Paper delivered by Brian Curtis, Associate Professor, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida at the FATE Biennia Conference, Savannah, GA Thursday, April 4, 2013 for a panel titled "Color Wheel or Color Won't", Chaired by Andy Gambrell, Independent Artist, South Carolina and Martha Horvay, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE

We have assembled this morning to discuss whether or not it is in our students’ best interest to restructure basic instruction in color theory so that it privileges the additive RGB mixtures used in computer screens or the subtractive CMYK mixtures used in digital printing technology over the subtractive pigment mixtures of the more traditional color system represented in Newton’s RYB color wheel.

But before offering my position on the proposed restructuring I would like to start out by addressing the elephant in the room; the fact that the lofty goals that have been the bedrock of higher education throughout much of human history are being summarily dismantled by a wave of techno-utopian hucksterism that privileges utilitarian values of speed and unlimited information access over the pursuit of critical thinking skills, knowledge development, and aesthetic sensitivity and that this disruptive influence continues to expand uncontested despite a growing body of empirical evidence that demonstrates that reliance on a computer and the Internet as learning tools makes the user measurably less intelligent and inhibits his emotional development.

But higher education is not listening. In fact, the current wave of digital euphoria simply reinforces an existing educational bias that privileges a disembodied reality because it feeds off of abstracted left-hemisphere analytical thinking at the expense of intuitive right hemispheric perceptual experience. While admittedly this marginalization of the perceptual has roots dating back to Plato’s idealism the current fascination with technology amplifies the antagonism between visual and verbal forms of knowledge to the point of absurdity thereby forcing art departments to abandon the one-hundred thousand year understanding that non-verbal communication is the foundational platform for making sense of human experience. (Denis Dutton, The Art Instinct,)

Manual skill acquisition and the pursuit of quality help define our humanness. When applied to art such training requires us to look deliberately, look intensely, seek meaning in a complete awareness of and participation in the physical world. This pedagogical model springs from an innate human predisposition traceable to the Pleistocene era to value objects that require specialized skill in their making, that provide direct sensory pleasure, that require a decoupling from practical concerns, logic, and rational understanding, and that acknowledge their place in the longstanding traditions of art.

The alternative to the de-humanizing trend in our conceptually oriented, digitally dominated learning environments is to actively promote the value of hands-on training in traditional media. Touch is the well from which empathy, sensitivity, and artistic intuition are drawn. Taking care on a project and doing one's best provides the means to heighten and make more significant personal and collective experience. Developing intuitive understanding through concentrated manual tasks can’t be downloaded it can only be lived. Making is thinking. Students need to work with their hands.

It is critical to remember that color theory has nothing to do with specific color generating technologies. Color theory is only concerned with human color perception. Color theory is a description of our optical responses to color (perceptions that can include optical illusions) that provides us with a vocabulary with which to differentiate the various constituent elements of color and its interactions. Color theory provides a context sensitive guide for intuitively exploring nuanced color combinations. Color theory provides a consistent vocabulary for describing color characteristics and color relationships. Color theory is intended to be a roadmap for informed color exploration.

Let us take a brief look at why Newton’s Subtractive wheel is unmatched in its functionality as a visual tool. Clear and straightforward geometric organization is the key. The equilateral triangular organization of the subtractive primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, along with the clarity of the multiple quadratic rectilinear relationships within the wheel provide an easily digestible and fully comprehensible introduction to essential color terminology.

The graphic geometric organization continues with the simplicity of the linear opposition of the complementary colors and split complements is introduced. Circling any three consecutive hues on Newton’s wheel that can include but must lie to one side of a primary defines analogous color and halving the wheel from the left of yellow to the right of violet is an effective way to introduce a preliminary discussion of color temperature.

The basic Newton color wheel can easily address value in color by expanding each hue to include tints and shades radiating out of the center of the wheel. Once tint and shade are introduced Newton’s wheel becomes ideal for presenting the concept of color dischord. This occurs when the natural order of value in color combinations is altered so that naturally dark colors are made to appear the same or lighter than those that are naturally lighter (higher) in value.

Clash can also be effectively presented using Newton’s wheel because visual color tension arises when two colors (ideally a secondary and a tertiary or two secondaries) on opposite sides of a nearby primary are juxtaposed.

To introduce the concept of color intensity (saturation, purity) the circle again provides an effective template where the full strength colors on the outside edge of Newton’s color wheel are gradually reduced in multiple steps toward gray at the center. Newton’s Color Wheel does it all and does so simply and effectively.