Lecture: This is Your Brain on Art and Music, with Heather Hardester

Have you ever wondered what happens in your brain and body when you see a work of art that resonates strongly? What is the precise power of communally experienced art and music? Why you can listen to that one song on repeat without tiring of it? Or why that melancholy theme makes your chest tighten and heart ache—why do you love it?
Drawing on multiple disciplines, we will explore recent efforts to understand humanity’s physical and psychological relationship to art and music; how we evolved to desire and create art; and how that pursuit is central to our ability to experience the fullness of life—mind, body, and soul.
The evening will begin with a reception and refreshments with Hardester's lecture to follow at 6:30. Free and open to the public.
This event is made possible with the generous support of Theran Press and Naomi RaMona Schliesman Artistry and Consulting.
Heather Hardester is an art historian and currently teaches at Concordia College. This lecture is inspired by years of developing and teaching an interdisciplinary course on art, music, and the brain at Montana State University – Bozeman. She will draw on a wide variety of research as well as student interactions, discoveries, and personal revelations to demonstrate the power of art and creative reflection.