{"id":2793,"date":"2013-10-07T12:25:59","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T12:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/?page_id=2793"},"modified":"2015-02-13T09:12:27","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T09:12:27","slug":"5-anna-rooney","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/?page_id=2793","title":{"rendered":"Anna Rooney: Visual Thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 10px;\"><em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/?page_id=955\">Return to the Table of Contents<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\">Anna Rooney is the Education Program Manager of the Children&#8217;s Museum of Winston-Salem and the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Peppercorn Children&#8217;s Theatre. \u00a0She holds a B.A. in Music Education from St. Cloud State University, studied Performing Arts Management at University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and is earning her M.A. in New Media and Global Education from Appalachian State University.\u00a0 <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Thinking Strategies<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Visual thinking is a valuable strategy for problem solving and communication. <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" style=\"margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; float: right; width: 320px; height: 240px; border: none;\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2YosluryavM?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 Using visual thinking strategies in the arts can strengthen the communication between the artist, their collaborators, and their audience.\u00a0 Psychiatrist Lawrence Kubie wrote:<\/p>\n<p>We do not need to be taught to think; indeed&#8230; this is something that cannot be taught.\u00a0 Thinking processes actually are automatic, swift, and spontaneous when allowed to proceed undisturbed by other influences.\u00a0 Therefore, what we need is to be educated in how not to interfere with the inherent capacity of the human mind to think.\u00a0 <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-1' id='fnref-2793-1' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>By exercising the \u201cinherent capacity of the human mind to think,\u201d artists can develop their ability to express their vision in a way that others can understand and visualize.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Visual Thinking<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For the purpose of this discussion, we will use the following definition of \u201cart\u201d: \u201cthe expression or application of human creative skill and imagination&#8230; producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-2' id='fnref-2793-2' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>2<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 This definition includes (but is not limited to), painting, music, graphic design, filmmaking, dance, drama, sculpture, drawing, the culinary arts, and handmade craftwork.\u00a0 This article will focus on the understanding of art beyond language and will not dive into the broad topic of the language arts.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure1.jpg\" alt=\"figure1\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2873\" height=\"305\" width=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure1.jpg 320w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure1-150x142.jpg 150w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure1-300x285.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/>Visual thinking is almost as complicated as \u201cart\u201d to define, but for the purposes of this discussion, \u201cVisual thinking is carried on by three kinds of visual imagery: (1) The kinds that we <i>see<\/i>, people see images, not things, (2) The kinds that we <i>imagine <\/i>in our mind\u2019s eye, as when we dream, (3) The kind that we <i>draw<\/i>, doodle, sketch, or paint\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-3' id='fnref-2793-3' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>3<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 The word \u201cdraw\u201d can also mean \u201ccreate\u201d when applying this visual diagram to other media.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Where seeing and drawing intersect, seeing facilitates drawing (test this idea with this exercise: try drawing a basic image like a smiling stick figure with your eyes closed) <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" style=\"margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; float: right; width: 320px; height: 240px; border: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UDWCdp_OCUc?rel=0\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n and drawing records seeing.\u00a0 Where drawing and imagining intersect, drawing communicates imagining, and imagining provides content for drawing.\u00a0 Where imagining and seeing intersect, imagination expands upon visual information, and seeing gives content for imaging.\u00a0 \u201cThe three overlapping circles symbolize the idea that visual thinking is experienced to the fullest when seeing, imagining, and drawing merge into active interplay\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-4' id='fnref-2793-4' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>4<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>When we think, we are using vehicles to process our thought.\u00a0 These vehicles are not the thoughts themselves, but rather, representations of our thoughts.\u00a0 Artists use these vehicles of thought to communicate with their audience.<\/p>\n<p>There are paintings and sculptures that portray figures, objects, actions in a more or less realistic style, but indicate that they are not to be taken at their face value.\u00a0 They make no sense as reports on what goes on in life on earth, but are intended primarily as symbolic vehicles of ideas&#8230; Since the picture does not simply interpret life, the beholder faces the task of telling what it symbolizes.\u00a0 <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-5' id='fnref-2793-5' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>5<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>One most basic vehicle that humans use is language.\u00a0 When we write or speak, we are not sharing our thoughts themselves, but we are using language as a vehicle to communicate our thoughts in a way that other people can share our ideas.\u00a0 Language can be a very strong vehicle, but it is more inhibitive when compared to the above description of visual art as a vehicle for thinking. In the words of Humboldt <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-6' id='fnref-2793-6' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>6<\/a><\/sup>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u201cMan lives with his objects chiefly &#8211; in fact, since his feeling and acting depends on his perceptions, one may say exclusively &#8211; as language presents them to him.\u00a0 By the same process whereby he spins language out of his own being, he ensnares himself in it; and each language draws a magic circle round the people to which it belongs, a circle from which there is no escape save by stepping out of it into another.