Art  —  How to Make It and Understand It

by Craig Rusbult, PhD

this page describes my interest in Science for Arts & Sports ,
after linking to pages I've written about different kinds of art:

Musical Improvisation — using Creativity and Music Theory

Musical Harmony — Music & Math (why harmony sounds good)

Color Concepts – hue, saturation, brightness – Illustrated
        (with an intuitive strategy of “splitting out the white”)
  plus a links-page for The Science of Color

The Art & Science of Making Bamboo Flutes
as an example of using creative-and-critical Design Process

Do-it-Yourself Juggling (how to learn the basics and much more)

Ballroom Dancing (transfer-of-learning lets you multiply your using of patterns)
 


 
        My Interest in Science for Arts & Sports
        Many people think art, sport, and science are inherently interesting, and I have found them especially fascinating.
        ARTS:  During a break between graduate studies at UW-FarWest (in Seattle) and UW-MidWest (in Madison)* I designed and made bamboo flutes and wrote a “how to make music” booklet for buyers, then held workshops on musical improvisation for the Northwest Folklife Festival, and wrote a web-page about Musical Improvisation.  Later, as a grad student at the U of Wisconsin, I was an instructor for an excellent "Physics in the Arts" course, teaching about the Physics of Musical Harmony plus Color Science and Photography.    {* so far, I've done no grad studies at UW-WildWest in Laramie}
        SPORTS:  At one time I seriously considered becoming a kinesiology major in a research-oriented program at U of Washington, to study three aspects of high jumping:  biomechanical analysis {re: how much “jumping force” goes into rotation and vertical uplift, how to generate more uplift, and so on, in the early stages of a debate about “what is better, old Straddle or new Flop?” that eventually was won by Flop};   muscle physiology {inspired by a hitchhiker who asked “why is there never a superhorse that runs twice as fast?”, I asked “what limits the jumping ability of humans? is it muscle strength? muscle energetics or kinetics? or...?”};   strategies for learning & teaching physical skills {as in using mental rehearsal, and other techniques, to modify split-second, mid-air actions during a high jump}.   For this research, my motivations were scientific (the questions were interesting & challenging) and personal, because as a part-time high jumper I cleared 6'7" (2.0 m) and this was under-achieving because I could have, and should have, jumped several inches higher.  I've been a teacher of tennis, juggling, and ballroom dancing, and also enjoy many other sports.    {my enthusiasm for sports as a spectator and participant}

• analogous page for Sports and Sports-Science