I began to think of myself as a writer and researcher (as well as an artist and art teacher) in the mid-1970s when I was invited to co-author an instructional drawing text (Drawing: The Creative Process, with Marc S. A. Winer) and to give my first academic lecture: at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. The topic was Van Gogh, in which I disputed the association he exemplified between creativity and mental illness, arguing instead that genuine creativity, including Van Gogh’s, was a holistic process as discussed in my chapter, “Creativity: A Holistic Approach.”
Later, I became interested in research connecting drawing and the brain (both right and left sides). Eventually, such interests and their implications for learning led me to doctoral studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where my research focused on the history and philosophy of the teaching of drawing in art and across disciplines.