Texas Trends in Art Education, Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 1985 Page: 19
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Essential Elements
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William McCarterW hen people who are interested in art
education talk with each other about
the profession, a number of special words
seem to be natural parts of the conversation.
Aesthetic, awareness, expression, sensitivity,
are simply part of typical "art talk." The
word perception seems particularly essential
to our working vocabulary, yet we need to
stop and consider the complex concepts and
implications behind that word.
A pure definition of perception indicates
that all the senses, not just sight, are in-
volved in the process. Definitions usually
read something like ". .. awareness, con-
sciousness, and acquaintance through the
senses", or perhaps ". .. cognition or
understanding by means of the senses."
However, the word is so closely connected
with vision that we often interchange "see"
with understanding or meaning. In common
usage, "seeing" goes beyond visual aware-
ness to include meaning and understanding.
Little wonder art educators like to use the
word perception, because it actually sug-
gests that "meaning" will be given to the
act of "seeing." Oh, I see--- Yes, I
understand.
In perception, a complex interaction
that scientists do not entirely understand,
the brain processes visual images to give
them meaning. The mechanics of perception
work much the same way for everyone, yet
in a given situation we do not all see the
same things. The brain's relationship to per-
ception is obvious when we study ambiguous
figures, such as the classic one reproduced
here (Figure 1). If you have never seen this
example, you may upon first glance see a
young woman turning away from you so that
only her cheek line, the tip of her nose, and
her eyelashes are visible. Or you may see a
toothless old woman with a large, warty
nose, whose chin is buried in a dark collar.
For you to be able to see both images your
brain must reorganize the lines in the draw-
ing. On the other hand, our brains may know
something and actually "see" a different im-
age. In another well-known illustration, two
parallel lines will appear to "bow out" if we
add radiating lines (Figure 2). The power-
ful visual effect of the radiating lines is so
strong we are fooled into seeing an illusion
when the brain "knows" better.Scientists have known for many dec-
ades that the two halves of the human brain
have different functions, and that the left
side of the brain controls verbal abilities.
People who survive injuries to the left brain
may lose their verbal skills, whereas those
who suffer right-brain injuries do not. The
left brain appears to be the custodian of
words and logic, the right brain the keeper
of images and analogies. The left brain
names things and describes them. It reasons
sequentially, from one step to the next, and
bases its conclusions on reason and facts.
The right brain appears to rely on images. It
is intuitive rather than logical, and it seems
to lack a sense of linear time. It tends to
seek relationships and associations between
things. For cognitive purposes, the two sides
cannot operate simultaneously, but we seem
to be able to shift rapidly between the sides.
Perception does not happen in the eye-but
in the mind.
Survival Perception
When students enter a classroom, automatic
physical and visual responses enable them to
see the shapes of doors and seats. All of us
depend on generalized visual patterns in our
daily functioning. We know from past experi-
ence that doors provide good ways to leave
or enter a room. After all, going throughdoors is much less stressful than knocking
down walls. The color or texture of the door
is not important to its function; the general
shape is enough to solve the problem of
moving from one space to another. This
"perceptual shorthand" that we use in order
to survive is an automatic filtering of visual
information that might be called survival
perception.
In many ways survival perception in-
volves not what we see, but how much of
the visual world we ignore. The brain pro-
tects itself from visual overload by selecting
the visual information needed to accomplish
a particular purpose. For example, when
driving a car along a busy street, we must
ignore a large percent of visual data in order
to concentrate on traffic problems. Traffic
signs become instant symbols for stop and
go, turns, and proper directions. In other
words, to survive we naturally simplify vi-
sual information and react by making sur-vival decisions based on immediate need.
The complexity of our visual world makes it
necessary to "tune out" certain information;
all of us become more skillful than we realize
at not seeing. Art students bring survival
perception with them through the door of
the classroom. They bring selective "knee
jerk" perceptual habits to the artistic experi-TRENDS / fall 1985
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Texas Art Education Association. Texas Trends in Art Education, Volume 3, Number 1, Fall 1985, periodical, Autumn 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth279681/m1/21/?q=architectural+drawings: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Art Education Association.