Having a relative who had Alzheimer’s, I have always been intrigued by how our brains can affect how well we perform daily activities and go about our daily lives. Upon learning about van Gogh’s struggles with his health and observing the deterioration in van Gogh’s speech through the letters between him and his brother Theo,…

As an avid thinker and enjoyer of the arts, I often find myself questioning what the definition of art is.  This definition is extremely hard to obtain, mostly because all people perceive art differently. Art, as an experience, is incredibly different for every person who observes it.  In my “Arts on the Brain” class, the…

The tortured artist, an artist that struggles (either within himself or against the world) and gains artistic talent from it, is an archetype that the western world has been familiar with for hundreds of years. Most often this encompasses mental illnesses that the artist suffers from, however it is important to question if the uphill…

When I first saw the journal question “What color is the sky” I immediately thought that this was a tricky question because the sky has no defined color. However, when we shared our journal entries with the rest of the class, I realized that even if I have always believed the sky has no color…

I’ve always had an interest in mental disorders and the effects they can have on a person. My interest in psychological disorders was furthered after we researched and “diagnosed” Van Gogh with his own mental disorder. I’ve always been fascinated with how the mind can become sick like the rest of our body. However, there…