ARTWORKS

Drawing or painting benefits that go beyond self-expression

What one thing could you do that will supercharge your brain cells; improve your memory, mood, and capacity for healing; sharpen your problem-solving and emotional intelligence, and reduce stress? 

The magic prescription: drawing. 

Numerous studies have shown that the act of making art has positive effects on the human body — physically and mentally. 

Use it or lose it, neurologists say about the brain, and that includes cross-training your neural network with new activities. Art therapists recommend learning to draw or paint as a form of self care. Not only does it soothe anxiety, it boosts creativity, mindfulness and self-esteem.

Meaningful self-expression
Don’t worry that you may be a beginner or you may never see your masterpiece hang in the Louvre in Paris (or even on the refrigerator). The point is the process.

“Expressing yourself lifts your spirits and it’s good for your health,” says artist Lisa Loudin, 
co-president of the Desert Art Center in Palm Springs. Open since 1950, the nonprofit gallery is the oldest arts organization in the Coachella Valley. “For me, making art is a meditation. You go to a different world.”

“Artmaking taps into areas of brain function that may not ordinarily get used, such as imagination and feeling,” says Leo Fuchs, founder and director of Arts Education at the Desert Art Academy in Palm Desert. An award-winning artist and master of color theory, Fuchs has been widely published on the neurological benefits of creating art.

For Loudin, making a successful transition from a career in financial services to working artist enabled her to find her voice. Her finely detailed drawings of “talking” trees now sell globally. “I do the art for myself,” she says. “It’s become my way to connect with others.”  

She is convinced art is for everyone, professional or ardent wannabe. “Everyone is creative. Being creative in your own way is contagious!”

The Desert Art Center provides adult art classes and workshops, along with a thriving, free middle school art program and an annual High School Grants program that showcases local high school art students at a well-attended exhibition. 
To people who think they can’t take an art class because they don’t know how to draw, Loudin assures them art is like building any new skill. “You start at the basics and you practice.”

She has seen children and adults enter drawing classes with little or no confidence, before undergoing “a metamorphosis of sorts,” Loudin says. “A life can be changed with art.”

Nurturing your brain circuitry
Her belief is supported by research. Picking up a crayon and scribbling helps a toddler develop fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination. By engaging the brain, artmaking also helps kids build important cognitive processing and make connections across different subjects and ideas. 

Children who draw regularly have been shown to have better focus, attention span and concentration than their non-artmaking peers. They also have a bigger storehouse of creative solutions. 

Adults also get in on the health benefits of tapping into their inner Gauguin. Devoting time to artistic interests or vocations increases the brain’s gray matter, which is responsible for processing information. Recent research even suggests drawing may improve the memories of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Desert Art Academy

Leo Fuchs has taught drawing, painting, design and art philosophy to all ages, including at major colleges and universities. He founded the Desert Art Academy a decade ago to offer art classes and individualized instruction that appeal to the beginner and more advanced participant. “I teach students and professional artists how to find their artistic purpose,” he says, “and discover the artist they are meant to be.”

The Desert Art Academy’s offerings include after-school and summer programs for kids and teens in drawing, painting, Japanese anime and manga, along with teen portfolio development and classes in graphic, fashion, and environmental design, and more.

Students at every level tell him they find “a sense of peace” while painting or drawing. The experience can be an emotional journey. Fuchs has witnessed students who achieve moments of creativity and exclaim, “I can’t believe I did that!”

“We try to enable people to get back in touch on a soul level with the person they are beyond their careers, present or past,” he says. “It’s joyful to watch them work.”

Wherever you begin your process, taking brush or pencil to paper can help you see the world differently — more vividly, Fuchs says. “Learning to draw or paint means learning to see.” 

Classes for kids and adults

Desert Art Center
550 N Palm Canyon Dr., Palm Springs, CA 92262
760.323.7973
desertartcenter.org

Desert Art Academy
73726 Alessandro Dr., Palm Desert, CA 92260
760.774.6838
desertartacademy.com

Old Town Artisan Studios
78046 Calle Barcelona, La Quinta, CA z92253
760.777.1444
oldtownartisanstudios.org