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Bex Hall > Creative Education > “Seeing things” is good for the imagination

“Seeing things” is good for the imagination

September 28, 2021

It’s normal to see familiar objects in random images

I see a face!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed finding faces and familiar shapes in nature or abstract paintings. Cloud watching is a favorite pastime. But sometimes a shape will jump out somewhere and it’s remarkably distinct. Like this eye in the tree top that caught my attention this morning.

Pareidolia example.

As a young person, I was discouraged to talk about “…such nonsense.” So I learned to keep my impressions quiet. To keep my imagination tamped down. To not be foolish with wild ideas and fantasies.

Then a few years ago I found there’s a scientific term for the perception of familiar objects in random images: pareidolia.

Finally. A name for this aspect of the imagination I had been shamed into keeping hidden. And with it, came the knowledge it’s something useful, in what I paint, what I write. And this should be celebrated, not ignored.

I encourage you to take delight in seeing the hidden objects in plain sight all around!

I see you!

Filed Under: Creative Education Tagged With: pareidolia

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About Bex

 

Bex Hall

Her writing has appeared in various online and print publications, most recently in Kerning, a literary magazine, and in the Stories of Hope Collection in Transplant Living. Her artwork has appeared and sold through the Grayson Gallery. She blogs here about creative life and creates in Studio BE overlooking the Ohio River. Her work in progress is a memoir about the secret life of objects.

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  • Creative practice goals:

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