The Sensing Body in the Visual Arts

This book provides original grounds for integrating the bodily, somatic senses into our understanding of how we make and engage with visual art. Rosalyn Driscoll, a visual artist who spent years making tactile, haptic sculpture, shows how touch can deepen what we know through seeing, and even serve as a genuine alternative to sight.
Driscoll explores the basic elements of the somatic senses, investigating the differences between touch and sight, the reciprocal nature of touch, and the centrality of motion and emotion. Awareness of the somatic senses offers rich aesthetic and perceptual possibilities for art making and appreciation, which will be of use for students of fine art, museum studies, art history and sensory studies.

Rosalyn Driscoll is an independent visual artist and scholar. Her work has been exhibited in the US, Europe and Asia, for which she has won numerous awards. Driscoll was an acting director at Brattleboro Museum and Art Centre from 1985-1990.

List of Figures
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1: By the Light of the Body
1. Sight and Touch
2. The Intelligent Hand
3. Motion
4. In the Mind's Eye and Body
5. Time and Memory
6. E-motion
7. Sensible and Sensitive
Part 2: Body and Art in the World
8. Touching as Seeing
9. Whole-body Seeing
10. Learning the Language
11. The Artist's Body
12. Please Touch
13. Sense of Connection
14. Seeing as Feeling
15. Reflection
Bibliography
Index