One line at a time gets Mac Middle students in touch with feelings

Students at MacArthur Middle School are getting in touch with their feelings one line at a time through neurographic art.

Art teacher Deborah McNally said the art form was developed in 2014 by Russian psychologist Pavel Piskarev and uses free form lines to express your feelings. This semester is the first time McNally has taught the art form.

“It is supposed to mimic what is going on inside your head,” McNally said.

Students were challenged to think of something while they drew lines on a piece of paper with a Sharpie. Some thought of sports or music while others thought of a sick relative or the recent death of the family dog. Whatever emotions those thoughts conjured were expressed through intersecting, looping lines.

Once the students had finished drawing lines, McNally went over their artwork to suggest where sharp angles might be smoothed out.

“In the process of rounding angles off, it causes the brain to think in new ways,” McNally said of the technique.

Emotions the students were feeling could be seen in the variety of their designs. The lines of one student who was anxious about a sick relative were thin, tight and angular.

“The irregular lines tell me there is a lot of anxiety,” McNally said of the student. “The process is to round off edges in the brain to calm you down. We don’t have any hard angles in the brain. This gives them the opportunity to channel all their anxious feelings and turn it into something positive, something they can be proud of.”

The artwork of another student, who was thinking about the impact music has on him, was very open and loopy.

“Sometimes it (music) helps me feel happier when I don’t feel happy,” Jorden Johnson, 12, said of his piece. “I was thinking about how music helps me when I’m not feeling good or it keeps me calm.”

Johnson said he used to play the French horn and enjoys most genres of music.

The artwork of Cameron MacMurray, 15, also was very open. A sports enthusiast, MacMurray said he combined his love of football and golf in his artwork. The left half of his piece reflected football, he said, while he was thinking about golf for the right side. He said he made the football lines closer together and more intense and golf was smoother and more open, which reflects how those sports are played. He said he plays both sports, and has golfed since he was 6 years old.

“I was happy, which is why the design is so open. I like to close my eyes and do whatever, and I came up with this,” he said of his art piece.

His next step is to add color. The colors he will choose will reflect each sport.

“I think it’s pretty fun,” he said of the assignment. “It’s one of my favorite art things to do. Hopefully we will do this more.”

MacMurray said he probably will hang the finished piece up in his room, or give it to his sister, who likes art.

Taking ownership of their work, like MacMurray has done, is another goal of the assignment, McNally said.

“I think they are taking ownership of this because it is personal,” McNally said. “This gives them a personal connection to their artwork. Art is to connect and inspire someone else.”

Jaime Nez, 12, sixth grade, entitled her piece “Hope”.

“I’m kind of hoping everything gets better for me,” she said. She chose to use purple, yellow, orange, green and blue for her colors.

Building the students’ confidence also is important.

“So many kids are fearful it won’t turn out,” McNally said. “This is where you tap in, at this age, to what they can do. This is the age where so much growth occurs. Imagination has to come from you.”

McNally, who learned about this technique from a fellow art teacher, said she was pleased at how the assignment was turning out.

“Art begins in your mind before it ever gets to the paper,” McNally said. “This is making them get in tune with their feelings and what they are thinking about. I just wanted them to see something from their mind and from themselves. It gets them deeper into their subconscious where art really is.”

Several student pieces will be on display at the district art show in April at the Life Ready Center.