Anjan Chatterjee & Judith Schaechter on Neuroaesthetics

Neurologist, Professor, and Director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics Anjan Chatterjee and glass artist Judith Schaechter discuss how the brain perceives, creates, and responds to art. The program will draw on Schaechter's experience as artist-in-residence at the Center and Chatterjee's ongoing research into the brain and aesthetic experiences. What might artists and scientists learn from one another? How can expanding our understanding of perception deepen our capacity to appreciate beauty? Free; registration encouraged.Judith Schaechter lives and works in Philadelphia. Her work is collected internationally and is represented in the collections of the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Victoria and Albert in London and the Hermitage, among others. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005 and her work was in the 2002 Whitney Biennial. 1n 2013, Judith was inducted to the College of Fellows of the American Craft Council. She received a lifetime achievement award from the Glass Art Society in 2022 and in 2023, she was named a Smithsonian Visionary Artist. In 2020-21, Judith's work was the subject of a retrospective exhibition organized by the Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester, NY, which traveled to the Toledo Museum and the Des Moines Art Center.  Anjan Chatterjee is Professor of Neurology, Psychology, and Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and the founding director of the Penn Center for Neuroaesthetics. He received a BA in Philosophy from Haverford College and MD from the University of Pennsylvania. A past Neurology Chair at Pennsylvania Hospital, his research addresses neuroaesthetics, spatial cognition, language, and neuroethics. He wrote The Aesthetic Brain and co-edited Brain, Beauty, and Art, as well as Neuroethics in Practice, and The Roots of Cognitive Neuroscience. His editorial services have included neuroscience, psychology, aesthetics and bioethics journals. He received the Norman Geschwind Prize in Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology from the American Academy of Neurology, the Rudolph Arnheim Prize for contributions to Psychology and the Arts from the American Psychological Association, the Gustav Fechner Award for life-time contributions from the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, the Leadership in Innovation Award from the Global Wellness Institute, the Lawrence Forman Award for contributions to the betterment of society from Haverford College, and The Big Sea Award for the Promotion of Aesthetic Beauty from the Mediterranean Tourism Forum. He is a founding member of the Board of the International Neuroethics Society, past President of the International Association of Empirical Aesthetics, and of the Behavioral Neurology Society. He serves on the board of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, and Philadelphia Fringe Arts. He previously served on the boards of Haverford College, the Global Wellness Institute, the Norris Square Neighborhood Project, and the Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired.