THE MAGAZINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CHILD ART FOUNDATION JULY – SEPTEMBER 2017 on art brain brain Your see hidden surprises see hiddensurprises HoloTats appand scan thecover to Download the come to life! JULY-SEPT 2017 VOL. 17, ISSUE 3, NUMBER 51

Guest editor’s corner Published since 1997, ChildArt is a commercial- free arts learning, self- It is a privilege to serve as guest editor of the Arts + discovery, and global Mind edition of ChildArt Magazine. For more than 20 education periodical years the International Child Art Foundation (ICAF) expressly written for 10 to 14 year- has been an essential organization recognizing and olds, but useful as a teaching tool for valuing the power and dignity of the arts for children educators and inspirational for creative around the world. individuals of all ages. Subscribe to This issue of ChildArt shares the marriage of ChildArt online at www.icaf.org. the arts and brain research, a newly emerging field When a child’s creativity is ignored, of study called neuroaesthetics. Neuroaesthetics it could be lost forever. Tax-deductible explores the impact of the arts, architecture and music donations support children’s creative on the human brain and behavior. The applications for and empathic development. You can neuroaesthetics research are limitless. While there is donate online at www.icaf.org or make so much about the brain we don’t understand, it is an your check to ICAF and mail it to: ICAF, P. exciting time to be thinking about what is going on at O. Box 58133, Washington, DC 20037. the intersection of the arts and brain research. I hope All rights reserved. Reproduction the stories in health, wellbeing and learning will open of the whole or any part of the contents your mind to the possibilities for the arts, architecture without written permission is prohibited. and design as solutions for intractable problems, ChildArt (ISSN 1096-9020). Copyright approaches to enhance your life and answers to 2017 International Child Art Foundation questions long asked. (ICAF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We are all makers, designers and creators regardless of our age, interests, studies or career paths. The evolution of the human species revolves around the stories we create and share, the ways we communicate, environments we build and language we use. WHO WE ARE Understanding how our brains work and how International Arts + Mind Lab (IAM Lab) they are sculpted and changed through art making is a multidisciplinary research-to-practice and aesthetic experiences enables us to build a better initiative from the Brain Science Institute at world. When we decide to create a new product, Johns Hopkins University accelerating the design a shopping center, home or park, paint a field of neuroaesthetics. Our mission is to room, or a million other actions, we have the ability amplify human potential. to use what we know about how the brain works to create smarter, more productive, creative, healing WHAT WE DO and learning solutions. The benefits to people IAM Lab is pioneering impact-based everywhere are beyond measure, transcending thinking, an outside-in approach to class, gender, race and culture. health, well-being and learning. The arts, in all forms, are not just “nice to have” but are who we are. The field of neuroaesthetics is at HOW WE DO IT the heart of unleashing humanity’s greatest potential. IAM Lab brings together brain scientists and practitioners in architecture, music and the arts to collaborate in multidisciplinary research, foster dialogue and spur continued innovation by sharing these findings with a broader community. Susan Magsamen Executive Director International Arts + Mind Lab Join the neuroaesthetics conversation. Brain Science Institute www.artsandmindlab.org facebook.com/artsandmindlab Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine twitter.com/artsandmindlab JULY – SEPT 2017 THE ARTS + MIND 1

HEALTH: THE ARTS HEAL US

02 04 08 10 12 14 What is Your brain A safe space High-tech healing Coloring outside Art + architecture neuroaesthetics? on the arts to be a kid BLAM the battle lines as medicine HEART – Save Creative Forces Johns Hopkins The Children Hospital

WELLBEING: THE ARTS KEEP US HEALTHY

18 20 22 24 26 28 Use your hidden Developing Signs of the times The art + science A new lens on Tools for superpowers! empathy Erin Cooper of architecture high school any trade Richard Louv Ashfaq Ishaq Fred Marks Wide Angle Art With A Heart Youth Media Sarah Pitcock

LEARNING: THE ARTS TEACH US

30 34 36 38 40 42 The art of Going "pro" Architecture The Hokey STEAMing The ABCs good ideas in beats of learning Pokey: What it’s up learning of you + me MICA OrchKids Learning really all about Destination New World Kids Landscapes Too Small To Fail Imagination Susan Marcus 2 CHILDART ICAF.ORG

What if we told you that the way a room or building is designed can help you recover from an illness or heal more quickly? What if we told you that you could be more productive and creative simply by listening to a certain type of music?

What if you could solve conflicts or under- stand another person’s perspective by The Arts + creating art? And what if you could get better grades just by taking a walk in the Architecture, music, visual arts, digital woods every once in a while? Well, it’s true! media, writing, dance, theatre We are constantly interacting with the world around us. Our five senses—hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste—are working their essence, the arts engage the senses These questions are at the heart of neuro- all the time. Our senses help us understand to create aesthetic experiences. And the aesthetics, an emerging discipline focused and identify color, an item we hold, a sound term “aesthetics” doesn’t just mean that on exploring the neural processes under- we hear. They orient us when we enter a something is beautiful, it refers to the lying our appreciation and production new room or a new space. physical world that surrounds us. of beautiful objects and artwork and the Our senses directly inform our brains This interaction between our brains experiences that include perception, so we can learn, heal and grow. and the arts is what neuroaesthetics is all interpretation, emotion and action. Since the beginning of humanity, we about. Specifically, neuroaesthetics uses The field attracts scholars from many have been making or experiencing the brain science to understand aesthetic disciplines, including neuro and cognitive arts, creating environments and commu- experiences at the neurological level. scientists, architects, artists, designers, nicating our unique stories of culture psychologists, philosophers, educators and and self. The arts affect our emotions How does the brain interpret aesthetic others. Neuroaesthetics received its formal and feelings—they help to shape our experiences? definition in 2002 as the scientific study of brains. The arts cover a broad spectrum the neural bases for the contemplation and of things including natural and human- How does our knowledge of basic brain creation of a work of art. made environments, architecture, music, mechanisms inform our understanding of Many scholars and institutions around dance, visual design, theatre, digital these experiences? the world have studied and continue to media, creative writing and poetry. At study the intersection of the arts and mind. JULY – SEPT 2017 THE ARTS + MIND 3

+ Mind = Impact Sight, touch, smell, taste, hearing Health, wellbeing, learning

Neuroscientist Semir Zeki and cognitive community since 2009. In recent video games, this interdisciplinary field psychologist Vilayanur Ramachandrian years, the National Endowment of the is now beginning to be able to provide are credited with the elevation of this Arts (NEA) has worked to investigate insights and research. field in the late 1990s. Nobel Prize winner the value of the impact of the arts as Over time, this new knowledge will Eric Kandel has also further contributed it pertains to social and emotional provide an important understanding of through his work and book The Age of development but also to creativity, neural basis, universal principles and Insight: The Quest to Understand the cognition, and learning. In 2016, the evolutionary rationale of aesthetics. Unconscious on Art, Mind and Brain. Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins These findings will also support rigorous Anjan Chatterjee has expanded the School of Medicine embarked on an approaches to develop evidence-based conversation with his book The Aesthetic initiative to further accelerate the field of arts, design and architectural solutions, Brain: How We Evolved to Desire Beauty neuroaesthetics through the creation of interventions and programs. and Enjoy Art. In 2003, The Academy the International Arts + Mind Lab. Neuroaesthetics offers an innovative of Neuroscience for Architecture was Fueling the growth of neuroaesthetics approach to better understand and amplify launched to advance knowledge that are tools and technologies that support the the way we live. There’s so much to learn links neuroscience and architecture. The exploration of how our brains work that are about the intricate intersections of the arts International Neuroaesthetic Network has assessable, mobile and more affordable. and our human brain. Join us as we explore been extremely productive guiding the From molecular research and EEG, fMRI, this exciting new field! development of the empirical research and PET brain imaging to virtual reality and 4 CHILDART ICAF.ORG

FRONTAL LOBE Cognitive functions of reasoning, executive function, parts of speech, voluntary movement, emotions and problem solving

CORPUS CALLOSUM The corpus callosum is made up of neural tissue, and it helps the two brain hemispheres communicate with each other via signals sent through neural pathways The arts have a profound and often instant- aneous impact on sculpting our brains. When you are creating the arts (the maker) or experiencing the arts (the beholder), your brain is running at full speed receiving TEMPORAL LOBE and processing new information. Memory and perception Try to imagine a clear sky on a cool as well as speech and summer night. The sky is filled with an auditory functions (pitch, infinite number of stars above you in many tone, selective listening) configurations. Your brain is just like that. It is the most complex and agile structure known to humans. At birth, a baby’s brain contains all the neurons he or she will ever have. In the first year of life, that child’s brain will double in size and by age three, the brain will have reached 80 percent of its adult size. The human brain contains 100 billion neurons. Each one of those 100 billion neurons can connect to up to 10,000 other neurons. Synapses enable these connections to happen—they are small gaps between neurons that allow inform- is constantly responding to its internal and ation to flow from one neuron to another external environment and experiences. neuron. In the process, synapses form The fact that the human brain can Emotions are an important billions of neuronal circuits. literally change neural pathways based Neurotransmitters help carry inform- on experiences means it is never too late part of brain development ation across the synapses from one neuron to sculpt and heal your brain (though early and learning. Researchers to another. Neurotransmitters are made up childhood is still essential for building have recently discovered that of very specific chemicals that are involved foundational systems). This agility of the emotions, related to reward in different brain functions. A person’s brain underlies our ability to learn, and pleasure, are productive brain is constantly changing how it passes remember and heal. information between its neurons (its neural As you will read in the stories through- for higher level learning. pathways). This process is called brain out this Arts + Mind edition of ChildArt plasticity and it happens because the brain Magazine, you’ll discover that interacting JULY – SEPT 2017 THE ARTS + MIND 5

