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Research and Creativity are widely recognized as a

key component of experiential learning. Indiana State University’s Center for Student Research and Creativity (CSRC) aims to institutionalize student research and creativity, focusing primarily on the undergraduate experience. The CSRC serves as a clearinghouse for information, support, coordination and communication for all student research and creative activities.

Undergraduate research and creativity at ISU means original contribution to a discipline, the application of multiple modes of inquiry to address community needs, and original means of expression through performance. Summer programs like STARS fuse ISU’s core values of experiential learning and community engagement in a mentored-independent project building upon the student’s academic skills.

CSRCCenter for Student Research and Creativity

For more information about the CSRC, please see: http://researchexpress.indstate.edu/index.htm

For the third consecutive summer,

ISU’s Center for Student Research

and Creativity provided stipends for a

group of outstanding students in the

Department of Art and Design through

the STARS (Summer Term Art Research

Scholarship) program. In short, the

students had the rare opportunity to

get paid to make art. Working with

diverse media and processes including

ceramics, design, drawing, photography,

and sculpture, the students gained a real

sense of what it means to be independent

artists. Without the guidelines of course

assignments, it was both exciting and

challenging for them to maintain energy

and focus throughout the project. The

experience, as in past summers,

culminates in a professional

exhibition.

STARSSummer Term Art Research Scholarship

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Table of Contents »6. Kayley Graf12. Ariel McQuade18. Christyna Neal26. J.D. Palmer32. Claire Wilson40. Joel Yoder46. Acknowledgements

Ariel McQuadeSeniorStudio Art & Art Education

Christyna NealSeniorThree Dimensional Studio Art

Claire WilsonSeniorTwo Dimensional Studio Art

J.D. PalmerSeniorTwo Dimensional Studio Art

Kayley GrafSeniorArt Education

Joel YoderSeniorGraphic Design

Kayl

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These portraits are rendered in charcoal on varying sizes of drawing paper. Each one began with a photo I took of myself or someone I know. I heightened the contrast in the photos to get dramatic darks and lights in the drawings. I have always favored drawing charcoal portraits at a very comfortable size of 18x24, but they have always been very standard portraits. I wanted to break away from that comfort zone while still working with the same media and subject.

In my self-portraits I focused on certain parts of the face individually; collectively they make up a somewhat complete portrait. The missing spaces are left for the viewer to fill in or imagine. Details of a face at a smaller scale make the drawings more intimate than a full portrait. It also makes the experience more personal; since the works are smaller only one or a few viewers can look at them at a time.

My other self-portraits aren’t as close up, but still left something incomplete for the viewer to imagine. In the two drawings of hair, the shoulder and side of the face are indicated

by the way the hair lies, but the space is left empty. In another, the definition and outline of the face is missing or the hair is less complete and just drawn out of lines. As with the other portraits, the exclusion of detail and the small scale create mystery and intimacy.

The reason I chose to draw the face in all pieces rather than other parts of the body was because the face is the most looked at and critiqued area of the body. I force myself to accept my own flaws as well as others as I’m drawing and make viewers do the same. Many years of self-critique have increasingly stretched my own comfort with my body, others, and my art. In the process I’ve become more accepting of it all.

Kayley Graf

Kayl

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A Close Look

17" x 11" graphite on paper S T R S

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Growing

10" x 7" graphite on paper

Reflection

13" x 10" graphite on paper

Kayl

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Arie

l McQ

uade

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I had never been of the opinion that art could have presence. I would take art history classes, see the images of works blown up on a projector, and think to myself, “Interesting, neat, okay, next image.” The opportunity to travel abroad convinced me that seeing architecture, painting, and sculpture in person is vastly different than seeing these same things in reproduction. I now aim to create artworks whose physical presence cannot be easily captured in a photograph.

One of the things that I noticed the most was scale. Some paintings or architecture were much smaller or larger than I had imagined. The larger works seemed grander than I could have imagined as they commanded attention and asked viewers to wonder who, how, when, where, and why? I try to create this same presence in my pieces by scale and repetition, influenced by previous “strength-in-numbers” artworks. When the pieces are going well, I feel a sense of “parenthood,” as if the sculptures have a personality and life of their own. The

endless possibilities afforded by metal make it my material of choice; it can be bent, joined, cut, rough, smooth, shiny, dull, rounded, sharp, softened, curved, melted, and—most importantly—it can appear to defy gravity. My metal of choice is nails.

People look at my nail-sculptures and ask me, “Why nails? Why not metal rods?” I like that artists today are pushing the boundaries on what art is and using different mediums now more than ever, breaking traditions and standards. Artists like Frederico Uribe, David Mach, and Ha Schult are the inspiration that drive my work as I try to find the answer to my question, “Why are rods more tasteful than nails, and where is this rule book for creating art?”

Ariel McQuade

Playful

62" x 32" nails and spray paint

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Aloof

33" x 20 1/2" nails and spray paint

Caring

39 1/2" x 26" nails and spray paint

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Chris

tyna

Nea

l 21

My choice of material is clay. Before I begin a new piece, I constantly draw in a sketchbook until I can find a form that interests me. Once I am set on that form, I begin to think about how I can incorporate repetition and other elements into my pieces. The subject matter usually comes from conversations I have with my peers or issues I am facing in life. There could be a combination of thoughts that I have about debatable issues in life. I express what is in my thoughts by interpreting them through the sculpture while attempting not to make the subject so obvious.

This work deals with how I view innocence in birth and how, when a person is born, no one knows if they will fail in life or be great. No one can know for sure how their children will “turn out” because people will make mistakes and regardless of what we are taught at home, it doesn’t control our future.

