About the Featured Cover Artist
Todd Siler
"Thought Assemblies" is one rich example of A.R.T. that explores the mysteries of creativity and the hidden dimensions of human potential. It delves into how billions of neurons form dynamic webs of cell-assemblies, and how these cell-assemblies collaborate--enabling us to know the world, represent our knowledge, and continually transform it into new and useful things.
Picture a 12-story building turned on its side. Now picture 515 virtual "windows" in that building that enables you to peer deep and long into the inner world of our conscious and unconscious minds. Thought Assemblies served as the visual component of my doctoral Interdisciplinary Studies in Psychology and Art at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1980s. It presents a mosaic of visual suppositions and adventurous insights into the creative process. In effect, it visualizes the structures and organic unity of the mind as manifest by the dynamic "cell-assemblies" that influence every facet of human behavior.
Informed by insights born from examining noninvasive medical imaging technology, Thought Assemblies looks deep into the hidden territory of the central nervous system to see what makes us tick as human beings striving to make sense of our world and life experiences.
The ArtScience process links all fields of knowledge and human endeavors, fostering creative-critical thinking and innovation.
Metaphorming is the Creative Engine of ArtScience. In this Sphere of Creativity & Communication, each line is a circle. The web of intersecting circles represents a union of relations between all sources of information and forms of knowledge. Every point on every line is in touch with all the points on all the lines. The more lines you use, the more broadly and effectively you can communicate--sharing your knowledge, ideas and life experiences. (© 1994. The ArtScience ® Program)
"Metaphorming" is the act of connecting Metaphorms to invent and innovate; to generate ideas and communicate them; to pose and solve problems; to express our thoughts and feelings; to create and share new knowledge; and to learn, applying what we learn in new and personally meaningful ways. Metaphorming enables us to envision anything, and create anything we envision--using metaphorms.
"Metaphorms" are forms of metaphor, analogy, signs, symbols, stories, figures of speech, premises, models, and other connection-making tools we use to express our ideas, thoughts, feelings, opinions, knowledge, and experiences.
As Thought Assemblies intimates: Everything is a Metaphorm! Everything human-made and nature-made can be connected to something else to create new meanings and uses.
To learn more about these ArtScience Adventures, please visit www.ToddSilerArt.com.
