INTRODUCTION

I believe the visual arts are not only about seeing, but also experiencing. I am a painting and graphic design double major and I am interested in different forms of sensory engagement with work (seeing, touching, and listening).

“Your painting looks good enough to eat” has become a common phrase between my friends and I during painting critiques. Usually when we say this, we are referring to the buttery smears and complex surface quality of a painting. It is completely illogical and, I should note, unsafe, to eat a painting, and yet, the manipulation of materials stimulates a desire to. I have explored this same sensory engagement in design, specifically encouraging touch in my work that exists in a two-dimensional and flat world.

Below is a collection research and sources of inspiration that either discuss or embody this cross-pollination of sensory experience in art.