UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology SUMMER 2024 - Flipbook - Page 8
NEUROAESTHETICS
THE CASE FOR ART
I
was raised in a household where art and
daydreaming were encouraged. Solo and group
creative projects have continued to be central
to my personal life and my work. Not only did my
parents foster a sense of play in all our family did, my
time at the San Francisco Art Institute—a school that
leaned into performance arts and cross-pollination of
mediums—also instilled a deep sense of exploration
and curiosity into all I do. Because of this, I found
Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross’s Your Brain on
Art not only a fascinating read, but validating. I am
not alone, and in conversation with them via Zoom,
Ross says that many have had that reaction, that, for
their readers, the book “put words to what they were
experiencing, and in a very important way has also
given them permission to make art and bring arts
and aesthetic experiences into their daily lives.” Their
exploration of the rising 昀椀eld of Neuroaesthetics
underlines the great work already being done in the
U.S. and abroad to increase well-being through art,
emphasizes the bene昀椀ts of integrating an art practice
into our daily lives, and even goes so far as to present
research on the bene昀椀ts of medical practitioners
prescribing art for depression, therapy, and pain
reduction.
When Magsamen reached out to Ross via LinkedIn
a number of years back, neither anticipated the
30-minute call they’d scheduled turning into three
hours. This was followed by Magsamen taking a trip
to Ross’s home in California along with a number
of other experts...and the book was concepted and
their research journey began. Ross shares that they
were compelled to write the book because they knew
it would be a learning experience in a 昀椀eld in which
they were both already working and invested in. They
interviewed over 100 individuals, and Ross says, “It
was almost, as Susan and I like to say, a weaving
exercise, of how do you weave the science with the
human stories, because we wanted this to really touch
the masses.
Combining their lifelong interest in the arts with
Magsamen’s work as the founder and director of the
International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins
and Ross’s work as a creator and current role as vice
president of design for hardware products at Google,
the book highlights a movement, gives permission to
create to those who think they cannot make art, and
substantiates the creative practice many already have
as a way to increase their well-being. They make an
argument that for humans to thrive and flourish,
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