Assessment of the Homospatial Process in Art: Application to Costume Design

To study the homospatial process in artistic creation, the mental conception was operationalized into an externalized perceptual representation The superimposition of visual images containing strong figural elements produces a perceptual field in which discrete spatial entities appear to be occupying the same space. The experimental design involving the presentation of superimposed versus separated side by side naturalistic visual images was used with 43 university-level award winning art student subjects. Subjects in both experimental and control groups were instructed to create a pastel drawing that was based on artistic ideas stimulated by the slide photographs presented, and resulting products were independently judged for creative effect by art experts. Component elements in slide stimuli and drawings were also compared. Drawings produced by the experimental group exposed to the superimposed visual images that contained elements from both component slides were judged to be significantly more creative than were drawings containing elements from both slides by the control group. Because both experimental stimuli and creative results were visual in this experiment, the direct effects of the homospatial process were identified. An application of the demonstrated homospatial process to the art of fashion design is shown. Superimposition of an architectural object, an apartment building and a costume gown results in a new entity differing from the components and from each other. Thus, a single costume can be alternatively superimposed with one or more types to produce new and valuable effects. A costume can, in this way, be systematically brought together with numerous other types until the potential for evoking new and attractive integrations is exhausted.