Lessons from Art Class - looking and seeing

by jgnat 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  jgnat

  I learned a new way of seeing in Art class. For months I left class with a blinding headache, as my brain strived to "see" what I had never noticed before. This new way of "seeing" interfered with my viewing pleasure, as my overactive mind dissected people's faces in to shapes and shades. My world would never look the same again.

  After I changed, it was harder for me to tolerate the newbies, who did not see what I saw. I could tell because their page bore no resemblance to what was in front of them. Some of them eventually "got it". Some never did.

  Here's a "chair"
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  jgnat

  Here is how a mind, which is oriented to icons, symbols, and general "knowledge" of chairs, might see the chair before learning to look. The student is confused because of his/her previous "knowledge" that chairs have square bottoms and backs.
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  jgnat

  Using symbolic images and icons is the brain's way of giving us a "short-hand" to the world around us. We don't need to analyse every chair, we have all the essential elements of "chair" stored away so we won't hesitate to sit on it.

  Here are some other iconic symbols, that have significance well beyond their iconic shape. The first image is instantly recognizable in our society wherever we have agreed on it's symbolic meaning. The second image takes longer to process. A fresh heart left on the sidewalk might be mistaken for a dead cat, mangled steak, or some unimaginable horror. A discarded valentine's card takes less to process.

  Heart

  
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  jgnat

  The same iconic principle applies to this image. I still love painting them. When I later graduated to faces, my listeners were astounded when I told them that faces are as easy to paint as a piece of fruit. The principles of shape and shade are no different.
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  jgnat

  My first stage of analysis of the apple is to map out the major zones of colour and shade. Note how very little of the green apple is green. Also, most apples are not perfectly round. Noticing these differences, and how light interacts with the surface, combined (estacy) with the inner glow of all living things (I suspect this glow is from living, fluid-filled cells), we have "Apple".

  My early love letter to my hubby I likened knowing him to studying an apple. People have depths that are endlessly fascinating. I can spend a lifetime just figuring out the nuances of a single human being.
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  jgnat

  Hence, my problem, communicating with people who have not learned to "see" as I have. I say "apple", they say "of course I know what an apple is." I wonder, are we even talking the same language? Can another "see" as I do if they have not learned the discipline of "seeing"?
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  jgnat

  How's my thread doing? Now I really feel like I'm in an echo chamber....

  

  lalallalaaaaa, singin' all my myselfssssss....
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  Legolas

  
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  jgnat

  Legolas, I don't know if I want to laugh or cry.....

  Many of us walk through life blind, not having learned another way to see. Those of us who have, can't describe it. I am condemned to see the world as a multi-dimensonal wonder, and no way to bring along my fellow travellers.
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  Legolas

  I don't even know what to ask you but I want to know...If that makes any since to you or not