News:

if there were no need for 'engineers from the quantum plenum' then we should not have any unanswered scientific questions.

Main Menu

Art and design, how does it work?

Started by Dave, September 20, 2018, 09:33:57 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Dave

Quote from: hermes2015 on September 20, 2018, 08:27:46 PM
Quote from: Dave on September 20, 2018, 07:56:03 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 20, 2018, 06:30:17 PM
Quote from: hermes2015 on September 20, 2018, 06:23:41 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 20, 2018, 05:46:53 PM
Quote from: hermes2015 on September 20, 2018, 04:56:58 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 20, 2018, 04:38:16 PM
Quote from: Fireball on September 20, 2018, 02:41:07 PM
...I recall that it is claimed that most adults dream in b&w. ...

This doesn't make sense to me. Colours are some sort of qualitative 'brain language' that don't actually exist in the world outside our bodies. In other words, our eyes pick up light frequencies and 'translate' them into the colours we experience. Since the brain makes use of colours during wakefulness, why not during sleep as well?

How I know with certainty that I dream in colour is that I have had numerous dreams where I am working on very large scale paintings in a style similar to those of Barnett Newman and Ellsworth Kelly. In my dreams I see myself planning and painting those big colour fields of pure colour in paintings of about 3m wide by 2m high. I can see the vivid reds, blues, and greens clearly in my dreams.

Do you paint while awake as well? :tellmemore:

Yes, I have done and sold a fair amount of painting and sculpture. I was even offered an exhibition by one of the Left Bank commercial galleries in Paris once, but because of the war situation in Beirut, where I was living, I couldn't do it. These days I'm doing more sculptural work.

That's so cool! I didn't know you were that accomplished. 8)

I've tried my hand at art & crafts when I was a kid, but it didn't amount to much, heh. I think I may be a bit clumsy, as I always seemed to get more paint on me than on the canvas. I was told I was creative though, at least that's something. ::)

Now, do people like neuroscientisrs and artists (and design technicians) use similar parts of their brains to create and "project" mental images I wonder? I have to "see" what I want mentally before I can create it in the physical world. Does a brainworker or surgeon build a mental "map", but like the others, adjusting it to fit reality (or final form for the creative jobs) as the work progresses?

But art and engineering tend to evolve the concept physically as progress is made, the medical worker has to evolve the theory to suit the physical facts,.

I can only speak for myself. Something (a shape, a piece of music, a texture) triggers a flash or a mental image that I then feel compelled to create. I guess one can call it inspiration. But during the creation process serendipity can play a big part. I enjoy and exploit "happy accidents".

Yes, the inception stimulous is a very variable thing, an artist may see an object or happening that starts a creative process or have a purely abstract idea that grows into its own bring in hisbor her head. Or a combination of the two?

Engineers may start off seeing a 'hole', a need, and set about designing a peg that fits it as perfectly as possible. But both may well have serendipity smile on them or suffer a 'random' shift in perceptiona and either divert or parallel the process to accomodate the new ideas.

Thinking back to scientists and surgeons working to find solutions to existing medical problems perhsps (except for the many 'surgeon-engineers' and 'practical-scientists') they have constraints the artist or designer might not suffer. However, I am sure that similar anslytical processes happen in the grey stuff - it's just that the medical person might have to inspect the hunch far more carefully for immediate risk than the artist or designer.

Though, having said that some artistic and engineering  jobs need a strict eye kept on structural safety!

The design process, whether a painting, a statue, a public toilet, a concept car vs a production one or a 'simple' tool fascinates me. I used to haunt the Design Museum when I lived in and near London. I relish the new. I spend too much money on new and second hand books on art and design, 'The Buckminster-Fuller Reader' (2ndH, ex-library, but the words are all there) being the latest one,. And it has inspired me towards a small art project. More on that in the future, it is very simple and should take less than 30 minutes - but it still needs to 'mature' in my mind.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Dave

Argh! Another reason to live nearer London!

