"I don't know, but I care!"

My computer dictionary defines empathy as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” We are not born with this ability. We learn it.  I am a very sensitive and empathetic person myself, sometimes to a fault, and whether or not it always happens, I feel that it is very very important to BE ABLE to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes.”  It could be argued, in fact, that the “…understanding of others, empathy for others is the foundation of a functioning society.” (Catterall, 2011, interview.)  If empathy is learned behavior, then how do we teach it? How to do instill this valuable response in the youth of today who will grow up to be the big people of tomorrow?  Let’s ask James.

I met Dr. James Catterall six months ago.  He is down-to-earth, quiet and kind. James has been a professor at UCLA for 30 years, and is a “principal investigator” at the Center for Research on Creativity, a fairly new “research and development institution dedicated to understanding human creativity and the conditions that can promote imaginative approaches to learning, design, and problem solving.” (www.croc-lab.org)  Ummm… AWESOME!

Dr. Catterall began working in the field of art education with the intention to make schools a more interesting and fun place for kids to be.  After bearing witness to the positive influence art activities and creative problem solving brought to the classroom, Dr. Catterall went on to conduct a 12 year study, involving over 12,000 middle-schoolers. He followed them thru high school, on in to college, thru age 26, recording their successes in academia as well as within the general community after graduation.  He then compared the “success” rates between those that participated in the arts while in school, and those that did not.  Dr. Catterall, after 12 years of comparing data and crunching numbers, described the results as “unambiguous.” Across the board, students that participated in a creative endeavor went on to become more “successful” adults.

He published these results in a book called “Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art.” The “doing well” part of the study referred to academia and what kind of college, if any, the student went on to attend.  The “doing good” part of the study was measured by community/political participation, religious/service activities, and efforts to volunteer while in school and after graduation. James uses the term “pro-social behaviors” to describe these “good” efforts.

Back to empathy:

Beyond the book, James and colleagues took these findings one-step further.  In an article published in September of 2011 titled “A Neuroscience of Art and Human Empathy,” Catterall explains that pro-social behaviors are most always “grounded in empathy.”  This means that understanding and caring about society will move a person to become involved in improving the lives of others.  Logical.  THAT idea, coupled with the data collected from the 12-year study revealing the connection between art and pro-social behaviors led James and colleagues to continue researching.  THIS is what they found:

“The brain areas that are activated by empathetic behavior are (also) activated by various artistic experiences and artistic processes. “ (Catterall, 2011, Interview)

What?!?  There is a connection between the neuroscience of human empathy and the neuroscience of art? Yes! And through this connection James concludes that there is now a“ …neurological argument for why the arts may promote pro-social behavior.” (Catterall, 2011, “A Neuroscience of Art and Human Empathy”)

This is a powerful discovery and honestly, I didn’t understand the extent of its application until I let it settle a bit.  Will this information influence techniques teachers utilize in the classroom? Could creative problem solving become a bigger part of our children’s school curriculum?  Will music and art teachers be valued again?  Empathy is a learned response, so if children are given more artistic opportunities, will they begin to exhibit empathetic behavior at a younger age? Will teachers experience less fights on the playground, hear less arguments, see fewer bullies? Could we create the creative environment that will give children the ability to “wear each other’s shoes?”

And then I thought about the chicken again. 

Dr. James Catterall has uncovered information that strongly suggests art in its many forms may be literally working to help kid’s brains operate in an empathetic way; Art may be helping our kids grow into better human beings.

Sometimes when it comes to getting the attention of “the people,” numbers speak louder than words.  Thank you James, for spending the last 12 years doing the research, gathering the information, crunching numbers, and drawing up ever-harder-to-ignore charts and graphs. Your article urging continued research on the neurological connection between art and empathy is ground breaking and in my humble opinion, could change the world.

May your research on pro-social behavior, art, and empathy soon have an impact on the funding our art education programs receive here in California and across the nation.

Learn about Centers for Research on Creativity here.

Read Dr. James Catterall’s “A Neuroscience of Art and Human Empathy” here.

Watch Dr. James Catterall’s interview on “One to One” with Bill Goodman here.

Even though you know it’s coming (Spring comes every year), when the warmth finally happens, it’s a brand new day.  It feels like the first time every time.

People spend more time outside, the days are longer and families that were eating at 6:00 are now barbequing at 7:30 watching the sun disappear and the fireflies come out.

Most all of my memories from when I was a kid center around the seasons, back to school fall, sports, snow days, hot summer nights. Time was marked by the weather, some good some bad.  I’m not a cold weather person, if given the choice between a day Caribbean seaside or a day spent on the slopes I would choose the Caribbean most every time.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel excited to see the first snowfall or could ever imagine a childhood without sledding, shoe skating on frozen ponds, or racing to the top of fresh snow piles my dad build with his snow plough.  I am truly grateful for those times.

