Dear Janet
It is my view that right/left hemisphere brain modes are a simplistic view of cognition. I think that there is much more to it than that. (see also Vilayanur Ramachandran - 2003 Reith Lectures "The Emerging Mind").
During the many years that I have taught drawing the most significant feedback from my students is that focusing their attention on the space/shape dynamic (I hesitate to use negative/positive becasuse the implication is that one is more important than the other) has been the most useful device to give them confidence in their ability to portray what they see, which is the expectation that most people have when they first take a drawing class. Once they feel confident to make realistic depictions of their world they are more than happy to branch out into more expressive approaches and to see drawing in its broadest aspects.
Using Betty Edwards method of drawing upside down is one way and does confound the brains preconceptions. However, this can be done,pragmatically,only from photographs. It is easier to draw from life than from photographs but difficult to suspend an object upside down - especially a person such as a life drawing model. There is a book called "Serious Drawing - a basic manual" by Casey Fitzsimons, out of print but available through Amazon which has some interesting exercises. That and the book already recommended by Martin, "The Natural Way to Draw" by Kimon Nicolaides are worth the purchase.
Good luck with your research.
Ronette
From: Janet Allison <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 2005/10/26 Wed AM 12:42:55 GMT+13:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Undergraduate Dissertation
Dear All,
I am a undergraduate studying Psychology (I previously studied art at Leeds
Art College at Degree level) at Trinity & All Saints College in Leeds. I am
interested in how art making is/could form another, parallel language and
access/expression of what we see and remember. To this end my 3rd year
dissertation is investigating any affect that art making has on the recall
of an everyday event in comparison to a cognitive/structured interview.
I am currently at the design stage and considering such things as Left vs
Right mode of drawing etc.
For example I am thinking of having a pre-lim task of drawing something
upside down to a) encourage confidence in art making and b) to encourage the
use of the right (creative) hemisphere but am concerned that this may
affect the everyday memory (un-prompted/motivated) that they have just been
exposed to - I wondered if there was any literature/advice available on this
. . . ?
I would welcome and appreciate any and all input that could be spared(!)
Thank you for taking time to read this e-mail and apologies if this is not
relevant to your field of interest.
Sincerely
Janet Allison-Love
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