Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Art Education

Research suggests that museums are not reaching their full potential for including visitors with disabilities (Bienvenu, 2019; Ginley, Goodwin, &, Smith, 2012; Kudlick & Luby, 2019; Rappolt- Schlichtmann & Daley, 2013; Sandell, 2019). Recently, scholars have critiqued art museums for their lack of accessibility (Kudlick & Luby, 2019) and exhibitions that misrepresent disability history (Sandell, 2019). The history of outsider art demonstrates how artists with disabilities are discriminated against in the art world (Prinz, 2017). Creative art centers, programs which provide artistic mentorship for adults with disabilities, are often positioned within outsider art discourse (Wojcik, 2016). Due to discrimination against artists with disabilities, art museums can increase inclusion through engaging with artists at creative art centers. Therefore, I utilized action research methodology to design and implement an integrated art museum professional development workshop for artists with disabilities at Open Door Art Studio, a creative art center, and community artists. The primary objective of the study was to explore how museum practitioners can collaborate with creative art centers to develop inclusive programming for creative art center artists and community artists. Based on interviews with Open Door Art Studio artists and staff members, I structured the workshop around time in the museum gallery for discussion and a collaborative art making exercise in the museum's studio space. For the time in the studio, I paired artists from Open Door Art Studio with community artists to create collaborative art pieces. From the post-workshop interviews, I found that the workshop, especially the collaborative portion, supported social connection between artists from Open Door Art Studio and the community artists. This social connection was demonstrated in the way that artists found things in common with each other, spoke about how they enjoyed meeting each other, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dana Kletchka PhD (Committee Chair); Jennifer Richardson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2005, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1984, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2016, Arts Policy and Administration

The trend towards establishing one's own private collection museum has been on the rise both in the United States and globally. Through research of publicly available data, this study analyzes two case museums: The Pizzuti Collection in Columbus, Ohio, and The Rubell Family Collection and the corresponding Contemporary Arts Foundation in Miami, Florida. Qualitative data was collected from the theme areas of the profiles of their founders, their management and governance strategies, the programs that they provide to their communities, their financial health and amount of public support, and their levels of community was used to situate each institution within Moore's strategic triangle used in nonprofit management analysis to determine the benefit of the existence of these new museums. Research indicated that the case study private museums do generate public value and private museum functionality makes the public museums' lives easier by providing artwork loans and allowing them to focus on their collections rather than making sure that a donor is satisfied with the display of their painstakingly assembled personal collection. The addition of the private collection museum is a positive evolution within the current museum ecosystem.

Committee: Shoshanah Goldberg-Miller (Advisor); Wayne Lawson (Committee Member) Subjects: Arts Management; Cultural Resources Management; Fine Arts; Museum Studies; Museums; Public Administration; Public Policy

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2014, Theatre Arts-Arts Administration

Informative content and visual presentation are each critical when providing a meaningful museum experience for both the casual and sophisticated visitor. For an effective learning experience to take place, knowledge must be turned into information then work in tandem the principles of graphic and exhibition design to achieve successful visual communication. This topic is important to explore because although there are experts in this field, the concepts need to be distilled for a wider audience of museum administration professionals– in all key departments of the museum personnel structure. A succinct document will greatly enhance the collective understanding of the obvious public function of museums and exhibitions, to reveal their higher purpose, which is education. This paper could provide a museum director, education director, curator or an exhibition designer with the incite needed to put together a museum show that is interesting, engaging and educational. It would also be an informative resource for those interested in the new technology developments used to aid a museum visitor.

Committee: Sapienza Neil Mr. (Advisor); Durand Pope Mr. (Committee Member); Gary Holliday Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Arts Management; Design; Museum Studies; Museums; Technology

Master of Arts in American Studies, Youngstown State University, 2007, American Studies Program

The focus of this thesis is to allow the reader to better understand the subculture of living historians. Oral history interviews were conducted over a two-month period with ten living historians from local reenacting groups and living history museums in the Ohio/Pennsylvania/West Virginia area. The interviews wielded information which allows the reader to better understand how the structure of the living history community works, especially the private lives of historical reenactors. Chapter 1 of this thesis discusses the history of the two main subcultures of living history; living history museums and historical reenacting. Chapter 2 describes the interviewees and the structure of living history organizations. Chapter 3 contains many sections, such as For Love of the Game, Edutainment, and Physical and Mental Hardships. This chapter allows the reader to better understand the mindset of living historians, the subculture in which they participate, and the value of living history as a form of interpretation. Chapter 4 discusses the struggles living historians are faced with, including criticism from academics, the public, and even each other and the changing generations of reenactors. Chapter 5 concludes the thesis by discussing the future of living history museums as well as historical reenacting. With support from historical museums, reenactors, and academics, living history does not have to be a dying art in America. Living history allows for an interactive education which intrigues the minds of the audience both young and old. The professional field which struggles financial to support such an intensive program and reenactments, with numbers constantly dwindling, can work together to support one another for the success of living history.

