I think my previous reply was too brief. I really think that what she does in her class (incidentally she was teaching at Cal State Long Beach at the time when I took the class) is take students through traditional drawing techniques.
So we did things like 'negative space' drawings and we did the upside down drawings more as an exercise in not using our preconceived ideas about something, like hands. One of the drawings she had us do upside down was famous picasso of an old man with his hands folded in his lap. The hands are tremendously hard for novice drawers because we have a preconceived idea of how a hand should look, so we start to draw from memory instead of from the 'model'. By turning the drawing upside down the prototype or mental picture is no longer an accurate representation, and one is forced to draw the model. When it is turned right side up voila, the hands look great. She only minimally during the class talked about the right-brained ideas, although she did talk about the right brain as being specialized for creativity and art. I enjoyed her class very much and have to say I learned very much about drawing, even though I had had a couple of previous classes in drawing and was already familiar with some of the techniques. I also have some bang-up copies of a Seurat and a Degas--and a portrait of Betty herself, circa 1978 :-) So, definitely, there were two things going on: a focus on perception and a focus on practice--we were in class 6 hours per week and had tons of homework assignments. I was probably drawing about 20 hours per week for that class. Never before nor since have a drawn so much and never before nor since have I been able to draw much more than stick figures--and not very creative ones at that! Annette Quoting Steven Specht <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > Indeed, I agree. In fact, I would suggest that the phenomenon is NOT based > upon differences in right brain vs. left brain at all. Rather, it is probably > a differentiation of sensation vs. perception (or at least some subtraction > of memorial/cognitive schema). Artists would say that that occurs because the > drawer is seeing the stimuli rather than perceiving stimuli as it "should" > be. The point is, however, students' drawings based on inverted images do > generally appear to be of better quality. My inquiry was whether anyone knows > of research which has empirically shown the effect. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > The right brain/left brain dichotomy is a popular myth - no one is right > brained or left brained unless they have had a hemisperectomy. I would need > to know more about the context of the example to offer an opinion as to > whether it is meaningful. But students need to understand that no person > favors his or her right or left brain (this is different than the issue of > handedness.) > > > > I would use caution in suggesting this book to students. > > > > Nancy Melucci > > Long Beach City College > > Long Beach CA > > > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > -- > |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| > Steven M. Specht, Ph.D. > Associate Professor of Psychology > Psychology Department > Utica College of Syracuse University > 1600 Burrstone Rd. > Utica, NY 13502 > (315) 792-3171 > > "To teach is to learn twice". - Joseph Joubert (1754-1824) > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Department of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
