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”No Word for Art: Discovering Hmong Creatives Through Multimedia Forms”
Pang Chia Yang, M.F.A. 2025 | Multimedia Producer, Skyward Thesis committee: Erik Evensen, (chair), Jonathan Wheeler, Morgan Barrie Winner, Student Research Grant, 2024 “MAJOUR is a six-part docuseries, accompanied by a set of print magazines, that highlights the stories of six Hmong creatives from Wisconsin and Minnesota—each with a distinct personal and artistic background. Through intimate, first-person narratives, these individuals share their journeys into the creative world, reflecting on the cultural significance and personal meaning of their work as Hmong artists. This creative thesis project not only provides a platform for Hmong voices in the arts but also functions as a cultural archive—an especially meaningful effort given that “the Hmong has traditionally been an oral culture with no written language prior to the 1950s” (Yang, 2024). By amplifying these underrepresented perspectives, MAJOUR aims to foster greater visibility, understanding, and acceptance of creative careers within the Hmong community and beyond.”
—Pang Chia Yang |
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”Graphic Nonfiction for Eco-Educational Resource”
Brianna Capra, M.F.A. 2024 | Independent illustrator & artist Thesis committee: Erik Evensen, (chair), Wendy Jedlicka, Mary Climes Winner, UW-Stout Outstanding Graduate Researcher, 2024 UW-Stout Inspiring Graduate, 2024 Winner, Student Research Grant, 2023 “The genre of graphic novels and graphic nonfiction is experiencing a renaissance. In the past, comic illustrated format was rejected as inferior, even dangerous. In recent years, however, it has begun to gather attention as a respectable form of illustrated literature. This project explores the evolution of graphic media and its use as an informative, persuasive, educational resource that can be applied to socio-environmental subjects. Graphic novels, graphic nonfiction, comics and illustrated guides have been shown to aid literacy, cognition, reading fluency, critical thinking skills, and information retention. Presenting eco-educational content in a graphic format offers environmentally sustainable action steps to a wider audience. People that may not choose a volume of standard nonfiction may find graphic non-fiction more accessible. The creative design component for this project is a graphic guide titled Just Say NOPE to Plastic. The book informs readers about the development of plastic, the environmental problems created by plastic pollution, and strategies for living plastic-free. Just Say NOPE seeks to reach all ages yet specifically targets young people who are concerned about the environment and, familiar with comic style, are likely to be entertained and informed by this graphic guide.”
—Brianna Capra |
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“A Thread Through History: How Interlinking Contemporary Art with Paj Ntaub Can Connect Generations”
Jackson Yang, M.F.A. 2023 | Graphic Designer, UW-Stout Thesis committee: Erik Evensen, (chair), Mary Climes, Mitchell Ogden UW-Stout Inspiring Graduate, 2023 “To Broken Souls is a YA novel that serves as a love letter to my identity as a Hmong American. I explore the intergenerational conflict between the various generations of the Hmong and the cultural conflicts that arise in the wake of a Hmong American boy who feels like he doesn’t belong in either group. This creative thesis project serves to explore the relationship between the duality of culture and identity in both its narrative and visual concept by understanding the history of Hmong folk art and its relation to Hmong independence. By doing so, the visual representation of the story will take the aesthetic found in Hmong Story Cloths and update it in a contemporary manner as a possible route in preserving and engaging interest in Hmong heritage.”
—Jackson Yang |
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“Representation and Diversity in the Horror Genre: How Design Research can Inform the Creation of a Themed Lifestyle Publication”
Jessica Kromrie, M.F.A. 2022 | Marketing Manager at Canomiks Thesis committee: Erik Evensen, (chair), Michael Heagle, Morgan Barrie “Leigh Janiak, director of the 2021 Fear Street trilogy states, “What sets apart this trilogy from other horror series before it is the fact that it centers on the kinds of characters who don’t usually take center stage in horror movies — let alone go on to save the day and survive them” (Serrao, 2021). Although there have been improvements over the last decade, how can we continue to keep representation and diversity at the forefront to improve the content of this specific genre? The goal of this thesis study was to analyze horror films and publications to identify the socially harmful, regressive patterns, and tropes surrounding diversity and inclusion to which many beloved classics fall victim. Design research and a comparative lens are used to inform a new wave of horror media materials that hold diversity, inclusion, equality, and representation at the center. Taking an interest specifically in editorial design, the deliverable produced from this study will consist of Final Cuts, a condensed horror lifestyle publication that is appealing to, and inclusive of, an audience other than the heterosexual, cisgender male. This study followed a research model that consisted of interviews with design professionals, comparative analyses of existing materials, a literature review, and case studies of current horror editorials. Through this study, we gain an understanding of the faults that live within the horror genre and can alter the materials, so viewers see more representation both on and off camera, or in this case, the pages within a publication.”
—Jessica Kromrie |
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“Re-imagining the Spooner Railroad Park as a Center for Community and Railroad History, Recreation, and Edutainment”
Jonathan Alesch, M.F.A. 2024 | Project Manager; independent designer/scholar Thesis committee: Erik Evensen, (chair), Kim Long Loken, Andrew Williams Honorable Mention, UW-Stout Outstanding Graduate Researcher, 2023 “Like many turn-of-the-20th century US towns, the architectural and cultural history of Spooner, WI started with a railroad. But remnants of that history are fading with the passage of time as are members of the community with personal experiences and insights tied to shared community memories. This thesis explores existing design precedences and local Spooner personas to create a spatial design approach which reconnects Spooner’s railroad past with present-day historical and culturally relevant experiences. One of the last remaining examples of railroad architecture, the Spooner Roundhouse, has been selected as the dedicated space for this design approach. The design is delivered within the context of two visitor experiences to accommodate community gatherings, historical time travel and unstructured learning approaches. Finally, a mobile exhibition trailer has been designed and built to communicate the vision for long-term planning and investments.”
—Jonathan Alesch |
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“Designing the Future: Diegetic Sculpture & Literary Adaptation in Speculative Fiction Cinema”
Jonathan Wheeler, MFA 2021 | Assistant Professor of Video Production, UW-Stout Thesis committee: Michael Heagle, (chair), Erik Evensen, Julie Peterson, Robert Atwell, Peter Galante Winner, Student Research Grant, 2019 An examination of speculative fiction storytelling in an effort to explore cultural understanding of reality. Influenced by mid-century sci-fi, as well as 20th-Century utopian, futuristic design philosophers such as Buckminster Fuller and Paolo Soleri, this project examines storytelling through visual communication tools such as diegetic prototyping and contextual imagery.
“I researched the topic of cinema design from conception to post-production. In making short films, I tried to answer fundamental questions about the construction of digital narrative environments: How can sculptural practices be leveraged to create diegetic artifacts? How do visionary writers, artists, and architects conceive designs for the future? How are literary narratives translated into cinematic narratives? Investigating such topics has driven my design research, gathering information by reading literature and by traveling to sites around the country to experience narrative environments first hand. Using photography, drawing, painting, and sculpture to process the information, I move into the pre-production stages of film development by scriptwriting. Essentially, scripts are early prototypes that enable the visualization of specific scenes and shots. Later prototypes consist of short videos. Each of the films I’ve produced as a graduate student is connected through visual aesthetic, genre, and theme. The earlier films directly inform the last two films I’ve produced as a part of my research: The Arconaut and Liminal. In addition to including links to videos in the appendix, I have also included links to samples of the narrative writing process for Liminal and photography collected in the early stages of pre-production.”
—Jonathan Wheeler |