When I tell a story from my childhood or try to recount the time frame of a memory, I say, “That was the Spring of 93, early fall, or the winter of 96 when the blizzard came and we didn’t go to school the entire month of January.”

Time is a funny thing, how we all move in and out of each other’s lives… how the days keep rolling by.  I would like to make more of an effort to pay attention to that and be more aware of the personal growth that accompanies life’s movement.  This is especially true now that I live in a place unmarked by the seasons, without yearly reminders of time gone by, or gratitude for melting snow.

So On February 14^th hundreds of us showed our love for the arts, for education, by standing outside on the street, downtown los angeles, at the school board meeting waving banners, and raising our voices “save our schools!” fifteen stories to the boardroom above.

The meeting was open to the public, but so many people showed up that they televised the meeting in the downstairs cafeteria for the overflow of supporters who wanted to watch. I was worried that it would be hard to hear the arguments presented to the board because sometimes the audio in those situations isn’t the best. But as I sat there in the cafeteria that day, Valentine’s Day, you could have heard a pin drop. No one was on a cell phone or talking to a lunch buddy about what happened last Friday after work. The arguments presented that day regarding the importance of art in school rang loud and clear as a bell.

Supporters of art education presented the LAUSD school board with the fact that art works to improve math and science test scores, art stimules the mind, and provides children with a necessary respite so they can get back to their studies and be more productive. But, in my opinion, the strongest most poignant statement made that day, was given by school board member Steve Zimmer, who said “there is no education without art education.”

In this dire situation when there is a proposal to cut 100 percent of art funding from our children’s schools, it is important to remember that art does not just enhance education.  It doesn’t just work to boost test scores, or give a kid a break from the “real” classes.  Art doesn’t just help kids learn academics four times faster.  Art is a separate, integral part of a child’s development as a human being.

On the road to adult-dom, we are faced with a heap ton of challenges, questions regarding our life path, self-worth, finding our own definition of integrity.  When there isn’t a math equation to employ, what problem solving skills are we using? When nothing makes sense, where do we go from there?  How do we open our mind and find inspiration as adults?  Not inspiration for a new painting or dance piece but positive inspiration to live and thrive.

A society moves forward, betters itself, and improves only if the individuals in that society can do that for themselves.  Creative problem solving, and evolving as thoughtful, well rounded, empathetic human beings are gifts given to us through art. And In my humble opinion these gifts are equal to and certainly not less than the value of pi, the Pythagorean theorem, and the definition of gravity.

The school board has postponed adopting the plan to eliminate art education funding until March 13^th.  To thank them for seeking alternative funding options please visit:

http://advocate.artsforla.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9626

Meanwhile please say a little prayer and keep your fingers crossed that they do! 

One of my favorite books in this series is called “Elephants Cannot Dance.” It involves Piggie trying very hard to teach Gerald how to dance even though Gerald claims that “Elephants cannot dance.”  Piggie is persistent though, working very hard to teach Gerald the style of movement that thru personal experience, she has come to define “dance.”

Gerald, although reluctant at first, gives in to a persistant Piggie, and begins practicing the steps.

Willems illustrates this process beautifully, the elephant’s determination and frustration, Piggy’s jubilance, quickly followed by concern and compassion when Gerald attempts to dance like piggy and fails.  He simply can’t dance the way she can. I have been there, we all have… trying so hard to do something like someone else and feeling like we just can’t quite get it “right.”

As kids we are taught, in most situations, that there is a right way and a wrong way.  Or as some parents say when their kids reach a certain age, my way or the highway.  After I grew a bit more and hit this so-called highway, I attempt to define “correctly” for myself and it borders on Webster’s suggested synonyms, “perfectly, faultlessly, flawlessly.” Forgetting these terms are subjective in nature, I can get so caught up in doing something “correctly,” that I forget the fact that my definition may be skewed or in fact, someone else’s entirely.

As an adult, it’s easy to forget there is more than one way of doing things.

When I was young, I read books that taught me about shapes and sizes, short stories about honesty, being kind, the weather and pea soup.  Today, children read about emotional development and what it means to be disappointed or disheartened.  I would suggest for any adult, an afternoon spent in the early reader section of a bookstore. Children’s Books, they’re not just for kids anymore…

In the end, Piggy is consoling a disheartened elephant when two squirrels approach, expressing their desire to learn how to dance too! Piggie explains that she is busy taking care of her sad friend and doesn’t have time to teach them how to dance.  But the squirrels don’t want to learn Piggie’s dance moves.  They want to learn “THE ELEPHANT!”

Mo Willems teaches our kids that looking like an elephant when you dance is not necessarily a bad thing ♥  And today, at a tiny table in Barnes and Noble, the mighty Mo reminded me that sometimes it’s about changing the way I see things and not the way I do them.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY from The Arton Collection Project!! We love you Mo!!

