Righty Or Lefty?

[Michael Kellough]

Remember those psychedelic posters from San Francisco in the late sixties?

The most famous examples, such as the one above, where created by a team of artists, Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse.

Anton was a lefty and Stanley a righty and they worked on the same board simultaneously.

"Kelley would work on the left side of the drawing table and Mouse on the Right," said Paul Grushkin, the author of "The Art of Rock: Posters From Presley to Punk" and a longtime friend of both men. "They turned out a poster a week."

"In their final collaboration, in March of this year, they contributed the cover art for the program at the induction ceremony at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."  Anton died this week.

The NY Times article.

 

[krs2404]

I would give my left arm to be ambidextrous.

 

[Fred West]

krs2404, nice moniker by the way.  So who would you give your left arm to in order to become ambidextrous?  : Fred

 

[John Langevin]

Sorry Guys, but I can't resist!
I have had this discussion( ???argument) with craftsman of all persuasions many times over the years; especially concerning circular (Skil Saws). I am right handed and ripping a 8' panel, standing to the right of it,  holding the saw with my right hand across my body. This defies everything I learned in Engineering School regarding ergonomics. I finally bought a "Left-handed" Porter-Cable 323 Mag Saw (which to me is right-handed). I hold it in my right hand, with the weight of the motor over the non-cutoff piece, and can see the cut line and the blade; isn't this as NOAH intended?
Have at it boys!

 

[colinw]

confused  ???    I am left headed , right handed and if I carry on reading this thread right round the bend .......Hrmmmm wonder what the right side of my heads doing......on second thoughts let not go there  ;D

Colin

 

[JJ Wavra]

I have found that I use both hands.  Some things are definately more comfortable in one hand or the other.  It is funny i took up carving this winter and I like to carve with gauges lefty although I do carve righty also, really it is about equal but if the grain allows lefty it is.  Now chip carving is definately righty but I will give lefty a try tom.  Then there is golf, I like to go to the driving range, I drive right handed and put left handed. 

Both my brother and I when tested have no right or left brain dominance we are both straight down the middle.

It is funny as I have gotten in my twenties I have definately used my left hand more than I used to .

Oh yeah as far as education I have a music degree but was always good at math. So, who nows what it all means but i find this subject rather interesting. 

JJ

 

[Terp]

Remember those psychedelic posters from San Francisco in the late sixties?

The most famous examples, such as the one above, where created by a team of artists, Alton Kelley and Stanley Mouse.

Anton was a lefty and Stanley a righty and they worked on the same board simultaneously.

"Kelley would work on the left side of the drawing table and Mouse on the Right," said Paul Grushkin, the author of "The Art of Rock: Posters From Presley to Punk" and a longtime friend of both men. "They turned out a poster a week."

"In their final collaboration, in March of this year, they contributed the cover art for the program at the induction ceremony at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."  Anton died this week.

The NY Times article.

Michael,
  Excellent.  Thank you.  Mouse & Kelly's art works, while obviously part of a larger "Pop" culture, are tremendous examples of wild unfettered talent.
These men were amazing, & whatever your medium, you have to appreciate getting into the "zone" of your art.  It's when you know some of your best & most creative work is coming out through your own creativity.  What some people might call ones prime production peak.
  That these two worked side by side righty vs. lefty, while I had never known this, does not surprise me a bit.  Kelly once described the experience as "riffing off each others giggles"    
  What ever "help" their giggle had in being, the collaboration of these two men is among the strongest of professional pairings ever produced in the arts.  Kelly also once said "we were stunned by what we were able to do.  We had free rein to go graphically crazy.  And they did!
  The art work they produced together from 1964 is an enormous body of work.  Some merely good & some wildly outstanding.  The work they produced shall grace art collections for centuries.  Not bad for a couple of notorious hippies
  The two started out as concert promotors, competing against Bill Graham in the San Fransisco area & scene (& Virginia City Nev.).  The business was called the Family Dog & they promoted alot of their shows at the Avalon Ballroom, while Grahams were held in the Fillmore.  Family Dog eventually fell apart (Charles Manson was associated with them very early on), they were a wild group. 
  Kelly & Mouse kept at it though, producing many of the most famous concert poster art of the era.
  They may have seemed reckless & carefree, but the art produced will outlive all the nonsense.  Alphonse Mucha partied hard with Kafka & Einstein in Prague at the time of the turn of the last century.  Heady times.  His art work & that of his contemporary is likewise an incredible outburst of talent, unleashed by the freedom that creativity brings.  Though most of his art was for marketing purposes, it sells for millions today.
  Truly great art requires letting go, trusting your abilities, & not paying to much attention to how it is received.  If you're fortunate enough, your art may be enhanced by a legendary collaboration, such as theirs.  Niether of the two could have produced that work alone.  Niether of these two had any thoughts that they were creating masterpieces.  Yet they did.
  Righty, Lefty....I don't know
  Perhaps it really is the giggles that matter  ;D
Regardless, it really seems to be a freakish confluence of things that make some people more prolific at their art than others.  Trying to figure out where it comes from can make you crazy.  or maybe it is the giggles............. ;D

Long live Mouse Kelly.