PARIETAL LOBE Information processing of movement, mathematics, orientation, recognition and perception of stimuli (taste, touch, temperature)

OCCIPITAL LOBE Visual processing

THE LIMBIC SYSTEM The emotional brain containing the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala and hippocampus

CEREBELLUM The cerebellum is associated with regulation and coordination of movement, posture and balance

with the arts – either as beholder or maker of the connections build cognitive skills, have discovered that emotions, related – provides powerful experiences. These predict long-term outcomes in resiliency, to reward and pleasure, are productive for experiences help to build this complex and social-emotional health, executive function, higher level learning. The neurotransmitter vast neural network and help to maintain learning and memory. The arts engage dopamine helps control the brain’s the foundational circuitry needed for the whole brain. pleasure and reward systems. Dopamine healthy brain function. The brain is comprised of many also helps regulate movement and Brain researchers are also beginning to important neurotransmitters including emotional responses. It enables us not better understand that exposure to the arts, serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine. These only to feel rewards but to take action and including the visual arts, creative writing help regulate emotion, motivation and move towards them. Dopamine-driven and poetry, music, architecture, dance and rewards which are intrinsically tied to experiences help foster critical behaviors theatre, create interconnectivity between brain development. for learning—a thirst for knowledge or a different areas of the brain. Brain regions Emotion is an important part of brain desire to discover information. do not work in isolation—the strengths development and learning. Researchers the arts heal us

“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.“

Auguste Rodin French Impressionist and sculptor

Tali Yalonetzki 8 CHILDART HEALTH

a result, they feel more connected to the people around them. This is because of the unique ways that arts activities change the brain for language development and emotional learning. HEART takes place in community centers, pre-schools, primary schools and after- school programs. As children become healthier and more engaged with their peers, adults and family members, they are better able to enjoy the full set of HEART activities like using drama to teach history; sculpture and physical modeling to teach geography; music to reinforce concepts of math; and book making and storytelling to support literacy. Arts-based activities can help young HEART – SAVE THE CHILDREN people succeed in their school subjects and their relationships with friends and adults, too. When compared to similar young people who do not participate in the HEART program, HEART participants make greater gains in literacy, math, social-emotional development and motor skills. In short, they do better in their school subjects and Sometimes it can be hard to watch Through HEART, the healing process are less likely to have behavior issues that the news. When scenes of war and begins when a child shares his or her limit their relationships and potential. This uncertainty from around the world make memories and feelings. Sometimes, it can is because of the unique ways that arts you feel sad and helpless, take heart: be hard to talk about difficult feelings or activities change the brain for language there is always something you can worries. Stress lives in the brain and can development and emotional learning. do. Eglantyne Jebb founded Save the actually act as a wall between the part In the last five years, the global HEART Children in 1919 after her experiences of the brain that holds our worries and program has given more than 150,000 with the devastating effects of World fears and the part that helps us to talk young people the opportunity to heal, War I on the basic health and wellness about them. Creating a piece of art, like a learn, explore and thrive through arts- of children and families in war zones. drawing or a sculpture, can help to break based activities. During times of chaos and The organization is dedicated to giving down that wall and express those worries. uncertainty, something as simple as a safe, children a healthy start, the opportunity In the HEART program, children can use friendly space to draw can be life-changing to learn and protect them from harm. art to express their worries and fears with for young people living with chronic stress. Save the Children’s HEART program a trusted adult or peer in a safe space. As (Healing and Education through the Arts) uses an arts-based approach to provide support for children ages 4 to 18 that Try this: are living with daily uncertainty or worry because of lack of a safe place to live, enough food to eat or doctors to help them when they are sick or disabled. These conditions are most likely to occur in countries or regions where there is war, conflict and poverty. Currently, HEART is offered in the nations of Jordan, Occupied Palestinian Territories, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Bosnia Herzegovina, SING DRAW DANCE Ukraine, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Haiti, Sing your favorite song Draw a picture of Play your favorite music El Salvador, Mexico, China, Armenia, loud and clear. How a feeling. What did and dance around. Do Albania and Georgia. do you feel? you draw? you feel less stressed? THE ARTS + MIND 9

Science of the arts

Some causes of toxic stress: poverty, violence, illness, natural disasters, abandonment and conflict.

Chronic stress when we are young can have negative effects on health as adults.

The amygdala (center of the brain for emotions) in young kids is changed by stress.

Artistic expression reduces levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. Read about it

Beautiful Oops Barney Saltzberg Chill and Spill Art Journal Touch, mold, create Art with a Heart – playing with clay stimulates neural (Seattle, WA) sensory inputs.

Save The Children 10 CHILDART HEALTH

BLAM – BRAIN, LEARNING, ANIMATION + MOVEMENT

John Krakauer, M.A., M.D., directs the settings today just aren’t motivating or Brain, Learning, Animation and Movement rewarding. We’re combining what we Lab at the Johns Hopkins University School know about learning and brain plasticity of Medicine. Dr. Krakauer’s research with what we know about what people explores the use of immersive video games love to watch for fun, like Pixar movies for in stroke recovery. example, to promote faster recovery for stroke patients. How does your work fit into the field Our research is based on the notion of neuroaesthetics? that swimming, oceans, the color blue BLAM and dolphins would all be appealing JK: A stroke is a brain injury, and right to most people in an immersive game after an injury, the brain is what we call world. Someone might want a killer “plastic.” That means it is able to change whale or dragon instead of a dolphin, arms, get to “become” a dolphin in three and adapt as a result of that experience. but the underlying concept is similar. weeks of training in our immersive video So, it’s important to get patients moving We’re currently conducting what’s world. We have an exoskeleton, a kind quickly and meaningfully after a stroke known as a trial, or a first study. Patients of simulator, and the patients put their to take advantage of that “plasticity.” who have recently had a stroke, and arms in it and use it to power the dolphin We believe that beautiful and rewarding therefore have limited movement in their in the virtual world. It helps them move experiences can motivate people to their arms much more than they normally move, and therefore help people to would to encourage exploration when recover faster. People enjoy certain kinds their brain is plastic. We have about 21 of movements more than others. That’s “We’re combining what we patients enrolled at this point. Hopefully why people like to play sports and dance, we’ll have about 30 patients by the end because they enjoy the movement itself. know about learning and of the year. It’s like when you put your hand out of the brain plasticity with what car window to feel the air. You enjoy that we know about what people How are you dreaming big about movement of the air over your arm. love to watch for fun, like neuroaesthetics? Pixar movies for example, to How are you using reward and JK: Imagine there was science behind motivation in your work at BLAM? promote faster recovery for the art you see in schools and offices, or stroke patients.” the music and design of a hospital room. JK: People are more motivated to move In those environments, you’d do better when they get enjoyment out of the John Krakauer work. You’d have better outcomes. That’s movement, and many of our physical what neuroaesthetics is all about. therapy and rehabilitation exercises and Read about it Try this M LA The MindShift Virtual World Play your favorite B Guide to Games Design and animated movie and and Learning Creation for Teens dance to the move with Jordan Shapiro Charles Ryan the characters. How Hardnett does this feel?

Science of the arts

fMRI brain scans show Virtual reality therapy When your brain receives Playing an animated video Some brain-machine reductions in pain-related has been shown to evoke an audio-visual stimulus, the game can improve the interfaces (BMI) can help brain activity with patients changes in the limbic and sensory information travels ability to take on more tasks increase cortical and who use virtual reality. visceral brain circuitry. to the thalamus (the relay by increasing attention and spinal cord plasticity for station) that forwards the focus in the game. disabled patients. information for processing. 12 CHILDART HEALTH

CREATIVE FORCES

Creative Forces JULY – SEPT 2017 THE ARTS + MIND 13

Science of the arts

When most of us get sick, we go to the doctor and get The brain becomes medicine. But what if pills and syrups couldn’t make intensely engaged when creating art. you better? Your doctor might prescribe something totally unexpected: art.

