Topic 1 - The Herring Net by Winslow Homer

My first reaction to this painting was somewhat unusual with this piece of art.   I had a sense of certainty that I had seen this painting before.  After racking my brain matter for quite some time, it hit me....Good Will Hunting, the movie!!!!  I was (in my scattered brains), certain that this was the paint by numbers piece that Robin Williams showed to Matt Damon in their first session together.  Needless to say, I was incorrect.  The painting was similar, but not the same, however, at first sight I got that same feeling.  A feeling of "lostness" and a sense of cold, uncomfortable, unsettlement.  Now on to what  "my experimental, fellow colleague, lab-peeps" felt when asked the following questions in reference to this wonderful piece of art...


1. Did your colleagues notice what you noticed in the painting?
In regards to content, my colleagues and I noticed much of the same thing, and were able to describe fairly thoroughly what was going on in the painting.  We described an older fisherman, along with a younger of the sort bringing a net full of fish onto their apparent rowboat.  Floating devices were being used, as there is one positioned in the left center front of the painting.  The water seems to bit a bit unsettled, as the older gentleman fights with the net in efforts to bring on board the "catch of the day."


2. Did they notice details or offer insights you had not considered? How did you respond to these?
There were a few things that my "studious pupils" noticed that I failed to recognize initially.  There were the larger ships in the background, that could have been placed in efforts to allow you to believe that our fishermen were in a smaller boat that had been detached from a larger boat that was potentially nearby.  Also there was the slight view of the net to the younger fisherman's left, allowing you to believe that he, too was playing a part in the capturing of the herring either by re-releasing the net back into the ocean, or by helping keep the fish inside the small boat.


3. How did you feel about facilitating this discussion and what did you learn from the experience?  
I felt comfortable in my choices of experimental colleagues.  There is a sense of camaraderie between my "chosen ones" and myself, making it comfortable to ask for assistance with this experiment.  I learned a great deal from this experience, as I was able to facilitate an assignment within a group of peers, versus a group of students.  Teachers of other subjects offer a wonderful array of ideas, and in some cases tend to stray away from the basic principles, theories, and rules that tend to wrap us artists up into looking beyond the basic content at times.