Patterns in Stone. A study of the High Crosses on Inis Mor, Aran
Margaret A Timmes
Subject: Sculpture and High Crosses
10,000 words
This paper aims “to explore the artistry of these crosses.” (In the course of this study, a missing fragment, a cross-head, whose location was unknown since 1980, was in fact located by the author and returned to a place of display on Inis Mor) The sculpture is studied in relation to other high crosses of the period, this includes an in-depth study of the Ringerike panel. Crucifixion imagery; the Temple Brecan crosses; individual motifs; other medieval links; dates and other theories are studied.
The Architecture of the Franciscan Friary at Ross Errilly - History and Design
Niamh Timoney
Subject: Architecture
10,000 words
This is an exploration of the Franciscan Friary a Ross Errilly, one of the best preserved friaries in the country. A history of the Franciscans in Ireland and a briey history of the friary are included, and the ambiguities concerning accurate dating of the friary's founding is outlined. The dissertation offers a critical analysis of the proposed dates in an attempt to resolve the problem. The current architectural state of the friary is then analysed in great depth. The architecture is described in its main sections; the church buildings, the cloister, and finally the domestic buildings. The author finishes by offering a comparison between the general characteristics of Franciscan architecture and that of Ross Errilly.
User Experience-Accessiblity and Incentives to Increase Interest in Art Galleries
Christina Tirziman
Subject: Social Media
10,000 words
User experience is an approach that is used to ensure that the visitors of the art gallery are happy with their visit. Visitor satisfaction is improved by increasing accessibility and usability. Interviews will be carried out to get a better understanding of what visitors want from an art gallery and what they expect from one. The interviews will give insight into how visitors feel about their gallery experience, like what motivates them to go to an gallery in the first place. Improvements can be made to the website and gallery after analysing the answers of the interviewees. A gallery’s website an online presence will be discussed, as this is often the first place that visitors got to get more information. The Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) will be used as an example and a heuristic evaluation will be carried out on the IMMA webite. The IMMA website will also be compared with the Frans Hals museum website.
The Role of Steel in Restoring Structural Stability to the External Brick Walls of 18 Ormond Quay
Austin Tisdall
Subject: 18 Ormond Quay
Approx. 15,000
Conservation and History of Number 9 and 10 Hume Street, Dublin 2
Keiko Tobin
Subject: Conservation
Approx. 15,000
The Ecclesiastical Buildings and Theories of George G. Pace: Rationale and Reality
Lynda Mary Todd
Subject: Architecture
10,000 words
This dissertation aims to examine the theories concerning church design and restoration with regard to the works of the ecclesiastical architect George G. Pace. It also intends to contextualise them in a period of liturgical and architectural reform in British church design of the mid-twentieth century. Although research has been done into this period of reform, the role of George Pace in the advancement of ideas relating to modern church design has been somewhat overlooked as have his reconstruction works in relation to this. The second part then assesses whether Pace managed to achieve an actualisation of his theoretical principles in two of his early post-war restoration projects in York; St Mary-le-Grand, Coney Street and The Church of the Redeemer, Acomb.
Image and Word: The Social and Artistic Aspects of Samuel Beckett and Henri Hayden's Friendship
Jean Tormey
Subject: Painting
10,000 words
This dissertation explores the relationship between the artist Henri Hayden and the playwright Samuel Beckett who wrote about the paintings of the former. Two pieces which Beckett wrote on Hayden's work, in 1952 and 1960, are given particular attention and the author attempts to relate the art of Hayden to these two pieces of writing by Beckett. The study explores what led Beckett, who did not like writing on art, to write about Hayden's work and examines if the two men had any influence on each other artistically. Hayden's work is discussed in detail in relation to his influences and style and the visual aspect of Becketts work is analysed.
Monaghan Railway Station Conservation Report
Bronagh Traynor
Subject: Monaghan Railway Station
Approx. 15,000
The Ecclesiological Society and its effects on Ecclesiastical Architecture in Dublin. 1845 - 1880
Frederic Trench
Subject: Architecture
10,000 words
This aims to show how the development of the ideas of the Ecclesiological Society in England affected Church architecture of the protestant Church of Ireland denomination in the Dublin region. Actual building and restoration work is dealt with as the Ecclesiological Society's interests covered both. "The period between 1845 and 1880 witnessed an architectural revolution of such importance that it even challenged the liturgical and doctrinal ideas within the Anglican Church in England and Ireland."
Anne Yeats, a poet in paint
Deborah Attwood Troop
Subject: Painting
10,000 words
Anne Yeats has had a long career in three areas : set and costume design, book cover design, and painting. “Over the years she has developed, through her use of various media,her own original technique of applying oil on to primed paper.” This paper examines her background and education; stage sets and costume designs; book covers; and painting. Three lists are given in the appendix section, they are of: theatrical productions; book covers; and exhibitions.
Irish Neo-Expressionism: A Female’s Perspective
Georgina Trower
Subject: Painting
10,000 words
This dissertation examines the Neo-Expressionist movement in Irish art in the 1980s, and questions the extent to which it has been regarded as a male dominated genre. The author reviews the anomaly of a predominance of gender-based readings of work which is professedly concerned with individuality. The work of female neo-expressionist artists, including Eithne Jordan, Patricia Hurl and Alice Maher is examined in order to gain an insight into the reality of female artists who worked within this language of expression in the 1980, and these case studies are used to explore where female artists positioned themselves within the supposedly male arena of neo-expressionism.
