Nicole Somma
Drugs and the creative mind
Outside readings 1
http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/1269-slideshow-scientists-analyze-drawings-acid-trip-artist.html
In my psychology
class last year we talked a lot about drugs and the effects they have on the
mind. We talked a lot about the 60s and 70s where many artists were using LSD, marijuana
and other hallucinogenics to increase creativity. So many artists in that
generation sing about the drugs and the trips they are taking. While trying to
see if there was a correlation between drug use and creativity I came across an
experiment conducted by the United States government. An artist was given two 50-microgram doses of
LSD, one 65 minutes after the other and had access to an activity box full of
crayons, pencils and other mediums. Over the course of his “trip” the artist was
instructed to draw portraits of the doctor. The LSD had an evident effect on the artist.
The first drawing was clear and cohesive, while the drawing at the peak of the “trip”
was pure abstraction. Throughout the experiment, the artist went through several
stages. One scientist stated that "LSD experiences may wildly enhance
artists' creative potential without necessarily enhancing the mechanisms needed
to harness that creativity toward artistic ends.” Just because an artist is on LSD does not
meant that their technique is going to improve or be able to draw better. It is seen that artist cannot keep pace with
the flow of ideas and sensations they are feeling under the LSD. At the end of
the experiment the artists comments that “was an extraordinary, valuable tool
for learning about art and the way one learns about painting or drawing. I
would take it again." So does LSD make a person more creative? I would say
that it does not make a person more creative. I think it just opens the artist
into a new world, that they have not experienced yet. It might seem like they
are more creative, but they just are expressing new emotions and feelings that open
up a new sense of art.
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