Silver 2025

Full Thesis Statement / Abstract: “The Future of Design (and of the World) Is Holistic: Examining & Transcending Western Design Pedagogy, Practice & Paradigm” is a digital thesis booklet that positions design as a world-building force and posits that an equitable, efficient, and holistic design industry—and world—is vital, denouncing Western design as canon. Drawing from global pre-colonial design histories, contemporary critique, and speculative frameworks, it presents a compelling case for reorienting design education, industry standards, and everyday applications—advocating for design in service of the collective good

Morgan Berry 2025

Food, community, and religion are key parts of Black culture. All of our family gatherings are always paired with food. It’s a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation alongside some of the recipes that will be discussed. The dinner table is a symbol of connection, and through research from primary sources- such as family members, secondary sources from Black American-centered cookbooks, and Black artists who explore their culture through photography. Shown in the form of collectible cards, recipe book, and dinner table setup this project explores how photography can portray the subtleties of Southern Black American experience from my eyes

Lenny Beach 2025

CRT and the Search for God (MK2) explores the intersection of spiritual experience, analog technology, and material presence. Originating from two profound moments of divine encounter - a vision during a performance by Reverend Kristen Michael Hayter and an unexpected blessing from a Capuchin friar—this project reflects a shift from artistic overcomplication toward radical simplicity and spiritual honesty. Through the use of CRT televisions, water, light, and video footage of prayer gestures, the installation creates a meditative space where technology and spirituality are not opposing forces, but intertwined mediums of encounter. CRT TVs, with their static electricity, scent of heated coils, and visible inner workings - act as relics of memory and ritual, embodying the tactile and imperfect nature of both human, technology and divine connection. Water serves as a site of reflection, transformation, and mystery, bending light and imagery to mirror the often indirect, elusive presence of the sacred in daily life. The process of building the installation - marked by unexpected technical challenges and material failures - became central to the piece, revealing that surrender, trust, and resilience are crucial to both spiritual and creative practice. Ultimately, CRT and the Search for God (MK2) invites viewers to witness and partake in a personal spiritual journey, grounded in vulnerability, community, and the unbreakable search for meaning. This work affirms that faith and creation are not destinations but ongoing processes: embodied, imperfect, and profoundly alive

Soren Spina 2025

For this project I am mostly working digitally to create character designs, backgrounds/environments, and assets, as well as write a 12 minute pilot episode and season outline. The physical style of the piece will combine a more cartoonish style for characters and objects, mixing them with a looser style for backgrounds and environments. Some of my biggest inspirations for Nowhere Special are series like Over the Garden Wall, Yellowjackets and Welcome to Night Vale. I really enjoy the way that a lot of these stories seem to take place somewhere outside of time. The way that the characters within these worlds exist in such a strange and removed place is so intriguing to me. I also really enjoy these stories' balance of comedy and seriousness, as someone who likes to be a bit silly within my work. I really appreciate when a piece of media can find a good balance between fun and plot. My hope for my thesis after graduation is to pitch it to a studio like adult swim or channel Frederator, but since I am aware that getting a series picked up (especially with how streaming treats animation right now) is very challenging, I could also see myself creating my series independently and then releasing it onto a site like youtube for people to be able to enjoy

Sam MacInnis 2025

Where Hyacinths Bloom is an abridged version of a longer film I intend to continue to work on over the summer. In its current form, it is a 2 minute 2D animated short film that explores themes of grief in a dark fantasy setting. In it, we follow Val, a maladjusted young woman who is visibly grieving the recent death of her best friend, Blue. As she goes through the motions of her day, she discovers a book of necromantic spells that has the potential to bring him back to life. With depictions of cartoon blood and heavier subject matter, the film is not extraordinarily graphic but not suitable for younger audiences, and is geared towards fellow fans of dark fantasy in the 18-25 range. WHB takes stylistic inspiration from the Hellboy comics and narrative inspiration from Killed The Cat Production’s short film Fuelled, Celeste Ng’s novel Everything I Never Told You, and Finji’s game Night In The Woods. The layouts feature heavy, graphic shading inspired by a comic style, more specifically the work of Mike Mignola. Val’s character brings to light the numbness a lot of people experience during periods of grief between outbursts of overwhelming emotion. While her characterization has a life of its own, the way she handles grief is largely inspired by myself and the experience I had that inspired this project to begin with

Pearl Lockwood 2025

intersistere explores the connection between our shared subconscious and the collective dream world, aiming to create a visual portal into these mysterious realms. The portal represents the internal subconscious looking within oneself and the dreams that exist. itersistere takes over space as it infiltrates the wall, breaking through and crossing the line of reality and delusion. The felted intestines house the dreamscape that I once entered, looking inside my dream-self, standing between reality and dream. My work is a living research project, and I will continue looking into these ideas and dreams for as long as I am creating. Starting from recurring childhood dreams, my work is about how hypnagogia, hypnopompia and lucid dreaming are an integral part of my understanding of sleep and the way that I process them into my art. My thesis is a look into my mind as a dreamer and artist, how I think, work, and connect to the worlds around me

Keanu Narciso 2025

LOOK! is a conceptual art and design project rooted in the simple, radical act of paying attention. It explores how overlooked fragment s of everyday life such as urban debris, textures worn by time, or incidental compositions can reveal symbolic meaning when approached through slow observation and intuitive response. Guided by the practice of the dérive and the philosophy of presence, I gathered over 500 abstract occurrences from my daily environment, allowing them to lead my creative process. Through archival curation, material exploration, and layered collage, these fragments evolved into a personal visual language—one that speaks to both internal states and external landscapes. The work blurs the boundaries between photography, design, and conceptual art. It embraces both precision and spontaneity, structure and disruption, reflection and reinterpretation. Each piece challenges habitual ways of seeing, inviting the viewer to slow down, to shift perspective, and to find resonance in what is usually overlooked. Ultimately, LOOK! is a meditation on perception, transformation, and creative authorship. It reflects my own journey of breaking routine, rediscovering intuition, and discovering meaning through an abstract lens. The project asks both artist and audience to move beyond surface layer of things, and to recognize the extraordinary potential hidden within the ordinary

Jesse Armstrong, 2025

For my thesis I created a series of character designs, poster illustrations, and icons for my story As Above. In this narrative, the Hell Vessel has descended upon the planet Antigone and unleashed an invading demonic horde. Our protagonist, Princess Alexandria, is fighting to protect her kingdom, but the invasion unearths deeply buried secrets that may tear her kingdom and family apart. The entirety of the project is executed digitally on both Procreate (iPad) and Photoshop (computer). Prior to executing each design I spent time collecting and reviewing reference material, before moving into the thumbnailing and sketch phases, and then into the line art and rendering phases

Ebony Frison 2025

Echoes of American Apartheid is a multidisciplinary thesis that weaves personal memory with historical archive to examine the enduring impact of racial segregation and systemic violence in the United States. Central to this project are my own lived experiences—as a Black woman, veteran, and artist—and the Forgotten Frontlines archive, a collection of over 1,000 rarely seen photographs taken by Newton Carroll, an African American army photographer during World War II. Through photogravure, painting, and prose, this work bears witness to the psychological, emotional, and spiritual residue of American apartheid. By confronting the visual and emotional dissonance of Black life—between visibility and erasure, service and betrayal, memory and myth—the project offers both a reckoning and a reverence. It creates space for ancestral presence, collective grieving, and reimagined belonging. Influenced by thinkers such as bell hooks, Toni Morrison, and James Baldwin, Echoes of American Apartheid is at once altar and archive, resistance and remembrance—a gesture toward healing through radical seeing

Mary Paquette 2025

Instruments of Power is a 2 minute video showcasing and utilizing 3D modeled assets through animation. I have modeled a series of four fantasy inspired 3D objects called ‘Instruments’ that are used as a visual representation of power. These four Instruments include a bident, staff, axe and scythe. In my animation, ‘power’ is used as a means to highlight the importance or authority of an object. Throughout this semester, I have been visually exploring what gives an object power through the use of visual elements and 3D props. There is a fascination and attraction to power within video games. Power and control is an attraction which is obtainable within video games through fantasy objects. Through this project, I explore the attraction around this concept with a mix of marketing and game design through marketing game inspired objects in 3D. The overall style inspiration centers around fantasy genre video games targeting young adults. Throughout this semester, I have experimented with what visual elements emphasize power or authority through showcasing 3D assets guided by animation. Through this project, I dive deeper into what elements attract and engage an audience including; editing and effects, lighting, color, space, camera angles, sound design, and more. In order to make sense of how these elements might make my 3D modeled Instruments marketable toward an audience or group of people. Instruments of Power is the end result of a semester long journey of learning 3D through the program Blender. Before this semester I have never modeled, animated, rigged, created digital materials, and colored in 3D before. I define the success of my work through what I was able to accomplish