There is a new Science Gallery opening.

https://london.sciencegallery.com

Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Dave
Now, do people like neuroscientisrs and artists (and design technicians) use similar parts of their brains to create and "project" mental images I wonder? I have to "see" what I want mentally before I can create it in the physical world. Does a brainworker or surgeon build a mental "map", but like the others, adjusting it to fit reality (or final form for the creative jobs) as the work progresses?

But art and engineering tend to evolve the concept physically as progress is made, the medical worker has to evolve the theory to suit the physical facts,.

I have no idea, but there are probably quite a few brain regions involved in mentally manipulating images. There is possibly a lot of overlap.

I usually 'see' written words in my mind as they're spoken, and apparently, a lot of other people do not. It's like my perspective has running subtitles.  ;D This isn't a good thing, as it overloads my working memory. It's analogous to having too many computer programmes running in the background which take up RAM.
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Dave

Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 20, 2018, 09:56:50 PM
Quote from: Dave
Now, do people like neuroscientisrs and artists (and design technicians) use similar parts of their brains to create and "project" mental images I wonder? I have to "see" what I want mentally before I can create it in the physical world. Does a brainworker or surgeon build a mental "map", but like the others, adjusting it to fit reality (or final form for the creative jobs) as the work progresses?

But art and engineering tend to evolve the concept physically as progress is made, the medical worker has to evolve the theory to suit the physical facts,.

I have no idea, but there are probably quite a few brain regions involved in mentally manipulating images. There is possibly a lot of overlap.

I usually 'see' written words in my mind as they're spoken, and apparently, a lot of other people do not. It's like my perspective has running subtitles.  ;D This isn't a good thing, as it overloads my working memory. It's analogous to having too many computer programmes running in the background which take up RAM.

Yep, not a good thing if it gets in the way!

I was, perhaps, thinking of medical prople holding "analogues" in their minds, mental representations, images, of structures in the body - knowing that each body, and especially the brain, will have a unique structure at the small scale.

Hmm, now I put it like that it is obvious that a person inspecting a brain is going to recognise the gross structure that is expected - though, as Einstein's brain and that of taxi drivers seems to indicate there can be fairly gross differences as well!

Now, what of the dedign of the structure of future 'artificial brains'? Where's that Dr Susan Calvin when you need her?
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

hermes2015

Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 20, 2018, 09:56:50 PM
Quote from: Dave
Now, do people like neuroscientisrs and artists (and design technicians) use similar parts of their brains to create and "project" mental images I wonder? I have to "see" what I want mentally before I can create it in the physical world. Does a brainworker or surgeon build a mental "map", but like the others, adjusting it to fit reality (or final form for the creative jobs) as the work progresses?

But art and engineering tend to evolve the concept physically as progress is made, the medical worker has to evolve the theory to suit the physical facts,.

I have no idea, but there are probably quite a few brain regions involved in mentally manipulating images. There is possibly a lot of overlap.

I usually 'see' written words in my mind as they're spoken, and apparently, a lot of other people do not. It's like my perspective has running subtitles.  ;D This isn't a good thing, as it overloads my working memory. It's analogous to having too many computer programmes running in the background which take up RAM.

Some people have told me that they see pictures when they listen to classical music. I don't see pictures, but there is sometimes a physical reaction in my body, almost like a shudder, that I also get when I see certain works of art and other objects.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Icarus

I am unashamedly brought to tears by some of the more emotionally charged music.  Men are not supposed to cry but I sometimes do when the music is moving.

Dave

Quote from: hermes2015 on September 21, 2018, 05:15:37 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 20, 2018, 09:56:50 PM
Quote from: Dave
Now, do people like neuroscientisrs and artists (and design technicians) use similar parts of their brains to create and "project" mental images I wonder? I have to "see" what I want mentally before I can create it in the physical world. Does a brainworker or surgeon build a mental "map", but like the others, adjusting it to fit reality (or final form for the creative jobs) as the work progresses?

But art and engineering tend to evolve the concept physically as progress is made, the medical worker has to evolve the theory to suit the physical facts,.

I have no idea, but there are probably quite a few brain regions involved in mentally manipulating images. There is possibly a lot of overlap.

