A combined junction-cue dictionary for labelling sketch drawings with artistic shadows and table-line cues

The interpretation of user sketches generates research interest in the product design community since the computer interpretation of sketches may reduce the design-to-market time while giving the designer greater flexibility and control of the design process. This paper describes how cues, namely shadows and table lines used to express structural form in the drawing, may be used in a line-labelling algorithm to obtain a drawing interpretation that matches some design intent. To this extent, this paper describes canonical forms of the cues from which a combined junction and cue dictionary is created and used within a genetic algorithm framework to label the drawing. This paper also describes how such cues may be identified from the sketchpeer-reviewe

Image and Evidence: The Study of Attention through the Combined Lenses of Neuroscience and Art

: Levy, EK 2012, ‘An artistic exploration of inattention blindness’, in Frontiers Hum Neurosci, vol. 5, ISSN=1662-5161.Full version unavailable due to 3rd party copyright restrictions.This study proposed that new insights about attention, including its phenomenon and pathology, would be provided by combining perspectives of the neurobiological discourse about attention with analyses of artworks that exploit the constraints of the attentional system. To advance the central argument that art offers a training ground for the attentional system, a wide range of contemporary art was analysed in light of specific tasks invoked. The kinds of cognitive tasks these works initiate with respect to the attentional system have been particularly critical to this research. Attention was explored within the context of transdisciplinary art practices, varied circumstances of viewing, new neuroscientific findings, and new approaches towards learning. Research for this dissertation required practical investigations in a gallery setting, and this original work was contextualised and correlated with pertinent neuroscientific approaches. It was also concluded that art can enhance public awareness of attention disorders and assist the public in discriminating between medical and social factors through questioning how norms of behaviour are defined and measured. This territory was examined through the comparative analysis of several diagnostic tests for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), through the adaptation of a methodology from economics involving patent citation in order to show market incentives, and through examples of data visualisation. The construction of an installation and collaborative animation allowed participants to experience first-hand the constraints on the attentional system, provoking awareness of our own “normal” physiological limitations. The embodied knowledge of images, emotion, and social context that are deeply embedded in art practices appeared to be capable of supplementing neuroscience’s understanding of attention and its disorders

Contributions to the Content-Based Image Retrieval Using Pictorial Queris

L'accés massiu a les càmeres digitals, els ordinadors personals i a Internet, ha propiciat la creació de grans volums de dades en format digital. En aquest context, cada vegada adquireixen major rellevància totes aquelles eines dissenyades per organitzar la informació i facilitar la seva cerca.Les imatges són un cas particular de dades que requereixen tècniques específiques de descripció i indexació. L'àrea de la visió per computador encarregada de l'estudi d'aquestes tècniques rep el nom de Recuperació d'Imatges per Contingut, en anglès Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). Els sistemes de CBIR no utilitzen descripcions basades en text sinó que es basen en característiques extretes de les pròpies imatges. En contrast a les més de 6000 llengües parlades en el món, les descripcions basades en característiques visuals representen una via d'expressió universal.La intensa recerca en el camp dels sistemes de CBIR s'ha aplicat en àrees de coneixement molt diverses. Així doncs s'han desenvolupat aplicacions de CBIR relacionades amb la medicina, la protecció de la propietat intel·lectual, el periodisme, el disseny gràfic, la cerca d'informació en Internet, la preservació dels patrimoni cultural, etc. Un dels punts importants d'una aplicació de CBIR resideix en el disseny de les funcions de l'usuari. L'usuari és l'encarregat de formular les consultes a partir de les quals es fa la cerca de les imatges. Nosaltres hem centrat l'atenció en aquells sistemes en què la consulta es formula a partir d'una representació pictòrica. Hem plantejat una taxonomia dels sistemes de consulta en composada per quatre paradigmes diferents: Consulta-segons-Selecció, Consulta-segons-Composició-Icònica, Consulta-segons-Esboç i Consulta-segons-Il·lustració. Cada paradigma incorpora un nivell diferent en el potencial expressiu de l'usuari. Des de la simple selecció d'una imatge, fins a la creació d'una il·lustració en color, l'usuari és qui pren el control de les dades d'entrada del sistema. Al llarg dels capítols d'aquesta tesi hem analitzat la influència que cada paradigma de consulta exerceix en els processos interns d'un sistema de CBIR. D'aquesta manera també hem proposat un conjunt de contribucions que hem exemplificat des d'un punt de vista pràctic mitjançant una aplicació final