Doodle away – it activates the prefrontal lobe and helps short- For many military service members of the Creative Forces clinical sites, term memory. coming home from overseas deploy- paints a vivid picture of the mask- ments, the joyful reunions we see making process and how it unlocks Visual arts can lower on the news are just the first step in traumatic experiences. Walker says amygdala activity a very difficult journey of trying to mask making has been a particularly resulting in stress adjust to life at home after experien- powerful therapy for post-traumatic reduction. cing the traumas of war. Although stress disorder, helping service they may look healthy on the outside, members turn their private night- Art activities can help many service members come home mares and painful memories into soothe your alert with invisible wounds. something that can be shared and, system and enable “Very often there are very small hopefully, released. One service the prefrontal cortex tears in a brain that you can’t even member shares how he was finally to focus on thinking and planning. see unless you have a magnified able to let go of trauma that he had brain scan,” said Bill O’Brien, senior kept bottled up inside for 23 years. adviser for innovation at the National Creative Forces is also turning The arts help the Endowment for the Arts. “It makes it to technology to reach and appeal brain focus and avoid distractions. hard for them to remember things. to a broader audience, working with They are fearful or angry for no reason, the University of Florida on a new and it really impacts the family.” “telehealth” program that can bring Creative Forces: NEA Military art and music therapy into homes Healing Arts Network is a partnership through the power of technology. of the National Endowment for the Building on an initial in-person Arts, the Department of Defense and meeting, the telehealth program Read the Department of Veterans Affairs will use specially designed tablet about it that includes a creative arts therapist computers for virtual therapy sessions as part of a team approach to helping designed to feel just like being in the Drawing is Thinking Milton Glazer heal service members and veterans room together. Creative Forces knows who are confronting the wounds of integrating technology is critical to its Secret Garden: An war. Service members, most of who success in other ways, too. Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book have been on multiple deployments “How a person pursues art in the Johanna Basford overseas, take their daily dose of 21st Century is changing,” O’Brien art therapy (writing, mask making, says. “Many service members are music) right alongside other therapies interested in producing their own like acupuncture and K-9 therapy. music, for example.” The program is also offered to family Digital technology used for members who are learning to deal photography, videos and music with the effects of the injuries on recording provides Creative Forces themselves and their loved ones. a scalable way to bring the healing Try this A popular TED Talk with Melissa powers of the arts and creative Doodle while listening to music. Walker, art therapist at the National expression to all service members, Intrepid Center of Excellence, one veterans and families who need it. Create a mask of yourself. Draw a self-portrait and describe what you created to a friend. 14 CHILDART HEALTH

JOHNS HOPKINS HOSPITAL

Most images of hospitals are of sterile enhance the patient and visitor experience. serve as places to meet, rest and relax. white hallways and fluorescent lights. But Just beyond the Children’s Center entrance Many of the plantings, including varieties when Johns Hopkins Hospital set out to is a gigantic rhino sculpture with a baby of lavender, rosemary, barberry, rose and add 1.6 million square feet of new state- rhino standing on its back. Floating magnolia, were chosen for their ancient of-the-art facilities across a five-acre site, above the main entry stair of the lobby is associations with healing. The landscape they put art and aesthetics at the forefront a school of puffer fish. A purple winged architect, OLIN, developed the design so of healing. The Hospital’s Facilities staff cow, heading towards a ring of the 28 that patients, families and visitors looking worked with Perkins+Will, architects, phases of the moon, flies above the visitor’s down from the building could enjoy landscape designers, engineers and artists information desk at the main entry. Such the patterns and colors of the courtyard to design a set of buildings that combine whimsy and fun can make a hospital stay gardens. The meditation garden, intended patient experience and medical care, or visit feel more like a trip to the museum. as a place of calm and quiet, is graced with taking into account the healing benefits To further stimulate the imagination gentle water features, sculptural trees and of aesthetics, such as color, open spaces, and curiosity of pediatric patients, more patterned stonework. green spaces and a lot of natural light. than 140 of the works of art created for By combining art and architecture with The two new facilities, the Charlotte the Bloomberg Children’s Center are medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital is taking R. Bloomberg Children’s Center and the inspired by children’s books, including care of patients—mind, body and spirt. Sheikh Zayed Tower, can be seen from seven dioramas found throughout miles away. To create a welcoming exterior, the hospital. These displays include artist Spencer Finch took inspiration from artist Jennifer Strunge’s whacky cloth French Impressionist artist Claude Monet’s creatures, all reading or being read to. Portions of this article were excerpted with permission from the Johns Hopkins Hospital’s famed painting of waterlilies and his own The dioramas serve a dual purpose, Art + Architecture book. observations of light and color at Giverny, providing location clues to navigate creating a new alphabet of 26 shades the hospital and encouraging patients, of colored glass (greens for the Zayed their families and the rest of the hospital Tower and blues for Children’s Center) to community to find and explore the other project the serenity of nature onto the East works of art in the building that were Baltimore skyline. Finch drew from Monet’s inspired by the books on display. Read about it brushstrokes to create his own pattern that More than 50 artists shared their is fused onto the building’s curtain wall, personal perspectives on nature and the The Story of Buildings: From the Pyramids to reflecting light and mimicking the rippling garden for the art in the Zayed Tower. the Sydney Opera House and Beyond effect of water. Some focused on the delicate details of Patrick Dillon and Stephen Biesty Inside, both buildings are filled with art petals and rocks, and others took a broader Healing Architecture and intentional design features meant to view of landscape. Outdoors, the gardens Christine Nickl-Weller and Hans Nickl (c) 2012, James Steinkamp , Steinkamp Photography

Science of the arts

Meditation areas in buildings help keep you calm by activating the lateral prefrontal cortex in the brain supporting rational thought.

Patterns in brain activity vary when viewing different types of interior spaces.

Cortisol levels drop in low light. Natural light helps decrease stress.

Viewing the outdoors is linked to improved mental and physical health in terms of heart rate and stress levels.

When spaces are designed to increase physical activity, the environment can actually increase brain neurons and improve brain function.

Eduard Hueber

Try this

Visit three of your favorite places. Observe how they make you feel.

Where did you feel the most calm?

Which one felt the most stressful?

How did the colors in the space make you feel?

Eduard Hueber the arts keep us healthy

“The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.”

Steve Jobs Co-founder of Apple

Tali Yalonetzki 18 CHILDART WELLBEING

Richard Louv

Did you know you have supersenses By listening to the languages of the birds care where they step and are less likely – or superpowers? in the tree, you can stimulate spatial to fall. Walking barefoot also enhances Scientists who study human percep- awareness, hearing and sight. awareness of texture and terrain. tion no longer assume we have only five senses: taste, touch, smell, sight and GO ON A MICRO-HIKE. FIND YOUR INNER hearing. They now estimate that humans 3 Inch along on your belly, 6 BLOODHOUND. have, conservatively, 10 senses, and covering just a few feet, and Researchers at the University of some scientists believe we have as many view “such natural wonders as grass California, Berkeley, wondered if human as 30 senses, including proprioception blades bent by rainbow dewdrops, beings could follow a scent trail with their (awareness of our body’s position in colorful beetles sprinkled with flower ears and eyes covered. The researchers space), echolocation and a more acute pollen and powerful-jawed eight-eyed found that not only are humans capable of sense of smell. Spending more time spiders,” suggests Joseph Cornell in his scent tracking, but they intuitively mimic outdoors can activate or tune underused book, Sharing Nature with Children. the tracking pattern of other mammals that senses, including ones that many of us make their living with their noses. Simply don’t realize we have. Here are 10 ways you ROTATE THE SENSES. wetting one’s nose can stimulate the sense can build your senses – your superpowers: 4 Don’t fixate; vary your sensory awareness. “If you pay rapt PICK A “SIT SPOT.” attention to one thing, it will dull your 1 Jon Young, one of the world’s senses (‘highway hypnosis’),” according preeminent nature educators to Princeton University’s Outdoor Action “There is a sixth sense ... and coauthor of Coyote’s Guide, advises initiative. “Flash back and forth through that is the sense of wonder.” children and adults to find a special place your various senses.” in nature, whether it’s under a tree at the D.H. Lawrence end of the yard, a hidden bend of a creek BE A BAREFOOT EXPLORER. or a rooftop garden. “Know it by day; 5 In 2010, Britain’s The Guardian know it by night; know it in the rain and newspaper reported “a in the snow, in the depth of winter and in growing belief among experts” that the heat of summer,” he writes. “Know “the best shoe may be no shoe at all.” of smell. Here’s another way: walk through the birds that live there, know the trees Some podiatrists contend that walking the woods or a field, or along a creek, and they live in. Get to know these things as barefoot develops foot muscles, report what you smell — list and describe if they were your relatives.” ligaments and arch strength and (where these smells in a nature journal. sharp objects aren’t present) can actually CLIMB A TREE. be safer than wearing shoes, especially LEARN TO USE A SNAKE 2 A tree, like any good friend, can flip-flops. One reason is that going 7 TONGUE, DEER EARS OR teach us how to know the world, barefoot improves proprioception — OWL EYES. and even how to be safer. A tree can awareness of where we are in relation to Heather Stephenson, in an essay for the stimulate your vestibular (balance) senses the space around us. Barefoot walkers Children & Nature Network, suggests and offers a natural touch experience. are more likely to look down, to take using your “snake tongue.” She writes, Richard Louv

“try tasting the air, seeing which way BE A BATWOMAN walking in single file, a discreet distance the wind is blowing, and sensing the 9 OR BATMAN. from each other. Have we dramatically temperature….Cup your hands around Echolocation is the system bats fallen out? Perish the thought: we’ve all your ears to listen to what’s in front of use to navigate in the dark. In 2009, signed up for a day of mindful walking.” you, or cup them backward to hear researchers at Madrid’s University of what’s behind you better, imitating the Alcalá de Henares showed how people, These are just a few of the ways you can way deer shift their ears to hear.…Then like bats, can identify objects without stop, look, listen and know the natural look with ‘owl eyes,’ forming binoculars needing to see them, through the echoes world and yourself. You can use your with . . . your hands to imitate owls’ of human tongue clicks. According to the rediscovered superpowers to feel more fixed, forward-facing eyes, and turning lead researcher, echoes are also perceived alive, and to give more art, thoughtfulness, all around.” through vibrations in the ears and bones. and peace to the world.

