In lieu of the traditional thesis, I have chosen to culminate the Master of Arts in Related Arts program with a creative project and a paper that describes and evaluates the completion of the project. The project involved a personal aesthetic and technical development of the aesthetic in graphic design and communications. Documentation of the creative arts project is presented in a portfolio which includes graphic designs, publications, and news feature stories. The project is interdisciplinary in that it involves skills in art (design) and English (writing) as well as effective interdisciplinary communication skills necessary to produce interdepartmental publications.
Included in the portfolio are: a resume; Celebration ‘80 program and flyers; letterhead, business card, and opening invitations for the Art Gallery Co-op; poster and program for the play Only an Orphan Girl ; the graduate art exhibition catalog; public relations articles about Celebration ’80 and Only an Orphan Girl ; news feature articles about the arts; and Around the Arts, an Eastern Illinois University School of Fine Arts publication.
The paper describes and evaluates the completion of the creative arts project by exploring varying philosophies encountered while working on the creative arts project concerning the nature of art and the creative process. The paper also explores the effectiveness of the materials of the portfolio in terms of integration of the visual and written aspects and the elements of design. The paper discusses line, color, shape, texture, and form as related to the materials of the portfolio. The conclusion of the paper is specifically addressed to a description of the creative process with examples given from the process of designing the materials of the portfolio