In this project I used lettering and words as a textural element as well as keys to the subject matter. I also used different colors to express how no one will ever be the same because no one is created the same way. The words are displayed so the viewer can read them to a certain extent before being lost again. That idea is actually a part of the release that comes with creating the work. I’m able to get my thoughts out on the exterior of the sculpture and then let them go because the thoughts are scrambled.

Christyna Neal

Birth fired ceramic

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Birth 2 fired ceramic

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Untitled 1 fired ceramic

Untitled 2 fired ceramic

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Untitled 3 fired ceramic

J.D.

Pal

mer

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My work is about the middle ground between light and dark, and how the human figure occupies that space. The subtle or intense changes that take place when light is cast over a face intrigue me and have led me to try and find various means of producing light for portraits.

I used an open flame as my light source; shadows cast from a constantly moving and flickering light source result in a more dynamic image. The cracks and crevices of a human face are revealed with this technique, sometimes in very striking ways.

My favorite part of portraiture is when everything comes together – when the shadows sink deep and the highlights pop – that is why I make art. That exhilaration when I can step back and say, ‘That’s right’, makes all of the hours of work worth it.

J.D. Palmer

Monsignor Carnicelli Conflagrates the Duke’s Last Will and Testament

33” x 49” charcoal on panel

J.D.

Pal

mer

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J.D.

Pal

mer

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Harvey ‘Hotshot’ Halloran Impresses a Potential Client

33" x 49" charcoal on panel

Isaac Merchant Finds the Warehouse He Was Looking For

33” x 49” charcoal on panel

J.D.

Pal

mer

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J.D.

Pal

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Father Sergeyev on the Night of the Raid

33” x 49” charcoal on panel

Clai

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ilson

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The universe is, essentially, a great black vacuum punctuated by small points of light.

I see this light everywhere—the shafts of sun rays that cut through boughs are one and the same with the light of silent stars that burn beyond human reach. Photography literally reins in this force and uses it as a painter uses pigment, and my main purpose as a photographer is to do just that.

I capture moments and fragments of our world which are illuminated and abstracted by this ancient, intangible light—the ebb and flow of roots and vines, humming power lines bisecting the skies, the curves and hollows of the face—and, in turn, celebrate the same vacuum in the human mind which is penetrated by the stars of thought and consciousness

Claire Wilson

Hydrangea Diver 9 1/2" x 10"

cyanotype

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ilson

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Highway Sounds 9 1/2" x 10" cyanotype

The Shades 13" x 19"

digital photography

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re W

ilson

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Capricorn/Aphelion 8" x 10" digital photography

Shavasana 13" x 19"

digital photography

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Radio Silence 13" x 19" digital photography

Joel

Yod

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Orderly, rational and functional, as a designer my goal is always to bring these characteristics out of any situation I am given. The best solution is not always what is trendy or my favorite style, but what fits the needs of everyone involved. This is what separates my graphic design work from other forms of artwork. The end goal centers on what the viewer needs to see, even if that is not what they expect to see.

The rationale behind my art comes from techniques developed by the modernists of the past, including the Avant Garde and Bauhaus designers. These foundations inform my work, giving me a platform to build new styles and techniques without losing the strong sense of order and rationality necessary to successful designs.

Both in my personal and commercial work, ethics are singularly most important to me as an artist. I seek to show my original thought in all areas, both in producing my own resources and properly crediting derivative pieces. When someone views my work, I don’t want them to recognize the similarity or uniqueness of it, but instead see it as a natural solution - a design that simply makes sense.

Joel Yoder

Hot Rod 13" x 19"

digital photography

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Diaspora 16" x 24" digital photography

Creating the book was a five month process, from conception to completion.

My goal in creating this piece was to provide a consistent theme, visually tying together the entire work without distracting from the various individual styles of the artists.

The chosen theme was to use triangle shapes to ‘slice’ through the pages with semi-transparent overlays and triangular shapes imbedded in the corners. These elements, used throughout the book, allowed me to break up the rigid horizontality of the images and text boxes in the layout.

Each page itself is broken into a 9x9 grid. This grid allowed me to balance text areas following the golden ratio. From that starting point, numerous attempts at this design puzzle lead to the layouts chosen for each section you see.

The most challenging aspect of this project for me was the task of organizing, collecting and creating all the materials needed to complete the book. This included a lot of photography work, which challenged both my technical and artistic abilities. However, the result is one that I am very proud to put my name beneath.

What you hold in your hands right now is a truly collaborative piece, involving hours of experimentation, struggle, patience and iteration. Without the help of everyone you see credited in the acknowledgments, this book would have never come to print. Credit for the quality images and artwork you see in this book belongs squarely to them.

Joel Yoder

About This Book

Joel

Yod

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AcknowledgementsI would first like to thank my fiancé Beth Allard, as this book would have never come to completion without her encouragement, support and coffee table.

A special thanks to CSRC for providing the scholarships needed for all of us to explore, grow and expand our knowledge of art and design.

Thanks to Fran Lattanzio and Nancy Nichols-Pethick for their support and direction of this entire project from start to finish.

Also thanks to all of the other students who took part in STARS, as I could not have completed this book without their patience, input and beautiful art work.

I would also like to thank Claire Wilson, for her help in making the portrait photography awesome and Chester Burton, for use of his photo studio space.

All night sky photography on the cover and table of contents pages are provided by Mathias Krumbholz under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The photo of Fairbanks Hall on the opposing page was provided by ISU Communications and Marketing.

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