Art
& Visual Perception
Fall 2008
Elizabeth
Johnston
Titsworth 6A, x2348, ebj@slc.edu
Course
Description
"Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak." John Berger
Psychologists have long been interested in measuring and explaining the phenomena of visual perception. In this course we will study and reproduce some of the experimental investigations of seeing and the theoretical positions they support. Our journey will begin with the myriad of visual illusions that have intrigued psychologists and physiologists since the late nineteenth century. We will engage in a hands-on exploration of these visual illusions and create our own versions of eye-and-brain tricking images. We will also identify their use in works of visual art from a range of periods. The next stop on our psychological travels will be the apparent motion effects that captured the attention of Gestalt psychologists. We will explore the connections between the distinctive theoretical approach of the Gestaltists and the contemporaneous Bauhaus movement in art, design, and architecture. We will then move on to a consideration of the representation of visual space: in the company of contemporary psychologist Michael Morgan we will ask how the three-dimensional world is represented in "the space between our ears." In this section of the course, we will create three-dimensional stereoscopic and kinetic images and explore their artistic uses. The spatial exploration section will also give us the opportunity to study the artistic development and use of perspective in two-dimensional images. Throughout our visual journey, we will seek connections between perceptual phenomena and what is known about the brain processing of visual information. This is a course for people who enjoy reflecting on why we see things as we do. It should hold particular interest for students of film and the visual arts who are curious about scientific explanations of the phenomena that they explore in their art.
Books available in the bookstore:
Arnheim: Arnheim, Rudolf (1974). Art and Visual Perception. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Livingstone: Livingstone, Margaret S. (2002). Vision and Art:
The Biology of Seeing.
Solso: Solso, Robert L. (2003). The Psychology of Art and the Evolution of the Conscious Brain. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Kemp: Kemp, Martin (2000). Visualizations: The Nature Book of Art and Science. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Week
1: September 9th: Introductions
Sacks, O. To See and Not to See (pick
up a photocopy from the box outside my office door)
Arnheim, Introduction
Solso, Introduction: Art ... a Tutorial
Kemp, Introduction
Slide Show of Ellsworth Kelly's work - the images are available on the MoMA site
Week
2: September 16th: Color
Livingstone, Chapters 1, 2 & 3
Arnheim, Chapter 7
Sacks, O. The Case of the Colorblind Painter. Photocopy outside my office door
Odilon Redon online exhibit at MoMA
Week
3: September 23rd: Brain Processing of Color and Luminance
Read Livingstone, Chapters 4, 5 & 6;
Week
4: September 30th: Gestalt Psychology: Figure, Form, Balance,
Activity
Arnheim, Chapter I: Balance and Chapter II: Shape
images for Arnheim, Chapter I
images
for Arnheim, Chapter II
Week 5:
October 7th: Gestalt
Psychology Continued
Arnheim, Chapter III: Form
images for Arnheim, Chapter III
van Campen, C. (1997).
Early abstract art and experimental Gestalt psychology. Leonardo, 30,
133-136. Link
to JSTOR article
Color images for van Campen
Behrens, Roy, R. (1998).
Art, Design and Gestalt Theory, Leonardo, 31, 299-303. Link
to JSTOR article
First Field Trip: Sunday afternoon, October 12th: Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum , Ridgefield, CT (Exhibits by painter Karin Davie and sculptor Huma Bhabha, plus they have a permanently installed Camera Obscura) and dinner at Elizabeth's house in Wilton, CT afterwards.
Week
6: October 14th: From 2-D to 3-D: Perspective
Livingstone, Chapter 7
Solso, Chapters 7 & 8 ( color images for Solso's chapters 7 & 8)
Arnheim, Chapter V: Space ( images for Arnheim V)
Week 7: October Study Days
Week
8: October 28th: From 2-D to 3-D: Shading
Read Livingstone, Chapter 8
Arnheim, Chapter VI: Light (images for Arnheim VI)
Week
9: November 4th: From 2-D to 3-D: Stereopsis
Read Livingstone, Chapter 9
Morgan, Chapter 4: Cyclopean Vision
(photocopy).
Also listen to the NPR spot on the story
Week
10: November 11th: Motion
Read Livingstone, Chapter 10
Arnheim, Chapter VIII: Movement Images for chapter 8
Week
11: November 18th: Why do children draw that way?
Read Arnheim, Chapter IV: Growth
Week
12: November 25th: Second Field Trip: MoMA, Manhattan
Meet in Andrews Parking Lot at 8.15. We have a private tour arranged for 9.30-10.30 instead of class.
Read Livingstone, Chapter 11
Solso, Chapters 5: About Face and 6: Illusions: Sensory, Cognitive & Artistic
Arnheim, Chapter IX: Dynamics and Chapter X: Expression
Week
14: December 9th: Conference Presentations
Week
15: December 16th: Conference Presentations