallucci.
Daisey Pastrana 2024
(2024-11-16) Pastrana, Daisey
Pitch for a 2D animated show in Spanish of 5-7 minute episodes and a teaser of Las Aventuras de Puff y Fluff. As Puff and Fluff are learning the young audience is also learning math, science, and school of life. This shows target audience is children of 4-10 years old. Puff and Fluff are anthropomorphic rabbits whose world takes place in Oaxaca, Mixteco, Mexico. They live in La Loma de Conejo, a small town in the forest near a rancho They have a large family consisting of Mom, Dad, two sisters, and an older brother. With the help of their family, they are learning to navigate the world around them and the importance of community, friends, culture, traditions, and habitat. With their curiosity about the world around them, they are constantly learning about their ecosystem and their place in the world.
Steele Alden 2024
(2024-11-18) Alden, Steele
Ecstatic Utterances is a series of paintings exploring altered states of being through depictions of queer intimacy, religious folklore, and dreams. Vivid, large-scale paintings act as portals transporting the viewer to transcendent worlds where anything is possible and everything is beautiful. Populated with birds, horses, queer bodies, and saintly impressions— these works begin to create their own theology. This series of paintings includes four, large-scale pieces depicting intimate, queer happenings and dreamy landscapes through a mix of graphic shapes and loose, gestural mark-making. The work utilizes complex color pallets, figure interaction, and thoughtfully activated compositions to create an engaging and dynamic body of work.
Samuel Densmore 2024.
(2024-11-19) Densmore, Samuel
An animated pilot following two detectives investigating a suspicious death.
Jacob Reppeto 2024
(2024-11-19) Reppeto, Jacob
I curated an exhibition, consisting of 18 newly made images, all utilizing 35mm film. I also created an installation piece, consisting of a bed, to further push the messaging with this body of work. I also created and performed a performance piece, referencing my depressions and growing up discovering my true identity. I investigated my identity, my traumas and how my hardships have contributed to my character in my 23 years of living. I created this work to be a continuation of my body of work I showed at PNCA in March, “love letters in las vegas,” a collection of work that was a love letter to the people, places and things that kept me alive, this body of work, “burning pages in las vegas,” is connecting the things that tried to kill me.
Ale Uriarte 2024
(2024-11-19) Ale, Uriarte
This is a visual development project, in which I developed a story around three young witches who are all misfits in their own disciplines. In a world in which magic is slowly disappearing, and you can only practice the kind of magic you are born with. An unconventional friendship is born between a healer who would rather break bones instead of fixing them, a necromancer terrified of the dark and everything spooky, and a summoner who is unable to summon in the conventional way who comes from a background of all witches with food related powers. In this project I will show character designs, interactions, prop and background designs and key story moments, which I plan to develop further once I graduate into a visual novel or, if possible, an animated project pitch in the future.
Tania Bejarano 2024
(2024-11-19) Bejarano, Tania
A 2D animation visual development pitch about a girl who is cooking special dishes to remember her late grandmother. However, through this process of cooking there are stages of grief portrayed through each dish, symbolizing her heartache for her grandmother. Set in 1930s Mexico.
Beth Starkey 2024
(2024-11-19) Starkey, Beth
Monsters of Aslamere is a 36-page concept art book, detailing an early civilization fantasy world, with the intention of using it to pitch a video game. The first part of the book details the cast of characters. Part two shows several of the original monster designs created to fill Aslamere’s world. Part three is several finished illustrations used as key art for the feeling of the game. Aslamere is filled with fantastical monsters that still control most of its territories. The people struggle to survive each day, hunting monsters that are just as likely to turn around and return the favor by hunting them. All of this starts to change when a young hunter and aspiring researcher named Kai sets out from their village, along with their small winged familiar, Vanati, determined to create this world’s first monster book. Kai grew up fascinated by monsters rather than fearing them, and so explores every corner of Aslamere to hunt down every monster, gathering information about each of them in different ways. With some luck, food, and a gentle hand, Kai is even able to tame some monsters to bring back to their village. Doing so helps their people expand and open up greater possibilities for farming, crafting, hunting, and traveling for Aslamere, setting the trail for animal domestication in this world.
Francis Bagby 2024
(2024-11-20) Bagby, Francis
“The Urban Adventures of Pigeon Girl” is a 24-page black-and-white comic strip zine which marks the starting point for an ongoing series. It’s written first and foremost to be a satirical young-adult comedy, while touching on themes of anxiety, social awkwardness, and queer romance. The titular Pigeon Girl must deal with everyday problems while living in downtown Port Detritus circa the early-2000s; it’s a city teeming with monsters, mutants, aliens, and everything in-between! But other than that, it’s pretty normal. Her escapades toe the line between ordinary and absurd, with the setting and surrounding characters exaggerating mundane experiences like buying a CD into over-the-top chaos. She’s often pushed into new scenarios by her outgoing friend Kitty Cactus; Kitty doesn’t know it, but Pigeon Girl has a massive crush on her, which helps motivate the plot in their stories together. While the comic is based on my personal experiences with young adulthood, it’s intended for a broader audience including readers from ages 14 to 25 who value unconventional and lighthearted perspectives on the subject.
Maizy Zeringue 2024
(2024-11-20) Zeringue, Maizy
SPR.MRKT is a multi-media animated short teasing a much larger story. We follow two characters who have also been thrown into a confusing situation. I utilize the backgrounds to show the setting and establish it's quirks. I would like to imagine the story being adapted into a comic with about 20-30 chapters, or an isolated series of 10 to 12. The narrative at large follows the two protagonists, Mel and Ryan, as they share the challenge of scaping a horribly constructed purgatory meant to ensure they both get sent to hell or oblivion. The 'trials' in this purgatory are expressed as a poorly run grocery store, with only the two of them, and their overworked 'manager', Quinn. This visual shorthand lends itself to plenty of metaphors about capitalism and individuality, and a central theme of my story is learning to value yourself and your labor despite engaging in systems that may not, like employment, school, and government. I chose to use a wide variety of mediums in this project because I am confident with traditional and digital mediums, and I was eager to further integrate the two in my work; as well as get some good portfolio material.
Kota Abe 2024
(2024-11-21) Kota, Abe
Japanese manga is used not only for traditional entertainment, but also for advertising and educational purposes. My objective is to show American readers new uses for manga by combining American comic culture with Japanese manga culture, and at the same time, to promote understanding of Japanese culture.

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