The central principle of Gestalt psychology is that the mind sees the whole image before it sees the smaller components that create the whole form. At first glance, Stan Brakhage’s video, Stellar, seems to fly in the face of Gestalt. The splashes of color come and go so quickly that it is almost impossible for the viewer to perceive anything except chaos in this video. What this video actually is, though, is a blank slate. The chaos of the colors and shapes and movements allows the brain to see what it wants to see, almost like an inkblot test, to create order out of the chaos.

It is actually difficult for me to watch this video. My brain cannot process the images fast enough, and it begins to feel as if my brain is playing “catch up” the whole time. After watching the video over and over again, my brain was finally able to comprehend what I was seeing, but that only brought more questions. What was I looking at exactly? Sometimes the splashes of color looked liked a thick liquid, sometimes they looked like pieces of tree bark that had been painted. Could other people see what I was seeing?

Was this the intention of the artist? Did he want people to create their own visions using his video as an outlet or was he trying to convey his own vision hoping that others could also see it? I think he did want everyone to see something different. He wanted everyone to see their own ideas and visions. I believe the mission of this video is to reveal the state of the viewer’s mind and open up the viewer’s imagination to what could be.

I believe Stan Brakhage also wanted to demonstrate the fluidity of the mind. This is why he varied the speed of the video. As the video sped up, it forced my mind to work faster to figure out what I was looking at. As I came up with different ideas about the images I was seeing, the video changed speeds again forcing my mind to start all over again with a new image.

While this video may seem like chaos in its purest form, it really is Gestalt psychology in its purest form. It makes the mind create order out of the chaos. That may seem like its only goal, but maybe it is more than that. Maybe its real goal is to demonstrate that there does not always have to be order. It all depends on how we perceive what we see.

In recent years, society has begun to reevaluate emotions that previously were considered to be useless or to make a person weak. Now these emotions, such as empathy, sympathy and compassion, are considered to be extremely useful in society and business and crucial to a person’s emotional well-being.

As children and students, prior to reaching adulthood, we are tested on many levels with tests that claim to be able to accurately predict a student’s aptitude in life. But how can a test do this accurately if there is no emotion or artistic movement to these tests? I personally believe it cannot completely predict a student’s aptitude with this crucial piece missing. This belief is becoming more widely held throughout society and business as well. More and more companies recently have begun looking for more creative and emotionally-in-touch employees.

Company’s today are now seeing the advantage in utilizing people who are more in tune with their emotions and rely on R Directed (or right brain) Thinking to support their employees who use L Directed (or left brain) Thinking. In my opinion, this is an improvement from the past where right brains and left brains did not ever cross paths and probably could not even get along. The right brain thinkers, in my opinion, cannot help but improve and enhance any industry that they are brought into. They bring creativity, compassion, empathy, and are good at approaching projects in new ways.

People who utilize R Directed Thinking may also have MFAs, which some may consider to be the business world’s new MBA. This made me wonder if at some point the MFA would lose its luster, novelty, and prestige. If the business world becomes overrun with right-brained people and MFAs, would the pendulum swing once again toward the more analytical left-brained members of our society? Is it an endless cycle that the world will continue to go through or will a new hero emerge? Perhaps we might actually begin to value the differences and complementary natures of both types of thinkers.

Emotions are complex sensations, and some people believe they are best left at home. But that school of thought has been overturned in recent years. Many, including myself, believe they are worth bringing into the work place.

Nothing sees the world like my eyes. This observation fascinated me as a child, and it fascinates me today. No person, no thing, nothing sees what I see. Photography provided the closest means I could find to share what I saw in the world. The more I worked with cameras, though, the more I realized they also could not convey my vision completely.

I prefer to shoot with black and white film. The process feels more tangible to me. There are no colors to complicate or distort. Color does nothing for me. Rather, it gets in the way of the true message of the photograph. Black and white images are stripped down to what is truly important: the shapes, the spaces, the lightness, and the darkness. In my mind, colors serve the purpose of distracting…as if to distract the viewer from delving deeper into the photograph. Colors can block deep emotions that a photograph might evoke in the viewer and only feed into the superficial emotions.

