This whole right brain/left brain controversy is really a non-starter for some people. Especially women. Did you know that in women, the connection between the right and left hemispheres of the brain (called the corpus callosum) is much bigger than that in males?
That explains two things that I’ve observed in my life:
1) that men are much more capable of compartmentalized thinking than women
(i.e. “this affair I’m having here has nothing to do with the marriage I’m having there.”), and
2) women are better integrated thinkers. In my opinion, women are better at integrating their thinking with their emotions and their social connections (consciously). It’s not to say that men’s emotions don’t affect their thinking…rather, men aren’t quite as adept at recognizing it when they do.
As a scientist turned artist, I’ve been delighted to meet other women who came to art from careers in science, medicine, and business where required skills are usually relegated to the other side of their brain from art. One woman is a geologist turned glass fuser, another designed engines for rockets—now she designs collages. A third had a job as a biochemist, a fourth was a NASA mechanic, a fifth was a nurse—they all ended up as practicing artists.
I’m sure that any group of women artists over fifty will have a surprisingly large component of science, medicine, business and tech professionals who’ve had really challenging and rewarding careers. I’m also willing to guess that many if not most of them also (secretly) cherished a love of drawing, painting, or viewing art. After becoming a success in a laboratory, hospital, business or academic setting, they are now returning to one of the earliest loves of their lives—art.
There are many advantages in having a scientific or technical background when switching over to art. For example, we (female and male) scientists (I have a Ph.D. in Biology and have taught at the university level) can bring critical thinking and scientific rigor into our artistic practices. We experiment: we test materials, tools, and techniques. We’re good at taking notes and keeping records of what works and what doesn’t. Some of us are really good at explaining things and teaching others. We’re used to motivating ourselves to be productive.
And in certain aspects of producing art, such as the mechanics of glassblowing, the physics governing the behavior of glass heating in a kiln, the chemical properties of pigments, or the technical aspects of welding or casting sculptures, people with a mechanical bent of mind tend to excel, be they male or female.
So science can be a good foundation to have when going into art. But if you’ve been solely an artist since birth, and just the memory of every science and math class you had to take in school still makes you cringe, no need to feel bad.
This whole post has focused on the upside. There’s a downside. I’ll talk about that in my next post.
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