About Saper Vedere

Kalamazoo
I am an art historian at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, where I also live with my husband, four children, and 3 dogs. From 2007-2010, I worked as the interim director of the Frostic School of Art. Fall 2010, I had a sabbatical to jump start my return to research mode, and in January 2011, I will return to teaching after a 3½-year hiatus. To celebrate this step back into the world of art, teaching, and research I have started this blog. I am using it to muse about the visual world (rather than spreadsheets). I have titled it after a well-known saying of Leonardo da’Vinci, “saper vedere,” or “to see is to know.” It is my purpose to know the world a little bit better by focusing on an image a day, which I will post to this blog. Because of my art historical leaning (some would say twisted perspective)—most of the images will be pulled from the past. Because images never live in isolation—ideas, events, literature, music, and movement could be added. While this a personal exploration, others are invited to join and to comment. Best wishes for a visually stunning, intellectually provocative, personally rewarding, communally productive, and peaceful 2011.

Thursday, January 6, 2011



One of Leonardo da' Vinci's drawings of the brain. Following the ancient Greeks, he believed the brain was the seat of the soul, which, resided not in brain tissue, but invisibly in its cavities (ventricles). He suggested one of the functions of the brain was to mediated the relationship between the soul and the senses.  
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