‘Haptic Knowing’ Explores Intelligence of Touch

The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art presents “Haptic Knowing,” a new exhibition showcasing five artists whose work explores touch not merely as a physical action, but as a form of inquiry and a way of thinking, learning and understanding the world. The exhibition runs through November 7.

Derived from the Greek word haptesthai, meaning to touch, haptic knowing refers to the intuitive, nonverbal intelligence that develops through direct, physical engagement with materials.

Nearly 200 people attended the opening reception September 3, where students, faculty, and staff gathered while wearing and displaying creative, handcrafted haptic paper attachments in celebration of the theme.

Featuring the work of Andrea Bersaglieri, Lea Feinstein, Janet Neuwalder, Carol Shaw-Sutton and Eliot Spaulding, the exhibition showcases years of sustained experimentation, repetition and attention. Each artist has developed a distinctive visual language shaped by the reciprocal exchange between hand, material, and process.

“Rather than beginning with a predetermined outcome, the exhibition highlights how knowledge accumulates through the intimate act of making, where the hand learns to recognize resistance, fragility, weight, and texture in a sustained conversation between maker and medium,” said interim Museum Director Chris Rupp. “In an era increasingly mediated by screens and virtual experiences, this exhibition invites viewers to slow down, recognize the intelligence of touch, and imagine the gestures, decisions and accumulated experience embodied in each work.”

The Westmont Ridley-Tree Museum of Art is open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm, and Saturdays from 11 am to 5 pm. It is closed Sundays and college holidays. For more information, visit www.westmont.edu/museum or call (805) 565-6162.