A common resource for art is the book, "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." It's full of some really great skill building exercises for artists young and old but backs up it's approach with the theory that the right side of the brain is more creative, and the left is more logical.
This myth has been debunked through a massive study of 1000 brains by Plos One with more articles HERE and HERE. So if the foundation of Betty Edwards' book is false, does that mean one should throw it away?
Hardly. Many of the exercises are very helpful in teaching student to truly "see" what they are drawing as opposed to drawing what they think they know. Though I don't teach from the book, I still use several of the techniques, like drawing upside-down when my students do grid portraits. It slows them down and their work looks better. Others love the negative space drawings, or the line drawing approaches. Betty Edwards offers a lot of tools to add to your toolbox.
My main point is that if we continue to talk about it in terms of left and right brain, we sound a bit like "flat earthers." When advocating for the arts within our schools and community, it's important to avoid coming across as ill-informed. Creativity and cognition are spread throughout the brain and is far more complex than left and right.
Keep the tools, lose the hyperbole.
This myth has been debunked through a massive study of 1000 brains by Plos One with more articles HERE and HERE. So if the foundation of Betty Edwards' book is false, does that mean one should throw it away?
Hardly. Many of the exercises are very helpful in teaching student to truly "see" what they are drawing as opposed to drawing what they think they know. Though I don't teach from the book, I still use several of the techniques, like drawing upside-down when my students do grid portraits. It slows them down and their work looks better. Others love the negative space drawings, or the line drawing approaches. Betty Edwards offers a lot of tools to add to your toolbox.
My main point is that if we continue to talk about it in terms of left and right brain, we sound a bit like "flat earthers." When advocating for the arts within our schools and community, it's important to avoid coming across as ill-informed. Creativity and cognition are spread throughout the brain and is far more complex than left and right.
Keep the tools, lose the hyperbole.
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