6/1 TED Talk

TED TALK LINK BELOW****

https://prezi.com/v/nu0fpewefgao/

SCRIPT

            I am not an artist. For as long as I can remember, I never once associated myself with being good at art. I was just never blessed with the gift of an artistic mind. To give you guys an idea of my artistic ability, here are three pieces from the past

Yeah, was I a prodigy or what? So despite being pretty unartistic, I felt the most creative during elementary school. I remember drawing and writing my own stories a lot during these years.

After elementary school, though, I felt myself becoming less creative and not as willing to free write and draw. This was because I didn’t have a class that was dedicated to art, until the Genius project

When I had a project/class dedicated to painting, I was able to become more creative. I found myself doing a lot of sketching, and looking at things, and wondering how I could potentially paint them. 

  I was living life a little more artistically and creatively which sparked joy.

All schools should give students the opportunity I was given: the opportunity to find joy through creative arts. Students should not be able to go through middle school and high school without taking an art class because they would be missing out on the benefits art provides. The main benefit art classes provide is their ability to increase creativity.

How do art classes do this? First, we need to talk about what creativity is and how it works.

Well, creativity is the ability to use imagination to create innovative ideas. When people are creative or generating ideas, neurons in the Default, Salience, and Executive networks are firing. 

In an fMRI study done by Mellisa Ellamil, participants came up with ideas for a book cover. The researchers saw an increase in activity in these networks, which tells us that these connections allow us to generate ideas. 

In another study, musicians showed increased activity in those same networks while improvising. So during artistic activities, the neurons firing are the same when coming up with creative ideas.

Psychologist Donald O. Hebb stated that “Cells that fire together, wire together.” [repeat]. This means that when neurons are firing in the Default, Salience, and Executive networks during artistic activities, they become stronger the more they make the connections. 

The more people engage in art, the more creative they become. 

Creativity is important because it is needed everywhere. Even though it may not seem like this, all professions need the ability to think creatively and produce innovative ideas. By being engaged in artistic activities, students can be better prepared for the future.

Not only can creativity help with the future, but it can also help students in the present. The freedom of expression that art provides can help students act and be themselves without the feeling of being judged.

Ever since I began painting, I’ve felt less pressured when it came to school. My grades were no longer my goal, but it was learning and how I felt about learning. The ability to not be judged by my artwork allowed me to not feel the pressure of being judged by my grades.

Creative arts also can help reduce stress. The ability to engage in something tangible that makes us happy reduces our stress.

From the beginning of my journey to the end, no matter the quality of my products, I had the same reaction to my paintings: happiness. 

Even just watching others be creative can be a stress reliever. Watching Bob Ross literally made every muscle in my body relax. Bob Ross single-handedly got me through the 4th marking period. Maybe not single-handedly but he was definitely a big help.

Art also allows students to focus on something, to take their minds off of whatever may be going on in their lives. You have to be locked in, which gives people an escape from whatever world they're living in.

Having this time and opportunity to just focus on art helped me in ways that I could have never imagined. My view on life and attitude towards life changed.

 

So if art and creativity are so important and life-changing, why can students go throughout middle school and high school without taking an art class at Wiss?

Schools have the obligation to help students in the present and prepare students for the future, so they should require students to take creative art courses. These creative arts help students become healthier and happier and increase the creativity that is needed for almost all occupations. By making creative arts classes mandatory, schools can fulfill this obligation.

No matter your artistic ability, creative arts are beneficial. You could be pretty unartistic, or you could be a prodigy. Either way, the arts can increase the creativity needed for a happier present and a better future.

Thank you.