Thesis Update Post First Draft

Here we are at the end of weeks three of the final semester. I just wanted to give some updates about what I have been up ever since last semester. So far I have made quite a bit of progress in the sense of attending events and getting observational data as well as qualitative data given to me by one of my readers. I am feeling pretty satisfied with the progress that I have made and am looking forward to moving further along with the writing. I have broken down what I have accomplished throughout the past few weeks. Enjoy!
Week 1:

I revised my thesis proposal and sent it to my advisors for review; Tina Lent commented back on the proposal; Joelle Adolfi sent me surveys pertaining to the RMSC after hour events that we discussed in our meeting; I reviewed the comments from last semester's meeting with the faculty and began answering them; I began making a survey for RIT college student to gage what their interests might be for after hour events; finally I attended the College Night at the MAG and did observations. The next week (week 2) I accomplished: I met with Tina to discuss the changes I would make to the abstract and the ideas that Dr. Decker and I discussed in class; I also attended the MAG College Night and did observational work; talked to the professionals running it; I wrote up more about the Strong event and began writing my survey that I will have done next week. Week 3: This week I wrote my first 5 pages of my thesis about the Strong Museum Happiest Hour; I got signed off on my thesis proposal by Joelle and Tina; I am also attending my final observation at the RMSC Friday evening and will observe the behavior and procedure of the event.

Thesis Progress Update

Art of a toad adorns a KC-135R Stratotanker (1988)

Since my first draft of my literature review, I have added 5 pages to my thesis.  Part of my new content is expanded research into folk art.  Finding the correlations between folk art and nose art has provided me many interesting avenues through which to examine the cultural and traditional facets of the art form.  On the project side of my thesis, I've accrued over 100+ high-quality photographs of nose art from the National Archives, and have begun assigning categorical tags based upon artwork content.  This categorization is beginning to indirectly inform the structure of my exhibit, which has placed my immediate priorities on site architecture.  My next actions will be constructing the preliminary architecture of the exhibition, as well as beginning to pare down my images into the selection of content that will best serve the site's visitors.  Next in priority to that is continuing my research on portrayal of women in World War II-era art.  Since winter break, I've gathered additional books and articles on pin-ups and 1940s gender roles, which are sure to provide valuable context once I finish reading and studying them.