TAKE THE TRAIL LESS SEEN. GO ON AN AWARENESS WALK. 8 Blindfold your friends and follow a 10 The practice of an “awareness Richard Louv is the author rope (placed in advance) through walk” is similar to Jon Young’s sit of Vitamin N: The Essential varied terrain in which they can smell, hear spot, but with more emphasis on walking Guide To A Nature-Rich and feel things. Retrace your steps without meditation. Jini Reddy, in an article for Life, from which this essay the blindfold to see how much more you the Telegraph, writes about walking is adapted, The Nature Principle, and Last Child notice. Or, while on a walk, stop and close through the dunes of a national nature In The Woods: Saving Our your eyes. Ask yourself and your friends, reserve: “Ordinarily on such an outing, Children from Nature-Deficit “What direction are the clouds moving?” I’d be chattering away with friends, Disorder. He is co-founder and “Were there any birds in the tree we loaded down with beach gear. But today and chairman emeritus of the Children & Nature Network. Follow Richard Louv on just passed?” I’m light-footed and as silent as a ghost. Facebook and @RichLouv on Twitter. I can see my companions, as we’re all 20 CHILDART WELLBEING

Ashfaq Ishaq

their children’s creativity. In the third DAY THREE: BE THE CHANGE-MAKERS year, the WCF provides a setting of On “Peace & Leadership Day,” all work- How do you develop global community to celebrate creativity, shops and activities focus on interpersonal empathy among 9 to 12 diversity and unity. In the fourth and final relations, peaceful resolution of conflicts year olds from more than year, the International Arts Olympiad and leadership training. The delegates Exhibition travels to host cities to grow become prepared as global citizens, 70 countries in just three public awareness of the importance of collectively participating in activities days? Bring them to the children’s creative education. such as mural-making to co-create World Children’s Festival While the Arts Olympiad fosters masterpieces. From the host of activities (WCF) on the National Mall. creativity, the WCF develops empathy. and workshops, delegates learn that Intercultural empathy does not come creativity and empathy are key attributes easily and yet it is more essential today of successful learners and leaders. After than ever before. Here’s how we do it: attending the WCF, children feel more equipped to bring about positive social DAY ONE: DISRUPT BIASES change in their respective communities. The WCF is a three-day experience for All children are faced with cultural Following three days of educational 2,000 creative young people and the biases, whether living in a war zone or festivities on the National Mall, the public in Washington, D.C., organized a peaceful country. On this first “Health delegates are honored at an Awards by the International Child Art Foundation & Environment Day,” delegates from Banquet, where youth leadership shines. (ICAF). I founded ICAF after learning that around the world get to meet, paint creativity is critical for success in business, and draw together, testing art as a yet many adults lack it. If all children start universal language, often surprised at out creative, where does it go? I found a the concerns they share together. By Ashfaq Ishaq is ICAF chairman and WCF scientific explanation in the studies of E. the day’s end, they realize they have producer. He is planning the 6th WCF to take place on the National Mall in June 2019. Paul Torrance who discovered the “4th- much in common, despite their grade slump” in children’s creativity. apparent differences. I believe this slump is a roadblock to human creative development and an DAY TWO: DEVELOP TRUST impediment to sustainable prosperity On “Creativity & Imagination Day,” prof- and peace-building. essionals of all kinds from architects and Read To optimize a child’s creative potential, animators to Olympians and yoga masters about it we developed the Arts Olympiad, a host workshops and activities. Children global program with a four-year cycle like come to understand their own creativity The Creativity Revolution Ashfaq Ishaq the Olympics. In the first year, students and learn how to grow their imagination produce original artworks on themes as and enhance their potential. By the end of www.WorldChildrensFestival.org part of a school art contest. In the second the day, they feel more confident in them- http://scholarship.claremont. year, regional or national exhibitions selves, realizing that their personal creativity edu/steam/ of local winners’ masterpieces provide can be applied to any field or domain, be it communities an opportunity to celebrate in business, government or science. Try this

Close your eyes and imagine a peaceful world. What would it look and feel like? Create a picture of your world using markers, collage or paint.

Science of the arts

Part of the cerebral cortex, the right 1 supramarginal gyrus, helps us act with empathy.

The activation of mirror neurons fire both when we perform an empathetic 2 action and when we see that action being performed by others.

The inferior frontal gyrus in the brain 3 is responsible for emotional empathy – “I feel what you feel.”

The ventromedial prefrontal gyrus in 4 the brain is responsible for cognitive empathy – “I understand what you feel.”

Empathy can be cultivated and developed 5 through all art activities and experiences.

World Children’s Festival

World Children’s Festival Vlad Tchompalov / unsplash.com

Read about it

The Day the Crayons Quit Drew Daywalt

It’s Our World, Too!: Young People Who Are Making a Difference: How They Do It - How You Can, Too! Phillip M Hoose

Erin Cooper

On November 8th, 2016, my sister, mother of grim headlines. When I heard about and I donned white pantsuits in a nod to the the Women’s March on Washington, I suffragettes who fought nearly a century latched onto the idea. Protesting in defense “I believe we all have a role ago for a woman’s right to vote. We put on of human rights and dignity felt like a to play, that our passion, the earrings, bracelets and brooches of my meaningful and tangible action—a way voices and efforts to be grandmothers and great-grandmothers, to tell the incoming administration that we wearing with us generations of women who would not be displaced from our values. heard—whether attending never got the chance to vote for a female I petitioned my school to organize a town halls, protesting or President of the United States as we went trip for students to attend the march and engaging in other ways—are to the voting booth together. received approval along with a 60-seat all incredibly important to Hours later, the results of the 2016 school bus for the five-hour trip from New the future of our country.” election shocked the nation, even those York to D.C. I plastered the school with who supported Donald Trump. To me, posters and promoted the trip to students Erin Cooper a high school junior, it felt impossible to and teachers. The sign-up sheets filled up, understand a nation that once said “give me and on January 21, we arrived at school at your tired, your poor, your huddled masses 4:00am, boarded the yellow school bus yearning to break free,” now seemingly and took off. shutting its doors. As we emerged from the metro in from the negativity of the past months. In the months following the election, Washington, D.C., the streets pulsed with Marchers championed LGBTQ rights, I was overwhelmed by the steady stream life and passionate energy, worlds away women, refugees, immigrants, racial Make your own signs!

What would you say? What do you want to communicate? Where would you use them? What pictures best illustrate your message?

r e p oo C in Er

justice, the environment and access to of 5 million people joined 673 marches Science of the arts healthcare. Chants of “We want a leader not in 81 countries worldwide across every More than emotion - speaking out a creepy tweeter” and “The people united continent. It was the largest single-day 1 activates sections of the brain related will never be defeated…el pueblo unido protest in U.S. history. to logic and reasoning. jamás será vencido” reverberated against I believe we all have a role to play, the surrounding buildings. I had never felt that our passion, voices and efforts to be Like minds, when people work more at home in a crowd of strangers. heard—whether attending town halls, 2 together their brains have neural The witty hand-drawn signs and the protesting or engaging in other ways synchrony. original music written for the march (check —are all incredibly important to the future out MILCK’s performance of her song of our country. Resistance comes from a 3 Speaking out or expressing fears “Quiet” at the march) were emblematic place of creativity and refusal to give in to lessens negative arousal in the brain. of the passion so many people feel for the powers that be. The road ahead is long, preserving human rights and the wellbeing but we are in it together. Use rhymes with prosodic patterns and of the planet. After a full day, we found our 4 people will remember your message. way to our school bus and drove home to New York, talking about our favorite moments of the day and thinking ahead Erin Cooper is a Junior at Riverdale Country Advocacy and activism can make School. Devout feminist, she takes her nose out to what we could do next. 5 you feel happier by taking action. of Gloria Steinem chronicles for long enough to We learned that 500,000 people attend a soccer practice (or six) each week. Erin marched in Washington, D.C., and a total is an aspiring artist and engineer. 24 CHILDART WELLBEING

Fred Marks

Have you looked at a round building such modern people spend most of their time solved. Without this definition, a focus on as yurt or tepee and wondered what it indoors. Such designs may enable hospital the form (the way the building looks), might would be like inside? How do you hang patients to recover faster, students to learn be the enemy of the function (how it works). cabinets on a curved wall made of mud better or office workers to be less tired and and grass or buffalo hide? Where would more focused. AESTHETICS AND CULTURE the furniture go to accommodate various While painters, sculptors, musicians In the best cases, the function and form purposes? Would you be comfortable and dancers have a lot of control over how of a building work hand in hand. With a in a shape that had no square corners? their art looks when finished, architects clearly defined function in mind, an architect Different designs stimulate emotional must work with a number of collaborators, can work with his/her partners to achieve centers in the brain and change how we including multiple engineers, designers, an appealing form through techniques perceive or react to being in the space. Our public officials, citizens and even banks that tap into our natural preferences and past memories of seeing and experiencing who all have a say in the final design. While instincts as humans. For example, our brains many types of buildings also influence a sculptor might need to understand a little and eyes prefer to see rhythmic repetitions, how we feel about something new. In chemistry to get the right mix of materials simple forms and orderly patterns found in understanding how the brain operates, for a mold, architects must follow strict laws nature, such as leaves. Without patterns, architects may soon change the way they of physics, chemistry and mathematics just we may become uneasy and disoriented. approach their design to our benefit. to make sure we are safe and protected. Repeating patterns in tile and stone work, Combined, those principles ensure that a consistent ceiling heights and symmetry in FORM AND FUNCTION building can stand up and stay dry from windows and doors are all examples of how Architecture is the art or practice of the weather, among many other things. architecture adheres to this principle. Still, designing and constructing buildings. It Architects also rely heavily on function is unique among art forms because it has in determining their design. How a building both aesthetic and practical purposes, comes to be one size and shape often also known as “form” and “function.” That depends on what activities will take place means a building can be a beautiful and inside and how many people will use it. Read moving sight to see as well as a necessary A sports stadium, for example, needs a about it place to stay warm or cool. large common space with a playing field, The Future Architect’s There are many factors, both artistic and seats for spectators and many pathways for Handbook scientific, that influence how a building is walking in and out. A family home, on the Barbara Beck designed and constructed. In recent years, other hand, is likely to be much smaller and Iggy Peck, Architect there has also been a growing interest in tailored to a family’s needs to eat, relax and Andrea Beaty and designing buildings that will contribute to sleep in one building. Before an architect David Roberts the health and wellness of the people who can start working on a design, he or she live and work in them or visit them. After all, must identify and describe a problem to be JULY – SEPT 2017 THE ARTS + MIND 25

Science of the arts

Look up! High ceilings activate structures in the brain related to our visual-spatial perception.

