Or one and the same?
Have you ever looked up the definition of ‘Academic’? :
“Relating to schools, colleges and universities, or connected with studying and thinking, not with practical skills” (English meaning – Cambridge Dictionary).
Society divides us up into either ‘Academic’ or ‘Creative’ as a way of life. It is endemic in our education system and this is how most of us view each other. But, what do we mean when we label each other like this, really? Are we being true to the Cambridge Dictionary’s definition, or are we trying to put a square peg in a round hole and change, or rather, restrict the definition to those who can pass exams and those who can’t? If the latter, then I suggest we drop the word ‘thinking’ from the definition.
“The greatest scientists are always artists as well” – Albert Einstein
Is this statement true? Lets test this and look at whether Einstein had a point. We know that science has influenced creativity and art, but what about the other way around, has art/creativity influenced science?
Would you be surprised to learn that it has? In fact, art has sometimes been a starting point for scientific evolutions, theories, innovations and discoveries. Here are a few examples, a mere drop in the ocean: –
Renaissance Artists (otherwise known as ‘academic artists’)
The renaissance art movement, the likes of Michael Angelo and Leonardo Da Vinci, were responsible for scientists ‘discovering’ perspective and the ‘vanishing point’. Samuel Edgerton, a professor of art history at Williams College, Massachusetts, wrote an article in ‘Art Journal’ in 1984 that “There is a clear case of cause and effect between the practice of italian renaissance art and the development of the modern experimental science”. He says the critical point was the discovery of the idea of viewpoint by renaissance artists. “When we see a set of railway tracks converging towards the horizon, this is not a property of the tracks in a practical sense, but a property of our minds“. He went on to say, “the effect is in your head and eyes and artists knew that”.
Cubism and Quantum Mechanics
An argument put forward by Arthur Miller claimed that Cubism influenced Niels Bohr in the development of the Complimentarity Principle in Quantum Mechanics. Bohr followed the work of Jean Metzinger and Albert Gleizes on cubist theory, “Due Cubisme” avidly before developing his principle. There have been many discussions around this topic.
Science Fiction and Space Travel
The most obvious example of art influencing science is, of course, science fiction. The novelist, HG Wells, inspired several leading scientists including Leo Szilard and his work on the Neutron Chain Reaction and Robert Goddard in his research on high altitude. Space art and design has also influenced and helped finance some of the most progressive and inventive space travel, station and research facilities .
If we go back in time to Galileo, who was an artist as well as an astronomer, he studied at the Florentine Design Academy, where he would have been exposed to key ideas such a linear perspective and three dimensionality and it is from his work that we developed the space programs we have today.
Linguistic science and art
It is often said that most phrases we use today were originally coined by William Shakespear:
‘Wild goose chase’, ‘break the ice’, ‘green eyed monster’, ‘fair play’, ‘cruel to be kind’, to name a few. Not only have artists such as Shakespeare influenced how we speak, but art was the starting point of how we communicate textually.
Cave paintings gave us a line of communication with our ancestors. The Rosetta Stone allowed us to read hieroglyphics, where pictures were used to convey a message. The modern day version of this and the most effective way to communicate a message immediately and across all language barriers are road signs. Pictures that convey a message instantly to protect us, direct us and keep us safe, no matter what language we speak.
Conclusion
All these are examples of creativity, of thinkers, ideas people and people who have been given the freedom to explore, question and experiment.
Creatives are responsible for our space programs, our medical advances, our technology, our defense systems and our very freedom. Without creative thinkers during the 1st and 2nd world wars, who knows what world we might be living in now.
Creating a visual, rather than textual version can communicate a message and pose questions a lot more effectively and to a wider audience.
Think about music, for examples, it is an extremely mathematical and ‘academic’ art form that has the power to make us imagine, feel and reminisce.
Despite what we, as a society, may like to tout, there is not a single job in the world that doesn’t have a creative aspect to it.
“Creativity is the process of having original ideas that have value” – Sir Ken Robinson.
“It is a teachers job to prepare young people for the labour market” – a professor of a London university in the promotional government film for the 2015 Education Reform. Shocking right?
In a world where children are told what to do, how to do it and whether they are or aren’t ‘academic’ because they can or can’t meet certain criteria to pass an exam, where they are simply being prepared for a life of being directed (the labour market) and not think big things, we should be providing our future generation the space to think, ask questions and be curious, experiment, play, try and fail. This is how we learn and this is how we change the world around us. I am very proud to be able to provide this space for our Little Leonardos and all children who enter our studio.
“Curiosity leads to discovery” – Leonardo Da Vinci
Little Leonardos Art Club – Langton Green
To book your space, email us on kjfineartist@yahoo.co.uk or message us through our contact page on this website for more details.