THE ROLE OF EMOTION IN THE CREATION OF ART

– audio, written and narrated by Kathleen Notman

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"Through art one learns the meaning of life" - Ernst Kris

It continues to be an inspiration for those who yearn to be more successful artists whether they are writers, painters, sculptors ...

 Some believe it is the voice that delivers the message that makes it so compelling. Yet Notman’s research into why many truly great artists excelled while others with equal technical skills failed, offers convincing answers. Her findings are empirical yet there are many neuroscientists who endorse what Kathleen Notman has discovered through art. Emotion releases chemicals that influence creativity. Deeply felt emotion has a profound influence on creativity.

 Distributed around the globe, the speech was first recorded in 1999. Notman became interested in the subject of emotion in relation to creativity when making her collection of portraits, “20^th Century Woman”. The portraits are a combination of photography and painting. The photograph represents the subject as seen with the eye, the painting is emotion transformed into shapes and colours. For the role of the protagonist, she adopted the name Cressida and transformed herself into approximately 35 different 20^th century women. Like the actor, Notman absorbed the character she was portraying. She asked herself why, in a few of the portraits, there is an actual physical resemblance to the subject she portrays. Through her research, she found the answer.  

Some scientists believe that emotion is the nexus between mind and body.

 It makes us ONE.

Thus, we can begin to understand why it is imperative that we allow our emotions to enhance what we create.

The chemicals of emotion are released from the brain and travel throughout the MIND/BODY. An artist creating a picture of a sad woman should be feeling her sadness. He/she should become the subject, absorb her pain to the extent that tears roll down the artist's face. Only then will the picture be so compelling that the viewer will not only see a sad image but will feel the sadness. It will be a MIND/BODY image of a sad woman.

Listen to this voice and be inspired by it.