Anglo-Saxon Boar Representations on Staffordshire Hoard 711 and 358
Fen Isabella Truitt
Subject: Metalwork
10,000 words
This paper examines the representation of the boar on two Anglo-Saxon sword pommels, Staffordshire Hoard 711 and 358. Although scholars have proposed various interpretations of boar depictions in Anglo-Saxon art, there has not been a comprehensive study of the function of boar imagery on weaponry and war-gear. The discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard pommels adds significantly to the corpus of surviving boar portrayals in Anglo-Saxon scoiety by examining the representation of the boar in cultures whose art influenced Anglo-Saxon art. The boar’s representation in Anglo-Saxon literature and art is explored to propose the possible functions of boar-representations on Anglo-Saxon weaponry and war-costume.
From Reynolds to Leibovitz; Are Eighteenth Century Portrait Painters and Twentieth Century Portrait Photographers Really Chalk and Cheese?
Sheena Tucker
Subject: Photography and Painting
10,000 words
This dissertation examines the similarities between eighteenth century portrait painting and twentieth century portrait photography under several headings- children, costume, royalty and death, with the aim of emphasising that these two distinct genres are not actually as different as one would first assume. Artists discussed are Gainsborough, Hogarth, Reynolds and Zoffany.
An appraisal of the history, use and decay of Scrabo sandstone.
Ashley Turner
Subject: Architecture, conservation
Approx. 15,000
The Iconography of Towers (with particular reference to those at Cormac’s Chapel, Cashel, County Tipperary).
Katherine Tynan
Subject: Architecture
10,000 words
An iconological study of Cormac’s Chapel at Cashel in county Tipperary. The thesis focuses on the eastern towers that flank the apse, unique in Ireland during the 12th century. The thesis looks briefly at the context in which they were built. It considers some studies of meaning in architecture, in order to suggest a non-archaeological approach to Irish Medieval architecture.There is a sample survey of the occurence of twin eastern towers in other parts of Europe.
Sight and Symbol: the Breast as Food Source in the long Italian Renaissance
Julia Tyndall
Subject: Paintings, Drawings, Prints
10,000 words
Architectural Patronage in Ireland: the Early Anglo-Norman Lords
Jill Unkel
Subject: Architecture
Approx. 60,000 - 80,000 words
The aim of my research is to examine the patronage of the early Anglo-Norman lords, both ecclesiastical and secular, and to determine if their voices can be witnessed in the architecture of the monuments that they endowed.
Faced with Faces: The Head Capital in Medieval Ireland
Jill Unkel
Subject: Sculpture, Architecture
Supervisor: Dr. Rachel Moss
Picturing the Glorious Revolution: William III and the Political Print in England, c.1688-1702
Robin Usher
Subject: Print
10,000 words
This is an extremely comprehensive exploration of the problems of representing William III. The author approaches the use of print as a means to validate the Kings reign and to persuade the public to embark on an expensive war. The prints encompass satire, portraits and narrative engravings. Themes such as the circulation, iconography and political importance of prints are discussed. The contrasts between the imagery of authorised court artists and commercially minded autonomous artists is also addressed.
Going Dutch. How Commercial Artists from the Netherlands Influenced Irish Graphic Design 1951-1960
Mieke van Embden
Subject: Painting: Print
10,000 words
As Ireland moved into the 1950s, she recognised the need to identify as a modern nation. Aer Lingus was seen by Seán Lemass as pivotal in enabling Ireland to assume her role on the international stage. Accordingly, it required a standard of publicity that could compete with anything produced internationally. The National College of Art (NCA), Dublin, however, was not adequately preparing its design students for careers in the advertising industry. While they were trained in poster design and lettering, instruction in printing techniques was neglected in the curriculum. Graduates were deemed to be too artistic, and without the practical printing skills necessary for graphic design they were avoided by the Dublin advertising agencies.
Tourists, Art, Scholarship, and Architecture: A Study of the Interactions Between Tourism and the Art World as Observed Through Dublin Churches
Kailee Van Zile
Subject: Art, Architecture, Tourism
Supervisor: Dr Peter Cherry
Hungarian Artists in Munich and the Foundation of the Nagbanaya Colony
Johanna Varadi
Subject: Painting
10,000 words
The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss the influence of the Munich School of Art on the development of Hungarian art in the late nineteenth century and also the circumstances that led to the foundation of the artists’ colony in Nagbanaya, which was to establish a centre for modern Hungarian art. During the last few decades of the century, Hungarian artists flocked to the Bavarian capital to obtain academic training, the reasons for which are also closely examined. Munich was a thriving cosmopolitan centre, with a flourishing art market and had a world famous art academy which became increasingly significant for Hungarian artists over the course of the nineteenth century especially one of the its professors Karl von Piloty.
Works of Art or Art that Works: A Case Study of ‘Ireland’s Favourite Painting’, 2012- An Aesthetic Response
Anita Vilka
Subject: Painting and Stained Glass
10,000 words
This dissertation looks at ‘Ireland’s Favourite Painting’ poll, carried out by RTE in 2012, as a case study which offers information on aesthetic response from members of the general public. Since Frederic William Burton’s ‘Meeting on the Turret Stairs’ was voted as the favourite painting, close attention is paid to the visual qualities of the work. In this dissertation, research and discoveries in the fields of psyschology and science take presidents over philosophical approach to aesthetics. This dissertation mainly asks the question of why certain paintings appeal to the public more than others? By considering the research of Yarbus and Landau, their work explores the possibility of experimental aesthetics opening up new horizons for the future approaches to history of art and art appreciation.
Improvised Soundart
Paul Vogel
Subject: Sound art
10,000 words
This dissertation investigates the heritage, practices and processes of improvised sound art, drawing a forceful contrast between the language of sound art and that of music. The author argues that improvising sound artists work according to a set of values, canons and principles that are inseparable from their craft, much like any other artist. The dissertation integrates a study of experimental composers Cornelius Cardew and John Cage and considers the importance of collaborative performance and site specificity in the context of improvised sound art. This dissertation is accompanied by a Compact Disc of sound art recordings.