Dr. Kim Hermanson

Facilitating Creative Breakthroughs

beauty

Teaching and learning are deep, rich, beautiful, and life-giving.

The word aesthetics comes from the Greek word “aisthenesthai” which is the “ability to perceive.”

I’ve always had a strong desire to explore teaching and learning as deep, rich, and aesthetic processes. Beautiful, life-giving, and creative rather than dry, boring, and joyless.

Both teaching and learning require courage, an open heart, and the willingness to be vulnerable. But instead of noticing and honoring the inherent beauty and vulnerability of educational settings, our focus in education has often been abstract and rule-based, taking us far away from the experience of beauty and depth.

My blog post on “aesthetic space” in teaching and learning:

https://www.kimhermanson.com/2017/09/05/what-is-aesthetic-space-and-why-is-it-important/

 

check out my article in Medium: The power of thinking in shapes

There’s a reason bank buildings are square. There’s a reason that when we need rest we go to a large body of water… or the desert. There’s a reason web designers use lots of white space. (Space allows readers’ eyes — and brains! — to stay calm so they can absorb the material.) There’s a reason why group facilitators seat people in a circle (rather than lines of chairs) when they want to create a sense of cohesiveness and group bonding.

Corporate advertisers consciously and strategically use shapes in their buildings, products, and advertising because different shapes appeal to and awaken different parts of our brain. But shapes aren’t just for corporate advertisers and web designers. Every one of us can tap their potent power.

Confused about the direction of a project? Getting distracted by other things? a LINE brings clarity, definition, precision, and focus.

Feeling anxious about an upcoming presentation? a SQUARE brings the beautiful qualities of a line (clarity and definition), along with safety, sturdiness, and strength.

Ready to launch a new program? a TRIANGLE also brings clarity and definition (line) and the sturdiness of a square. But the triangle has a particular vision it’s reaching for. The triangle honors and develops this vision from a place of sturdy groundedness.

Something is missing but you’re not sure what it is? Work with a CIRCLE. Circles gather the stray threads and…

Click here for the rest of the article!

Our world needs the artist’s cognitive capacities

The physicist Arthur Zajonc says that our culture needs the artist’s cognitive capacities. But what ARE those cognitive capacities?  

Perhaps those capacities include the artist’s willingness to be confused, welcoming any unlikely connection that shows up. Perhaps it’s his or her sensitivity to nuance and qualities of beauty that others miss. Perhaps artists are more flexible and disposed to “go with the flow.” Maybe they’re more comfortable with risk-taking and more inclined to let curiosity lead the way. 

Perhaps artists have found a way, through their art, to go beyond ordinary capacities of human reasoning.

Art is love ~ Paul Reynard

The artist Paul Reynard wrote:  “A work of art is necessarily incomplete. It is a way of learning.” 

We’re all in this process of art-making, whether we think of ourselves as artists or not, because we’re all learners. 

Reynard was asked before he died, “What is the place of art in contemporary life?” He responded, “The question could well be formulated as ‘What is the place of love in contemporary life?’”

I’ve always loved that statement. It says so much. 

The best artists show us how to see the world with love.

Or perhaps we could more simply say, “art is love.”