Date of Award

Spring 5-8-2024

Author's School

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Author's Department

Graduate School of Art

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Illustration & Visual Culture

Degree Type

Thesis

Abstract

Feminist Design History is a field abundantly sown, with lots of room for growth. This essay digs through seminal and contemporary works of feminist design history to learn how to contribute to the field most thoughtfully. I find that future scholarship must meet four criteria in order to effectively meet the goals of feminist design. The proposed research criteria are to cut across definitions of craft and design, challenge the centrality of individuals, draw from a broad pool of resources, and study objects in and outside of the public sphere. I use these criteria to advocate for design research which elevates objects previously excluded by the design canon, hoping to gain insight on the values of historically oppressed identities. A case study of a block quilt from the Library of Congress’ Quilts and Quiltmaking in America, 1978–1996 allows for testing the efficacy of an artifact-forward research method, Prownian analysis, as a means of studying such objects. Through this case study, I discover the rich potential in highlighting dimmed design histories through subsidizing the more formal, close looking of an artifact-forward approach with the contextual information available in non-design archives.

Language

English

Program Chair

John Hendrix

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