powerpoint 5b

perception & spatial awareness

DR. BETTY EDWARDS – DRAWING ON THE ARTIST WITHIN

a holistic mind• pink & edwards

– dr. betty edwards is a professor of art at california state university and has contributed to the studies of creativity, the creative process and the artistic process

– like daniel h. pink, edwards examines the relationship between the right and left brains, and how right-brain qualities are often overlooked or discredited

• r-mode: visual, spatial, relational thinking – “the right half of the brain functions in a nonverbal

manner, specializing in visual, spatial, perceptual information”

– r-mode (right-brain mode) processes are nonlinear and non-sequential

– r-mode operates in simultaneity and views components as wholes as opposed to constituent parts

Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Artist Within. New York, NY: Fireside Book – Simon & Schuster Inc., 1986.

r-mode in useCOMPARISON OF THE TWO

MODESl-mode r-mode

verbal communication nonverbal communication

syntactical perceptual

linear global

sequential simultaneous

analytic synthetic

logical intuitive

symbolic concrete

temporal anachronistic

digital spatial

r-mode in everyday use

– driving on the highway requires the use of the right-brain

– highway driving “requires rapid processing of constantly changing simultaneous, visual, perceptual information”

– r-mode is ideally suited for this complex, visual, perceptual task

– it handles the task so well, that most people engage in multitasking while driving

– and during driving, or similar routine yet complex tasks, many people describe having eureka! moments of creativity

Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Artist Within. New York, NY: Fireside Book – Simon & Schuster Inc., 1986.

r-mode in perception

• conception vs. perception– a common tenant in art classes is “draw what you see, not

what you think you see”• our analytical, sequential mind often dissects objects into small

parts for ease of drawing • yet, this often confuses the student because details and

components become important as opposed to placement, perspective and proportion

• artwork looks more accurate or naturalistic when objects and figures are in proportion – this relies on holistic thinking: the comparison of one part to the whole, but also the whole itself

• preconceived and preprogrammed notions – try drawing an apple on a piece of paper– do this from memory – then look at an actual apple or a photograph of an apple – now try drawing it again – do you see the differences in your drawing? – the first is your conception or idea of what you see or think

you see – the second requires observation and perception

Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Artist Within. New York, NY: Fireside Book – Simon & Schuster Inc., 1986.

r-mode in perception

• the strength of conception– l-mode processing often tries to dominate r-mode– as such, conception often overcompensates or replaces

perception – as you are drawing, you might find that you continue to

draw things that are not there – this means your l-mode assumes and you draw those

assumptions; that is what you think it looks like or should look like

– then you might find when you look up and observe once more, the object is entirely different than your rendering

• how we understand space– perspective and proportion: objects closer to us seem

larger; objects in the distance seem to diminish in size – parallax: as we move from one vantage point to

another, objects closes to us seem to move and change position more quickly than objects in the distance (which might appear to not move at all)

– paradox: images that conflict and seem to change their dynamic (referred to as optical illusions)

Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Artist Within. New York, NY: Fireside Book – Simon & Schuster Inc., 1986.

paradoxical images• dropping a glitch into the system

– seeing is not just an act of the eye but one of the mind– this is proved by images cause a glitch in the brain’s programming – these images are not one but two or more – observation, spatial awareness and visual perception are components of creative processes

and critical thinking

Edwards, Betty. Drawing on the Artist Within. New York, NY: Fireside Book – Simon & Schuster Inc., 1986.

which is the front size of the cube? a or b?

A

B

is it a duck or rabbit? is it an old woman or a young woman?

are these two spheres the same size or is one larger than the other?

other optical illusions

• dropping a glitch into the system – optical illusions can affect depth perception, awareness of motion, and color and brightness

consistencies– research has shown that our ability to see in three-dimensions develops alongside recognition of

movement – we do not see objects, we see how the brain organizes those objects

if you stare at the center, does the image rotate?

what if you stare at the bottom?

do you see dots at the intersecting points? square A and square B are the same exact shade!

cubism and space • the impetus for cubism

– conventional/traditional artwork is illusionary for it represents a flattened version of space

– the eye and the mind do not see in flat renderings, but see multiple dimensions: width, height, depth and time

– Picasso was highly influenced by the mathematical works of Henri Poincaré who described space and time in terms of algebraic topography and relativity

• cubism is a way of perceiving – cubism experiments with perception, spatial

awareness and conception – cubism challenges the relationship between ratio

and reason through its rendering of planes, ambiguous spaces, negative and positive spaces/shapes, and juxtaposing multiple vantage points simultaneously

– cubism is r-mode process

the chicago picasso• a baboon, a horse, a dog or a gift?

– the monumental sculpture was donated to the city of chicago by pablo picasso, as he refused payment for the design

– it stands 50 ft and is located in the daley plaza – picasso completed a maquette (scale model) of the

sculpture in 1965 • use of 3d space and a challenge to

perception – the sculpture is of a french woman who posed for

picasso in the 1950s– as a viewer walks around the sculpture it is possible to

see multiple angles of the woman’s face: portrait, three-quarter angle, profile etc.

– the sculpture not only engages the viewer, but places the artwork within the viewer’s space

– the viewer must interact with the piece by circling it, in order to see the different angles and experience the use of space

the shoulders follow similar curves to the hair creating balance and symmetry

the ¾ viewthe hair is created by these shapes

architecture, sculpture and space

note the representation of two irises in the same eye

the silhouette, creates the profile

again, the edge creates the profile

things to ponder…• the 20th century

– the modernization of the 20th century coincided with miracle periods for Picasso and Einstein who were both influenced by Henri Poincaré

– Poincaré called for: • a geometrization of space and time• aesthetics as the driving force in both science and art• symmetry, eurhythmy and harmony – the senses of art and

science – Einstein and Picasso changed the 20th century and its

paradigms through revolutions in space and in time • how is it all related?

– what is the relationship between mathematics, science, engineering and art? specifically, the fields of architecture and sculpture?

– how does the 20th century represent space, time and perception? how does the 21st?

– how is space and time important to the human condition?