Brandon Day / unsplash.com

Don’t box me in. Studies show more positive responses when people are in there is room for the element of surprise places with curvy versus linear space. and wonder in design. Imagine an all-white building with a single red door. That door Frederick Marks, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Six Sigma could both entice your interest and help you Green Belt; Visiting Scholar, Salk Institute for know where to enter a building. Biological Studies; President-elect, Academy All cultures have sought to express of Neuroscience for Architecture themselves through their buildings, and The mission of the Academy of Neuroscience buildings have in turn helped shape social for Architecture is to promote and advance attitudes. Throughout history, architecture knowledge that links neuroscience research to has changed in style based on the avail- a growing understanding of human responses Our perception of a place, whether ability of materials and technology and to the built environment. we like it there or not, is related to what we see, smell, touch, hear the customs and tastes of the time. Western The Academy benefits from the expanding and feel when we are there. civilization lists Greek, Roman, Byzantine, body of research that has evolved within the Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, neuroscience community in the last two decades, Neo-Classical and Modern as distinct and the promise of even more in the coming examples of artistic expression. Middle century. Some observers have characterized Eastern and Asian countries developed what is happening in neuroscience as the most other approaches to dressing their exciting frontier of human knowledge since buildings based on their beliefs about the Renaissance. All humanity stands to benefit religion and the human role in nature. from this research in countless ways still to be More recently in the United States, determined. The profession of architecture has What we learn from neuroscience we have found that we don’t need to tear become a partner in developing the application (exploring the brain) and down old buildings from earlier centuries of this knowledge base in order to increase its neuroaesthetics (how art affects the brain) helps us create places where just because their original purpose is no ability to be of service to society. people will love to work, live and play. longer needed. We can practice sustainable development by finding new uses. By expanding the meaning of what is possible and acceptable a canning factory may become residential apartments, a train Try this depot may serve as a museum or a school building may be converted to business What are two things Make a list of five of you can adjust in your favorite places. offices. In accepting the design change, your room to help List how each of these our brain will be in harmony with what the you relax and sleep spaces make you feel. Hush! Light and noise levels affect an architect most likely intended. better? infant’s critical sensory development. 26 CHILDART WELLBEING

Wide Angle Youth Media

WIDE ANGLE YOUTH MEDIA

The high schoolers in the Mentoring documentary film projects. In the end, knew that teens would relate most to the Video Project (MVP) program at Wide violence and teen depression rose to the perspective of other teens and that serious Angle Youth Media in Baltimore aren’t top as the most pressing issues to tackle. topics would require expert voices to lend afraid to take on difficult topics. In fact, With a goal to educate and change credibility to their stories. that’s their job. This year, the student the hearts and minds of their families, In some cases, the filmmakers inter- filmmakers discussed a long list of issues friends, city leaders and school counselors, viewed fellow MVP students about their facing teens and their community as they split into two teams to begin their personal experiences with violence and they considered the direction for their interviews. From the start, MVP filmmakers depression, often touching on private and JULY – SEPT 2017 THE ARTS + MIND 27

degree of openness and understanding among MVP students is surprising given that they just met at the beginning of this Read school year. about it They credit the comfort and respect Tinker Dabble Doodle they feel to their first assignment: telling Try: Unlock the Power their personal stories. Students were of the Unfocused asked to create videos that responded Srini Pillay to three prompts: the hardest lesson Flicker – Your Brain they learned as a child, the most difficult On Movies obstacle from the past year and their Jeffery Zacks proudest accomplishment. They screened their stories for their families and friends. They surprised even themselves with how much they were willing to share. “I’m usually reserved, but I wasn’t afraid Science of the arts to be myself, “said 11th grader Michelle White. “It’s important to be honest.” It wasn’t just sharing and hearing their personal stories that made them feel safe in the program. “Without Ms. Kellie, I wouldn’t have gone that deep,” says Michelle. Her peers in the program are quick to agree that the staff at MVP is caring and encouraging. Self-expression for Mentally challenging teens positively affects activities, such as “The best part is that the people here will the hippocampus, digital photography, listen to you if you’ve had a bad day,” said prefrontal cortex improve memory 10th grader Marc Cruise. and amygdala parts and enhance neural The safety of relationships at MVP of the brain. efficiency. opens up the doors to learning a number of unique skills, like using cameras, lights, painful experiences. In post-production, sound equipment and digital editing those tearful and honest stories replayed tools. MVP students learn research and again and again as student editors worked interview skills. They also write, a lot, and to piece together the video’s narrative. The transcribe and edit their interview scripts into cohesive and compelling stories. They’ve learned a lot about teen depression and violence and say there Neurocinematics, a Movies trick our are many misconceptions about both. term coined by Uri brains to reacting Depression is serious. It’s not just having a Hasson, investigates as if events were how the brain real by activating The safety of relationships at bad day or being tired. It’s not something responds to movies “mirror neurons.” MVP opens up the doors to that just passes. And violence in inner cities using an fMRI brain learning a number of unique is not always about drugs. In fact, it’s often scanner. skills, like using cameras, about anger, about not knowing how to lights, sound equipment and cope with a difficult or hurtful situation. Their newfound expertise might come digital editing tools. MVP with one downside. “My mom hates Try this students learn research and watching movies with me now,” says Everyone has a story to tell. interview skills. They also 9th grader Ayanna White. “I am always write, a lot, and transcribe pointing out the issues with continuity.” Use a camera, a smartphone or tablet to create a and edit their interview Still, it’s safe to say the program has had digital storyboard or video of your point of view. unexpected benefits. By turning the lens What do you want to say? scripts into cohesive and on others, MVP filmmakers have gained compelling stories. important insights into themselves. What is the best way to communicate? Share with friends and family and ask for their impressions. 28 CHILDART WELLBEING

Ashley shows me the Dr. Seuss- themed table and chair set she’s working on for a customer. This project has tested her patience. She is having a hard time painting the lines straight. She tells me she has come close to throwing the chair at the wall a number of times. But, she hasn’t. Christina says Ashley might not have been so successful at the beginning of the six-week program. Art therapy has opened the door for Ashley to build deeper relationships and essential coping, communication, workplace and life skills, which are also part of the jobs program. Ashley and Antonio earned the coveted apprentice spots at the end of their jobs program, gaining eight additional weeks of employment and a percentage of the sales of all of the art they make. Ashley is studying for her GED diploma and thinking about careers, perhaps something in the culinary arts. Though she’s not interested ART WITH A HEART in becoming a professional artist, the skills Sarah Pitcock she’s learned can be applied anywhere.

Walking into the Art with a Heart store “The first week’s paycheck felt so and workshop space is like opening up good,” she said. “I have a job, something the windows for the first time after a long to wake up to and look forward to.” winter. The airy, light-filled former police Ashley tells me she likes meeting new stable is decorated from floor to ceiling people. She’s the funny one, and she’s with handmade crafts and works of art. great with foreigners. It hardly sounds like Dozens of mirrored mosaics bounce the person who walked in the first day of bright colors from wall to wall. It’s easy the program. to see how the time spent here can be so “Youth come in very angry at where restorative. Art with a Heart is more than a they are in life,” says Christina Ralls, director place to learn art and crafting skills, though of workforce development and social its 11,000 community classes are certainly enterprise for Art with a Heart. popular. It’s a place where many young people come to make a major change. “Antonio and me, we’re woe,” said Ashley Knofski, a recent graduate of Art with a Heart’s jobs program, using a slang term Art with a Heart is more for “best friend.” “He wants this as much as I than a place to learn art do.” What is “this?” I ask. “A life,” she says. and crafting skills, though its Ashley is 21 years old and experiencing 11,000 community classes homelessness. She and Antonio know are certainly popular. It’s each other through their connection to Youth Empowered Society (YES), a a place where many young nonprofit that provides youth experienc- people come to make a ing homelessness with a comprehensive major change. set of health, education, housing and employment services. Art with a Heart Sarah Pitcock works with groups like YES, providing jobs and training to their clients. THE ARTS + MIND 29

Perhaps most importantly, the relationships Science of and trust she has developed have given the arts her the confidence to believe she deserves something better. “I’ve had jobs before where you had to work hard to make your family,” Ashley says. “Here, you’re family when you walk in the door. It brings out my best side. You can trust people if you put your mind to it.” Feeling good - when you produce art you increase the neurotransmitter, dopamine.