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A monolingual American looking at this page of the oldest extant complete manuscript of the Kokin Wakash\u016b poetry anthology, a national treasure of Japan, could see that the shapes of the symbols are \u201cpretty\u201d but cannot interpret anything about its meaning.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure2-1024x705.jpg\" alt=\"figure2\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2878\" height=\"440\" width=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure2-1024x705.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure2-150x103.jpg 150w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure2-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure2.jpg 1139w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>Collected Japanese Poems of Ancient and Modern Times<br \/>\u00a0(\u53e4\u4eca\u548c\u6b4c\u96c6, Kokin Wakash\u016b), Gen&#8217;ei edition, 1120 AD. <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-7' id='fnref-2793-7' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p>In contrast, the same monolingual American might attend a presentation of art from another culture (dance, theatre, painting, sculpture, music), and some story and inspiration may be understood through non-lingual vehicles while patronizing these visual arts.\u00a0 These non-lingual vehicles of thought include images, photographs, moving images, sounds, drawings\/sketches, mathematics, smell, touch, taste, movement, and emotions, all of which are often used as vehicles in the arts to communicate a thought or concept. These vehicles give us the imagery we need to create mental operations.\u00a0 These mental operations take the audience\u2019s understanding of the original thought (transported by a vehicle of thought) and conceptualize a new thought in the mind of the audience.\u00a0\u00a0 All this happens in various levels of our conscious thinking, including dreaming.<br \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure-1.jpg\" alt=\"figure-1\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2890\" height=\"352\" width=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure-1-150x88.jpg 150w, https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/figure-1-300x176.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><br \/>These vehicles of thought and mental operations are used very often, every day, by most people, and McKim wrote <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-8' id='fnref-2793-8' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>8<\/a><\/sup>:<\/p>\n<p>Visual thinking is constantly used by everybody.\u00a0 It directs figures on a chessboard and designs global politics on the geographical map.\u00a0 Two dexterous moving men steering a piano along a winding staircase think visually in an intricate sequence of lifting, shifting, and turning&#8230; An inventive housewife transforms an uninviting living room into a room for living by judiciously placing lamps and rearranging couches and chairs.<\/p>\n<p>A more modern reference to visual thinking points towards a connection between visual thinking and viewing graphics on a computer, \u201cThe results are leading to a visualization movement in modern computing whereby complex computations are presented graphically, allowing for deeper insights as well as heightened abilities to communicate data and concepts\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-9' id='fnref-2793-9' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>9<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Art, Visual Thinking, and The Creative Right Brain<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The skills and tools for visual thinking can be strengthened by studying the arts.\u00a0 Betty Edwards, the author of <i>Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, <\/i>says \u201cDrawing is not really very difficult.\u00a0 Seeing is the problem, or, to be more specific, shifting to a particular way of seeing\u201d\u00a0 <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-10' id='fnref-2793-10' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>10<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 This brings us back to McKim\u2019s Diagram- the 3 overlapping circles of <i>seeing, drawing, <\/i>and <i>imagining.<\/i>\u00a0 When we both study art and practice our own art, we are \u201cexercising\u201d the right side of the brain and making stronger connects between our <i>seeing, drawing, <\/i>and <i>imagining <\/i>skills.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We have two sides of our brain, both important and both unique. <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\" style=\"margin-left: 20px; margin-bottom: 5px; float: right; width: 320px; height: 240px; border: none;\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KQM8chr_bKE?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\u00a0 \u201cThe left hemisphere specializes in text; the right hemisphere specializes in context&#8230; The left hemisphere analyzes the details; the right hemisphere synthesizes the big picture\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-11' id='fnref-2793-11' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>11<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 The current education system in 2013 in the United States of America already places great value on left-brain skills.\u00a0 For instance, the California STEM Learning Network holds the vision \u201cthat all students in California have the knowledge and skills needed for success in education, work and their daily lives\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-12' id='fnref-2793-12' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>12<\/a><\/sup> and that they will gain these skills by studying STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), traditionally left-brain fields.\u00a0 I propose that students who study these fields and can incorporate right-brained visual thinking will be the students who succeed and surpass their peers in their understanding of the concepts in their field.\u00a0 \u201cTruly creative people in every field are ambidextrous- that is, capable of receiving with the left and expressing with the right\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-13' id='fnref-2793-13' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>13<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 These creative thinkers and learners will also grow into great teachers, able to use their right-brain skills to communicate concepts to their students from many different learning styles.<\/p>\n<p>Even the field of medicine, traditionally considered a scientific field, can use creative visual thinking for stronger understanding.\u00a0 A team of medical residents experienced a retreat in visual thinking and these scientists with strong left-brain strategies were impressed with the results.\u00a0 One doctor observed, \u201cThe increased visual literacy observed through this process may be useful as the interns begin analyzing X rays, increasing their awareness about the lights and shadows that may obscure disease processes, and in the analysis of EKG\u2019s patterns\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-14' id='fnref-2793-14' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>14<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 Strategies practiced in visual thinking exercises keep both sides of the brain alert, involved, and available to make better informed decisions in any discipline of learning.