BLOG TOPIC #7 Why Not Tell?

By not teaching the VTS or not telling the viewer what the work is about, we are just asking them to find their own meaning from their own experiences. Within a group of people you can pull many ideas and much more experience. What each person’s experiences will be is so different from the person next to them. So, by not telling the viewer, we are creating a bigger picture of what is going on in the world today and past experiences. We also need to grow as viewers and if we are just spoon-fed the meanings of the artwork no will grow in understanding and take more information away from the work.

There are many different possibilities that people can take from asking just one simpler question, “what more can you see”, changes the ambiguity of the artwork to something more fulfilling that they can ask more questions of what they are seeing. Part 1 & 2 helps open up the question, why is this artwork like this or what is in this artwork. If we stop asking questions and have the freedom to speak our minds on what we see, we have stopped the process of opening the mind to grow.

The evidence is in the question, what more can we find?  With that question being asked of the viewer, we are asking them to think beyond what is right before them. This question being asked of viewers is finding a method for them to be able to take away from their own experiences. The observations of artwork can not just be something that is not given through names and date, but a more meaningful journey that help each viewer associates with their own experiences. I find that with my own students having VTS in the classroom opens up a way for all students to voice what they see happening in each of the artworks that I display.