Amy E. Herman

Amy Herman is a lawyer and art historian who uses works of art to sharpen observation, analysis, and communication skills. By showing people how to look closely at painting, sculpture, and photography, she helps them hone their visual intelligence to recognize the most pertinent and useful information as well as recognize biases that impede decision making. She developed her Art of Perception seminar in 2000 to improve medical students’ observation and communication skills with their patients when she was the Head of Education at The Frick Collection in New York City. She subsequently adapted the program for a wide range of professionals and leads sessions internationally for the New York City Police Department, the FBI, the French National Police, the Department of Defense, Interpol, the State Department, Fortune 500 companies, first responders, the military, and the intelligence community. In her highly participatory presentation, she demonstrates the relevance of visual literacy across the professional spectrum and how the analysis of works of art affords participants in her program an innovative way to refresh their sense of critical inquiry and reconsider the skills necessary for improved performance and effective leadership. The program has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street
Journal, The CBS Evening News, and Smithsonian Magazine, among others. Her TED talk, A Lesson in Looking, went live in December 2018. Ms. Herman holds an A.B., a J.D., and an M.A. in art history. Her book, Visual Intelligence, was published in May 2016 and was on both the New York Times and Washington Post best sellers’ lists.

The Art of Perception: Foresight 20/20

The Art of Perception has sharpened your visual insight, but the hard work begins anew to utilize most effectively what we observe and put it into practice for professional success. In its second iteration, Foresight 20/20, The Art of Perception will promote greater visual acuity—stressing clarity and sustainability of vision– to help create innovative solutions and make decisions more efficiently. By analyzing works of art that are complex and more challenging, as well as engaging in dialogue about application to their work, participants in leadership, management, or newly created positions—who have already experienced The Art of Perception–can apply new outcomes of visual acuity training directly to problems endemic in their fields. Untapped potential, multiple perspectives, and diversity of thought underlie solutions to some of our most intractable issues and Foresight 20/20 will open eyes and minds to reveal them.

It is time to bring vision back into focus.

Philip Barlow, Crossing, oil on canvas.