What is Art?

What does the word art mean to you?  What will you say when your students ask, "What is Art?"  Where do we see the artist at work in our society?

When I was a student at UCSD, my professor-a leader in avant-garde art movements defined art to the class.  He said that,  "if you call yourself an artist, you are an artist."  So, I assume that using this definition, anything you create as an artist is art.  I personally like the freedom of this definition.  However, is there a standard with which to measure art?  But Is there good and bad art?

Another artist, a great teacher-leader, Robert Henri,  of the Ash Can School in early 1900s America felt that, "art is simply a question of doing things, anything, well. . .when the artist is alive in any person, whatever his kind of work may be, he becomes an inventive, searching, daring, self-expressive creature. . .he finds the gain in the work itself, not outside of it."

Beverly Sills, says that "Art is the signature of civilization."  Art tells us who we are as a culture.

Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that "though we travel the whole world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not."  How many works of art amazed you with their beauty?  Does an artwork have to be beautiful to be Art?  How much does our own state of mind and ideas about aesthetic influence the way that we look and judge art?

Today's art can incorporate a variety of ideas and technologies.  Painting, drawing, sculpture, prints, photographs, architecture are all traditional art forms.  In modern times performance, the environment, computers, lasers and other media have been included into the creation of art that has been housed and viewed in museums.

To gain an understanding of art from the past and present it is necessary to study what the artist and society have valued as art.  By exploring past and present artists we can develop a personal understanding of the value of art to ourselves and society.

Stop for a moment and imagine the word "art".  What image comes to mind?

Why Study Art

According to the National Education Standards government website:

Knowing and practicing the arts disciplines are fundamental to the healthy development of children's minds and spirits. That is why, in any civilization--ours included--the arts are inseparable from the very meaning of the term "education." . . .

  • The arts are worth studying simply because of what they are. Their impact cannot be denied. Throughout history, all the arts have served to connect our imaginations with the deepest questions of human existence: Who am I? What must I do? Where am I going? Studying responses to those questions through time and across cultures--as well as acquiring the tools and knowledge to create one's own responses--is essential not only to understanding life but to living it fully.

  • The arts are used to achieve a multitude of human purposes: to present issues and ideas, to teach or persuade, to entertain, to decorate or please. Becoming literate in the arts helps students understand and do these things better.

  • The arts are integral to every person's daily life. Our personal, social, economic, and cultural environments are shaped by the arts at every turn--from the design of the child's breakfast placemat, to the songs on the commuter's car radio, to the family's night-time TV drama, to the teenager's Saturday dance, to the enduring influences of the classics.

  • The arts offer unique sources of enjoyment and refreshment for the imagination. They explore relationships between ideas and objects and serve as links between thought and action. Their continuing gift is to help us see and grasp life in new ways.

  • There is ample evidence that the arts help students develop the attitudes, characteristics, and intellectual skills required to participate effectively in today's society and economy. The arts teach self-discipline, reinforce self-esteem, and foster the thinking skills and creativity so valued in the workplace. They teach the importance of teamwork and cooperation. They demonstrate the direct connection between study, hard work, and high levels of achievement.

    • Quoted from http://www.ed.gov/pubs/ArtsStandards.html

    What is your definition of art?

    How do you incorporate art into your curriculum?

    How do you address budget cuts, lack of funding and support for the arts?

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