The Brain and the Arts

How Does our Brain Work? Are you more right-brained or more left-brained?

Many educators feel that visual art (as well as music and dance) is a right-brained activity. In reality, your left hemisphere is also highly engaged in the process of thinking about, analyzing, interpreting, and applying different art production media to create a work of art. Just thinking through how the artist achieved a certain effect through a brush stroke or a collage of textures, involves left-brain activities. Examine the left and right brain above and look for areas that affect the cognitive processes of art. In what parts of the brain do you recognize psychomotor and multisensory processes? Locate the affective parts of the brain. For effective learning, all of these parts of the brain must be active and involved in the process!

Left and Right Hemispheres

• Bundles of Nerve Fibers Connect the left and right hemispheres
• Allow each side of the brain to exchange information more freely
• "Crossing the midline" is often considered a crucial learning process in special education

Betty Edwards - Ways of Knowing and Seeing - http://www.drawright.com/

• Click on this audio interview on the left and the right brain. What side of your brain do you think is dominant? (source - http://www.studio360.org/2006/sep/14/ )

L-Mode (left brain)

• The verbal, analytic mode
• Step-by-step style of thinking
• Using words, numbers and other symbols
• Strings things out in sequences, like words in a sentence

R-Mode (right brain)

• The visual, perceptual mode
• Uses visual information and processes
• All at once, like recognizing the face of a friend

The Fabric of Mind

"You have two brains: a left and a right. Modern brain scientists now know that your left brain is your verbal and rational brain; it thinks serially and reduces its thoughts to numbers, letters and words… Your right brain is your nonverbal and intuitive brain; it thinks in patterns, or pictures, composed of ‘whole things,’ and does not comprehend reductions, either numbers, letters, or words." From The Fabric of Mind, by the eminent scientist and neurosurgeon, Richard Bergland. Viking Penguin, Inc., New York 1985. p.1

Enhancing Creativity and Artistic Confidence - http://www.drawright.com/General%20Information.htm

"Learning to draw means learning to see things differently - to see in ways not frequently used in ordinary life. Once learned, drawing can be used to record what you see either in reality or in your mind's eye, in a manner not totally unlike the way we can record our thoughts and ideas in words. Many 20th century abstract painters who appear to draw and paint in a completely random fashion, had to learn to draw realistically before they were able to make the shift into abstract painting. Picasso, Willem de Kooning, Matisse, Mondrian and Jackson Pollock are a few examples of great abstract painters who first learnt to draw realistically.

Whether you feel you have little talent and doubt you could ever learn; or you enjoy drawing but have not been able to progress beyond a child-like level, these workshops will show you how to gain and master drawing skills. If you are already drawing as a professional artist they give you greater confidence in your ability and deepen your artistic perception. Our instruction is specific in teaching the 5 skills needed to draw any perceived object, place or person. It may seem that instruction concentrates heavily on portraiture for the final two days; this being one of the most difficult subject it incorporates all the drawing skills necessary to draw any other subject matter including still life, landscape...etc., and that information transfers easily to whatever subject you like to draw. Landscape drawing involves the skills of sighting, or angles and proportion, which are the same drawing skills needed to bring any drawing into perspective, including the human face or figure."

Two Ways of Knowing

"Betty Edwards has used the terms L-Mode and R-Mode to designate two ways of knowing and seeing - the verbal, analytic mode and the visual, perceptual mode - no matter where they are located in the individual brain. You are probably aware of these different characteristics. L-mode is a step-by-step style of thinking, using words, numbers and other symbols. L-mode strings things out in sequences, like words in a sentence. R-mode on the other hand, uses visual information and processes, not step-by-step, but all at once, like recognizing the face of a friend.

Most activities require both modes, each contributing its special functions, but a few activities require mainly one mode, without interference from the other. Drawing is one of these activities. Learning to draw, then, turns out not to be "learning to draw." Paradoxically, "learning to draw" means learning to make a mental shift from L-mode to R-mode. That is what a person trained in drawing does, and that is what you can learn.

Once learned, drawing can be used to record what you see either in reality or in your mind's eye, in a manner not totally unlike the way we can record our thoughts and ideas in words. Many 20th century abstract painters who appear to draw and paint in a completely random fashion, had to learn to draw realistically before they were able to make the shift into abstract painting. Picasso, Willem de Kooning, Matisse, Mondrian and Jackson Pollock are a few examples of great abstract painters who first learnt to draw realistically." Source - http://drawright.com/theory.htm

Arts with the Brain in Mind - Eric Jensen

• Visual Arts are complex mind and brain process
• Arts serves as a sketchpad for thinking

Drawing

• Ability changes as brain develops
• Engages visual perception
• Enhances eye-hand coordination
• Fosters creative expression
• Brain organizes information based on visual input
• Strong links between visual learning and reading and learning

Visual Arts and the Brain

• From Mirror Neurons to the Mona Lisa: Visual Arts and the Brain (New York Academy of Sciences) - http://www.nyas.org/ebriefreps/splash.asp?intEbriefID=500
• Overview - http://www.nyas.org/ebriefreps/main.asp?intEBriefID=500
• MIT Visual Arts Program - http://web.mit.edu/vap/flash.html
• Using Visual Arts to Stimulate Science Learning - http://teachertipstraining.suite101.com/article.cfm/using_visual_arts_to_stimulate_science_learning
• Earth Science Week - Visual Arts Contest - http://www.earthsciweek.org/contests/visualarts/index.html