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Visual Thinking Skills in Action<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Abigail Housen and Philip Yenawine have developed a curriculum program called VTS (Visual Thinking Strategies) that is used internationally in museums and schools.\u00a0 Their mission is, \u201cVTS transforms the way students think and learn through programs based in theory and research that use discussions of visual art to significantly increase student engagement and performance\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-15' id='fnref-2793-15' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>15<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 Teachers ask open ended questions and neutrally facilitate discussion, while students take the lead on making observations, finding evidence for their ideas about what they see, consider the views of their classmates, and find as many interpretations as possible (as opposed to one \u201cright\u201d answer).\u00a0 VTS\u2019s website includes testimonies from teachers around the country.\u00a0 Jeff Williamson, principal of Old Adobe School in Sonoma, CA, says that &#8220;Students are listening, asking questions, forming new understanding, and then talking about that understanding.\u201d\u00a0 He goes on to say that the whole community at Old Adobe School, students, teachers, and parents, has been positively impacted by VTS <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-15' id='fnref-2793-15' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>15<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Many artistic disciplines besides the visual arts of drawing and painting (and observing those drawing and paintings) can strengthen visual thinking skills.\u00a0 Andrew David Stewart, a digital music composer, often thinks of his music visually before he transcribes a piece.\u00a0 \u201cI see it in my head&#8230; lines, like a staff, but not a staff.\u00a0 Continuous horizontal lines, not just 5 lines, but lines all the way up and down.\u00a0 Then the notes are moving black circles on the lines\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-17' id='fnref-2793-17' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>17<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 Sometimes, he says, he\u2019s not even writing music as a form of audio artistry, but rather, the music is a way of expressing the visual patterns he sees inside his head.<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Kolb, a film editor, had a similar statement.\u00a0 He said that when he wants to accomplish something with a video, he visualizes in his head what he wants to do and what it will look like.\u00a0 Especially when collaborating, he starts working with a clear outline of the specific desired result in his head so he can communicate his ideas with the other artists on the film.\u00a0 \u201cBut I can\u2019t do any of that if I don\u2019t know how to use the programs\u201d\u00a0 <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-2793-18' id='fnref-2793-18' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(2793)'>18<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 He must combine right-brain thinking (visualizing the finished product) and left-brain thinking (executing the intricacies of filmmaking software) to be successful in his field.<\/p>\n<p>Developing their visual thinking strategies allows artists to translate the images inside their mind into a medium that other people can understand.\u00a0 The three elements of visual thinking (imagining, seeing, and drawing) identify the way we communicate with ourselves and with the people around us.\u00a0 By mastering our own communication styles and learning more about the learning\/seeing styles of our collaborators, students, and patrons, we can build stronger connections though the work we create.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rUzJYPWUXnA?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10px;\"><em><em><a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/?page_id=955\">Return to the Table of Contents<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/span><br \/>References:\n<\/p>\n<div class='footnotes' id='footnotes-2793'>\n<div class='footnotedivider'><\/div>\n<ol>\n<li id='fn-2793-1'> McKim, 1972, p. 28 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-1'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-2'> <i>Oxford dictionaries<\/i>, 2013 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-2'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-3'> Figure 1, McKim, 1980, p. 7 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-3'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-4'> McKim, 1980, pg. 7 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-4'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-5'> Arnheim, 1969, p. 149 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-5'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-6'> Arnheim, 1969, p. 242 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-6'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-7'> Tokyo National Museum <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-7'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-8'> McKim, 1980, p. 8 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-8'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-9'> Stokes, 2001 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-9'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-10'> Edwards, 1999, p. 5 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-10'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-11'> Pink, 2006, p. 20, 22 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-11'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-12'> California STEM Learning Network, 2012 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-12'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-13'> McKim, 1972, p. 23 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-13'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-14'> Reilly, Ring &amp; Duke, 2005 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-14'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-15'> Visual Thinking Strategies, 2013 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-15'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-16'> Visual Thinking Strategies, 2013 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-16'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-17'> Stewart, 2013 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-17'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-2793-18'> Kolb, 2013 <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-2793-18'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Return to the Table of Contents Anna Rooney is the Education Program Manager of the Children&#8217;s Museum of Winston-Salem and the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Peppercorn Children&#8217;s Theatre. \u00a0She holds a B.A. in Music Education from St. Cloud State &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/?page_id=2793\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88893,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2793","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2KsSU-J3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/88893"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3929,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2793\/revisions\/3929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}