By Janet Sellers
Making art is a powerful tool. From finding images in the clouds above, to grabbing a pencil and doodling, to painting in a class or with a group outdoors, we are encoded from our genes to our dreams for making art. It’s encoded in our DNA for evolution and our ability to adapt. Pick up a paintbrush, grab a piece of chalk, or just visit some art at the Art Hop and the Chautauqua this month. Research shows that making or viewing and appreciating art is really good for your health, your mind and your future, as in healthy longevity. How about extending a high quality of life by as much as 10 years?
An article on CNN reported that, “The power of diverse arts practices to promote healing, well-being, and even longevity provides benefits that rank right up there with exercise, nutrition, and sleep,” as put forth by Susan Magsamen in her bestseller, co-authored with Ivy Ross, “Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us.” And Magsamen’s study published July 2019 in the National Library of Medicine, “Your Brain on Art: The Case for Neuroaesthetics,” offers fascinating details on this new and rapidly expanding field. The study reveals what art lovers have always felt, that art is the wholesome source for the “intersection of psychological aesthetics, biological mechanisms, and human evolution.”
Enjoying art makes a world of difference in our lives
We don’t need a scientific study to show we can benefit from the myriad arts whose creative frequencies guide us to a higher connection in our well-being. But scientific studies and reports do add credence to a justification for making the effort to go out and get our art fix. We’ve got the arts to enjoy right here in town at the Art Hop as an introduction to the fun and powerful way our local art scene supports us.
Besides our beloved Art Hop each fourth Friday through September, the annual Chautauqua in Palmer Lake (July 29 to Aug. 4) will give us some fine aesthetic experiences in art and live entertainment. Chautauquas (from the Haudenosaunee word with multiple meanings, including many forms of “cultural enrichment”) have been popular around the country since the 1870s, with Teddy Roosevelt once calling the traveling Chautauquas “the most American thing in America”.
Although this form of live entertainment faded with the growing popularity of radio and motion pictures, we are seeing a revival of this live entertainment genre nationwide. We feel our age-old need to socially connect, to be in a community in real life, and we’ve got hold of it now. Our local Chautauqua will offer multiple events each day at various Palmer Lake locations, for all ages. Vocal and instrumental concerts, lectures, cooking demos, daily yoga and tai chi, poetry slams, Palmer Lake Art Group-sponsored Plein Air contest, guided walks and tours, Feldenkrais classes, and more. A complete calendar of events, times, and locations is available at ChautauquaPalmerLake.org and is sponsored by Palmer Lake Arts Council.
Janet Sellers is an artist, writer and speaker, with a focus on enjoying nature and well-being. She can be reached at JanetSellers@ocn.me.
Other Art Matters articles
- Art Matters – Is our education keeping up with visual literacy? (2/4/2026)
- Art Matters – How Gen Z influences our cultural and financial future (12/31/2025)
- Art Matters – Art curation: We all do it, even with holiday trees and gift wrapping (12/4/2025)
- Art Matters – Art shapes our world—and shifts our gaze (10/30/2025)
- Art Matters – October is Arts Month: Artober with Monumental Impact (10/1/2025)
- Art Matters – What is art good for? (9/3/2025)
- Art Matters – We Can’t Unchop a Tree (7/31/2025)
- Art Matters – The many benefits of outdoor art and arts events (7/3/2025)
- Art Matters – On being a sketchy person in the art and cultural sector (6/7/2025)
- Art Matters – May Art Hop and art on the street (5/3/2025)