Committee: Stephanie Tingley (Advisor) Subjects:

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2010, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Art History

The 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition offered America an opportunity to showcase her cultural, intellectual, and scientific progress to the world. For the citizens of Chicago especially, the exposition provided the means to demonstrate that their city was an advanced metropolis at a time when many deemed it to be second rate. To achieve this goal, many forward-thinking women throughout the United States were successful in ensuring that the exposition included a separate exhibition space for women to showcase their talents in art and industry. The 1893 Woman's Building was not the first to exist at a world's fair, but it was the first that visibly symbolized women's advancement. Unlike former women's buildings, this Woman's Building was built by and controlled by women. This thesis explores the specific strategies that were used to make this building a success. It also draws attention to the fact that while the Woman's Building was only temporary, it was the first museum dedicated to women artists and it laid the groundwork for the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington D.C., which functions as a separate, but equal museum representing women in the arts.

Committee: Kimberly Paice PhD (Committee Chair); Kristi Ann Nelson PhD (Committee Member); Mark Harris PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2007, Art Education

In this case study, I examine the extraordinary work of contemporary artist Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson and the intersection of my experience as an educator serving as a co-curator for Symphonic Poem, a major retrospective exhibition of her work in 2003. I examine the role of museum educators in developing and presenting exhibitions that empower visitors to discover their own meaning in Aminah's complex and layered work. My examination of the case and my research related to it highlight the challenges and opportunities that face museum educators and all museum workers in an era when museums are examining their relevancy as they compete with all types of cultural and commercial events and venues for people's time and attention. This collaboration between a curator of contemporary art and an educator provides an alternative approach to traditional museum practices and organizational structures and raises important questions concerning the training and practice of museum professionals. In addition to examining the role of museum educators in exhibitions, this work presents strategies to encourage K-12 students and visitors of all ages to critically confront issues of identity, race, and oppression that hover just below the rich patterns and button-encrusted surface of Aminah's work. In the world the artist has created, being black is the norm, but everyone is invited to participate by sharing their memories, stories, and dreams. Art like that of Aminah Robinson helps to fill in the gaps that the modern museum created in regard to marginalizing and ignoring the voices of women and minorities. Educators in the post-museum can become border-crossers themselves in creating exhibitions, linking them with a broad range of communities, and encouraging visitors to become border-crossers as well.

Committee: Christine Ballengee Morris (Advisor) Subjects: Education, Art

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1968, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2007, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, EDU Teaching and Learning

This dissertation research study is two-fold; it aims to bridge the connection between informal and formal learning spaces, as it transforms museum education into restorative learning experiences. Through a qualitative heuristic case study of the Hmong Museum in Minnesota, the findings underscore the significance of community-led museums that go beyond conventional museum practices. It shines a light on the crucial role that museums and museum education play in preserving and celebrating diverse communities when communities are at the core. The study uses an assets-based approach of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) as conceptualized by Paris & Alim (2014). While the Hmong Museum does not notably name CSP as its framework, they are engaging in CSP. These findings highlight the importance of CSP's principles of being beyond relevant and responding to culture, cultural plurality, and critical inward gaze as they are embedded in the Hmong Museum's approach. This framework demonstrates meaningful experiences through the collaboration of the Hmong Museum with the HMong community to enrich the exchange of knowledge, stories, tradition, and culture. As the Hmong Museum presents inclusivity and connection to HMong culture, they amplify the so-often-overlooked stories and single-story (see Adichie 2009) that have guided deficit thinking of the HMong narrative in museums and educational learning spaces. Therefore, in embodying CSP, institutions like the Hmong Museum are grounded in the foundations of assets-based approaches; they encourage and sustain cultural plurality as restorative and trauma-informed educational experiences.

