Abstract
Empathy is the capacity to understand and feel another’s perspective and point of view. It is the act of seeing and acknowledging another’s fragile moments and helps us connect with others. Art can often elicit empathic connections with viewers and evoke emotional responses. Just as speakers work to establish emotional connections with their audiences, so too artists strive to evoke similar responses. Throughout history, viewers empathically connect to art in all its various forms. Artists capture and express their personal feelings and invite viewers to engage in a reciprocal relationship between expressive processes and artistic production, between the expression and the expressed, between seeing and being seen, and the healing that lives within. Art objects have the capacity to reveal the complexities of creation and reception and the myriad of psychological associations that images can evoke. Viewers empathically and emotionally respond to images based on their personal experiences, both conscious and unconscious. Art needs to be understood in connection to human beings and as part of their psychology. This empathic connection enriches the viewer’s engagement with the art object, personalizes their viewing experience, and deepens the object’s meaning. This interactive workshop invites participants to explore the power of connecting through art objects via the work of artist Kate Holcomb Hale and an artmaking experience. A conversation with the artist will be facilitated by researcher and psychologist, Dr. Noelle Roop. A guided discussion using close looking strategies will be facilitated by Senior Lecturer, Dr. Susan Barahal and Museum Educator, Elizabeth Canter.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
KEYWORDS
Empathy, Close-looking, Perspective-taking
