Why kids need art/outdoors now: Brain ‘exercise,’ says painter - and she has a plan

Bradford is passionate about the magic that happens when children unlock the right side of the brain, which comes alive when art is made but is so often silenced in the classroom.

“School so much is about the left brain, all day every day from the age of 5,” Bradford says. “People come out of it saying ‘I can only draw stick figures. I don’t know how to draw, I don’t know anything about art,’ because they’ve had zero exposure and none of that has been exercised. That part of their brain hasn’t been exercised.

“Math and language occupy a totally different part of the brain than art-making does. I can literally be talking on the phone to someone and simultaneously making decisions about what to do on a painting,” she says. “It’s like there’s no overlap, there’s no conflict … because they’re in two different hemispheres and it’s easy.”

Children (and even adults) who become interested in art often want to jump right into painting, Bradford says, but she cautions that learning to keenly observe and then draw is a better place to start.

“With children, (drawing) is a skill that’s fun to have and it’s empowering,” she says.

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 5:39 PM with the headline "Why kids need art/outdoors now: Brain ‘exercise,’ says painter - and she has a plan."