The Viewpoints
viewpoint theory
| viewpoint application
The Viewpoints were originally founded on the recognition that there are
no systems of art-making, for the process of making art is by definition
individual and open. However, the activity of making art relies on insight,
and the development of insight depends on having the courage and the tools
to directly experience one's medium. The Viewpoints aim to facilitate
this experience. Though simple, the Viewpoints are also a technique of
great precision, for they entail a physical exploration of one's world
in more and more detail.
-- Wendell Beavers,
"Enter(ing) The Viewpoints"
The viewpoints are a horizontal approach ... without hierarchy. In theater
there has been a traditional vertical idea that story is more important
than space, for instance. In reality, we may get the end of a personal
story before we ger the beginning, or come into the story in the middle,
constructing the beginning and an end later. This way of looking at things
opens up our ability to see reality more honestly and playfully.
-- Mary Overlie,
"A Vertical History of the Viewpoints"