Not only do I feel as if the colors get in the way but that the world itself inhibits my ability to record what I see around me. I do not buy into the theory that the camera is trying to control what I do and see, but I feel as if the world is trying to keep me from showing what I see. The world holds a secret and I have seen that secret and I keep trying to share it with those around me, but my attempt is foiled every time. The world conspires against me and the camera – when the camera loses focus because the sun is too bright or a glorious moment is fleeting and gone – to guard its secrets. If anything, the camera is an ally trying to help me in my quest, but it simply falls short.

In theory, I would trust all art to my hands and mind only, but even then my hands fail me. My mind sees clearly what I want to portray, but my hands are not skilled enough or disciplined enough to create what my mind wants it to. With this struggle I turn to the camera, knowing all too well its limitations in my hands.

I am not naive enough to believe that I am the only artist struggling with sharing what I see with the world. This same frustration must be, and must have been, a universal experience for anyone wishing to convey their particular artistic vision with those around them. As I strive to overcome the limitations of my own hands and my chosen medium, I share a kinship with those who also “see it.”

When I look around me, I see everyday, normal things: a room, furniture, a door, gardens, cars, and people. These things may seem normal, ordinary and nothing special, just typical things found throughout our environment. But if given a second look, design is the common denominator found in all of these items. Design is what gives our world shape.

I had given thought to the beginning of time, but I had never thought about the beginning of design. It’s so simple to think about, but at the same time it had never occurred to me. When man started using tools, he began the process of design. From that point on, man continually experimented with materials, shapes, and processes to improve the tools available to him to shape and improve his environment. This was design at its most basic. Design took man into the future and continues to do so today.

As design evolved throughout history, it came to be associated with creations unique in both form and function. Skilled artists, artisans, and craftsmen took great pride in these creations. Once mass production became possible, however, I believe that design was much less valued.  Craftsmen would make the original design and then machines would makes thousands of copies of the original. Even though this allowed many people to have items that were similar to the original work of that craftsman, a certain of degradation of the original object was inevitable. I cannot help but wonder where we as a race would be without mass production. Obviously mass production advanced our society in many ways, but it did have a negative impact on the integrity associated with design that was once respected for its originality.

Along with the ability to mass-produce a physical object, the Internet and access to other technologies that allow virtual reproductions, have allowed us to degrade each other’s designs by copying them outright or reproducing very similar products. These copies and reproductions are obviously meant to mimic the original product while lowering the cost to the consumer. Hopefully in the future, respect for the art of design will be re-established. Design keeps the world moving forward. The desire to constantly improve what someone else has done has kept design in high demand, even if that means using an old design in a new way.

Design is the driving force of change for the world. It keeps us continually evolving by challenging us to come up with new ideas and new questions in the midst of everyday life. Design contains the future of technology, art, and us.

Being creative does not come easy for me. I see others who seem to know exactly what they want to do for an art project or anything that requires creativity, and what they do seems brilliant and unique. Creativity is something so elusive that I feel I am clawing my way past a gray fog clouding my mind to achieve it.

At a young age, I attempted to figure out why I did the things I did or why I thought about things in a certain way. When I was unsuccessful in solving the mysteries of my own behaviors, I turned to others. I became a student of human behaviors. I thought that if I could figure out why others did what they did, then maybe I would understand myself better. This process is still continuing to this day. People continue to fascinate me. How they do things, why they do things, awaken my brain. Looking at art is one way of observing how the artist’s mind works and the general state of the artist’s mind at the time the work of art was created.

I access my creativity by interacting with the people around me. They inspire me to learn about new things and think about new ideas.  I attempt to surround myself with people who are very different from myself to aid in this quest. Helping others with their art and watching their creative process help my own creative process. I think this is what made me decide to be an art teacher. Not only does it allow me to watch other artists work, it also allows me to see inspiration, creativity, and thoughtful minds in action.

When I finally realized that I wanted to be an art teacher, I sensed it was something that was being hinted at my whole life. Listening to Amy Tan talk about the “hints” she received throughout her life made me think about the hints I had received throughout my life. Unfortunately, I was not as receptive to mine as she was to hers, but I eventually figured mine out. In high school I was given many opportunities to work with other students in the lower level art classes and was even able to work at a fine arts summer camp for kids offered by my high school. It was not until a few years after these experiences that I realized what they meant to me.

Creativity sometimes creates more questions in my brain than it does inspiration for creating amazing works of art. I still attempt to be creative in my work and life though, and while I am envious of those who can create with ease, I know what inspires my creativity. And sometimes just knowing what spurs creativity is half the battle.

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