Hit with a brick: The teachings of Hoyt L. Sherman

Abstract

This article discusses the pedagogy of Hoyt L. Sherman, a fine arts professor at The Ohio State University from 1932 to 1974, whose approach to art education utilized the psychology and physiology of visual perception as presented in his three pedagogical books – Drawing By Seeing
(1947), The Visual Demonstration Center (1951) and Cézanne and Visual Form (1952). The article describes Sherman’s innovations, The Visual Training Laboratory (aka Flash Lab) and the Visual Demonstration Center, comments on two of the demonstrations, and summarizes several of
Sherman’s key ideas, arguing that recent studies in neuroscience confirm his thinking. A review of Hoyt Sherman’s pedagogical legacy concludes the article. His most notable student, Roy Lichtenstein, credited Sherman’s ideas on perception and visual unity as a major influence.