Bilateral Movement and Artmaking: Hemispheric Integration Across the Midline (Mouvement bilatéral et création artistique : intégration hémisphérique sur la ligne médiane)

Abstract

Bilateral art making is a self-regulatory and brain-based practice experienced through gesture, gross and fine motoric expression whether in the air, on paper, canvas, or nontraditional surfaces. The structural effects of integrating bilateral movement and art making on the brain are largely unknown; this article explores the implications of specific bilateral movements and corresponding gestural marks on hemispheric integration across the midline. The authors of this theoretical article are father and daughter collaborators merging their respective backgrounds in neuroscience and expressive arts therapy. This collaboration resulted in the four different considerations in bilateral movement: simultaneous, continuous, overlapping, and midline crossing. The corresponding bilateral movements and art making were demonstrated as part of a single case study (n-of-1 trial). The results consider the neurological structural benefits and regulatory responses in regards to bilateral movement and art making.