Judy Bruce
When I was teaching art in junior high, I was puzzled by some of my gifted student artists and the reactions from some of their math and language arts teachers who complained that their math skills were awful and spelling hideous. I was always shocked and amazed when I attended conferences hearing these negative reactions to these fabulous young artists.
I was thrilled when, in the 70’s, I first read Betty Edwards’s “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.” Because of her research, I purchased extra copies for the parents of my art stars. In several cases, the moms cried; finally, someone was explaining how their wonderful teenager’s mind functioned and that they were as awesome as suspected no matter what the math and language arts teachers said.
Betty Edwards, a long-time artist/teacher, had taken research done by Sperry in the ’60’s concerning the dual nature of human thinking: verbal linear analytical thinking, mainly located in the left hemisphere of the brain, and visual perceptual thinking, mainly located on the right side! Our educational system largely deals with left-brained linear, rational, logical, verbal, and analytical processes.
By teaching drawing, Betty focuses on the right side, which is non-verbal, intuitive, holistic, circular, and without a sense of time. Both sides are important for a full, successful life, and we can all enhance each side of the brain.
How can you switch to the right or right mode of thinking/looking? We know that things do not look the same when upside down. Your signature upside down is probably very hard to read, even as you have written it hundreds/thousands of times. Let’s let the right brain take over the left side by trying to draw a familiar piece of art upside down. Give yourself at least forty minutes using a pencil to create this Leonardo de Vinci drawing. It is even more fun to try it first right side up and then upside down! You will be amazed at the results! Try it!
In the next column, Sue Kern Fleisher will write about the Sonoran Arts League’s yearly presentation of Incentive Bags to over 100 local young artists because “You Gotta Have Art!”
