Whispers

My new show at Lane Community College opened this week in Eugene, Oregon. It was exciting to have so many students attend my art talk and reception Thursday. I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak about my work in this educational setting.

Whispers

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Whispers

Nancy Watterson Scharf

April 18th - May 25th

Artist Talk on Thursday,

April 21st at 2:00 pm with a 

reception immediately following.

  

Artist Statement:

For as long as I can remember I have had a sense that there is more to this world than I can see. Sometimes I get a glimpse, feel a vibration, briefly hear a rustle or buzz. I catch an elusive trace of something just beyond my vision, or a feeling that I am not alone. I depend on my eyes to tell me what the world looks like. Yet science tells us our vision is less absolute and more fluid than we may think. Human eyes discern but a fraction of the entire light spectrum. I wonder if they tell us everything.

Animals' senses are acute. They often perceive things that we do not. Not only do their eyes perceive differently than ours, but some see better with their ears, their noses, or their skin. And plants don't rely on eyes at all. Although we live together, each organism "sees" a variation of reality colored by its own history and specific needs for survival. Ironically these divergent perspectives overlap as we each negotiate limited space and resources within our shared habitat. Every species lives in a world of its own, like a ghost within the larger ecosystem. We egocentric humans are actually just phantoms to other organisms. This perceptual anomaly intrigues me.

Modern "civilized" humans don't like to think about how we are part of nature. The vastness of nature is complex and its wildness is frightening. Our innate tendency is to put a fence around ourselves with man-made structures and inventions. We like to go out to visit the wild rather than to live within it. I am curious about how we compartmentalize and self-limit our perception to maintain a feeling of safety. That human sense of otherness or separateness is central to my investigations.

The show runs from April 18^th to May 25^th. There will be a lecture on Thursday, April 21^st at 2:00 pm with a reception immediately following. The reception is free and open to the public. The galleries are located in building 11 on main campus, 4000 E. 30th Avenue. There is no charge for admission. The Art and Applied Design Department phone number is 541-463-5409.

                                      

Learning to See

New studies suggest that visual perception includes a kind of feed-back loop. The more we inform ourselves, the more we are able to physically perceive. The brain works closely with the eye, improving perception.
When I was teaching drawing, I found this to be true. Learning to draw is actually learning to see. One must learn to consider shapes and their relationships, look at underlying structures and consider relative size. Students want to draw what is in their brain rather than draw what they actually see with their eyes. They draw with symbols of things. The challenge for the teacher is to get students to draw directly from visual examination.
It's very interesting to look at Kindergarten drawings. At that stage of development children draw and paint entirely in symbols. They know many pertinent details, such as that there are five fingers on each of two hands and five toes on each of two feet. They can put eyes, ears, nose and mouth on a face. They often make a yellow sun, a multicolored rainbow, or a green tree. The sky is a blue strip at the top of the page.
As children mature they not only add more symbols and details, they add new images based on experience and observation. Around 10 years or so they become motivated to draw what they see more accurately. By the time they hit middle school, they already have self identified as someone who "can draw" or "can't draw". This attitude is tough to break and often lasts for their lifetime. Careful and sensitive instruction at that pivotal point can make a world of difference. There are a few lucky individuals whose eyes talk to their hands automatically. But most could use some help training their hands and eyes to work together.