This event is part of the Big Ideas at CIIS Series. Whether you consider yourself an artist or not, viewing art is a creative act that can be a catalyst for inquiries into our world. In this talk, Cindy Shearer explains how viewing artworks from the vantage point of its makers allows us to experience art-making from the inside out—drawing from what undergirds art in all forms as information and inspiration. Cindy invites you to delve deeper into the thoughts, ideas, and feelings that are evoked inside you when viewing art to understand how art puts us in relationship with the artist, provides inspiration for our work, and helps use better understand ourselves as creators.   Cindy Shearer is Professor and Chair of the Dept. of Interdisciplinary Arts at CIIS and directs the MFA in Interdisciplinary Art and Writing. She is a writer, text/image artist, and curator. She has curated The Landscape of Memory, an interdisciplinary art event and exhibit and Art as Offering; Works of Text and Image, among others. She writes short essays and fiction, and is currently at at work on a mother/son mystery, It's More Complicated Than That.