Book review of Your Brain on Art

Have you ever wondered what happens to our brains when we experience art or craft?

I recently read Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, written by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross. They carried out some incredible research that shows it can affect how we think, feel, connect and experience the world around us.

Listening to music, looking at a painting, dancing, singing, drawing or making something with our hands can involve sensory, emotional, cognitive and social processes simultaneously.

That makes the arts particularly interesting from a neuroscience perspective.

We're not passive observers. When we engage with art, our brains are interpreting colour, sound, movement, pattern, emotion and meaning — often all at once.

We learn new skills, improve our physical and mental health, our memories are triggered, we communicate better, we problem solve, we emotionally regulate and so much more.

The book explores the experience often described as flow — those moments when we become deeply absorbed in an activity and lose our awareness of time. This state is extremely good for us. It stretches us, takes us out of our every day problems and brings joy.

You may have experienced it while painting, playing music, gardening, cooking, writing or making something. I often think that a day that has involved creativity is always a good day!

The interesting thing is that creativity doesn't necessarily require a grand artistic project or even particular creative skills to produce this experience.

It can happen through ordinary acts of making when our attention becomes focused on the process itself, e.g. baking a cake, weeding the garden, picking out accessories for our homes.

In a world where our attention is constantly being pulled in different directions, that ability to become absorbed in one thing feels increasingly valuable.

Creativity can also give us ways of experiencing and expressing emotions that aren't always easy to put into words.

A piece of music can evoke a memory.

A photograph can transport us somewhere.

A colour can change the atmosphere of a room.

Making something can provide a way to explore an idea or feeling without having to explain it.

Creativity is social too. People have gathered to sing, dance, tell stories, make textiles, decorate objects, cook and create together for thousands of years.

Shared creative experiences can provide opportunities for conversation, cooperation and belonging.

This is particularly interesting when we think about community and connection.

Sometimes sitting beside someone and making something together creates a different kind of interaction from simply sitting down for a conversation.

There is something about having a shared activity between you that can make connection feel more natural.

I'm left wondering why we treat creativity as optional or something we do when all the "important" things are done.

Something reserved for people who consider themselves “artistic”. However, creativity is for everyone..and we are learning that more and more.

Recent research shows that people who engage in the arts actually live longer!

You don't have to be an artist to benefit from engaging with art.

And you don't have to make something “good” for the process of making to be worthwhile.

Perhaps the more useful question isn't:

“Am I good at art?”

but:

“What happens when I give myself permission to create?”

That's the question Your Brain on Art left me thinking about — and it's one that is worth exploring for ourselves.

Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross is published by HarperCollins