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Virginia Seymour

Virginia Seymour

Virginia Seymour is the Head Librarian of Research and Instruction at Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia. She writes the “Learning to Look” visual literacy column on JSTOR Daily.
Astrology: various constellations. Coloured engraving by S. Hall.
Learning to Look

Browsing for Images? Search Filters Are Your Friend

The images that stick with us the most tend to be those we find by chance. That’s where search filters come in.
View, in extreme close up, of a cat as seen with its teeth bared and a raised claw.
Learning to Look

Metadata for Image Search and Discovery

Metadata helps you search for and find images of cats, for instance, whether or not you have a specific feline in mind.
A postcard illustrating a California Anomaly, Snow and Oranges, Pasadena, California, No. 7782
Learning to Look

How to Find and Choose the Best Images for Your Project

To spot high-quality images, you'll need to draw on your basic visual literacy skills.
Yellow Shank by John James Audubon, 1836
Learning to Look

How to Look at Art and Understand What You See

There are dozens of ways of looking at visual art. None of them are wrong, but certain methods facilitate deeper connection and understanding.
Learning to Look

How to Interpret the Meaning of an Image

This week, we practice using our skills of visual analysis and learn how to "read" deliberately constructed images.
An advertising poster for Brauerei Hölle (Hell Brewery), Radolfzell
Learning to Look

What is a Symbol?

A symbol can be any object, character, color, or even shape that represents an abstract concept without explanatory text. But wait, there's more!
Learning to Look

Principles of Composition in Art and Design

An artist combines repetition, balance, proportion, movement, and other design elements to form the whole of a visual composition.
Learning to Look

Elements of Design: Spotlight on Color

Color, like line, shape, texture, and the other elements of art and design, communicates meaning and creates visually compelling experiences. Here's how.
Learning to Look

Exploring Images In (and Out of) Context

When you think you understand an image, ask yourself what contextual information might be missing.
Xavier University of Louisiana Men's Basketball Team, c. 1939-40
Learning to Look

The Visual Medium Has a Message

How does the medium in which an image is rendered, its materiality, shape our perception of the subject matter?
Learning to Look

Cultivating the Art of Slow Looking

When we examine the subject, foreground, and background of an image separately, the nuances of the scene emerge.
Dr. Rivers Frederick Perfoming Surgery at Flint-Goodridge Hospital
Learning to Look

Introducing Our Visual Literacy Column, “Learning to Look”

Developing visual literacy skills unlocks a means of understanding and engaging with the world that cannot be replaced by any text.

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