A mind without instruction can no more bear fruit than can a field, however fertile, without cultivation.

People who engage in the arts on a weekly basis enjoy a stronger sense of community, feel better emotionally, and experience a higher quality of life than those who do not.

Tomorrow’s scientists and engineers need grounding in the arts to stimulate their curiosity and creativity – to help them perceive the world in new and different ways.

The arts teach children that problems can have more than one solution and that questions can have more than one answer.

Drawings are an invaluable aid to my mathematical thinking and an essential ingredient of most of my mathematical expositions.

There have been some exciting new developments shedding light on linkages between the arts, brain development and academic success. The research in educational psychology have revealed surprising evidence validating the positive effect that art has on young learners ranging from increased math and reading scores to improvements in general cognitive abilities and social development. The basics for understanding any concept can be delivered through art. Art programs grounded in education research emphasize the orderly progression of concept development.

The facts are that arts education teaches children the skills necessary to succeed in life, including developing perceptions, articulating a vision, learning to solve problems and make decisions, increasing self-confidence and self-discipline, developing the ability to imagine what might be and the responsibility to complete tasks from start to finish.

Art education programs can help repair weakness in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st century.

A study of after-school programs for disadvantaged youth found that students engaged in the arts achieved more academically and personally than similar students not involved in after-school activities. The arts students outperformed peers who participated in sports, community involvement, and academic after-school programs as well.

Realizing the centrality of arts for learning is important not only for teachers and school administrators, but for parents, and for society at large. Often when budget cuts loom, a levy doesn’t pass, or a wage dispute arises, schools begin to cut out the arts. Since they are so much fun, there is an assumption that the arts are less important. However, the findings of neuroscience now allow us to defend our belief in their value. We may even see change in society at large, and see learning increase because of it.

If you can draw, even a little bit, you can express all kinds of ideas that might otherwise be lost – delights, frustrations, whatever torments you or pleases you.

To young children, drawing is as natural an activity as running and playing but, as we grow and develop, in general we drop the drawing - why? It's sad that so many people lose this ability: for me, drawing has always been a natural form of expression.