The healing power of art
“The arts are a critical component of healthcare. Expressive art is a tool to explore, develop, and practice creativity as a means to wellness.” ~ Wellarts Association ART has the power to heal, inspire, provoke, challenge & offer hope. ART enhances individuals, society, and the environment. Decades of research have provided more than a sufficient amount of data to prove that arts education impacts everything from overall academic achievement to social and emotional development and so much more. Research has proven the arts develop neural systems that produce a broad spectrum of benefits ranging from fine motor skills to creativity and improved emotional balance Every time you engage in a new or complex activity, your brain creates new connections between brain cells. Your brain’s ability to grow connections and change throughout your lifetime is called brain plasticity or neuroplasticity. Creating art stimulates communication between various parts of the brain. And this is the mere reason why art is important in our daily lives. Art and design process makes life worthwhile. It may not be vital to fulfill our basic needs, but it does make life joyful.
Harmonious Canvas’ Fusion of My Passions
By- Anika Shiroor, 7th grade There are two major influences in my life which started early on – art and piano. For this blog, I want to present Piano, Still-Art on canvas which I painted in 2020. Not only was this the first canvas I painted, but this was also the piece where both my passions intersected. Ever since I was a little girl, I remember my fascination for drawing. I would fill pages and pages in books or draw on boards in my room. I would draw and write stories to express myself. I had a couple of friends who were interested in art, just like me and we would collaborate on stories with art together. I have lost a lot of that work but some of them were preserved by my mom as digital memories on Instagram and Youtube. When I turned five, my parents enrolled me in piano lessons which were super fun thanks to my teacher, Ms. Elena. She made piano effortless and with time I prepared for the Certificate of Merit exams that are held every year by the Music Teachers’ Association of California with her help. I completed level 5 this year. These creative fields have impacted me immensely and both piano and art hold a special place in my heart. In my opinion, these are the nicest ways to express yourself. In 2020, my art teacher, Ms Nidhi announced that we were ready to paint our first canvas art. When I heard that we could choose our own subject I immediately went online to find ideas. While searching for ideas I came across this piano painting online. I knew right then, that I would do this painting because of my love for the piano. This canvas painting combines the luxury of a piano with the beauty of roses. Even though it was a little tough for me back then, I discussed it with my teacher and set on to do this piece. This artwork was created with acrylic paints over a span of a few weeks. I first had to sketch it out and practice it in my art book to ensure that I was familiar with everything in the painting. I made a lot of mistakes because this was my very first canvas painting. This was also my first attempt with acrylic paint. As I understood that all my mistakes in the painting could be covered up by adding more paint, I got impatient with the process. Very soon I realized, that this impatient mindset made my work even worse. With a lot of encouragement from my teacher and correction, I was finally able to complete this artwork. Of course, I was super happy with it as this was my first artwork on canvas even though it had a lot of corrections. The lesson that I learned was that the best results came out when I was patient with the process. I also realized that in my hurry to complete the work, I often rushed and that resulted in a lot of feedback from my teacher both in technique and finish. This canvas is presently hanging on my bedroom wall as a reminder of the process of learning and my continued efforts in art.
My Tween Brush Strokes-The Golden Gate Bridge
By- Aditi Manchanda, Sophomore 2022 This painting is of the Golden Gate Bridge and is one of my oldest paintings. I made it when I was in 6th grade. It has so many memories associated with it that I thought to document them in my art blog; “Better late than never :)’I don’t remember much of that time but I do remember the many skills I learned from this painting. It was the basis for all the paintings I have made since then. I learned many valuable painting techniques such as how to use shading in an image to make something look 3d, dabbing the paintbrush to make flowers and bushes, how to paint water realistically, and how to make clouds. These are skills that I have used in several of my paintings since then and have improved at. I really enjoyed making this painting and I put a lot of hard work into it. I also want to talk about the significance of this painting. Living in the bay area has given me the luxury of visiting the Golden Gate Bridge. So many of my favorite memories were made there, hiking, walking across the bridge, visiting Golden Gate Beach, and Golden Gate Park. I have been there so many times with so many different family members and friends that sometimes I forget that people travel from all over the world just to see it. It is a beauty that I take for granted and it attracts over 10 million people a year from all over the world. I never really processed that I lived near a historical world-famous landmark. This painting is a reminder of all the fun times I have had in my life with the people I love but more importantly, it is a reminder to never take things for granted.
Chaos in Oneself
By- Saesha Sharda, Freshman, 2020 “Life doesn’t make any sense without interdependence. We need each other, and the sooner we learn that the better for us all.” — Erik Erikson In the present artwork, I have chosen to write focuses on the struggles of having bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterized by extreme swings of high and low moods. The high mood is known as the manic phase, and the low mood is known as the depressive phase(“Bipolar Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment.”). In my painting, I have shown two human-resembling figures balancing on each others’ backs, connected by the brain and heart. One figure is blue and has a heart painted on its chest. This figure represents the depressive phase, as blues and purples usually represent sad, somber moods. The other figure, which is yellow and has a brain painted in its head, represents the manic phase, as we normally pair the color yellow with high energy. The reason the heart and brain are shown is to represent their connection: Rational thinking (the brain) and Emotions (the heart). The figures are part of the same person, symbolizing how the two phases occur to the same person, affecting the same person, making it especially hard to get through daily life. The reason I wanted to create this painting was that I am passionate about raising awareness about not only bipolar disorder, but mental health issues in general. It is so important that we spread the word about mental illnesses and coping with them so that we can break the stigma that surrounds them. Stigma is a word to describe the social disapproval or discrimination against a person based on their characteristics, physical or mental. It is the fear of the stigma that keeps people suffering from mental health issues from coming forward about their struggles. In the Indian community especially, stigma against mental health issues is very apparent. The more we talk about it, the closer we are to helping someone cope with their mental illness and even saving lives. Submitting my painting to Vosap’s International Competition about disabilities was the perfect opportunity to share my art, and spread awareness about mental health issues. Work Cited: “Bipolar Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/bipolar-disorder/mental-health-bipolar-disorder#:~:text=Bipolar%20disorder%2C%20also%20known%20as,sad%2C%20hopeless%2C%20and%20sluggish.
