A new study on why art matters

 

A cookbook combining writing and cooking.
Part of the ars?

When iconic Texas novelist the late Elmer Kelton told his father, a ranch foreman all his life, that he wanted to be writer, the elder Kelton gave his son a look that “could have killed Johnson grass” and said, “That’s the trouble with young people. They don’t want to work.” Elmer by his own admission never made a ranch hand, but he made a heck of an important Texas writer. Does it matter?

Almost every congressional fiscal resolution includes motions to defund the National Council for the Arts and the National Council for the Humanities, on the theory that the money could be better spent in more practical ways. In the US the arts usually play second fiddle to business and “practical” matters. Perhaps it’s our Puritan heritage, when art was suspect of being at best unorthodox, dangerous, and at a worst a tool of Satan. Perhaps it’s the more modern reality, as Elmer’s father thought, that it’s hard for a young person to make a living in the arts. Nonetheless the notion remains in too much of society that the arts are frivolous.

“The arts” is an umbrella term. What, really, does it include? When people hear the word, they usually think visual arts—painting and sculpture—with the performative arts next—theater, dance, musical performances, etc. And finally poetry. Somehow creative written works are often left out of the mix. And yet, they require as much creativity as the other arts. So I often include books in the definition and even that is too narrow, but it may be the best we have at the moment.

Writing in the “Maine Crime Writers” blog, author Dick Cass reviews the book Your Brain on Art, by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, an exploration of the ways that art and science, instead of being antithetical, actually come together. Our brains need both, and art, instead of being frivolous, is essential to good physical and mental health. Here are some of the research-based findings that Cass reported from the book:

·        Music with a rhythm of 60 beats a minute can synchronize with human brains to produce alpha waves, the brain frequency associated with rest and relaxation. Take it down to 40 beats or so and the rhythm synchronizes with delta waves, associated with sleep. Music can also help rewire the brain after a stroke.

·        Colors have a biological effect on human thinking and emotion. The color red raises the galvanic reaction in humans, how much sweat glands react, more than colors like green or blue. In one study, people in a gray-painted room displayed higher heart rates than people in a more colorful room.

·        Research into architecture shows that building with elements like curves instead of straight walls can reduce the blood pressure and heart rate of the people living within.

·        Imaging studies show that poetry has neurological benefits. Reading poems lights up the part of the brain associated with restful states, and rhythm is something our brains are hardwired to respond to.

·        Coloring, drawing, even doodling stimulate the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain that keeps us focused and interprets sensory information.

·        Research even supports the notion that people who engage in art have a lower risk of developing chronic pain as they age.  

Note that the last finding specifies people who engage in art, not passive recipients who study paintings on a wall in a museum.

Are you familiar with the concept of Tikkun olam, literally meaning “repairing the world.” It’s a Jewish concept, although echoes are found in many Christian teachings and writings, that each of us is obligated to leave the world a bit better than we found it, to contribute something to the good of the universe. I worry a lot about that, because I fear I write frivolous things—young-adult literature, light mysteries. Yes, I hope my historical fiction brings a greater understanding of history and women’s place in it, but there are all those other works. What, really, am I contributing? Cass’ article and the book have made me turn my doubt on its head. The question is not what am I contributing through my art, but what is my art enabling me to do for others? Is it because I write, a creative activity that stimulates both brain and body, that I am able to write historical fiction and even some young adult novels that may shape some pre-teen’s reading.

The creative arts are not something self-indulgent nor something to be lightly dismissed. They are part of the total development of an individual.  Kurt Vonnegut put it so well: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.

I think my avocation of cooking even falls within that category, along with writing. They are both activities that allow me to share some of me with the world at large, whether it be a book you read, a recipe in a blog, or a dinner you share at my table. And I think that is a good thing.

Go, free your spirit, do whatever brings you pleasure (well, within reason)—it will help you grow.

A personal note on our family woes: my brother thinks he’s a bit better, we are moving ahead with fixing the plumbing problem, and Sophie didn’t snap tonight for her shot (after three tries—I got a donut collar). Maybe writing about all that has helped.

Thank you for listening and sweet dreams.