Key words: children’s book authors, children’s books with a message, kid art and stories, emotional illustrations, art for kids, dancing to the beat of your own drum, magical dancing, Elephant and Piggie series

ta daaaa!

That being said, I attended my first adult craft class last week.  I actually felt a little nervous!  The craft for the night was decoupage, or creating a paper collage and then sealing in with mod podge so it lasts forever and ever. Better make it good.

I went alone, and immediately upon arriving, made my way to the adult punch bowl to loosen up and get my creative juices flowing.

Once drink was in hand, I walked over to the craft supplies table.  It was like a mini Michaels!  If you have not seen the ribbon section of a Michaels then it is time to take a trip. I carefully chose the papers I would use to make my collage.  I gathered the rest of my materials, scissors, glue, pencil, sat down next to some fellow crafters, and for the next two hours felt free.

In the end I didn’t leave with a masterpiece that would knock your socks off but what I can say is this:  Everyone there had made an effort to show up because they wanted to be a part of the creative process.  Everyone there was supportive and nice.  The tables were covered in a beautiful rainbow of paper bits, my hands were sticky from glue.  I decoupaged a set of coasters to give my friend Florence for her birthday.  I am proud of the coasters I made.  And although I’m not sketching him anymore, this craft class reminded me that it is STILL all about the heart, man. ♥

Little Junebugs is a boutique and kids crafting center in Pasadena, California that carries the Arton Baby t-shirt Collection.  The store owner, Courtney, is the amazing woman who hosts the adult craft class.  Check out  www.littlejunebugs.com for details about her next event!

Key words: art projects for adults, creative lifestyle, fundraising for public schools, Little Junebugs Boutique, adult crafting, kids art prints, rad love

Right now I have two jobs. The first, is, of course, the Arton Collection Project. In this job I am looking at children’s artwork, constantly being reminded of kids and the joy they bring to the world. Their funny cartoons, the sweet cards they write to their parents, cut out hearts, and scribbled I love you’s.

But I also work in a restaurant, and in this job, I cringe at the sight of these crayon chewing, cracker munching monsters.  I’m putting their drinks in a to-go cup so they don’t spill it all over the floor. I’m ordering them a kid’s burrito but then I have to run into the kitchen to tell the chef to separate all the ingredients onto different plates because the child “insisted” that he make his own. Argh!!

After the family leaves, I’m on my hands and knees picking up the bread and crayon bits that have been thrown to the floor.  The child, he runs back to me. He forgot to give me the picture he colored during lunch so I could hang it on the                                                                           wall.  He smiles, his pants are falling down.

Although I don’t have any of my own yet, if every color represented an emotion, I can imagine having kids would be like juggling a rainbow all day long.

little florence's artwork titled "me, juggling a rainbow"

Key words: Art in Parenting,  Art in Schools, Fundraising for Schools, The Arton Project, Baby Shower Gift

I just learned that the specific skills considered to be “higher mental abilities” include: good memory, grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others’ motives, imitating others, and being creative.  Unfortunately most of the men I’ve dated exhibit less than half of these skills.

man or monkey?

Aside from that, today I am focusing what separates ME from a monkey? And more specifically, today as I travel the path in search of my next meal, a future mate, what are the obstacles I face versus the obstacles faced by most other animals?

We all have predators, my predators will not be feeding me to their cubs but they may in fact be throwing me to the wolves.  Har Har.  For all the intents and purposes of today’s project blog, we will consider these the same. We all suffer the effects of pollution, climate change, and from the devastation of our environments.  The hunt for food, protecting our young, keeping warm, these too, are all obstacles humans and animals face together.

So what then, is the obstacle that separates ME from a monkey.  And then it hit me.  It hit me like a handful of poo to the face.  The obstacle was me.  Me and my poo poor choices.

The choices that are refered to as “no-brainers” are the ones with which I have the most difficulty.  I am faced, everyday, with these so-called “no-brainers.”  Do I get up when the alarm goes off, even if it means being late as a result of “snoozing?” Coffee makes me jittery and sometimes gives me a stomachache. Do I still find myself walking into Starbucks? Should I skip the yoga class and go for happy hour instead?  My choice in these particular situations has proven to make a real difference in my day, so why do I still consider them choices?

I guess sometimes I need that extra five minutes of sleep.  And sometimes I just want to grab a coffee, because being inside a coffeeshop makes me feel like I’m taking a break.  But…I have decided that from now on I will refer to these specific no-brainers as “monkey choices” and if I choose to go to happy hour and act like a monkey then I must have really needed it.

Key words: monkey art, kid sketch, child drawing, sketches on t shirts, art as therapy, child artist

I won’t be blogging about 2012 resolutions but I did make a short video.

Child Drawing Butterfly to Avett Brothers Song

May we recognize the real this year and fill it with friends, family, giving back, feeling grateful, love, and butterflies ♥

Key words: (butterfly drawing, recognize the real, fundraising project for school)