Textiles are a powerful medium -- their association with the body and garments evoke tactile memories. Using weaving, Steven Frost combines yarn and cotton with non-traditional weaving materials from a range of sources, exploring the ways history and time are embedded in materials. Their materials evoke specific narratives and stories, referencing aspects of the artist’s personal and family history, the history of the LGBTQ rights movement, and the recent Women’s Marches, among other topics. In workshops and interactive performance events, the artist invites participants to weave, using laser cut versions of a traditional back strap loom. By bringing together groups to weave collectively, Frost explores the ways weaving can act as a metaphor for communities working together. In the Media Studies department Frost's research focuses on pop-culture, memes, LGBTQIA+ culture, and public scholarship in libraries. They are also the co-founder of the Experimental Weaving Residency and Associate Director of the Unstable Design Lab in the Roser Atlas Institute.
keywords
Contemporary craft, fiber and material studies, performance art, community building, relational aesthetics, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, pubic art
CMCI 1020 - Concepts and Creativity 2: Media, Communication, Information
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2021
Engages key principles and practices in the fields of media, communication and information. Emphasizes the analyses of new and old media, information technologies, verbal and visual literacies, communicative interactions and cultural practices through process-based learning and hands-on projects utilizing multiple modes of expression. Second course in two semester sequence required for all first-year CMCI students. Requires a grade of C- or better to count toward degree.
CMCI 2030 - Thinking Across Disciplines in Media, Communication and Information
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018
Engages key principles and practices in the fields of media, communication and information. Emphasizes the analyses of new and old media, information technologies, verbal and visual literacies, communicative interactions and cultural practices through process-based learning and hands-on projects utilizing multiple modes of expression. Accelerated, one-semester version of the introductory CMCI course for transfer students to CMCI. Requires a grade of C- or better to count toward degree.
CMDP 3310 - Performance Media Cultures
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019
Reflect on the cultural construction of old and new performance media through the lens of emerging practices and contemporary discourse. From ancient theatre to cinema, interactive television to YouTube, and multi-media dance performances to computer games, this course explores how media shape, and are shaped by, various historical and contemporary audiences and contexts.
MDST 1002 - Introduction to Social Media
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2024 / Fall 2024
Introduces students to network structures and principles, the technology and infrastructures that allow them to flourish, and the cultures that grow up through and around them. Explores how social media enables community, how it assembles and empowers agents of change and how design informs individual and group behavior.
MDST 2032 - Visual Literacies & Design
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
Examines cultural visual experiences from critical perspectives and social effects. The course acquaints students with visual design in ways that include image-making as a cognitive and perceptual practice, the production of visual significance and meaning, and the role of technology in creating and understanding mediated images. Students will use a variety of means to produce visual narratives. Meets Practice Course Requirement.
MDST 3341 - Designing Alternative Media Platforms
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018
Explores alternative forms of media to exhibit student research and build connections with community leaders. Surveys alternative exhibition traditions such as Social Practice, Relational Aesthetics and Craftvism to expand the impact of student work, culminating in the design of a unique cultural event focusing on each individual's research. Software/digital presentation skills.
MDST 4331 - Gender, Race, Class, and Sexuality in Popular Culture
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019
Studies the construction, interconnections, and replications of gender, race, class, and sexuality in popular culture and how these constructs become cultural norms and mores. Uses critical methods with a focus on producing responsible viewers and readers.
MDST 4931 - Internship
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019 / Spring 2020 / Summer 2020 / Spring 2021 / Summer 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Summer 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Summer 2023 / Fall 2023 / Spring 2024 / Summer 2024
MDST 5001 - Connected Media Practices
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2020 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Provides a crucial frame through which students understand the evolution of film, television and gaming in the digital era. Explores an impending revolution in how screen media are created, circulated and consumed. Relates to a larger trend across the media industries to integrate digital technology and socially networked communication with traditional screen media practices.
MDST 5405 - Queer and Trans Identities in Popular Culture
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2023
Give students the theory, media history, and cultural frameworks to advocate for better queer & trans presentation in popular media. Uses queer studies, critical theory, media surveys, and trans theory as a tool for discussing and addressing gaps in media representation. Explores the emergence, codification, and rejection of queer and trans identities and deconstructs the popular media that contributed to the formation of these identities. Same as MDST 4405.