Committee: Timothy San Pedro (Advisor) Subjects: Education; Museum Studies; Pedagogy

Master of Sciences (Engineering), Case Western Reserve University, 2023, EECS - Computer and Information Sciences

With the advent of mixed reality in devices like the Hololens, there is great potential to create and better integrate artistic and social user experiences with these devices. In this thesis, a web user interface along with a Hololens application called Museotify is created on top of the Interactive Commons' CWRUXR framework. This application connects to the Cleveland Museum of Art API to create an unlimited number of unique, user controlled galleries of 2D and 3D artworks for multiple participants in a given session. Executed in real time, the various additional features of the application help to explore the intersection of art and mixed reality by collecting feedback from various students and faculty at CWRU that tested the application. The results of their feedback is synthesized along with existing research on mixed reality user experience to better inform and enhance design choices and production for future mixed reality app development.

Committee: Orhan Ozguner (Committee Chair); Mark Griswold (Advisor); Yinghui Wu (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science

MA, Kent State University, 2023, College of the Arts / School of Art

Many museums display Native American clothing as part of their exhibitions, yet there are both successes and pitfalls to the way institutions present these garments. One common pitfall is that museums perpetuate the stereotype that Native cultures are stuck in the past by nearly always describing objects in historical contexts. Contemporary fashion is rarely discussed or displayed, except for in exhibitions specifically about Native arts. Some museums, such as the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), use display techniques to create exhibitions that fight stereotypes of Native peoples and highlight issues faced by Native communities. This investigation highlights the importance of display techniques in museums and how they utilize both historical and contemporary Native clothing in the execution of their exhibitions. It showcases the place occupied by Native fashion as a vital component of the American fashion identity. This thesis analyzes exhibitions from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, IAIA, and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. Clothing is a useful object for studying in museums because they are some of the most accessible art forms and touchstones; nearly everyone wears some form of clothing or body adornment. Therefore, this thesis investigates U.S. exhibitions of historical and contemporary Native fashions to demonstrate how museums can honor Native peoples in their representations

Committee: Shana Klein (Advisor) Subjects: Art History; Museum Studies

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, History

This project explores the labor history of the Appalachian region and the presence of American labor history in the museum space and in public memory. The first section is a proposal for a Museum of Appalachian Labor Action, detailing the administrative and exhibitionary organization of a museum dedicated to the labor history of the Central, North Central, and Northern Appalachia, situated in Wheeling, West Virginia. The second section, a museum exhibition design titled “The Mine Wars Experience,” attempts to tell the history of the early 20th-century labor conflict, the West Virginia Mine Wars. The final section is an essay titled “Labor in the Museum,” an overall exploration of the place American labor history occupies in the museum space and in public memory more generally.

Committee: David Steigerwald (Committee Member); David Staley (Advisor) Subjects: History; Museums

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Arts Administration, Education and Policy

Organizations across the world found new ways to connect with their communities after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cincinnati Art Museum's Learning and Interpretation team created a social media program called CAM Connect, along with droves of new digital content. This thesis examines the ways social media programs maintained by institutions can cultivate audience relationships and incorporate visitors' voices through the co-construction of digital content. This study also questions the future of such digital initiatives as organizations struggle to devote time and resources to both in-person and digital programs moving forward.

Committee: Tiffany Bourgeois (Committee Member); Dana Carlisle Kletchka (Advisor) Subjects: Art Education

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Theatre

This MA Thesis seeks to continue a longstanding conversation in Theatre Studies about the role of the audience by looking at the concept of active and passive spectators through the lens of play theory and establishing a new category of creative spectator. This study analyzes the way of conceptualizing and engaging visitors in a “visitor-centered museum” developed by the Columbus Museum of Art in 2012 to argue that this method can be adapted and applied to theatre spectators. Finally, I suggest various strategies for transforming theatre lobbies into audience-dominated spaces, which shifts the focus of scholarly conversation away from how spectators perceive what they see on stage, a space controlled by actors, designers, and directors, to what they see and how they interact with material in a space over which they can have more control in the process of making. Using this field of theory and praxis moves the conversation of spectatorship from the stage to audience-dominated spaces, in particular, the lobby.

Committee: Ana Puga DFA (Advisor); Jennifer Schlueter MFA (Committee Member) Subjects: Museums; Performing Arts; Theater