Contributions to the content-based image retrieval using pictorial queries

Descripció del recurs: el 02 de novembre de 2010L'accés massiu a les càmeres digitals, els ordinadors personals i a Internet, ha propiciat la creació de grans volums de dades en format digital. En aquest context, cada vegada adquireixen major rellevància totes aquelles eines dissenyades per organitzar la informació i facilitar la seva cerca. Les imatges són un cas particular de dades que requereixen tècniques específiques de descripció i indexació. L'àrea de la visió per computador encarregada de l'estudi d'aquestes tècniques rep el nom de Recuperació d'Imatges per Contingut, en anglès Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR). Els sistemes de CBIR no utilitzen descripcions basades en text sinó que es basen en característiques extretes de les pròpies imatges. En contrast a les més de 6000 llengües parlades en el món, les descripcions basades en característiques visuals representen una via d'expressió universal. La intensa recerca en el camp dels sistemes de CBIR s'ha aplicat en àrees de coneixement molt diverses. Així doncs s'han desenvolupat aplicacions de CBIR relacionades amb la medicina, la protecció de la propietat intel·lectual, el periodisme, el disseny gràfic, la cerca d'informació en Internet, la preservació dels patrimoni cultural, etc. Un dels punts importants d'una aplicació de CBIR resideix en el disseny de les funcions de l'usuari. L'usuari és l'encarregat de formular les consultes a partir de les quals es fa la cerca de les imatges. Nosaltres hem centrat l'atenció en aquells sistemes en què la consulta es formula a partir d'una representació pictòrica. Hem plantejat una taxonomia dels sistemes de consulta en composada per quatre paradigmes diferents: Consulta-segons-Selecció, Consulta-segons-Composició-Icònica, Consulta-segons-Esboç i Consulta-segons-Il·lustració. Cada paradigma incorpora un nivell diferent en el potencial expressiu de l'usuari. Des de la simple selecció d'una imatge, fins a la creació d'una il·lustració en color, l'usuari és qui pren el control de les dades d'entrada del sistema. Al llarg dels capítols d'aquesta tesi hem analitzat la influència que cada paradigma de consulta exerceix en els processos interns d'un sistema de CBIR. D'aquesta manera també hem proposat un conjunt de contribucions que hem exemplificat des d'un punt de vista pràctic mitjançant una aplicació final

A history of Australian art 1830-1930 : told through the lives of the objects

This is a history of Aboriginal and settler art between 1830 and 1930. The focus is a close study of the contexts in which some of Australia's best-known works of art were produced, collected, and, over time, assessed. Written from the humanist perspective, the thesis shows history as shaped by people; thus it incorporates a multiplicity of human perspectives; the obverse of a history based on the operation of abstract forces. There was a reason for taking the humanist approach. Traditionally, the histories of Australian art have been divided by taxonomies of race and civilisation. Without doubt the division had effect in the past assessment of art however there was every reason why it should not govern a revised history. The context for re-imagining the past is that, in our own time, the Aboriginal people's capacity for cross-cultural expression, via a dialogical mode, has earned their art a prominent place in contemporary art world-wide. Rather than writing theoretically, the solution was to build an alternative history on the basics, on specific information about objects and the contexts of their production. The fate of the objects subsequently - the collecting of them, and their periodic assessment over time, became a means of incorporating the explanations of art history and anthropology without having to endorse the viewpoint of either. The text was structured according to sequential themes of land-claims, cultural allegiance, and cultural reformation (with the observation that the themes continue as influential aspects of art to the present). Aboriginal art was observed to take a dialogical mode from early on, whereas art in the western mode has only recently - under globalisation- shown signs of a comparable self-objectification leading (possibly) to a dialogic

Understanding drawing: a cognitive account of observational process

This thesis contributes to theorising observational drawing from a cognitive perspective. Our current understanding of drawing is developing rapidly through artistic and scientific enquiry. However, it remains fragmented because the frames of reference of those modes of enquiry do not coincide. Therefore, the foundations for a truly interdisciplinary understanding of observational drawing are still inceptive. This thesis seeks to add to those foundations by bridging artistic and scientific perspectives on observational process and the cognitive aptitudes underpinning it. The project is based on four case studies of experienced artists drawing processes, with quantitative and qualitative data gathered: timing of eye and hand movements, and artists verbal reports. The data sets are analysed with a generative approach, using behavioural and protocol analysis methods to yield comparative models that describe cognitive strategies for drawing. This forms a grounded framework that elucidates the cognitive activities and competences observational process entails. Cognitive psychological theory is consulted to explain the observed behaviours, and the combined evidence is applied to understanding apparent discrepancies in existing accounts of drawing. In addition, the use of verbal reporting methods in drawing studies is evaluated. The study observes how drawing process involves a segregation of activities that enables efficient use of limited and parametrically constrained cognitive resources. Differing drawing strategies are shown to share common key characteristics; including a staged use of selective visual attention, and the capacity to temporarily postpone critical judgement in order to engage fully in periods of direct perception and action. The autonomy and regularity of those activities, demonstrated by the artists studied, indicate that drawing ability entails tacit self‐knowledge concerning the cognitive and perceptual capacities described in this thesis. This thesis presents drawing as a skill that involves strategic use of visual deconstruction, comparison, analogical transfer and repetitive cycles of construction, evaluation and revision. I argue that drawing skill acquisition and transfer can be facilitated by the elucidation of these processes. As such, this framework for describing and understanding drawing is offered to those who seek to understand, learn or teach observational practice, and to those who are taking a renewed interest in drawing as a tool for thought

