Anti-test Protest–Kelly Finlaw

(Created in partial completion of ART 575: Arts in Communication and Social Commentary)

Medium: Digital Photography

Abstract
This artwork is a response to the use of testing as a sole means of assessment in public schools, specifically in New York City.  This artwork falls into the category of “Social Commentary” in that Art as Social Commentary is art that both reflects and creates awareness of political, environmental, religious, and social issues. “ (Corbitt, 2012).  Because this artwork seeks to raise a critical awareness of the need to change, I would see myself as an “Urban Prophet” (Corbitt, 2003).   Specifcally, this falls under the category of “critical movement ideology” because it challenges the “dominant ideas, values, and tactics” of the given institution (Reed, 2005).

The students in the artwork are all eighth-grade students in a public middle school in New York City.  The numbers that they are holding represent the scores that students in the state receive each year, beginning in the third grade, on their state tests. New York State uses a four point grading system to assess the level of each student, with four being the highest level attainable.  Receiving a “two” or higher is passing.  Receiving a “one” is failing and results in summer school.

Objecrated by Hannah Poon

Title

“Objecrated”, a visual art piece from the Dikaios production (Created in partial completion of ART 575: Arts in Communication and Social Commentary)

 

Medium

Mixed Media Sculpture: Maple wood, Plywood, Plaster bandages, hemp string and cotton/polyester fabric

Topic Abstract

“Objecrated” is a sculptural piece that explores the objectification of women and the relation that it has to sex exploitation and sex trafficking.  The piece features a crate that is missing two sides to reveal plaster casted body parts of a dismembered woman.  The feet of the woman are bound together by hemp string and tied to the top of the crate.  The feet dangle down above the torso and the hands.  The top half of the torso, the shoulder and breasts are placed lying chest up and falling out of the crate.  The hips and butt of the torso rests on the three colored fabrics on the bottom of the crate.  The three colors of fabric are black, red and white.  The hands are casted in semi-closed fists.  They are bound together by the hemp string and rest on the bottom of the crate next to the lower part of the torso.  The hands rest on the black fabric. 

Arts for Protest in Egypt

Arts for Protest

The Community Mosaic Model

Amy Tuttle (Arts in Transformation concentration, M.A. Urban Studies, Eastern Univeristy-2011)

Click on the image to view in Prezi

The Science of healing a broken heart

Hannah Poon (AIT-2013)

Medium: Mixed Media

Wood burning on wood, Acrylic plexi-glass, wire, cardboard, fabric, bubble wrap, pins

Topic Abstract:

This piece features 3 anatomical hearts burned into wood.  Each wood burned piece is placed inside an acrylic plexi-glass box.  In the first box, the wood burned heart is sitting on top of cardboard tubes wrapped in wire; protruding on the surface of the heart are metal pins.  The second box is filled with bubble wrap and the heart sits in the box with some of the pins and a set of tweezers scattered around it. In the last box, the heart now free of metal pins sits in red and white fabric.  The last acrylic plexi-glass box is the most evenly constructed unlike the other two boxes which have panels that are jagged or crooked representing the change and healing that has occurred. 

15 Times a Night

Jamaine Smith, Arts in Transformation Concentration, Eastern University M.A, in Urban Studies

15 Times A Nght by Jamaine Smith

Medium
Pencil, Prismacolor Pencil, Marker, and Charcoal

Topic Abstract
15 Minutes A Night is a social commentary piece created to bring awareness to sexual abuse experienced by adolescent girls forced into prostitution and sex trafficking in urban communities, particularly those in Brooklyn, NY. These girls can be forced to engage in sexual intercourse with anywhere from five, fifteen, or more johns a night in order to meet quotas of $500 or more (Zraick, 2010). The piece was created to show the sheer horror, pain, and displeasure experienced by these girls on a daily basis. It is created to spark questions and dialogue: “What is ’15 Minutes a Night’? “Is he raping her!?” The goal of the piece is to bring awareness to the fact that such acts are occurring right within urban communities and is not just a “other” problem (other countries, other states, other communities). The piece can be accompanied by an informative sheet explaining its intention.

Charging the Future

Bethany Reith, Arts in Transformation Concentration, Eastern University M.A, in Urban Studies

Changing the Future

Medium:  Linoleum Block Print

Charging the Future is a social commentary on the cuts that Governor Corbett has proposed for this year’s Pennsylvania budget.