Workshop | Learning to Look, led by AVA’s Curatorial Assistant, Emmie Foster | Main Galleries at AVA

Wednesday, October 29, two sessions: 11:30 or 2:30 | Suggested donation $10 pp | Please RSVP here

Description: Cultural production, which is anything from fine art to late-night television, allows humans to communicate through color, shape and line, also known as visual language. Looking closely at materials, form, content and process leads viewers towards a deeper understanding of the meaning of a work and expands their knowledge of the visual world, igniting creative responses. This exercise is conducted through a question/response format which teaches participants how to identify and observe their individual sensory responses towards an artwork.

While looking, we will practice observing our physical reactions and engage our ideas, beliefs, memories, and personal histories. The purpose of this activity is to participate in a fun and dynamic experience that lessens the ambiguity associated with fine art and thoughtfully validates one’s unique way of seeing. The goal is to provide new tools for “reading” artwork—or just have fun!. We’ll discuss a selection of artworks and then unravel why we respond in one way or another.

Footnote: Roland Barthes, scholar and critical theorist, once said, “the author is dead”. To paraphrase, once a work of art is entered into the world and encountered by an audience, a new meaning is interpreted and applied: the original meaning intended by the artist shifts and expands.