Artistic statement:
"These worlds, art and science, are connected at the hip."


Scientific statement:
In the human brain, the left and right hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum.

Famous Artist's Statement:
"Art is a lie that helps us see the truth"
--Picasso

Obscure Artist's Statement:
The Yin Yang of Your Mind

In human beings, the brain is divided into two parts, or hemispheres. The two sides are connected by a thick bundle of nerves known as the corpus callosum. From above, the convoluted brain resembles the two halves of a walnut.

The human nervous system is hooked-up to the brain so that the left-hemisphere controls the right side of the body, and the right-hemisphere controls the left side.

In the 50's and 60's, a series of experiments was conducted at CIT on subjects who'd had their corpus callosums severed to prevent seizures. It was discovered that the two hemispheres of the brain are specialized, with some functions being isolated on one side of the brain, or the other.

In most people, language and analysis are left-brain functions, and the left is the dominant hemisphere.

Meanwhile, the right brain's workings have come to light. It is rapid, spatial, complex and perceptual. We use the right brain to draw.

In many ways, our two hemispheres are at odds. In her book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain," Betty Edwards states that many adults have the drawing ability of a 9 - 11 year old, the age when development of drawing ability ceases. When most adults try to draw, the left brain is firmly in control, and the person uses a set of symbols developed in the pre-teen years.

As Edwards puts it, "The right brain - the dreamer, the artificer, the artist - is lost in the school system and goes largely untaught."

The human brain is divided in two, and is somewhat schizophrenic. Edwards gives some characteristics of each brain hemisphere:

LEFT - Verbal, Analytic, Symbolic, Abstract, Temporal, Rational, Digital, Logical, Linear.

RIGHT - Nonverbal, Synthetic, Concrete, Analogic, Nontemporal, Nonrational, Spatial, Intuitive, Holistic.

It is clear that our society primarily uses a left brain paradigm, and for that reason, most adults can't draw.

In the final analysis, stunted artistic growth may be only the beginning of the price we pay for left brain dominance, both individually and culturally. I'd like to think that greater right-hemisphere emphasis in education and culture would be beneficial both for the individual and society at large, but I'm of two minds about it.