Decoding "art" Of course, it started with craft.
The craft of making a bowl or a tool or anything that created function. As humans became wealthier, we could seek out the artisan, the craftsperson who would add an element of panache and style to the tools we used. It's not much of a leap from the beautiful functional object to one that has no function other than to be beautiful. Art was born. Brookhaven.patch. The first-ever exhibition of forty mandalas created by patients of Swiss psychoanalyst C.G.
Jung is on display until May 6. “This is an exceptional opportunity to view symbolic and historic art that has been secured in the Institute’s archives for decades.” - Oglethorpe University Museum of Art Director Lloyd Nick. The Age Of Insight. Eric Kandel is a titan of modern neuroscience.
He won the Nobel Prize in 2000 not simply for discovering a new set of scientific facts (although he has discovered plenty of those), but for pioneering a new scientific approach. As he recounts in his memoir In Search of Memory, Kandel demonstrated that reductionist techniques could be applied to the brain, so that even something as mysterious as memory might be studied in sea slugs, as a function of kinase enzymes and synaptic proteins. (The memories in question involved the “habituation” of the slugs to a poke; they basically got bored of being prodded.) Because natural selection is a deeply conservative process – evolution doesn’t mess with success – it turns out that humans rely on almost all of the same neural ingredients as those inveterbrates. Memory has a nearly universal chemistry. Wired.com. Creating a "Fourth Culture" of Knowledge: Jonah Lehrer on Why Science and Art Need Each Other. By Maria Popova From Gertrude Stein to Karl Popper, or how to architect “negative capability” and live with mystery.
One of my favorite books of all time is Jonah Lehrer’s Proust Was a Neuroscientist, which tells the story of how a handful of iconic creators each discovered an essential truth about the mind long before modern science was able to label and pinpoint it — for instance, George Eliot detected neuroplasticity, Gertrude Stein uncovered the deep structure of language, Cézanne fathomed how vision works, and Proust demonstrated the imperfections of memory. We now know enough to know that we will never know everything. This is why we need art: it teaches us how to live with mystery. Only the artist can explore the ineffable without offering us an answer, for sometimes there is no answer. Lehrer’s new book, Imagine: How Creativity Works, comes out later this month.
HT Wired Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. Share on Tumblr. A Painting of Cancer Cells Inspired by Carl Sagan. By Maria Popova What supernovas have to do with cancer cells.
When she lost her friend Cathy to cancer, artist Michele Banks (whose stunning biological watercolors you might recall) set out to tell her friend’s story in the language she speaks most fluently and eloquently: painting. William Utermohlen's Self-Portraits Of His Decline From Alzheimer's Disease. For over twelve years, William Utermohlen's mind slowly unraveled.
He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1995, and "from that moment on, he began to try to understand it by painting himself," said his wife, Patricia, to The New York Times. Utermohlen's self-portraits reveal his decline from Alzheimer's disease, but they also show an artist rediscovering color. In one piece from 1996, his face is painted vibrant yellow, and his shoulders are outlined in a streak of orange. But by 1999, Ultermohlen's flattened perspectives are taken to extremes, and the face is difficult to discern; by 2000, only black and white shapes remain.
The slideshow below ultimately reveals a heartbreaking investigation into the inner workings of an artist under duress, as he worked to regain his clarity of mind. Utermohlen was born in 1933, and developed an early interest in painting. "My Favorite Artistic Advice" Tales Of Mere Existence. 5 timeless insights on fear and the creative process, how the aurora borealis works and more. When Art Heals. Music and Art – Good for Your Soul and Your Lifespan.
Friedrich Neitzsche once claimed that without music, life would be a mistake.
Researchers in Norway claim that without music, art, or other cultural events, life may also be shorter and less satisfying. A new study, published by the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, reports that visiting museums, attending concerts, playing an instrument, and creating art are associated with happier lives. The investigators surveyed more than 51,000 adults to assess their leisure habits and cultural participation and their self-perceived health status and levels of depression and anxiety. Overall, there was a strong correlation between engaging in cultural activities and happiness. The association was not affected by socioeconomic status or educational level. A gender difference was observed in the types of activities that men and women preferred. A previous study reported a similar association, extending the findings not just to happiness, but to overall lifespan. References.
Home. Stinson Beach Bubbles (canon 550D) Why did Osama bin Laden build such a drab HQ? If the death of Osama bin Laden tells us anything it's that life isn't like a Bond movie.
Rather than running al-Qaida from some spectacular Ken Adam-designed lair under the ocean or inside a volcano, Bin Laden ended his days in an exceptionally ugly and ignoble townhouse – a bland, square, flat-roofed three-storey block with few windows or other features. Shy Muse Business Cards: Minimalistic: Zazzle.com Store.