A right hemisphere advantage for processing blurred faces

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Sculpture and the contested ground of public and private space

Through applied practice and historical research, this studio-led doctoral project seeks to identify the intrinsic differences and mutual interdependencies of private and public art.  By analysing the tensions between the rigid constraints of sculpture in the public sphere and the aesthetic flexibility and freedom of the private studio - this research shows how sculpture creates spaces for innovation and reflection in complex and contested urban sites.  In this context art has the potential to act as a conduit between individuals and their community, as a material site of social communication across time and place in which ancient antecedents of the sacred and profane remain, to this day, detectable and relevant.   The research follows a studio process-driven framework, narrating how I have negotiated the contested ground of public and private space. It follows the design and production of specific artworks for both domains, with each process analysed in the five chapters of the dissertation. Starting with a small sculptural work depicting an event in social history, my findings on context and the social, material fabric of the city, lead in the next chapter to the development and completion of a major site-specific, public sculptural relief.  Designed to commemorate the personal and public social achievement of those who engaged with the site, it is also representative of wider social contexts. The social complexities of relations between local use of the site and the broader historical context were explored in a public work that I examine from its design and commission, through to its completion.  From the models used for this larger public work, questions arose concerning art-based solutions to figural representation at key intersections of everyday exchanges between the individual and society. These were explored in an extended series of personal, and experimental figurative sketch models.  In many ways, the intimacy of these maquettes, as well as research on votive practices, became fundamental to the design for a final major commission for Cabrini Hospital, commemorating St Frances Xavier Cabrini, in which the `contested ground' was the sense of sacred and the body, in both the public and private realms.  Finally, the research takes a wider perspective through comparative analysis of two contemporary public sculptures in urban contexts: Callum Morton's Monument Park of 2015, and Gillian Wearing's Statue of Dame Millicent Fawcett, 2018. These large-scale works are analysed in relation to research for my own small studio works and to a number of small scaled works by the Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss Suddenly This Overview, completed between 1981-2012 This research has revealed that the ground of contestation between private and public domains is not simply an actual, material, and spatial one, but also a complex socio-political domain.  I position art as an intermediary in this field of production and social meaning as a process which not only simply reveals the contested ground of sculpture but also requires negotiation within it.  This innovative perspective provides a significant contribution to art in the contemporary field, and particularly to the potential of sculpture and its contribution to urban life

An investigation into students understanding of sketchbook annotation in art and design

This thesis is based on the observation that annotation in Art and Design Education has received little attention as a device for developing student understanding. As an Art and Design teacher I have, therefore, taken what I see as the predominance of `labelling' practice further, exploring the potential of annotation by looking at the responses of five students to a number of questions designed to identify levels of understanding. This research has highlighted a number of issues concerning why and how annotation is used in sketchbooks, and what value these students attach to it. A desire to develop the effectiveness of annotation is the driving force behind this investigation. I have minded to understand the perceptions of those who teach, as well as the perceptions of those who are taught. By analysing both perspectives, different needs are addressed as part of an in depth examination of the data collected.\ud I argue that annotating is the counterpart to sketching. By definition, both these activities are `short-lived', and `rapid', implying a longer time spent thinking, thinking that is not usually immediately available for consideration. Analysing particular language is crucial. I also argue that the process of condensing thought creates inferential gaps for us to consider. Furthermore, what happens during the time taken to annotate at different speeds is important to establish, in order to understand the reasons for its production. A developing theory emerges to suggest that further consideration of these aspects would enable students' concerns to be identified more clearly. This investigation sets out to articulate the understandings of students for the purpose of establishing meanings. \ud This is achieved by considering two parallel lines of enquiry, relating time and intention. This triangulates thoughts about what motivates students to shorten written information to support their visual communications. Three main outcomes emerge. They relate to the language used by students, inferences inherent within their notes, and the pace of their annotation to indicate further significance. These outcomes make significant contributions to current awareness of the value of sketchbook annotation, and recommendations are made, about how to access this understanding, with a view to implementation. \u