Try this

Think of someone you want to make a Read gift for. Imagine what you might create.

about it What would you need?

Do You Know Who You Are? What are the steps for making the gift? Megan Kaye and Visiting an art gallery Allison Singer It could be simple or complex. can reduce production of cortisol known as our Between Shades of Gray How do you want the person to feel stress hormone. Ruta Sepetys that you are designing it for?

Making and sharing boosts positive self-image and connection.

Involvement with the arts can help you get better grades!

When you focus on the type of art you love, you strengthen your brain’s attention networks.

Art heals – it helps us to produce healthy levels of cytokines, helping to boost our immune system.

Art With a Heart 30 CHILDART WELLBEING

MICA

For seventh grader Alira Abdullai, it was an Social design requires imagination improvisational acting techniques to tell open and shut case. She was no artist. “I and creativity, but you don’t have to be an stories collaboratively. don’t draw. I’m not artistic. I’m not good at “artist” in a traditional sense. It also requires They decided to produce a video any of that,” she said. listening, observing, plenty of team work to educate and inform the community She figured she had no place in an and the confidence to speak up. about positive changes liquor stores can art school, until she was introduced to a make to limit underage drinking, using program at the Center for Social Design at a combination of text, music, graphic the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). elements and narration to inspire and “I learned you don’t have to be an artist influence residents and city leaders to take to use the arts to inspire people,” she said. “It’s not enough to say we’re action. Their story will bring problems to life Students from St. James and John teaching design to make the while focusing on solutions when screened School spend their Tuesdays after school world a better place. We’re at an upcoming town hall meeting. studying design and activism at MICA. saying these disparities are Participants are also working with the Their charge? Design solutions for the Baltimore Good Neighbors Coalition to problem of underage drinking. not accidents. Someone advocate changes to city law such as the Before digging into their own issue, designed this. How can we zoning requirements for liquor stores. students studied and met activists who un-design this?” They’ve learned it won’t be easy to build addressed other issues in their commu- consensus, but they’ve got the social design nities. De Nichols, a social designer from Diamond James tools and experience to stay the course. St. Louis, shared her Sticky Note to Self, Alira offers sage advice for others Mirror Casket and Design Serves projects. interested in social design. “If you have a Will Watson, a local artist, shared his good idea, don’t just keep it in your head. mural projects designed to bring hope to Make it something people can see.” communities. For Alira, learning about the Students decided that liquor stores power of one person to make a change were a major contributor to the issue of was inspiring. underage drinking. According to their Funded by Behavioral Health System of research, they attract crowds of loiterers Baltimore, the program introduces seventh on the sidewalk; often don’t enforce laws Try this and eighth graders to the social design or check IDs and sell snacks and candy process, giving them the tools to think that attract young people. Still, liquor Think about something you critically about complex social problems stores serve a purpose, too. They needed believe needs to be changed in and inclusive solutions for change. a solution that worked for teens, adults your community. Safer streets? “It’s not enough to say we’re teaching and communities. Better lighting? Consistent quality schools? design to make the world a better place,” Students explored underage drinking a said project lead Diamond James. “We’re number of ways, visiting local businesses, Define the problem and create a saying these disparities are not accidents. neighborhoods and government officials; list of ways you would address it. Someone designed this. How can we un- designing cardboard models of commu- design this?” nity centers and liquor stores and using Read about it

Designing For Social Looks Good Feels Change: Strategies Good Is Good How for Community-Based Social Design Graphic Design Changes Our World Andrew Shea and Anne Van Der Zwaag Ellen Lupton

MICA

Science of the arts

Images matter. The The colors red and We process visual Warning labels Design thinking is psychological effect blue are linked to stimuli entering can evoke visceral a model for clearly of a direct gaze in a enhanced cognitive the brain (i.e. faces avoidance responses identifying social, photograph makes performance. and words) through in the brain. education and the viewer more pattern matching. economic problems responsive. and creating solutions.

the arts teach us

“We do not need magic to change the world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already. We have the power to imagine better.”

J.K. Rowling Novelist, screenwriter, film producer

Tali Yalonetzki 34 CHILDART LEARNING

ORCHKIDS

Like many middle schoolers, seventh grader through innovative collaborations. group re-interpreted while on a workshop Khamani Lewis wanted to be a professional “Young people are the driving force residency at the King School in Connecticut. athlete. He was focused on football until in this program,” says OrchKids Artistic Trahey recently visited New Orleans to an injury forced a pause in his plans. Lewis Director Daniel Trahey. “Instead of research brass bands for inspiration and had at least one lucky break—his school coming in and saying, ‘this is the type of authentic sounds for his students. was home to one of six OrchKids programs music we’re going to play,’ we ask them It’s hard to believe, but Khamani has throughout the city. what they are interested in to represent only been playing the drums for two “My family and friends are jealous and their communities and their cultures. The years and has already performed at the proud at the same time,” Khamani said. OrchKids program has a more urban feel Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, written OrchKids is not your old-fashioned with elements of hip hop, classical and music with musicians from England and band program. The program was created jazz music,” Trahey said. performed his first solo under the direction by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Traveling to different schools, states of a professional percussionist. He spends to bring the love of music into the school and countries to perform and meet other his Saturdays rehearsing with a concert day and the high-risk afterschool hours. musicians is a big part of the program’s band and taking lessons at the famed Starting as early as three years old, more goal to grow educated musicians. Students “Tuned In” program at The Peabody than 1,000 young people across six often play side-by-side with professional Institute. He loves the chance to get out Baltimore City Public Schools participate musicians and write and perform their own of the house and meet new people. He in a program that connects them to original music with their friends. Khamani’s says OrchKids has helped him feel more music and instruments and provides brass ensemble is known for playing its confident. “Music energizes me,” he says. opportunities to compose music and remix of “We Got That Fire,” a traditional “Sometimes it’s hard to stop playing.” perform alongside professional musicians New Orleans second line song that the

Science of the arts Try this:

Music impacts areas Don’t forget! Music of the brain that helps your memory, Create unique playlists for affect how we pay stimulating neural the things you do – studying, attention and make networks that help 1 eating, working out and more. predictions. sustain attention and Have other family members do cognitive control. the same and share. Keep fit! Music during dinner soothes brain The beat goes on! activity and helps Slow the beat and Make a homemade instrument you eat less. the brain goes into 2 to play when you want to meditative state or change your mood – drum Heart healthy –music speed it up and the from a bucket or maracas from causes tissue in the brain is more alert. beads in a water bottle. inner lining of blood vessels to dilate to increase blood flow. JULY – SEPT 2017 THE ARTS + MIND 35

Read about it

The Mysteries of Beethoven’s Hair Russell Martin and Lydia Nibley

Story of the Orchestra- Listen While You Learn About the Instruments, the Music and the Composers Who Wrote the Music Robert Levine Meredith Hamilton

OrchKids

Khamani isn’t the only one feeling and attendance requirements for the Khamani is making the most of more confident. OrchKids provides near- program’s travel opportunities. the opportunity. He’s set his sights on peer mentoring as early as third grade, OrchKids also helps power the brain to Baltimore School for the Arts for high with older students serving as mentors for handle academic classes and other stressors. school, and he’ll be practicing and younger students, building confidence “Music promotes flexibility in thinking playing every chance he gets. You might and leadership skills. OrchKids participants and abstract thinking because there isn’t not find Khamani catching a football to attend school an average of 10 days more one right answer,” says Trahey. OrchKids is the sounds of a thunderous crowd, but than the average student in Baltimore City offered in some of Baltimore’s most at-risk there’s a great chance he’ll be creating Public Schools. Students are motivated neighborhoods, where crime and instability the thunder in a concert hall near you. to play music with their friends every can create stress. Trahey says the program day and meet report card, behavior creates a space for peace and passion. 36 CHILDART LEARNING

LEARNING LANDSCAPES

What does that it mean when you hear Another innovative approach is Urban designed by architect Itali Palti help the statement, “learning is everywhere?” Thinkscape. As part of the Learning Land- caregivers and children talk about what We hope that learning occurs in schools, scapes initiative at the Brookings Institution, they see happening and help develop but did you know kids only spend about Urban Thinkscape is one among a number curiosity as they play. 20 percent of their waking time in formal of changes that cities can champion to The goal of Learning Landscapes is learning settings such as school? What change parks and other public places to transform city and public spaces into happens the rest of the time? Think about into learning environments. The first venues for learning through interaction. when you play a video game. Are you Urban Thinkscape is being developed in “Once we change the lens on how we learning? What about when you figure Philadelphia’s Belmont neighborhood. view everyday environments, we can out the train schedule into the city or the The idea is to marry architectural design begin to see the learning potential there. discount at a store? Are you learning then? with the evidence-based knowledge We can design environments that foster A community of researchers over the past 20 years have found that children learn best through play and practice in environments where learning occurs in meaningful context, where children can The goal of Learning make choices and are encouraged to follow Landscapes is to transform their interests. They have also found that city and public spaces into guided play, where parents and caregivers venues for learning through take advantage of their children’s natural abilities, supports learning within prepared interaction. environments that encourage exploration Roberta Golinkoff and action. Most of this play and learning happens outside of a school setting. How do we create informal learning environments for all children? One example is Too Small to Fail’s and Tulsa Educare’s “Talking is Teaching” campaign. The from the science of how people learn. The program uses visual images, compelling proposed space will promote curiosity and graphics and engaging art to help parents playful learning and encourage families to and caregivers change their interactions engage rather than merely observe. with children during everyday events – Imagine a streetlight where when you describing objects seen during a walk or turn the wheel it projects an animation bus ride, singing songs while playing in a on the ground and you need to figure out park or counting while in the supermarket. how it works, or playing on footprints These materials are placed throughout the embedded in the ground to challenge city to build awareness around the benefits children to experiment with jumping of playful learning. patterns. These inventive structures THE ARTS + MIND 37

Read about it Science of Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells the arts us About Raising Successful Children Roberta Michnick Golinkoff PhD and Kathy Hirsh-Pasek PhD

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character Paul Tough

Try this Play changes neuron connections in your brain. Change your lens: Visit three of your favorite places, the laundry mat, the supermarket, the trainstation, your kitchen.

