Your Brain on Art

The benefits of art don’t have anything to do with skills or talent

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I was once a dancer. It was my whole world until I was injured, no longer saw a path for myself professionally, and stopped dancing. At that moment, as a teen, I couldn’t see or understand what I do now. I didn’t realize that my artistic expression was worthy and valuable EVEN if I wasn’t going to be exceptional. The benefits of art enriched environments - for our health, our wellness, our happiness, and our connection - go far beyond having skills.

In my conversation this week with Susan Magsamen, author of Your Brain On Art and executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab, part of the Brain Science Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, we talked about the incredible ways in which art can and does support our development and our health. In this modern world, we have lost track of the ways in which art enhances a moment,with sounds, smells, curiosities, and touches us in a new way. Advances in science are showing real improvements in quality of life, cognition, mood, physical development and pain as a result of artistic therapies and exposure. Having a playful and sensorial experience with art is about connection, pleasure, and expression. For centuries, we’ve used art to feel together, to teach each other - to find peace, solitude, connection and understanding. 

Indigenous cultures around the world don't have a word for art. For them, it is a way of living. It's how you move through the world, how you use all of these sensorial experiences to create community, how you share a story, and how you interpret or represent something. - Susan Magsamen

It’s easy to hear this and jump to overscheduling extracurricular activities for your child, or insisting on more coaching, tutoring or specialization to get your teen ahead. That isn’t what we are talking about, and in fact, it’s quite the opposite. In our conversation, Susan and I talk about exploring art for pleasure, discovery, and for joy. This isn’t having an agenda or an end result, but actually playing at something we enjoy. Doodling on a sketch pad, painting postcards, planting in the garden, journaling, getting wrapped up in a piece of music, dancing across the living room, or  knitting in the window seat. 

Of course, achieving this type of relationship with art and enrichment means suspending the hyper-critical, judgmental inner voice that many of us have (including mine at 16). It means feeling safe to express yourself without worrying about what will happen, what it means, or how the rest of the world sees us. If we can model this for our children - dancing without abandon in the kitchen or singing with passion in the shower - we can inspire them to find a sanctuary for their artistic expression, too. To discover that they are much more than a student OR an athlete, or an athlete OR a poet, or a poet OR a musician. They are all of those AND more.