The computer and the right side of the brain II

Abstract

This article will update and present a discussion of the use of the micro-computer, computer graphics programs as basic design experiences which relate as much to right as to the left side of the brain. It will review some selected research literature in art education which shows the importance of the right brain in various areas of creative behavior and drawing skills. It will argue, that while the computer has been shown as the sine qua non of left brain activity, conceptual, and analytical thought processes, one can also approach it from a right brain perspective. This study will discuss and review the ideas of Hoyt L. Sherman who taught art and visual perception at the Ohio State University. It will explore some of the psychological sources for his work and ideas about the teaching of drawing by seeing which relates to the work and ideas of Adelbert Ames, Jr. The article will trace the influences of both Ames and Sherman on art and design education in this country. It will compare Sherman's methods with those of Betty Edwards and Mona Brookes in the teaching of drawing as cognitive skill. The article will conclude with some thoughts about Sherman's ideas as an early forerunner of current thinking in computer art, electronic music, and the nature of the telmatic culture. For someone working in the ivory tower of art and aesthetics, all these ideas (about color, sound, and space) are of course subservient to whim, taste and artistic vision. Fine art has never felt compelled to follow any laws and we can only hope, never will, still, the idea of proportion has always been a useful tool for the skilled craftsman, something every good artist must be. (Evan, Leonardo, 1988, p. 29)