Dyslexic, dysgraphic artists?

[Kathy Green]

I have a question that's related to another someone else has lately
asked. I need this answer for some research I'm engaged in. Are there
among you anyone who has dyslexia and dysgraphia caused by poor eye-hand
coordination? (I don't mean that the dyslexia would be caused by
coordination trouble; I'm referring to the dysgraphia.)

If there are, I would like to ask you this question: do any of you who
have eye-hand coordination deficits affecting your writing skills have
ability in art? In other words, even though you have difficulty writing
easily and legibly, are you able to draw and paint with ease and talent?
The reason I ask is because of something I read in a book written by Dr.
David E. Hall:

"Students with this problem [i.e., fine motor skills problems] tend to
have sloppy handwriting unless they write very slowly. Fine motor
problems may make it difficult to use scissors or tie shoes.
Interestingly, many people with fine motor problems are very good
artists. If your handwriting is weak, it doesn't necessarily mean that
you will be weak in art. Most people draw pictures slowly and with a
lot of care. Writing is much more automatic, and is usually done very
rapidly." (Chapter 2: "Types of Learning Disabilities," LIVING WITH
LEARNING DISABILITIES: A GUIDE FOR STUDENTS, by David E. Hall, M.D.,
@1993)

Can anyone who frequents this board tell me whether that is true for
them? Is it, in fact possible to have dysgraphia caused by eye-hand
coordination deficits, and yet be a talented artist? If the answer is
yes, what accounts for the difference? Many people with dysgraphia
write as slowly and carefully as they can, but with poor results, I
know. Just writing slowly can't be the only difference.

Yours truly,
Kathy Green

http://community-1.webtv.net/kgreen20/KATHYSPAGE

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Cinema/5360/kgstories.html

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[Larry Arnold]

I have poor hand eye co-odination and am a very bad writer. I am also a poor
drawer, basically my hands do not go where I want to put them. I am not
necesarily slower, just that I am more error prone when it comes to placing
my pen where it should go.

I used to enjoy drawing but was not very good at copying a lifelike figure,
when it come to computer graphics I am O.K. as I have an innate artistic
ability and am a very visually oriented person. I would make a good artist
but a poor draughtsman.

I am dyslexic but I also have Aspergers Syndrom of which clumsiness is one
symptom.

Larry

Kathy Green <kgre...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:26178-38...@storefull-228.iap.bryant.webtv.net...

[mul...@attglobal.net]

I and our two children are dyslexic and have sloppy writing. Our
daughter and I can smooth it out if we take our time. We do best with
old-fashioned fluid ink pens and felt-tipped markers. Our son, who is
10, is not able to smooth out his writing yet. For me, writing from the
shoulder, rather than the wrist, helps a lot. That is, I can write
clearly on the blackboard.

I also find that it is important to have a decent amount of resistance
(kinesthetic feedback). I am told this is because I rely on this
feedback, rather than my vision, to control the smaller elements of the
letters. In other words, I have trouble with ball-point pens and
dry-eraise markers.

Our children are very good artists. One thing I notice is that they
work large. Our son, for example will stage a drawing that will
eventually end up on six to ten sheets of paper. He then puts the
pieces together to form a single image (He is 10). He prefers to use
felt-tipped markers and crayons. Our daughter, who is 19, works with
markers, acrylics and oils. As they work, I note that they use their
shoulder muscles and keep their hand mostly rigid.

Now, I learned to write in cursive with a steel-tipped pen thanks to a
wonderful fifth grade teacher who insisted that I write from the
shoulder. Also, when I do draw well, I seem to enter into an alternate
mental state. Betty Edwards talks about this in "Drawing on the Right
Side of the Brain" and "Drawing on the Artist Within."

In short, when producing art, it appears that different muscles come
into play, the tools provide a different amount of kinesthetic feed back
and the person seems to enter into a different frame of mind than when
writing.

As a final note, one of our daughter's teachers observed that she
doesn't really write, but draws words. A side effect of this is that
she and I can write in beautiful cursive backwards.

:-)

John Mullen

[Oliver Gili]

Kathy Green <kgre...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:26178-38...@storefull-228.iap.bryant.webtv.net...

> I have a question that's related to another someone else has lately
> asked. I need this answer for some research I'm engaged in. Are there
> among you anyone who has dyslexia and dysgraphia caused by poor eye-hand
> coordination? (I don't mean that the dyslexia would be caused by
> coordination trouble; I'm referring to the dysgraphia.)

I think that dysgraphia *causes* the poor eye-hand co-ordination rather than
the other way around.

>
> If there are, I would like to ask you this question: do any of you who
> have eye-hand coordination deficits affecting your writing skills have
> ability in art? In other words, even though you have difficulty writing
> easily and legibly, are you able to draw and paint with ease and talent?

Yes, I fall into that category, I was one of two children selected from my
primary school to go to extra
art lessons, and after a brief spell in normality (degree, job, and long
term relationship) I realised I cant
fight the urge to paint no more... and am now exhibiting in London, and
Brighton with an exhibition starting this
thursday... allthough my work is primarly abstract I do a lot of life
drawing which I've been told is quite good,
(I'm not doing it to make pretty pictures, but to improve my skills, and
because my work is concerned with
organic form), however while I'm good at design on computers, I'm far to
messy to do pen and paper
design work, . Oh and I was diagnosed dysgraphic at 16

I would say that artisic ability comes from perception rather than
manipulation, it is what the artist sees and then draws/paints that makes
them an artist, as anyone can draw if they look properly....

Its ironic really about my doctor style handwriting as my grandfather was a
caligrapher

Oliver Gili

Wasted Talent
Organic abstract images
2nd December '99 to Jan '00
Disco Biscuit
North Street
Brighton