The Art of Seeing - Part III: Perceptual Filters

Perspectives from The Artist's Roade

“Simply knowing how many things shape perception and that perception shapes what we see can help alleviate miscommunication and misunderstanding, preventing us from getting upset with others
when they don’t see things the way we do. The fact is, they don’t. They can’t.
No one can see things like you do except you.”

Working from life requires that we are able to see fully. But what does that really mean? We all know how to see, right? Amy Herman’s book, Visual Intelligence : Sharpen Your Perception, Change Your Life, may cause you to reexamine exactly what you think you know about your ability to see and take note of the world around you. Ms. Herman has made a career out of exploring how we see and don’t see and is a professional consultant for law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense and the FBI.

As visual artists, we are deeply interested in all facets of seeing, perception, recognition and the personal biases which cause us to notice one thing and disregard another. The pr…