I usually 'see' written words in my mind as they're spoken, and apparently, a lot of other people do not. It's like my perspective has running subtitles.  ;D This isn't a good thing, as it overloads my working memory. It's analogous to having too many computer programmes running in the background which take up RAM.

Some people have told me that they see pictures when they listen to classical music. I don't see pictures, but there is sometimes a physical reaction in my body, almost like a shudder, that I also get when I see certain works of art and other objects.

I stayed with a friend for a while once and we got talking (well lubricated of course) about music and imagery. He was a fan of the less popular classical music but denied the idea of imagery, saying it did not exist (which I thought stupid but, since I needed the bed so kept gentle with). He challenged me and played a non-Vivaldi (more Mahler or Wagner in weight) 'four seasons' piece totally new to me. I did not get the seasons but got 'travel', 'anger', 'joy', 'light and dark' and similar things. He made a grudging concession. I thought he was missing a whole dimension.

The piece of music that gets me going is the theme from Straus' 'Also sprach Zarathustra'' used in '2001: a Space Oddesey' - both the music and the memory of that first hearing it, in a Leicester Square cinema, with the volume flat out and my closest RAF mates with me, are enjoyable experiences. After smell I understand sound is the second strongest memory stimulator.

Aaron Copeland's 'Theme for the common man' is also evocative on more than one level.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: hermes2015 on September 21, 2018, 05:15:37 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 20, 2018, 09:56:50 PM
Quote from: Dave
Now, do people like neuroscientisrs and artists (and design technicians) use similar parts of their brains to create and "project" mental images I wonder? I have to "see" what I want mentally before I can create it in the physical world. Does a brainworker or surgeon build a mental "map", but like the others, adjusting it to fit reality (or final form for the creative jobs) as the work progresses?

But art and engineering tend to evolve the concept physically as progress is made, the medical worker has to evolve the theory to suit the physical facts,.

I have no idea, but there are probably quite a few brain regions involved in mentally manipulating images. There is possibly a lot of overlap.

I usually 'see' written words in my mind as they're spoken, and apparently, a lot of other people do not. It's like my perspective has running subtitles.  ;D This isn't a good thing, as it overloads my working memory. It's analogous to having too many computer programmes running in the background which take up RAM.

Some people have told me that they see pictures when they listen to classical music. I don't see pictures, but there is sometimes a physical reaction in my body, almost like a shudder, that I also get when I see certain works of art and other objects.

I don't see pictures either, like you, my reaction to some types of music can be more visceral than visual.

I get shudders when I listen to bass-boosted music.  ;D I feel it in my bones, literally.
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Dave

Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 21, 2018, 04:13:57 PM
Quote from: hermes2015 on September 21, 2018, 05:15:37 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 20, 2018, 09:56:50 PM
Quote from: Dave
Now, do people like neuroscientisrs and artists (and design technicians) use similar parts of their brains to create and "project" mental images I wonder? I have to "see" what I want mentally before I can create it in the physical world. Does a brainworker or surgeon build a mental "map", but like the others, adjusting it to fit reality (or final form for the creative jobs) as the work progresses?

But art and engineering tend to evolve the concept physically as progress is made, the medical worker has to evolve the theory to suit the physical facts,.

I have no idea, but there are probably quite a few brain regions involved in mentally manipulating images. There is possibly a lot of overlap.

I usually 'see' written words in my mind as they're spoken, and apparently, a lot of other people do not. It's like my perspective has running subtitles.  ;D This isn't a good thing, as it overloads my working memory. It's analogous to having too many computer programmes running in the background which take up RAM.

Some people have told me that they see pictures when they listen to classical music. I don't see pictures, but there is sometimes a physical reaction in my body, almost like a shudder, that I also get when I see certain works of art and other objects.

I don't see pictures either, like you, my reaction to some types of music can be more visceral than visual.

I get shudders when I listen to bass-boosted music.  ;D I feel it in my bones, literally.

I felt "Also sprach Zarathustra" played flat out surround sound stereo in the cinema in my bones, skull, lungs, stomach and feet. I did not have to, "shake it all over," the music did it for me!

Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Bluenose

Quote from: Icarus on September 21, 2018, 06:43:08 AM
I am unashamedly brought to tears by some of the more emotionally charged music.  Men are not supposed to cry but I sometimes do when the music is moving.

No shame n that.  I often have the same reaction.  I also get it when reading about incredible acts of bravery against impossible odds.
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


Bluenose

Quote from: hermes2015 on September 21, 2018, 05:15:37 AM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on September 20, 2018, 09:56:50 PM
Quote from: Dave
Now, do people like neuroscientisrs and artists (and design technicians) use similar parts of their brains to create and "project" mental images I wonder? I have to "see" what I want mentally before I can create it in the physical world. Does a brainworker or surgeon build a mental "map", but like the others, adjusting it to fit reality (or final form for the creative jobs) as the work progresses?

But art and engineering tend to evolve the concept physically as progress is made, the medical worker has to evolve the theory to suit the physical facts,.

I have no idea, but there are probably quite a few brain regions involved in mentally manipulating images. There is possibly a lot of overlap.

I usually 'see' written words in my mind as they're spoken, and apparently, a lot of other people do not. It's like my perspective has running subtitles.  ;D This isn't a good thing, as it overloads my working memory. It's analogous to having too many computer programmes running in the background which take up RAM.

Some people have told me that they see pictures when they listen to classical music. I don't see pictures, but there is sometimes a physical reaction in my body, almost like a shudder, that I also get when I see certain works of art and other objects.

My daugther in law has synaesthesia, she sees colours when listening to sound and music.  She sings in a choir periodically and says that being able to see the colour of the music makes it easier for her to sing in tune.  Apparently good harmony looks pleasant but out of tune or disharmonious sounds look ugly.  I also have a friend who has aphantasia. He is unable to mentally visualise things.  He always thought that when people say they visualise something that it was a metaphore for thinking aboout things in a "verbal" fashion, which is what he does.  Even when he dreams, he only uses words, not visual images.  It's amazing the different ways that our brains can work!
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


Dark Lightning

Probably pretty common, but I can get pretty charged up by some kinds of music. I made a cassette tape off of some records (many years ago, obviously) that started out mellow and built to a crescendo. It ended with "Sweet Jane" by The Velvet Underground. It was a really enjoyable set of tunes. I seem to have lost that tape with the advent of music CDs.

Dave

#12
In our pride, even hubris, we humans used to differentiate ourselves from other species by describing ourselves as "tool users," until we saw that birds and sea-otters - as well as chimps - also use tools. So we became "tool makers," until . . .

But there does seem to be something very fundamental in humans that attracts them to create tools, and in essence 'tools' here includes cars, microwave cookers, mathematical tables, mnenomics, possibly even clothes etc, etc etc. They are artifacts created, or modified (in form or application), to achieve something beyound our natural 'built-in' abilities. Though one might argue about mnemonics, mental constructs, there.

After a long time of watching Youtube videos, and considering my own behaviour, I have come to the conclusion that there is a human subculture where obtaining, collecting or using tools, is a strong trait. But, far more important than actually using those tools to make everyday, or even artistic, objects is using them in the creation of new tools!  These are then used to create . . . Yeah, even more tools.

To those with this infliction the wooden handle of an old saw can have as much grace and beauty as a Michaelangelo or Rodin piece. The sound of a perfectly sharpened plane cutting a long shaving from the wood as evocative as the wind in the trees. The ergodynamics and ergonomics involved, if good, satisfy the 'soul'. If bad they stimulate the analytical centres and the desire to improve things.

Tools have their own aesthetics.


https://www.ergonomics4schools.com/lzone/aesthetics.htm
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Bluenose

Yes Dave, a well designed tool feels really good on the hands. I particularly like old style wood planes, there's something really satisfying about them.
+++ Divide by cucumber error: please reinstall universe and reboot.  +++

GNU Terry Pratchett


Dave



It strikes me there are missing dimensions in the sbove - what of observation of need, analysis, inspiration and just sitting and staring, waiting for the work to 'say' something, suggest its own solutions (seemingly)?
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74