The fact that I experienced something missing is probably connected to my 30 years as a research-based therapist actively involved in groups where ideas were pretty hotly debated. Reading, writing, and talking about ideas has long been part of my life. Now that I’m a late-in-life visual artist, I see how I have not incorporated gatherings, readings, and writings about the visual work to the same degree. I certainly have created connections and places where ideas about the presentation and marketing of art get hashed over. I have good support groups for getting feedback on my pieces and many resources for learning new techniques. I periodically read about individual artists who articulate the ideas at the center of their art. But, there is no regular place where ideas about visual art are the central focus.

Think about your own rhythms of verbal/visual activities. How do they vary in and out of your studio/space? Do you journal verbally? Visually? A mix? Does your visual work have verbal partners of poetry, titles, quotes, lists of adjectives? Is your work supported by the visual partners of photos, movie clips, or color combinations? Does its support include partners from beyond the verbal/visual as in music, gesture, abstract concepts, or pure feeling (political or otherwise)? 

I came to the conclusion that in my studio, there is that part of my brain that literally gets no business. The lights in the conceptual/verbal areas get put on dim, the circuits switched over to standby. For me, I think this is perfectly fine since that something-missing feeling is normally balanced out on a weekly basis by verbal thinking activity in other areas of my life. Whether that qualifies as intellectual or not may not matter; the reading of cookbooks to deeply understand a hard-boiled egg may be enough.
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II. Energy Management: Translations from the Psych Research Lab, the Board Room and the Shrink’s Couch

Grandin, Temple. Thinking in Pictures. 1995.

This animal behaviorist describes her thinking in pictures from the perspective of a high-functioning autistic person. She details how she can replay her visual experiences from the ‘video library’ of her brain to create solutions relating to animals. Her visual memories are so specific that she retrieves them chronologically. Difficulties do occur: “Adverbs often trigger inappropriate images – “quickly” reminds me of Nestle’s Quik…”

You may not care so much about how she’s improved the handling of cattle or people’s pets, nor about the new insights she brings to raising children somewhere in the autistic range, but she can help you know more about your own mental images.

She makes it crystal clear that visual thinking operates with one element linking to the next by association, more like hop-scotching from item to item rather than the logical sequencing of verbal thought. She also accepts that her extraordinary attention to visual detail is a mixed blessing. Seeing details not often noticed by others has helped in her work with animals but she pays a price in being physically disturbed when visual details are out of place.

Many visual artists have similar attention to detail, associative rather than sequential thinking, and live with the advantages and disadvantages of both. If you were the student that had a hard time with making those (sequential-thinking) outlines to help you write a paper, you may be on the edge of this camp. It wasn’t until her late teens that Grandin realized not all folks think in pictures, that some think in words and symbols for generalizations. Reading about the tools and coping strategies she devised to get through school and get along socially may be a useful as well as an enlightening read for you. 
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III. Friends in Print and Movies
Here are some visits to how others use visual thinking to interact with the world.
Movies: Rain Man (1988), A Beautiful Mind (2001), Bee Season (2005).
Vreeland, Susan. Life Studies. 2005. These are interlinked short stories about the Impressionist painters, their lives and loves. They include scenes connected to well-known paintings so it would be fun to have those images handy as you read. The author does a good job of helping us see the landscapes, animals, and people of the time through the eyes of Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, and others in the lights of different seasons. Haddon, Mark. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. 2004. The author is not himself autistic but has captured that vision-based, detailed view of life compellingly.
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IV. Creative Links
www.edwardtufte.com  Tufte’s works are marvelous feats of presenting large amounts of numerical and verbal information in condensed visual form. The internet site gives a range of samples from his several books. Click on Fine Art to see some of the more aesthetically pleasing results. Click on Graphic of the Day for wry enjoyment.
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V. Newsletter Info
E-mail changes. To change your e-mail address, subscribe, or unsubscribe please e-mail connect@dianereardon.com. If you use a spam filter, please add this e-mail address to your list of approved senders. This material is included on the breakTHROUGH Creativity Coaching (website www.dianereardon.com) All material is copyrighted ©, 31 March 2007, Diane Reardon. All rights reserved. Visit the website for back issues and details on scheduling a complimentary one-hour coaching session.
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