Simple Techniques to help our Visual Thinking

Wow – great article about the importance of visualization to thinking and understanding. Fascinating!

Rui D S Martins's avatarVisuality

This post looks at two techniques to assist our visual thinking: the humble Venn Diagram and the Concept Tree.

Visualization is the fundamental element of reasoning. This is an argument that Aristotle proposed and many more have affirmed, including Grim, who I make reference to in this post.

Before getting to the actual techniques, we need to step back and clarify some basic building blocks.

We use words, sentences, concepts etc. The point is: how do these things relate to each other; what do they mean; and what does it have to do with visualization?

Words are just signs. The physical word is nothing more than a combination of sounds or marks when written. The word becomes of interest when it has an association with ideas. Concepts lie behind the words. The words themselves are meaningless. It is the ideas associated with those words that are of interest.

To illustrate…

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Your mom is overweight, and your dad is starting to forget things

Your mom is overweight, and your dad is starting to forget things

Great post by photographer, Peter Blanchard that talks about evidence-based art research – research that demonstrates how certain kinds of art can have a true positive impact on health and quality of life.

Peter C. Blanchard's avatarManifest Photo Blog

No, this isn’t a “your mom” joke, and my blog has not been hacked and taken over by teenage pranksters.  I chose the title because these things are inevitable.  Aging, illness, injury . . . they happen to everyone.

I made a statement in my recent video that everyone will end up in the hospital sooner or later, either for yourself or attending a loved one.  Yes, even you.

Why am I talking about this on a photography blog?  I’m talking about it because several years ago I learned that I, a simple nature photographer, had at my fingertips the tools to make a difference.  I learned that much of the art I was already creating was in alignment with the principles of Evidence-Based Art research – research demonstrating that art with specific elements can have a very real and tangible positive impact on the quality of life.

Can this…

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Capital Caring Mural Installation

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Here it is all squared out and ready to go upphoto 1

Let’s put it up on the wall!

Thank you to the amazing tile setters, Rob & Kevin of Schlichter Tile & Marble  

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Placing the names…

Capital Caring Mural Installation

Now for the center imagery tilesphoto 1 (1)

Piece by piece…

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Detail of texture and flowphoto 4

Thanks for visiting our on-site installation day. Stay tuned for the final reveal and be sure to share our blog with your friends!

Final Cutting Stage for The Capital Caring Mural

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 Note the cornerstone we created. 

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The easel is losing its pieces slowly but surely.

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Gigi is spraying the cut pieces with water to keep them moist during the trimming and labeling process.

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The last few pieces come off the easel.

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Rachel looking up from trimming the edges.

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Tiles drying on drywall boards.

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Loading the dried pieces into the kiln for the bisque fire. The sand on the shelves functions like ball bearings, allowing movement.
 We love that you’re following this project inside our studio. If you know someone who may be interested in following along, forward them this blog entry. Have a great weekend! -The Crew at Karen Singer Tileworks Studio

Cutting Up The Mural

This step in the mural process is interesting. Come on in and see how it’s done.

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Gigi and Rachel trimming tiles and mapping the mural.

 

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Each piece gets a number and an arrow going up.

 

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And then the same number is marked on the plastic pattern.

 

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Trimming the edges of each piece.

 

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Trimming another piece. The extra clay all gets recycled.

 

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Rachel contemplating which piece to cut next.

 

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Starting the cut. Note how she is holding the tool straight up and down to avoid angles.

As you can see, every detail is critical to the overall success of our mural installations. A successful piece of work takes a balance of creativity and technical experience. We take our approach very seriously while having fun doing it. Thanks for stopping in today to our studio. See you next time!

Studio Update-Capital Caring

We’re proud of these most recent shots from the Capital Caring mural.

front pic of half of mural

The first half is complete and we are ready to cut it up.

close up of mural showing cut lines

A detail showing the cut lines. This is always so hard, but necessary.

Karen Singer selecting where to place the cut marks

Karen making decisions about where to place the cuts.

details of hidden secrets

One of the hidden elements.

Peter Cottontail

Another small detail – Peter Cottontail.

Thanks for visiting our studio. Share this blog with someone who loves art!

Capital Caring Mural Update

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Rachel referring to reference images as she sculpts the cat tails.

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Gigi fine tuning some bushes in the background.

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Gigi fine tuning and a glimpse of the whole mural in process.

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A close up view of some bushes. Can you guess what tools we used to get these textures?

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Cat tails being built out.

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Cat tails refined and with texture added.

The Labyrinth is almost finished. There will be an actual labyrinth on site at the Adler Centre

The Labyrinth is almost finished. There will be an actual labyrinth on site at the Adler Centre.

Karen adding texture to the labyrinth.

Karen adding texture to the labyrinth.

Karen looking up.

Karen looking up.

Karen fine tuning an edge of the labyrinth.

Karen fine tuning an edge of the labyrinth.

Close up of the "barn" area in top left corner.

Close up of the “barn” area in top left corner.

Fresh Studio Progression Pics

You asked for more so, here they are! It seems like people really like watching the Capital Caring mural evolve. Thanks for your interest. We’ll keep them coming.

Making the blobs look like cat-tails

Making the blobs look like cat-tails

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Gigi putting wedge lines around a bush at the edge of the river.

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Rachel and Gigi in deep concentration.

 

Capital Caring Mural Underway

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Karen sculpting directly onto the clay.

A sneak peek into our studio today! We are working on a custom ceramic tile donor recognition mural for Capital Caring. The 14′ x 7′ ceramic mural will be installed in the main entry area of the Adler Center. The work will be a bird’s eye view landscape featuring an undulating river. In the background will be the Shenandoah Mountains and the Washington DC skyline. Some of the symbolism include: horse farms (a reference to power and freedom), a labyrinth (reference to spiritual pathway), a sailboat and kayaks (symbolic of a safe crossing), and rapids in the river (symbolic of the challenges in life).

Check out the progress photos below.

Laying out the clay onto our large easel.

Laying out the clay onto our large easel.

Gigi and Rachel smoothing the plastic pattern over the clay.

Gigi and Rachel smoothing the plastic pattern over the clay.

Gigi tracing lines through the plastic.

Gigi tracing lines through the plastic.

Showing Gigi how to texture the river.

Showing Gigi how to texture the river.