If you ever asked yourself why you feel so good and rewarded after trying the latest DIY trend, it’s because your brain benefits from that.
Engaging in creative activities is like feeding your brain healthy food, even when you’re just looking at art or someone else making art.
Creativeness and the process of making art have many beneficial effects on our brains. I believe people always intuitively knew that even before science came into the equation with empiric evidence.
But now that we also have scientific studies to tell us that, we should not hesitate too much before deciding to take up a new hobby or enroll in some art classes with our friends and kids.
You probably heard people discussing the left brain, the right brain dominance concept, and how the right side of your brain becomes more active when using your creativeness.
Well, the truth is that both cerebral hemispheres are active and engaged when we paint, draw, sew, listen to music, and so on.
We can simultaneously be creative (the right cerebral hemisphere) and analytical (the left cerebral hemisphere) when making art. And creative activities are not the only activities that require the whole brain's activity. For example, learning a new language does it too.
Making art will increase your dopamine level, and that will make you feel better, motivated, accomplished. It will improve your self-esteem.
Maybe you remember that feeling when your parents put your drawing on the refrigerator to show you how proud they are of your effort.
Or perhaps you shared your artwork with your friends, and they were genuinely impressed. Well, those moments of “feeling good with myself” are something you can experience again by making art.
When your brain produces dopamine, besides making you feel confident and pleased with yourself, it also strengthens your ability to plan ahead and resist your impulses.
In other words, the dopamine boost you get every time you engage in creative activities like making art will provide you with what you need to achieve your goals.
A new or complex activity encourages new connections between your brain’s cells. Making art can always give you something new to discover, from new techniques and mediums of creating to new subjects to explore.
When someone tells you they know everything there is to know about art and making art, and they don’t need to hone their art-making skills anymore, please be skeptical about that.
When making art, remember your brain benefits from that because it has the ability to change and create new connections throughout your lifetime. That ability is known as brain plasticity/neuroplasticity.
The more links your brain develops, the more your emotional and psychological resilience will increase. Constantly making art will help you be more grounded, more resistant in stressful situations.
At Martin Fine Art Classes, we are aware that everyone can rip the benefits of learning and making art, no matter what age they are or if they are trying art for the first time. We have classes and art camps for everyone who wants to learn from compassionate art instructors.
We had the chance to see how creating art contributes to our students' mental and emotional well-being and to witness their drive to improve and express themselves through art.
For those considering art as a form of maintaining their brain’s health, our fine art classes come with a free introductory lesson.
We want people to figure out how they feel in the environment and atmosphere of our art classes beforehand. And for those considering art as a form of therapy, it’s helpful to know it can help with the following:
