Looking at Art

The term art encompasses many forms of expression – the written word, music, dance, performance and visual arts to name some of the broad categories. While I appreciate and am thankful for the unique offerings of each form of artistic expression the visual arts have been my main field of study and practice. Due to this history I am excited to encourage people to explore visual arts. Encounters with any form of art start with a willingness to participate and interact with that artwork. Meaningful participation can be informed and deepened through the use of simple observational skills. Observational skills are tools of awareness that can be applied in any setting and are ways of opening the door of interaction and understanding of how a piece of art is working to create its impact.

The tools of observation start very simply with a pause. Taking time to take in a piece of art is half the battle in both understanding a piece of art and giving the art a chance to communicate with you. So start by taking time. Take time to look at the piece as a whole, then divide it into sections in your mind and quickly scan each section of the piece. The first look, while benign in practice, immediately teaches you more about the piece. As you peruse the piece and take in what you see, do not yet critic it, just look. Start to pay attention to how your eyes move around the piece. Note the portions of the piece that cause you to linger and pay attention to where your eyes go when they start moving again. Noticing these moments is noticing the underlying composition of the piece. Composition is one of the foundational aspects of a piece of art. It is the structure of the piece, the organization that is created by the artist to keep your interest in moments of both active tension and balanced rest.

If it is a three dimensional piece take time to circle the entire piece taking it in from as many angles as possible. This is one of the objectives of three dimensional works, they are meant to be viewed from many different perspective points, each one offering a different feeling and composition. Likewise two-dimensional pieces also have many vantage points to explore. Even if you are not physically moving around the piece your eyes should take in as many different perspectives as possible. Other basic elements that work within the composition to create a piece of art and to communicate what the piece is about are things like – line, shape, texture, color, and balance. Within each of these groupings there are a multitude of sub-groupings. Lines, for instance, can be thick or thin, dark or light, solid or broken. They can lead in straight paths or be curvy – they can exist as their own element, or when connected they can become shapes. Shapes can be small or large, geometric or organic, simple or complex, and flat or dimensional in appearance. Taking note of these different elements – even simply naming them – helps better prepare you for the further search for understanding and meaning.


This process of taking time to look at piece of art and begining to note the different elements within the piece will set you on the journey towards a deeper understanding of the art itself. It will also offer the art a chance to impact you in the ways it was created to while opening the possibility to move you in ways that neither the artist, who originally created the work, nor you could predict. This is part of the power of art, if given the opportunity, to move you in unexpected ways. One of the best ways to start learning to look is to think of it as an adventure, a treasure hunt in which one isn’t sure what the treasure will be, or even if one will find what one set out to find, but will most certainly have encounters on the journey that will be worthwhile treasures in and of themselves. There is seriousness in artistic appreciation to be sure, but there is also adventure and a lot of fun if you open yourself up to looking.