What knowledge or information in science, math and engineering could you learn at each place? a breadth of skills—from communication, to collaboration, to critical thinking—on our everyday walks and in our everyday Placing signage in supermarkets neighborhoods,” said Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, increases conversation among families and boosts language director of Temple University’s Infant development. Language Laboratory, Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz faculty fellow in the Department of Psychology at Temple University and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Enjoyable play generates dopamine which is made by cells in the brain’s core.

Physical activity activates the brain by creating neural networks throughout the body and making the entire body a tool for learning.

Play has to be nurtured to grow and develop neural pathways essential for deep learning.

UBP 38 CHILDART LEARNING

TOO SMALL TO FAIL

Have you ever wondered why we sing toddlers, because it helps to activate vocabulary and understanding of language. the ABCs? Or why your teacher might set different parts of the brain to form new While simply listening to music is good for historical facts or state capitals to a tune connections. Our brains are like a 3-D the mind, the best kind of music for young or rap instead of just writing them on flash map, with parts in the east, west, north children is the kind that they can actively cards? It’s because music is a wonderful and south that all help us in different participate in with actions like marching, tool for learning and memory. Our brains ways. Often, these parts of our brain work clapping or swaying. Parents and older love the repetition and the rhyming, and all by themselves to solve a problem or brothers and sisters can show little ones they especially love it when we put moves store a memory. The best activities get the the way by dancing and keeping the to those grooves. different parts to talk to each other and rhythm themselves. As you probably know, If you can’t get a song out of your work together, such as the parts that help incorporating objects like pots, drums or head, or can’t help dancing when your us sing and clap, or, put your right hand maracas into the singalong also motivates favorite tune comes on, it’s not a bad in and shake it all about. movement and activity. thing! Researchers have found that music For babies and toddlers, early and Too Small to Fail, a joint initiative is important, especially for babies and frequent exposure to music improves of the Clinton Foundation and The

Science of the arts

Keep playing an Your auditory system Dancing increases Dancing and Sing out loud. instrument because connects the ear to our cognitive acuity listening to the same Singing helps this process improves the brain. Musical by rewiring the music with others connect the left and your memory. training improves our neural pathways as decreases pain and right hemispheres ability to distinguish we use them. increases social of the brain. tones and pitch. bonding. Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock.com

Opportunity Institute, is a nonprofit new popular music for a unique listening organization providing information and experience for all ages. The playlists are tools to help parents understand the themed for everyday activities, like bath importance of early brain and language time, driving in the car, meal time, dance development. The organization says you parties and bed time. There are even can also encourage a child to enjoy music breaks in between songs where a voice and build their vocabulary by teaching will suggest an activity or conversation them the words to your favorite songs, starter of some sort that encourages or making up new lyrics together. Young interaction. Who is behind those voices? children benefit most from music— Some of your favorite celebrities like and many other activities—when they Fantasia, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Wiz experience them with loved ones. Khalifa, Tyler Perry, Juanes, Diego Torres, To promote meaningful interactions Frankie J, Laurie Berkner, Busy Philipps among children and their loved ones and Ashley Williams. anytime and anywhere, Too Small to Fail The voiceovers and playlists are worked with the music streaming service available in both English and Spanish. Spotify to create playlists for families that Find them in the Kids and Family section Literacy playlist on Spotify apply this important brain research. The of the Spotify app or web site. And, playlists compile classic favorite tunes with don’t forget to shake it all about.

Try this Read For babies and toddlers, about it early and frequent Sing often, everywhere and as loud as you want--In the shower, in the car, when you are Imperfect Harmony: Finding exposure to music taking a walking. How does it make you feel? Happiness Singing with Others Stacy Horn improves vocabulary and Create a playlist of the songs you love for understanding of language. listening, dancing to or sharing with friends. This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession Share your playlists with friends and rate Daniel J. Levitin the most listened to songs. DESTINATION IMAGINATION

Destination Imagination JULY – SEPT 2017 THE ARTS + MIND 41

or problem, imagining what the solutions Science of the arts could be, initiating the work and collabo- rating with others, assessing results along Where the jobs Childhood involve- What does it take to make are - The number of ment in the arts it to the Global Finals? Just the way and finally, evaluatingand STEAM jobs recently can help you build celebrating the results. increased by more essential creative a team of your friends and Yale Shaw is a former longtime partici- than 16 % and are and innovative skills your best imagination. pant in Destination Imagination. “Without projected to continue important for success to rapidly grow. in school and life. the eight years of Destination Imagination that allowed me to conceptualize and build That “AHA!” moment Competition and in a completely raw and creative environ- you feel when you team activities often solve a problem is drive learning better Every year, Destination Imagination ment, I don’t believe I’d be accomplishing both emotional and than going it alone. challenges more than 150,000 students the things I am today,” he said. biological. in 48 states and 30 countries to combine Yale is now an industrial designer and science, technology, engineering, art and earned his master’s degree in industrial mathematics with a little drama, storytelling and product design at the Academy of Art and 21st Century skills to solve a problem. University in San Francisco, California. In Read about it This year, students had seven challenges 2015, he won an international award for his to choose from. They could build a stage design of a life-saving epinephrine auto- The Way Things STEAM Kids to move a team member; encrypt and injector. In addition to creating a smaller, Work Anne Carey decrypt secret messages; tell a story about sleeker design to help eliminate social + The Way We Work a color that disappears; build multiple load- stigma, his innovative device can trigger David Macaulay bearing structures; create three different its smartphone-integrated application to improvisational skits while using a box of notify 911 emergency services of the user’s props; address a real-life community need exact location, allergy susceptibility and or build a complex machine. personal information. Depending on the challenge they There are many stories like Yale’s choose, students spend two to four –kids who build confidence and get months developing and practicing their creative through working with other kids solutions. Teams have the opportunity and taking on a Destination Imagination Try this to showcase their solutions at local Challenge. While using their brains Invent a whole new tournaments where the excitement and ingenuity, young people develop solution to a problem. builds throughout the year. When a their creative skills and critical thinking, Using the materials team qualifies at the state level, they are explore their curiosity, build on their found around your house, create a new tool, invited to compete at Global Finals—the unique strengths, learn how to design contraption or device. world’s largest celebration of student and manage a project and gain skills The sky’s the limit. creativity, held in May of each year. needed for the 21st Century workforce. The challenges are built around the Who knew learning could be so creative process of recognizing a challenge much fun!

STEAM =

SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING ARTS MATH Line Shape Color

Sound Light Space

Movement Rhythm Texture New World Kids

Science of Plasticity causes the Soothe your The prefrontal cortex Creativity uses both The limbic system brain to change with amygdala. It is your of the brain affects the right and left of the brain is your the arts experience and is reaction center and how you make brain. emotional center. essential to learning. you are more able decisions, known as to learn when you executive function. reduce negative reactions. JULY – SEPT 2017 THE ARTS + MIND 43

move us, how responsibility keeps us tied down, how our imaginations run away. Movers include explorers, meteorologists, dancers, athletes and construction workers. See how many ways you can move across a room or sit in a chair.

RHYTHM Rhythm is the heartbeat element, holding things together in big and little patterns. Rhythm can be audible: drumbeats, footsteps, finger taps, or visible: stripes, dots, dashes, zigzags. Without rhythm, who could be a pianist, a poet, an actor, a video editor, a basketball player or a juggler? Create a rap or percussion piece.

