Date of Award
Spring 5-22-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Education
First Advisor
Shana Cinquemani
Second Advisor
Caitlin Black
Abstract
This thesis explores how young artists develop their creative practices in a world informed by digitality. Through survey research of 44 art students between the ages of 14 and 22, as well as a process of autoethnographic inquiry, I examine how artists in high school and college relate to digital imagery, web archives, online gaming, and social media platforms, and how these experiences inform artmaking. I believe that art educators should explore how the internet informs aesthetic and conceptual sensibilities, and how these sensibilities show up in young artists’ work, more so than focus on digital media as its own discrete form. In evaluating the results of the survey, I reflect on how themes such as identity, nostalgia, consumerism, and personal agency manifest in digital spaces and inform the work of artists coming of age today.
Recommended Citation
Capeci, Catherine, "I Miss My Computer: Online Artistry, Web Aesthetics, and Coming-of-Age in a Digital Landscape" (2026). Masters Theses. 1532.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1532
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
Art Education Commons, Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, Social Media Commons, Visual Studies Commons