LEFT BRAIN RIGHT BRAIN

Left brain I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician Left brain I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am. Right brain I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

Left brain I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician Left brain I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am. Right brain I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

Left brain I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician Left brain I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am. Right brain I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

I am the left brain I am a scientist. A mathematician I am the left brain I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar, I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control, a master of words and language Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am.

I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yeaning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

Left brain I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician Left brain I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorize. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am. Right brain I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colors. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I wanted to be.

GET SUPPLIES A PIECE OF PAPER A DRAWING PENCIL AN ERASER A SHARPENER PAPER TOWEL FOR SHARPENINGS

DRAW A COFFEE MUG DRAW IT LIFE SIZED (6B pencil)

Emphasizes what we “know” about a coffee mug WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT A CUP Emphasizes what we “know” about a coffee mug

LEFT BRAIN Can’t do observational drawing Doesn’t want to spend the time Repeats what it “knows” Wants to expend as little time and efforts as possible.

Time for a little test.

Look at the chart and say the COLOR not the word

Look at the chart and say the COLOR not the word

Look at the chart and say the COLOR not the word Left – Right Conflict Your right brain sees and tries to say the color but your left brain insists on reading the word.

Back to the mug…

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT A CUP Your left brain “knows” that the top of the cup is round… Like this WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT A CUP Your left brain “knows” that the bottom of the cup is flat… Like this

RIGHT BRAIN Has no sense of time Depends on spatial relationships & contrasts How does “this” compare to “that?” (whatever “this” and “that” are) Is “solitary”, between you and the work. Is not judgmental

A perceptual cup – created with information directly from out observations.

Time for a little test.

LEFT BRAIN IS THE DEFAULT SOLUTION It’s where most everyone automatically begins. It’s the obvious solution It will be easily recognizable It takes no thought or creativity

Total silence, talking to or by others locks you into left mode. Setting up the best conditions for making a switch from left to right brain: Total silence, talking to or by others locks you into left mode.

Music – instrumental only – words are “left brain” and will distract you.

If you are working on your own, find a place you can be totally uninterrupted for twenty minutes, set an alarm if possible. If you don't care about keeping track of time (a left mode function) omit the alarm.

Time for a little drawing.

BLIND CONTOUR DRAWING

For this activity I will keep time for you. You will have to trust me.

You are now going to draw your hand without seeing what you are doing.

Rest your non-drawing hand comfortably on the table

Turn your body completely away from the paper so you cannot see the your paper. Tape down the corners of your paper if you need to.

Do not peek at your drawing Do not peek at your drawing. The minute you do you will slip out of the right brain. The impulse will be great but you must resist looking no matter how tempting and overwhelming it is.

Focus all your attention on observing the hand you are drawing as you draw.

Focus your eyes to some part of your hand, observing every variation and undulation of the edge. As your eyes move, move your pencil at the same slow pace on the paper, creeping a millimeter at a time.

Match the movement of the pencil exactly with your eye Match the movement of the pencil exactly with your eye. One or the other may attempt to speed up, don't let it happen.

CONTOUR LINE=OUTLINE ONLY

The left brain will say, "Stop this stupid stuff right now The left brain will say, "Stop this stupid stuff right now! We don't need to look at things this closely. I've already named everything, this is boring - if you don't stop, I'll give you a headache." Ignore this complaining, simply persist. You do not care if the drawing looks like a hand. After you are finished remember how you felt. Did you become enthralled with what you saw? Next when you go again to this state will you recognize it.

Some of you will not follow these directions Some of you will not follow these directions. Please, PLEASE, do not ruin the experience for the others in class.

DO NOT: Turn around early to look at your drawing, before time is up. React to your drawing before the time is up Bust out laughing or making noises. Demonstrate immaturity in any way. Immature people are uncomfortable with silence Immature people are concerned with judgment.

If you do, others MAY judge you…as immature. WE ARE NOT AIMING FOR “REALITY” HERE. WE ARE TRAINING BRAINS. Blind contour has very little to do with reality

BLIND CONTOUR DRAWING OF YOUR HAND

Does your hand look like this?

If you let your left-brain take the job, he’ll (my left-brain is a he of course) draw a hand, not this hand, but a caricature of hand, like the nasty drawing below. Your left-brain will think it lovely because it satisfies his criteria for a hand. He’s good at classifying things but he certainly can’t draw.

These drawing were executed with my left and right hands simultaneously. We all know about left brain, right brain. But an Emory alum, Angus Galloway 00C, has taken this one step further by illustrating what the left and right hands are doing simultaneously while listening to music. Check out Galloway’s very  intriguing ink drawings. These drawing were executed with my left and right hands simultaneously. The marks from each hand are separated by the empty space running vertically through the center of the paper. This approach to drawing was triggered by working with sound. The act of listening is a binary activity where both ears transmit similar but distinct reflections of wave vibrations deciphered in the inner ear. The concert of information discloses direction, speed, texture, and ultimately our location. After many months relying exclusively on two ears to experience the environment I returned to drawing with one hand. Immediately this traditional approach produced seasickness the kind I felt as a child ferry crossing through the rising and falling waters off the coast of Scotland. Drawing with both hands returned a sense of equilibrium to the act of drawing. This binary approach produces similar but distinct reflections of what my senses apprehend. Ink on paper, 36 x 24 inches.