When you see the painting The Starry Night by Van Gogh, there is a particular aesthetic, especially at 3 AM. It forms a wholesome feeling that there is so much to our life than just our hectic work or school days.
So for this week, we thought, how about cultivating Fine Arts as a hobby?
Fine Art is the study of different forms of arts and aesthetics like sketching, painting, sculpting, pottery, literature, music, dance, theater, and architecture. The characteristic feature of Fine Art is its aesthetic and creative design, which also sends a subtle message of natural beauty.
Fine Arts are primarily categorized into Visual Art and Performing Art where Visual Art includes painting, drawing, crafting, pottery, sketching, sculpting, graphic Art, graffiti art, photography, and such. But whereas, Performing Arts are performed on a stage before a group of people in theater, cinema, music, poetry, and such.
Art is an outlet for self-expression, imagination, and creativity.
Our human mind is built in a way that it craves to have an aesthetically pleasing design. It captures the part of our brain that releases the happy hormone: Endorphin. Hence, we always associate fine arts with creative expression and happiness. We have covered in detail why music helps us heal our mental and physical struggles. Like that, even other fine arts can express emotions and feelings.
Just look at the power of cinema. Until a few years ago, we struggled greatly with freedom for the LGBTQ+ community. When their representation in cinema expanded, they built the courage to finally break out of their shell and gain more and more audience for their voices. Similarly, Art is a powerful medium of expression. It can change how one thinks. Everything we see creates an impact on our minds. More so when we are associated with it emotionally. They can create an environment for us where we feel safe.
Many children with Autism have benefitted from painting, sketching, and drawing. Arts fit naturally with autism in that they can help those with autism express themselves through images while also being a relaxing activity. Face-to-face interactions, such as conversations, can be stressful for those with autism, which makes it difficult to understand what the individual is feeling or thinking. A solution to this would be to instead focus on the person’s Art and discuss it, allowing the other person to understand and form a better bond.
Creating Art as a form of mental health treatment dates back to the mid-twentieth century, when troops returning from World War II battlefields were left with a condition known as “shell shock,” but is now known as a post-traumatic stress disorder. Veterans painted, drew, sculpted, and created other types of Art to help them absorb what they had seen and experienced during the conflict.
“They struggled with traditional forms of medical and therapeutical intervention,” says Girija Kaimal, an art therapist at Drexel University and the president of the American Art Therapy Association (AATA). “Experiences like trauma are challenging to articulate into words, so therapies that can support and connect patients with nonverbal expression are the foundation of the creative arts therapies.”
Neuroesthetics collects scientific evidence of how we respond to the arts through brain imaging, brain wave technologies, and biofeedback. There is physical and scientific evidence that the arts engage the intellect in innovative ways, tap into our emotions in healthy habits, and make us feel good.
Experts have always believed that Fine Arts helps a lot in overall wellbeing of Individuals.May be this is why a kid in Primary School are introduces with Fine Arts, which has amazing benefits as listed below:
In the journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy in 2020, Mallory Braus and Brenda Morton write, “In art therapy, mindfulness is what allows an individual to receive the therapeutic benefit of ‘tuning out’ the daily stress and anxiety and to focus on a single task while also focusing on the materials employed for self-expression.”
Arts create conditions for mindfulness by accessing and engaging different parts of the brain through a conscious shifting of mental states. Regardless of whether you are good at it or not, one must still try out Art to refresh your mind and receive the nourishment it deserves.