   

 

[Michael Kellough]

Thanks for the commentary Terp!

I heard an interview with Mouse. The guys had hired a studio assistant to answer the phone so they could continue working. At the end of the first day she came into their room and asked, "Don't you guys ever say anything?".

Mouse said they didn't need to talk.

 

[Terp]

Thanks for the commentary Terp!

I heard an interview with Mouse. The guys had hired a studio assistant to answer the phone so they could continue working. At the end of the first day she came into their room and asked, "Don't you guys ever say anything?".

Mouse said they didn't need to talk.

If they were'nt talking, I must wonder what they giggling about.  ;D

 

[Bill Wyko]

Where's the ambidexterous selection? I had to select right and left ;D

 

[Michael Kellough]

Something is wrong with the poll. Write righty and write lefty should total 100%.

 

[Eli]

Looks okay to me. The four response choice totals added do make up 100%.

 

[Dave Rudy]

Much better than American (that's where you used to live, Eli) political pollsters -- their polls NEVER seem to add up to 100%.  Often just the emphatic answers seem to add up to more than 100% even without the in-between mush.

So I think this one is ok.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I too want a "it depends" answer. I started lefty, but much to the relief of my teachers (I used to write pages backwards if I picked up the pen with my left hand, and I couldn't tell that they were backwards) broke my left arm early on, so I write and throw with my right. But I draw with my left, and recently have found myself doing some writing with my left, especially things like annotating marks if I happen to be holding the tape in my right hand.

That is really interesting Dan.

Except for writing backwards, I'm like you, except that I never broke my arm so I still write left as well as draw.
For some unknown reason (since I didn't break my left arm) I throw and hammer right, though I can hammer fairly well left.

Hmm... I bat right or left (more distance if right, more hits if left), golf right, kick left, throw better left than right, usually aim a gun left (but have learned to shoot flying targets with both eyes open), write left most of the time, and use some tools left and others right.  Use Festools with whichever hand/body position feels and works best.

Dave R.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I too want a "it depends" answer. I started lefty, but much to the relief of my teachers (I used to write pages backwards if I picked up the pen with my left hand, and I couldn't tell that they were backwards) broke my left arm early on, so I write and throw with my right. But I draw with my left, and recently have found myself doing some writing with my left, especially things like annotating marks if I happen to be holding the tape in my right hand.

That is really interesting Dan.

Except for writing backwards, I'm like you, except that I never broke my arm so I still write left as well as draw.
For some unknown reason (since I didn't break my left arm) I throw and hammer right, though I can hammer fairly well left.

Hmm... I bat right or left (more distance if right, more hits if left), golf right, kick left, throw better left than right, usually aim a gun left (but have learned to shoot flying targets with both eyes open), write left most of the time, and use some tools left and others right.   Use Festools with whichever hand/body position feels and works best.

Dave R.

Are you left eyed? I'm right eyed, and not as ambi as you.

 

[Forrest Anderson]

Hmm... I bat right or left (more distance if right, more hits if left), golf right, kick left, throw better left than right, usually aim a gun left (but have learned to shoot flying targets with both eyes open), write left most of the time, and use some tools left and others right.   Use Festools with whichever hand/body position feels and works best.

I'm similar to you - manly left-handed and think of myself as a lefty, but do some things right-handed eg golf:

Write - always left, can't use right
Spoon - nearly always left
Scissors - nearly always left, which is often a pain (literally), since the handles of some scissors are moulded for right-handers
Shooting - prefer left, but some weapons you really have to use right due for safety reasons
Telescope - prefer left
Kicking - nearly always left
Throwing - prefer left
Hand-saw, screwdriver, jigsaw, drill and most tools - left

Mouse - right
Knife and fork together - always fork in left, knife in right
Golf and cricket - as per a right-handed person

Forrest

 

[Michael Kellough]

The Staten Island Yankees played the Brooklyn Cyclones this week and at one point an ambi batter was up against an ambi pitcher. The batter enter the box as a righty and the pitcher switched to lefty for a throw. Then the batter switched to lefty and the pitcher switched back to right. This happened a couple more times then the refs got together and decided on a new rule. Both batter and pitcher can only switch once each per at bat.

The batter eventually struck out.

 

[Lou Miller]

The only time I favor right or left is with my eyesight. I'm almost totally blind in the right eye, so there isn't much choice for me. Other than that, I'm 100% ambidextrous. I can use either hand (or foot) equally well. I am naturally right handed, I think (I write with my right hand, so I guess that means I'm right handed, but I can use my left for writing as well). 

 

[Michael Kellough]

Hi Lou, good to hear from you again.

I asked about your back in the Rubin thread but this thread is more appropriate.

How 'ya doin?

 

[Lou Miller]

I answered it up there as well. The back could not be any better than it is. All of the problems are a distant memory at this point. Granted, its only been 8 months since the surgery, but I couldn't be any happier with it. I literally feel 15 years younger. I'm not over doing it with anything at work, but I'm certainly not babying my back either, and there are zero problems of any kind. As long as I don't go thinking that I'm super human and try to lift any more 900 pound tools again, I think I'll be alright. Knocking on wood (my head ;D )

Again, thanks for asking. Its much appreciated.