NEW WORLD KIDS TEXTURE Susan Marcus Tactile information is right at our fingertips. It’s smooth, woven, slippery, shiny. We see texture, too, and hear it in a voice or song. Days are rough or smooth, moods are even The Sensory Alphabet describes the SOUND or edgy. Surgeons, weavers, gardeners, building blocks for everything on planet Sound gets our attention. When we designers and chefs all value texture. Do Earth. Try out each element and see where listen, we are present for an argument, a you remember exploring texture through it takes you. These are key clues to disco- song, a whisper or a bird call. Ecologists, a microscope, squishing toes in mud, or vering your best ways of thinking, learning birdwatchers, linguists and physicians all eating smooth, cold ice cream? and creating. use sound to diagnose, distinguish and define. Make an instrument with recycled Feed your imagination every day by using LINE materials or use an app for composing. the Sensory Alphabet as a lens for people Lines, essential to words and numbers, watching, tinkering, interacting with permeate our culture. Consider story LIGHT friends, singing or dancing. Soon you’ll lines, lines of code, timelines, lines on Light creates contour or mood: the sea have ideas for a project or an invention. a map and lines of traffic. Try writing, sparkles, pearls have luster, silk shimmers. Keep going—there’s a big future to invent! drawing, making electrical circuits, We “see the light.” Stage designers, creating lines with mazes or ballet. cinematographers, photographers and architects are masters of light and SHAPE shadow. But so are physicists, glass The Sensory Alphabet is the foundation of Shapes shape other shapes, like the artists, poets and urban planners. Take New World Kids, a suite of programs for pre-K doughnut and the hole. Putting puzzles photos to play with light and shadow. through third graders that focuses on building creative thinkers through a focus on current together is playing around with shape. research in neuroscience and cognition. New Shape makers include builders, sculptors, SPACE World Kids is powered by sensory-based geologists and masons. Make shapes Space is everywhere. With space, what diagnostic tools and strategies for teachers with modeling clay, cookie dough or isn’t is as important as what is: the inside that zero in on each child’s natural resources and individual learning strengths. Find out building materials. Make collages with of a cup, the silences between the notes more in The Missing Alphabet. cut-out shapes. or the room inside the walls. Mechanical engineers, cartoonists, architects, dancers, COLOR cartographers and chess players all use Color is the visual language of emotion. space. Play with Google Earth, build Read about it Think about “green with envy,” “seeing interesting spaces or re-design your room. The Missing Alphabet red,” “feeling blue.” Painters use color to Susan Marcus, Susan Monday evoke our senses. Color is also important MOVEMENT and Cynthia Herbert to biologists, florists, interior designers, Movement is about change, getting from Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential chemists and chefs. Play with mixing colors here to there, from up to down, from Life Skills Every Child Needs and then consider what mood each has. then to now. We talk about how ideas Ellen Galinsky 44 CHILDART VOL. 17, ISSUE 3, NUMBER 51

Learning resources

WHAT IS NEUROAESTHETICS? WELLBEING: THE ARTS LEARNING: THE ARTS TEACH US The Arts and Mind Lab KEEP US HEALTHY OrchKids through the Baltimore www.artsandmindlab.org Children and Nature Symphony Orchestra Your Brain and Art www.childrenandnature.org www.bsomusic.org/education-community/ young-musicians/orchkids/ www.philosophytalk.org/blog/neuroaesthetics- Vitamin N your-brain-art www.richardlouv.com/blog Music For All – Quick facts on benefits of music International Network for Neuroaesthetics www.musicforall.org/who-we-are/advocacy/ Children and Architecture quick-facts www.neuroaesthetics.net/neuroaesthetics/ www.architectureandchildren.com/index.php/ Art and the Brain, Semir Zeki about/designers-of-the-mind NAMM Foundation – supporting research www.vislab.ucl.ac.uk/pdf/Daedalus.pdf on the impact of music Young Architects Explore www.nammfoundation.org Brain Facts – Explore the Brain and Mind www.youngarchitect.com http://www.brainfacts.org/ Learning Landscapes Art with a Heart www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus- The Arts and Early Childhood (A NEA literature https://artwithaheart.net/ development/2017/01/05/urban-thinkscape- review, as part of the Interagency Task Force on Be Brain Fit – Art Supports Everyone using-the-city-as-an-agent-of-change the Arts & Human Development) www.bebrainfit.com/the-health-benefits-of-art- Supermarket Speak www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/arts-in-early- are-for-everyone childhood-dec2015-rev.pdf http://www.kathyhirshpasek.com/wp-content/ How Does the Brain Process Art? uploads/2015/08/Supermarket_Ridge-et- How Creativity Works in the Brain www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ al.-2015.pdf www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/how- how-does-the-brain-process-art-80541420/ creativity-works-in-the-brain-report.pdf The Ultimate Block Party Inspiration for Your Signs www.ultimateblockparty.org www.qz.com/888554/a-linguist-explains- Too Small To Fail HEALTH: THE ARTS HEAL US how-to-write-protest-signs-that-everyone-will- www.toosmall.org/blog/the-power-of-music remember Healing Arts Program of the International Use it or Lose It! – Dancing and Your Brain Child Art Foundation Young Activists https://socialdance.stanford.edu/syllabi/ www.icaf.org www.youthactivismproject.org/success-stories smarter.htm Creative Forces, National Endowment for the Arts Wide Angle Youth Media Society for Music Perception and Cognition www.arts.gov/partnerships/creative-forces www.wideanglemedia.org www.musicperception.org Melissa Walker TED talk The Stress Response and the Teenage Brain New World Kids www.ted.com/talks/melissa_walker_art_can_ www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ www.newworldkids.org heal_ptsd_s_invisible_wounds PMC4274618/ Partnership for 21st Century Learning The Therapeutic Science of Coloring MICA Social Design www.p21.org www.medicaldaily.com/therapeutic-science- http://designawards.core77.com/Design-for- Destination Imagination STEAM Challenges adult-coloring-books-how-childhood-pastime- Social-Impact/33075/BARF-Beer-and-Alcohol- www.destinationimagination.org helps-adults-356280 Ruin-Futures STEM to STEAM American Art Therapy Association Making a Difference Through Design www.stemtosteam.org www.arttherapy.org https://design.ncsu.edu/designlife/making- difference-design/ Virtual Reality and Learning Brain, Learning, Animation and Movement Lab www.baltivirtual.com www.blam-lab.org/ Arts Olympiad of the International Child Art Foundation HOLO TATS Save the Children – HEART www.icaf.org/ArtsOlympiad www.holotats.com www.savethechildren.org/atf/cf/%7B9def2ebe- 10ae-432c-9bd0-df91d2eba74a%7D/HEART.PDF AEMS www.aems-edu.org Early-life Stress www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/ Girl Approved S1878929315300451 www.girlapproved.us Can Art Reduce Stress? Out of Eden Walk – Harvard School of Graduation www.arts.gov/art-works/2013/can-arts-reduce- http://learn.outofedenwalk.com/ stress-children World Bank Johns Hopkins Hospital Healing Design http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/edutech/ www.archdaily.com/243120/the-johns-hopkins- brief/evoke-an-online-alternate-reality-game- hospital-perkinswill supporting-social-innovation-among-young- people-around-the-world A Mind in Architecture www.anfarch.org/news/a-must-read-mind-in- architecture/

Front cover, back cover + What is neuroaesthetics images: Shutterstock.com Girl, guitar, palette, dancer, brain, man smiling, fireworks illustration. Unsplash.com Roses, yellow leaf, banana, pizza, frog, sydney opera, red flower, empire state building, video camera, polaroids, music sheet, paintbrush, ballerina. Pexels.com Camera, green leaf, fish, puppy, electric guitar, buildings. JULY – SEPT 2017 THE ARTS & MIND

Credits

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR CONTRIBUTING EDITORS, WRITERS AND DESIGNERS ASHFAQ ISHAQ, PH.D. LEE A SCOTT Ashfaq Ishaq is the founder and chair of the International Child Educational Advisor Art Foundation (ICAF) established in 1997. He is an experienced Lee-Allison Scott has more than 35 years of expertise in educational entrepreneur, educator, manager, researcher, and civil-sector programming and services. She is chairperson of The Goddard leader. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the George Washington School Education Advisory Board, the author of many curriculum University, where he later served as adjunct associate professor programs such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Bound for Success of economics. Ashfaq is spearheading a children’s revolution that and is the developer of the Partnership for 21st Century Learning treats children as creators (not merely pupils or consumers), takes early learning framework. their imagination as seedbed for invention and innovation, and respects their art as the most honest and purest form of human SARAH PITCOCK creative expression. The past two decades we have been fostering Writer, Editor and Nonprofit Consultant children’s creativity and empathy, since creativity and empathy are Sarah is a former nonprofit CEO who is passionate about telling key attributes of successful learners and leaders. These two are also good stories and generating support for important causes. For preconditions for sustainable prosperity and peace. more information, visit: www.sarahpitcock.com. GUEST EDITOR TANYA HEIDRICH SUSAN H. MAGSAMEN Creative Director and Graphic Designer Executive Director, International Arts + Mind Lab, Brain Tanya is a multi-disciplinary freelance graphic designer. Science Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine www.tanyaheidri.ch Susan Huganir Magsamen is a learning sciences expert with a focus on the arts. She has created social impact programs and products EMILY STINE for the private and public sectors ranging from birth to aging adult populations. Susan has more than 35 years of experience bringing Strategist, Cunningham Collective academic research to practice to maximize learning, health and Emily has nearly a decade of experience working with technology wellness through scalable initiatives. companies large and small. A communicator at the core, Emily is passionate about crafting content for a wide array of audiences SPECIAL THANKS that are, above all things, impactful. INTERNATIONAL ARTS & MIND LAB (IAM) GUEST WRITERS A multidisciplinary research-to-practice We would also like to thank the following contributors for adding initiative with the goal of amplifying human their insights and expertise to this issue: potential and accelerating the field of neuroaesthetics. RICHARD LOUV, Journalist and author Join the neuroaesthetics conversation. Use your hidden superpowers! www.artsandmindlab.org facebook.com/artsandmindlab FREDERICK MARKS, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Six Sigma Green Belt twitter.com/artsandmindlab Visiting Scholar, Salk Institute for Biological Studies President-elect, WILL GEE AND HIS TEAM AT BALTI Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture VIRTUAL AND WWW.HOLOTATS.COM The art + science of architecture A virtual and augmented reality experience ERIN COOPER, Junior at Riverdale Country School design studio that created the playful Signs of the times holotats on the front and back covers. SUSAN MARCUS, New World Kids The ABCs of you and me P. O. Box 58133 Washington DC 20037