Expert Advice

Does art really inspire the imagination? If you were to sit in the middle of a white room with no wall art and no furniture, would you feel inspired? Well-placed decorations and carefully chosen art pieces are a catalyst for conversation and internal musings.

Human beings have been drawing on cave walls since the dawn of time to inspire themselves. Human brains are wired to appreciate and be inspired by art. The right brain, for example, is stimulated deeply by art. Artworks inspire creative and innovative thinking; the right brain takes what it sees and expands upon it.

Staring into a picture of a forest, the right brain envisions walking through the forest, looking to the corners just beyond the frame to see animals and new vistas. Images of people become characters, human beings with back-stories lavishly fabricated by the whimsical right brain. The right brain is as attracted to surrealism and abstract art as a hummingbird is to nectar.

Why are Imagination and Creativity so Important?

The real world is hard and often draining on the mind and body. This is especially true in occupations that require a lot of reading and number work; even students of all ages find themselves taxed by their daily pursuits.

To be uninspired and tired is to lose time and energy that would otherwise be spent stimulating the imagination and creativity needed to get ahead. When people are at the peak of their creativity, both sides of their brain are working together to contribute to each others efforts to learn things better, work smarter, and come up with innovative solutions.

How Artwork Can Inspire the Imagination in Different Settings

Not all people are the same. Artists might favour one form of decorating, while an engineer might prefer another. Art choices are as much a testament to one's individuality as they are a springboard for launching new ideas; the artwork selections for a school, office, or home can differ wildly. It's best to try to create a space to nurture imagination and creative to bring greater success to day-to-day life.

Your Home

While a home office might want to be decorated more logically to avoid distractions, the home is a place to shirk extensive considerations and go with what makes a homeowner's heart happy. Remember, the home is the place where you not only recharge for a new day, but also formulate ideas and dream big things that lead to future success. The last place that should be bland is the home.

Some individuals who feel inspired by a particular culture or time period can be transported to this dream world with artwork. Life is too short to live in a cookie-cutter world. Interior decorating choices can be tied together with paintings that depict the world that most inspires the homeowner's imagination. A framed still-life of a lush courtyard with a fountain can complete a Tuscan look as well as a poster of a busy street can add a touch of city life to a modern country office.

Your Office

Corporate offices need to set up two images, one to the outside world and one pertaining to employees. Crisp modern art in meetings rooms, foyers, and hallways sets a professional tone while inspiring order and logic in employees. Break rooms and brainstorming dens, however, are where offices can experience a splash of colour and fun. Having a restful creative space where new ideas can grow is almost as important as setting the tone in those parts of the office where those new ideas are executed.

Your School Room

A teacher is often faced with a hard dilemma, how can they take something as industrial and discouraging as a concrete classroom and make it a place warm enough for children to dream up stories and appreciate fiction. The answer is wall art.

Affordable and easy to set up in all classrooms, posters and pictures are a great way to solidify lessons with images, provide inspiration through simple messages, and immerse children in far off landscapes or bring them closer to their favourite characters. With well-decorated surroundings, that drab concrete classroom becomes a place of growth, imagination and laughter.

Richard Tarrant - Bio