perspective

In the past week we were given two readings: Drawing on Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards and an excerpt from Ways of Seeing by John Berger. Also we were given sketchbook assignments to draw certain objects upside down and rightside up or completing one half of a drawing.

In the reading “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain,” I learned that both sides of the brain can contribute different information to one’s mind and that artist’s mind’s shift from the left hemisphere to the right hemisphere of the brain. It seems the right hemisphere of the brain should be used when doing artwork because that is where spatial reasoning is processed. The left hemisphere of the brain is where verbal and analytic modes are processed. I have often heard the phrase “ Draw what you see not what you know” After reading this and doing classwork exercises I think I’m finally starting to understand that phrase. What an artist must learn to do is to be in tune with the right hemisphere of the brain and that way they can learn to see the negative space as well as the actual object, light, shadows, textures, and many other aspects. If you use the left hemisphere of the brain it won’t work because the left hemisphere can define what the object is and what is used for but from then on it’s limited.

In the reading, “ Ways of Seeing, “ I learned about different people’s perspectives about how one views Art. Everyone has a different interpretation of the same artwork before them because everyone has different beliefs, preferences, and knowledge of things which in turn affects how we see. How one views something also deals with context ;where you are at the time. For example, home vs. art museum. I like how in the reading there was a comment made about how the artwork and arrangements of how one decorates their room should replace museums because one’s room is a highly personalized place. I wonder if that did happen would it change many people’s views of art or ways of seeing?

Questions to consider : 1) If someone has brain damage or a certain disorder

actually affect their “way of seeing?”

2) What impacts us on how we view time and space?

I want to know more about time and space.

I found out from a BBC News article “Can you See Time” by Victoria Gill. She talked about how time and spaced can be a visual experience through the use of synaesthesia, where new pathways and connections in the brain can be opened up. Therefore a person who has synaesthesia can tell you meticulous details about any particular event in there life. For example, what day, what year, what time, what they were wearing, and what they ate. Scientists have done studies comparing memories with people with synaesthesia and people without it and results have shown that people with synaethesia can remember more facts from their own lives