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Art/Art History

The CoBrA art movement (1948-1951) stands prominently among the few European avant-garde groups formed in the aftermath of World War II. Emphasizing international collaboration, rejecting the past, and embracing spontaneity and intuition, CoBrA artists created artworks expressing fundamental human creativity. Although the group was dominated by men, a small number of women were associated with CoBrA, two of whom continue to be the subject of debate within CoBrA scholarship to this day: the Danish painter Else Alfelt (1910-1974) and the Dutch sculptor Lotti van der Gaag (1923-1999), known as "Lotti." In contributing to this debate, I address the work and CoBrA membership status of Alfelt and Lotti by comparing their artworks to CoBrA's two main manifestoes, texts that together provide the clearest definition of the group's overall ideas and theories. Alfelt, while recognized as a full CoBrA member, created structured, geometric paintings, influenced by German Expressionism and traditional Japanese art; I thus argue that her work does not fit the group's formal aesthetic or philosophy. Conversely Lotti, who was never asked to join CoBrA, and was rejected from exhibiting with the group, produced sculptures with rough, intuitive, and childlike forms that clearly do fit CoBrA's ideas as presented in its two manifestoes. Examining Alfelt's and Lotti's individual roles within CoBrA through the feminist art theories of Linda Nochlin and Laura Mulvey, writings by scholars and art historians, and exhibitions and collections, I focus on individual and institutional influences, and patriarchal contexts that shaped these two artists' status in relation to CoBrA membership. In doing so, I also pose questions about who belongs in any art movement, and who gets to decide who belongs, and how all of this is defined complexly over time.

Committee: Katerina Ruedi Ray Dr. (Advisor); Mille Guldbeck MFA (Committee Member); Andrew Hershberger Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Criticism; Art History; European History; Gender Studies; Museums; Womens Studies

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2019, Theatre Arts-Arts Administration

As generations age, the strategy of how to engage up and coming generations in art museums will need to change as well. One of the rising concerns in art museums are how to philanthropically engage millennial aged people. National data from the National Endowment for the Arts and representative data from the Cleveland Museum of Art illustrate the millennial generation's interest in the arts but lack of actual philanthropy towards the sector. An online platform specific to art museums, like crowdfunding, is explored as one recommendation to mitigate the barriers leading to the current lack of millennial giving in the arts. This platform would be designed to capitalize on the millennial generation's preference for values, digital communications, socializing, and data driven results, while also considering their financial barriers.

Committee: James Slowiak (Advisor); Christopher Hariasz PhD (Committee Member); Arnold Tunstall (Committee Member) Subjects: Arts Management; Fine Arts; Museum Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Art Education

This study addresses two research questions: What are Latinx visitors' experiences of their conflicted subjectivity, in experiencing both enjoyment and alienation, within the context of encyclopedic art museums? Furthermore, how do Latinx visitors enact belonging within encyclopedic art museums? These questions redress a gap in the museum literature that discounts the impact of race and ethnicity on visitor experience and subjectivity in favor of universalized models of visitor learning and motivation. The study draws from the theorization of Latinx scholars and artists who have noted the dual experience of pleasure and alienation due to the museum's inattention to their racial and ethnic identity to further a culturally responsive study of Latinx visitor experience. Through this intervention, I advance theorization of how Latinxs both participate in, and contest, the Eurocentric narratives of national heritage that are proposed by encyclopedic art museums. I argue that the conflicted subjectivity experienced by Latinx visitors to encyclopedic art museums is a manifestation of an epistemic and ontological conflict: the ways in which encyclopedic art museums represent Latinidad does not accord with the ways in which some Latinx visitors figure their own subjectivity. By exploring how Latinx museum visitors experience this epistemic and ontological conflict the dissertation offers practical and theoretical guidelines for institutional change that will foster museum visitor inclusion and work toward the decolonization of the encyclopedic art museum. I also question the significance of belonging as a museum aim for its visitors, as well as suggest that the topic requires further study, and propose that welcome might be a more relevant type of experience for Latinx visitors.

Committee: Karen Hutzel (Committee Co-Chair); Theresa Delgadillo (Committee Co-Chair); Joni Acuff (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Ethnic Studies; Hispanic American Studies; Hispanic Americans; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Museum Studies; Museums

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2019, History

This essay and exhibit examines the shifting notion of childhood in the American West during the Progressive Era, from 1890 to 1920, by evaluating the power and limitations of The McGuffey Readers in forging American childhood. Responding to Viviana Zelizer's work on children's social worth, the exhibit places this change into historical context by using The Readers to examine visual representations of children, youth death rates, toys and literature, education, and child labor. Set at The McGuffey House and Museum, the exhibit enables the target audiences (the museum's docents, homeschooling families, and a general audience) to interact with objects that evoke memory and identity. This project takes a scholarly argument and translates it into a public, visual medium. Evoking a somber but hopeful mood in a partially radial floor plan, patrons reflect on their childhood by reading labels that allow artifacts to speak and facilitate an individualized experience.

Committee: Andrew Offenburger (Advisor); Helen Sheumaker (Committee Member); Elena Albarrán (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Education History; History; Museum Studies