The Art of Frontloading Seeing

Waiting for the Rain

      In my classes on Visual Literacy, I used to ask students to identify their visual diet, as what you look at affects what you see.

     Now, after studying Visual Culture concepts while working on my Masters of Education in Arts Education, I will add this question:  "Why do you look at what you look at?"

     On a morning bike ride, this roadside storm  drain beckoned my attention and I grabbed a shot with my cell phone.

     The grid of boxes with shadows evoked for me the variety of similar patterns found in Zentangle® artworks.  Many of these designs are based on deconstructing the patterns of human culture.

     Ahh, the glorious cycle of life imitating art imitating life imitating art.  But wait, what is art?

Storm Drain

     Each pattern used when drawing with the Zentangle method is called a tangle.

     The names of these tangles, clockwise from top left:

Drupe

Cadent

Beeline

Cubine

Click for more on Zentangle.

Tweet