Last month I read this article, Artists Look Different, about the way an artist sees. It posits that an artist sees a photo or scene much differently from the way a non-artist will view the same photo or scene. An artist will scan the entire photo, while a non-artist will focus on the focal point of the photo (a person or an object). The study used eye tracking to determine these results. I found the article interesting and it seems to make a lot of sense.

Along these same lines, I think an artist may have different memories from a non-artist. This is only a little theory, but here’s why I think this – and maybe some of my readers can comment to affirm or dispute it. Here goes… Steve and I were talking about how, or the way in which we remember someone. For example what pops into your head when you hear/see the word “mom”?

For Steve, a non-artist, it was a very crisp and specific image of his mom from when he was little. For me, an artist, I have this general image or feeling that encompasses all that is my mom and all that she has done for me. It’s hard to put into words, but I guess it’s more like what she represents as opposed to an actual image of her, maybe more like a collage or montage.

I think this is the same as the photo study because Steve had a sharp memory of his mom, like the non-artist strongly focusing on a person in a photo. The artist looks at the entire photo, and likewise the entire being that is mom.

Thoughts?